Product Spotlight Series: Health and Safety (w/o 7/23)

offtoneverland · July 2018

This is a place for FTMs to ask questions and S+TMs to share the wealth of knowledge they've accumulated on baby products. Each week we'll spotlight a new category of product to help streamline and make it easier to refer back. This week it's...health and safety!

For FTMs, do you have any burning questions about health and safety items? S+TMs, tell us about your favorite/least favorite health and safety products.

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To view past Product Spotlights or view the upcoming schedule, click this link.

(Also just a reminder that if anyone wants to revive old threads to ask questions as we get further along and it becomes more likely everyone is doing further research, please feel free!)

emjohn517 · July 2018

This reminded me to check our infant car seats expiration date!

MouseMama817 · July 2018

I can't really think of any products we really loved or hated. Everything was just sort of neutral. We didn't love the Safety 1st cabinet locks (the dark grey ones with the rigid U shape that you slide the lock up and down on) because DD was able to pull them off pretty easily and they're limited to the kinds of cabinets you can attach them to. I know Safety 1st makes one that looks more like a zip tie. Does anyone have experience with those?

There are some products I'm interested in trying this time around though.
1. Zoli teething sticks. I heard such great things but for some reason never got them for DD. She never found a good teething toy she liked during her teething days.
2. The Zoli Buzz B nail trimmer. In 3 years we've only had a single accident with regular nail clippers, but that incident occurred with DH and it took him 2 years to work up the courage to trim her nails again. This product just buffs them down so you don't have to worry about cuts.
3. I'm also curious about the FridaBaby Windi gas and colic reliever. Has anyone tried this? I'm not sure how it works but it seems like a nice alternative to the Gripe Water.

emjohn517 · July 2018

Gas drops were a life saver here, but I think I just used target brand.

We did pool noodle baby proofing and honestly it worked for what we needed it for lol. We have cabinet locks on just a few cabinets, the ones with cleaning supplies and junk like that. MH installed baby safe outlets all over the house.

bkosy · July 2018

@emjohn517 what is pool noodle baby proofing?

I baby proofed for my first. I had to go back and do it 5× better for my second because she is a wild woman. Hopefully I don't have to do even more for this one!

emjohn517 · July 2018

I literally just took pool noodles, cut them down the middle and wrapped them on the hard/pointy places like coffee table and tv stand. It got the job done.

lifesabeach85 · July 2018

Highly recommend getting baby nail SCISSORS instead of nail clippers. Using nail clippers has an extremely high probability of crying, blood and panicked calls to husbands that you “cut your baby’s finger off” Or so Ive heard...

offtoneverland · July 2018

@emjohn517 I've been bugging H to get the carseat out of the crawl space so I can check the expiration date. I'm too scared to go into the depths of the crawl space myself!
@MouseMama817 I'll be honest and say the Frida Baby products freak me out. I don't want to stick something up my baby's butt to get it to fart! Gross! Hahaha.

My thoughts:
*Nail trimmers: I never had any issues with baby nail trimmers, but it could depend on the baby.
*Furniture anchors: I think I mentioned this somewhere else recently, but don't forget to anchor your furniture to the wall! All the furniture in the baby's room should be anchored to the wall. I mean, it doesn't really matter in the first several months before baby knows how to crawl/climb, but might as well do it before the baby comes so you don't have to worry about it.
*Baby gates: Again, you won't need them for the first several months, but might as well have some on hand just to be safe and so you have them when you need them.
*Thermometer: We used a rectal thermometer from the beginning (and honestly, I still use it since it's so much more reliable than under the tongue temperatures for a toddler).
*Nose bulb: I never had any problems using the typical nose bulb thingy to suck the snot out. A friend taught me to rinse it out with rubbing alcohol periodically so it doesn't grow mold.

honeybeebub · July 2018

My go-to products for baby health are:
1. Rectal thermometer (we still use this as the ear thermometer isn't always reliable)
2. Nose Frida snot sucker thing - gross I know, but with the filters it's not bad
3. A&D Clear Ointment - for some reason this worked so much better in preventing diaper rashes for us. We still use it for boo-boos.
4. CLEAR liquid motrin and tylenol - YES they make this, which is non-staining. Because there's nothing more annoying than having a sick child and having your carpet stained red or purple because they decided to vomit 2 seconds after dosing them.
5. Alcohol wipes pads - I'm not sure what the current guidance on the belly buttons are, but we found these wipes to be really convenient to clean the gook in the beginning. Although I think someone may have mentioned it's do nothing now?

As for safety, my only thing to consider is the magnetized cabinet locks won't work everywhere. So for example if you are trying to install next to a stove, for some reason the magnet won't work being so close to the metal. Otherwise we love them everywhere else.

MouseMama817 · July 2018

@honeybeebub I was just looking at those magnetic locks. It looks like the set only comes with one key; seems like a likely situation that you’d misplace the key and not be able to get into your stuff lol. Did you have that problem?

honeybeebub · July 2018

@MouseMama817 The set we got comes with a really big magnet, almost the size of a cabinet knob. So we just stick it high up on the fridge and it really doesn't go anywhere unless to unlock

If we were to lose it really any stronger magnet would open it too!

lostarz14 · July 2018

Nail trimmers - we just got the 2 pack of the safety 1st trimmers, never had a problem

Nose Frida - best thing ever!

