Maybe most of you STMs know this, but if you have an Amazon registry, just add stuff for your other kids too and buy them off the registry instead of as regular Amazon purchases. My IL got my son a learning tower for his birthday in 2 weeks and I had them buy it off our registry so it would start counting towards the $500 required to have the diaper discount.
@morethanamama that's such a good idea! DDs birthday is in August, so I might make put her gifts that my family want to buy on there. I will add that I've also been surprised with how many peripherally "baby" items can be included for the completion discount--pregnancy pillows, nursing supplies, etc. Always worth checking before buying something!
@carrotsandpeas3 right? With my first I even added two water bottles for me to prepare for breastfeeding hydration needs, and no issues! Any mama stuff I think works too
Has anyone else noticed that the inventory in the “regular” Target app is different than the inventory in the Target Registry app?! It’s driving me crazy!
@morethanamama I have even added cat food and a swim suit for me to my registry and bought it 😆😆 Most things have to be kid/pregnancy for the completion bonus, but for that $500 it can be (as far as I've been able to tell) anything.
Is it needed to get an infant car seat and the car seat that grows with them? The car seat I was looking at was for 4-120 pounds. I’m just thinking if the world is still like it is now, we’re barely going to be going out. So I don’t know if it’s worth it to spend money on both. Is the main advantage of the infant seat that you can go from car to stroller without removing the baby from the car seat?
Edited to say: I’m trying to do this with as few purchases as needed because I’m frugal and don’t like waste, but I don’t want to not buy enough and regret it.
@animalandplantrescuer if it was me I would definitely invest in the infant and then get a convertible later on. You won't realize what a HUGE Advantage is to be able to move baby out of the car and into the stroller by clicking the seat on the stroller base until you have the baby. It is MAJOR. Say they are sleeping, you don't need to unbuckle them. Say it's cold or rainy, you can have the seat inside and just strap baby in while in the house. Also, if you don't have a seat that clicks on the stroller, you may not be able to use the stroller for a while unless you use a bassinet(which is bulky and extra $$anyways).
Another thing to consider, my son was tiny at birth and was swimming in the infant car seat! No matter how truly convertible those seats are, I think the infant one is still more suitable for the tiny stage. My personal opinion! However no need to buy a fancy one if you want to save a bit. Plenty of good quality, safe seats out there.
@animalandplantrescuer Agree with @morethanamama. Especially if you live somewhere cold, it is HUGE at the tiny baby stage to be able to strap them in and bundle them in while still in the house. Even if you have a garage the car can still be cold! Plus carrying them when they’re small is actually a lot harder—we carried that infant seat EVERYWHERE basically until he could sit up on his own. If you plan on transporting your baby in more than one car, you can just get a second base and keep a base in each car for easy click-in, click-out. Also agree that you don’t need a super expensive fancy one. They all have to meet the same baseline safety requirements in order to be sold. And depending on the size of your child, you’ll use it for quite awhile—mine outgrew his by height before weight but it was almost a full year (and maybe could have gone a little bit longer even). Yes, maybe we’re all not going out as frequently, but there are tons of pediatricians appointments in the first year, plus any follow-ups for you, etc.
@animalandplantrescuer Im not using on this time, going straight to convertible. Babies aren’t supposed to sleep in infant seats outside of the car so for me there really isn’t an advantage to taking it in and out of the car. Some strollers can’t be used with newborns without a car seat, but I baby wear so I won’t be using a stroller for months anyways.
I'm planning to mostly use body wraps during newborn stages then body carriers instead of strollering for both me an my husband, so we are going for the convertible one. We're still planning a simple stroller but nothing fancy.
My only worry would be that not all babies like to be carried but it definitely works for some babies for sure! I would never let him sleep in the car seat for long but if he happened to fall asleep on the way to the pediatrician then it was kind of nice to have him snooze as we walked in. For us there was also the convenience of not buying 2 seats off the bat and just deal with 2 bases since both my husband and I work and would occasionally switch turns taking him to the sitter (this may also not be applicable if you're a SAHM).
All the pros and cons mentioned above are super helpful to consider when making your decision @animalandplantrescuer!
Definitely +1 to needing the infant seat for the reasons already listed. Also, having the ability to have multiple bases and only one seat is huge as well. We had a base in my car, DH’s car, and my mom’s car because she babysat for us. We didn’t need to constantly reinstall a convertible seat or buy multiple or them (more expensive than just buying multiple bases). Also, the bases help secure the right angle needed for infants and convertibles are harder to maintain in the correct position.
Regarding sleeping in the infant seat - it’s fine to let them stay asleep as you carry them inside/outside of the car and if you’re using a compatible stroller it maintains proper positioning unlike sitting a car seat on the floor.
I would say that advantages of the infant car seat depend on your routines and where you live. For example, I'll be using a stroller with a bassinet for the first few months and will get an infant car seat too! I don't love the idea of having him for long periods of time in the car seat but Canadian winter is not fun and I really want to be able to place him in a warm seat while at home, specially between January and April.
Yep. I’m in Southern California, so definitely don’t have harsh winters. My boyfriend and I are still discussing it. It is pretty much coming down to if we want to go on walks without wearing her to get out of the house or not. We keep going back and forth.
We only have one car, so for us that’s not an issue.
i agree with what others have said. The infant car seat was def worth it for us and my lil guy is very tall and grew out of at a little after 6 months. Totally appreciated it even more once we had to switch to the convertible one. Having him covered with inclement weather and all strapped in before getting to the car was so helpful. Little babies are so squirmy. Putting him in the house without all the weird angles of the car door, so much easier. I had had big plans of wearing him but he was not a fan of baby wearing so that didn't fly. Also my back wasn't great post delivery so baby wearing for long time periods (ie long walks) I just couldn't do even if my DS would have cooperated.
I just got my Welcome Box from Amazon. I couldn't remember if anybody had posted about what it has recently included. A picture of what is in the Welcome Box is in the spoiler.
@AB518 I got basically the same thing except a mam bottle instead of the Dr. Browns (we used Dr. Browns with DS so I'm kinr of sad about that, but also who knows what this baby will like). And our swaddle is giraffes. The one we got for DS was hedgehogs.
Okay this is kind of old news now, but I found my amazon registry welcome box and thought it was interesting the different stuff I received! Same categories (mostly), different products. I received mine sometime in April. Confession: I’m kinda bummed about the blanket. I know it’s not cool to label things “boy” and “girl” but that is a little on the girly side for me... I wish it had come with another muslin blanket like the ones you all got. Oh well, it was free!
Re: The Baby Registry Thread
right? With my first I even added two water bottles for me to prepare for breastfeeding hydration needs, and no issues! Any mama stuff I think works too
Another thing to consider, my son was tiny at birth and was swimming in the infant car seat! No matter how truly convertible those seats are, I think the infant one is still more suitable for the tiny stage. My personal opinion! However no need to buy a fancy one if you want to save a bit. Plenty of good quality, safe seats out there.
All the pros and cons mentioned above are super helpful to consider when making your decision @animalandplantrescuer!
Regarding sleeping in the infant seat - it’s fine to let them stay asleep as you carry them inside/outside of the car and if you’re using a compatible stroller it maintains proper positioning unlike sitting a car seat on the floor.
angles of the car door, so much easier. I had had big plans of wearing him but he was not a fan of baby wearing so that didn't fly. Also my back wasn't great post delivery so baby wearing for long time periods (ie long walks) I just couldn't do even if my DS would have cooperated.