I feel like a broken record lately, because all I can talk about/think about is the upcoming addition to our family who is scheduled to make his arrival on Feb 4. Yes, I’m finally getting a manny, his name is Alejandro and he’s moving here from Ecuador where he’s been wrapping up his studies in deep tissue massage and skincare regimens as well as early child development, and—
Oh, not really. My husband won’t let me have a manny, because he’s a GREAT BIG WHINER.
No, I’m talking about the baby who’s currently ensconced in my belly, methodically reducing my internal organs to mush with his various well-aimed kicks. According to various “medical theories”, he’s going to actually be on the outside of my body soon? And I’ll have to, like, take care of him and stuff? While simultaneously parenting a 2-year-old and doing freelance jobs and not allowing the house to collapse under the weight of its own filth?
The whole idea is kind of blowing my mind and making all other achievements seem wussy in comparison. Oh, you climbed Everest? Whatever dude, at least you had Sherpas.
Anyway, I thought we could talk about some must-have baby items today. Not that I don’t have a metric crapload of baby stuff already, but maybe I’m missing some critical product that will ensure Baby #2’s comfort, angelic behavior, and tendency to sleep through the night starting at 6 weeks of age.
The theme here is not necessities—not diapers, clothes, etc—but extra luxuries that you’d recommend to any new parent. Hey, ho. Let’s go!
Kiddopotamus Microfleece SwaddleMe. I plan to include at least one of these in any baby shower present I ever give, I absolutely loved them with Riley. Being tightly swaddled was comforting for him and when he was still in that floppy newborn state it made me feel more confident about holding him (burrito vs boneless jello). I swear these contributed to him being able to sleep through the night early, there’s just something about returning babies to the womb state where they can hardly move.
Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. I know, I know: cheesy parenting voodoo. I don’t normally go for this type of thing, but some of these techniques actually worked with Riley, and worked really well. The shushing, the jiggling, the swinging . . . it’s all a bit weird, but babies seem to love it.
Soothie Pacifier. Riley only used a pacifier for a short amount of time (not due to any intervention on our part, he just seemed to lose interest) but as a newborn this was the only kind he liked. I liked it too, because you can see inside their mouth while they’re sucking on it, which was weirdly mesmerizing . . . or maybe that was just the sleep deprivation? We only had one, which the hospital gave to us. Looking back, I can’t believe I never bought some backups—what if we lost that one solitary binky? DOOOOOM.
(Note: I left off baby carriers since we already covered that topic a while back.)
Okay, your turn. What products made life just a little easier for you when your baby was first born?
A battery operated swing. Vibrating Baby Papasan infant seat (for baby to sleep in during the newborn stage). Vibrating bassinet to put by parents bed. Vibrating attachment for crib for later when baby starts sleeping in crib.
White noise to block out the noise of baby’s 3.5 year old sister. We didn’t buy a contraption of any kind… we just made a CD ourselves by looping the sound of Niagara Falls we got on the internet. We bought baby a inexpensive CD player for her room that we could leave in there.
Hey don’t laugh! With all this vibrating/white noise stuff I didn’t have to drive my kid around in the car in the middle of the night!
Laughing Mommy | January 4th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Kudos to you for making the SwaddleMe work.. I felt like I needed a freakin’ engineering degree to wrap the baby up.
Honestly? It’s really lame to watch, but the Dunstan method DVD (google it) has some merit behind learning what your baby is crying for. Our baby is an angel and we didn’t really need it, but some friends of our delivered a colicy baby two weeks before us.. and we passed the DVD on to them. They now worship us.
Also, whiskey. Not for the baby; for you.
Sarah | January 4th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Oh, and a Bumbo chair. Babies love the Bumbo! (Follow all safety rules, obviously.)
Laughing Mommy | January 4th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Eric had a bouncy type seat but it was a rocker. He loved to be rocked really fast, so I’d have him on the floor and would rock him with my foot and if I stopped he would wake up.You would swear he was going to fly out of the seat if he wasn’t buckled in. He would have never liked a regular bouncy seat.