Rectal thermometer - still use it to this day (DD is almost 2.5)

Calmoseptine - this worked the best for diaper rash and any redness. Sometimes it's in the adult incontinence section but most times you have to ask the pharmacy for it.

Aquaphor - seemed to work well with the Calmoseptine plus you can use it for other stuff, A7D worked well too.

As for baby proofing, we basically just removed our coffee table from the living room. We only put cabinet locks on 2 cabinets and a few drawers. She never really got into anything...we'll see how it goes the 2nd time around lol.

These gates are great, we have them at the top and bottom of our stairs, https://retract-a-gate.com/prices-buy-retractable-safety-gate/

We have a gate like this for another area near the basement stairs, https://www.amazon.com/Regalo-Easy-White-Spaces-between/dp/B001OC5UMQ/ref=asc_df_B001OC5UMQ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198090943423&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=18347713975661231181&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9016810&hvtargid=pla-437290324047&psc=1

emjohn517 · July 2018

I used a temporal thermometer. Actually in nursing school it was hammered into us to not use rectal thermometers on babies and kids, they did not even use that in the NICU, so I prefer not to. I never had any issues using the temporal or nail clippers. I kept several nose fridas all around the house lol. For ointment our favorite is Dr Smiths and I’ve only ever found it at Walgreens. If it’s a bad rash, I’d add a dab of monistat and it would clear right up. My DD had a reaction to J&J baby wash, so we use unscented stuff on her, as well as laundry detergent. I don’t remember using anything on her umbilical stump. It hardened and fell off pretty quickly.

lostarz14 · July 2018

@emjohn517 is the rectal therm because of potential damage? I know I've heard some things about not using them but the tip on ours is so short so unless you're really intentionally jamming that thing in there, I don't see how anything could happen.

emjohn517 · July 2018

@lostarz there’s just a lot of debate between researchers on the necessity. Of course proliferation is the main concern, but a truly accurate rectal temp should be a metal, mercury thermometer and should actually be fairly in there to reach deep tissue. Anything can hinder its accuracy, such as depth or feces can make it higher. Also rectal doesn’t change as quickly, meaning if the fever is breaking, rectal wouldn’t show the dropping as quickly and accurately as another avenue. Different docs/peds will say different things bc there is really no perfect way to take a temp. Each avenue has its advantages and disadvantages. Just do what you’re comfortable with. Our NICU staff and our ped only used axillary on infants. When I worked in peds we primarily used axillary or oral if they were old enough.

wildrainbow · July 2018

So, for us, we did things weird(ish). We have one room in the house that is totally safe and I feel comfortable being away if need be. Other than that, we only removed breakable items.
-Definitely get a baby gate, one that openes and closes is the easiest.
-Nose Frida for sure. Gross yes, but the filters stop things and you get much better suction than those bulbs
-A&D. I swear this stuff is the miracle worker. If ds even showed a sign of a diaper rash, I would use and it would be gone by the next day. He's only had maybe 3 major rashes and A&D cleared them up very fast.
-On the note of diaper rashes, if you change the diaper as soon as it's wet, especially in the beginning, you minimize them getting it.
-Safety nail Clippers.
-Lavender lotion helps calm baby, I love the Aveeno one.

lifesabeach85 · July 2018

I would like to reiterate what @offtoneverland said about anchoring furniture. It’s pretty simple to do, or hire a handman to do it. So important!

Also, a cool mist humidifier is great for when baby is sick

offtoneverland · July 2018

@emjohn517 That is so good to know! What brand of temporal thermometer do you use? I've been wanting to get one for a while but every time I look at reviews online, I can never make up my mind. Thanks for the awesome info!

emjohn517 · July 2018

@offtoneverland it’s the Exergen brand, just from Target. I found it easy enough to use, I always test it on myself for comparison to make sure it’s accurate, but I’ve never had any problems with it. When DDs been sick it got the job done.

highsteaks · July 2018

we have a couple of dressers in the kids’ room from ikea, and used the anchoring kit they gave us— which is only a woven strap screwed to the drywall with a drywall anchor (so not in a stud). dh insists it’s fine. ikea wouldn’t issue those kits if they weren’t sufficient, right?

runningyogimama · July 2018

We also have an exergen temporal thermometer (and temporal is what the pediatrician’s office uses). We’ve had the same one for 5.5 years, no problems.

the only time I’ve actually kkt used the Nose Frida was when my 3 year old stuck a sticker up her nose, lol. I was able to suck it out.

I also just used regular baby nail clippers.

+1 for anchoring furniture! I’m big on the whole (or at least most) house basically being baby/toddler safe once mobile (and you have a little while, so that stuff doesn’t HAVE to be while you’re pregnant, by any means). We didn’t go overboard on baby proofing - just anchoring, cabinet locks, and baby gates.

lurvleybunchococonuts · July 2018

@MouseMama817 I got a sample Windi gas & colic reliever in my BBB goodie bag. I'm referring to it as the poop shooter. Granted if I'm ever in the position of needing to use it I imagine I would, but in general the thing made me burst out laughing and say "Really? WHY?!?! It's a butt straw!"

Product Spotlight Series: Health and Safety (w/o 7/23)

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