Also, Eric liked a similar style pacifier and I too liked to watch his mouth, it was weird yet really cool.
Eric's Mommy | January 4th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
For my 3rd I bought a babyhawk. I know, that’s a carrier and you covered those already, but… Well worth the money. That’s the only thing I bought this time around and I wish I had it for the other two. I don’t really use “gear” anymore because with 2 kids running around it’s a recipe for disaster to put this new one down at all!
I carry him in it around the house and on errands. He’s totally happy in there, and I can even carry my 2yo on my back with it.
The more kids I had the more I thought there’s just so much junk marketed to us and you don’t really need any of it. BTW I liked the swaddle-me’s. I’m just saying.
jen | January 4th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
1) Baby swing.
2) Chocolate chip cookies, frozen in single-serving bags of a dozen.
3) I would have said vibrating bouncy seat, but my fifth baby HATED it. (First four babies would have LIVED in it.)
4) Comfiest La-Z-Boy recliner in the store.
Swistle | January 4th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I have to echo the baby carrier comment. My baby lived in the pouch for the first three months of her life, before graduating to a wrap, then a mei-tai, and now a Beco.
I adored the boppy. I couldn’t nurse the baby comfortable without it for the first couple of months.
Frozen cookie dough in the freezer, as Swistle suggested, is also awesome, as are frozen soups for quick, easy dinners.
Elizabeth | January 4th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
In the memory box I made for my daughter, there is a little piece of the Miracle Blanket that we used - it was the ONLY way she slept for more than 3 hours at a time when she was an infant. (I think same idea as the one you mentioned…)
One useful book for me was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby - I liked the week-by-week outline, in particular (e.g. when my daughter would not stop screaming during week 5 it was nice to read that it was well, normal:)
One thing I’d add to the list is My Breast Friend nursing pillow - it was really helpful! (http://store.babycenter.com/product/3985.do)
Nataly | January 4th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
-A swing and extra batteries.
-Pacifier tethers to keep the pacifier from falling out of the mouth on to the floor.
-Bundle Me car seat cover –since this will be a winter baby.
MotherGooseAmy | January 5th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Hi Linda,
Congrats on your upcoming arrival!
I’m a mom of three children and my second daughter inspired me to create two great sleep products that you might like.
The first is Swaddleaze, a wearable sleepsack and swaddler in one–so you don’t have to worry about it falling off. An added bonus–the Velcro fastens in the back so there’s no chance it will scratch that sweet baby.
The second is Blankeaze, a wearable blanket for an older child (6 months+) who finds sleep sacks too confining.
You can see both at http://www.2virtues.com.
Hope that helps!
Rest up…
Heather
Heather Allard | January 5th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I just can’t get past the phrase ‘boneless jello’. Is there such a thing as ‘bone-in’ jello? Holy crap, that is the grossest thing I can think of.
Sorry to get off track here.
clearlydistracted | January 5th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Great tips! Here’s a few products that helped us survie 12 weeks of colic:
– Gumdrop pacifier — Our DD didn’t take the Soothie but loved the Gumdrop (also made by Hawaii Medical).
– 36×36 flannel swaddling blankets from kidalog.com (in Canada)
– an exercise ball, bounce on it with a swaddled baby!!
Relaxnsmile | January 7th, 2008 at 2:18 am
*Gumdrop pacifiers, too
*U-shaped nursing pillow… many great uses.
*Classical Baby music CD’s
*Motorized Swing
*When fussy, I would have to stand with baby over my shoulder, bounce at the knees vigorously, while tapping baby’s bottom and making “sshh, sshh” sound all in unison.
Candace | January 7th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Forget the swaddling blankets that have velcro — they didn’t stay closed properly for us. Better to just learn to swaddle with a regular blanket. The book version of Happiest Baby on the Block has some diagrams and instructions that make it easy to learn and remember.
SoftwareMom | January 7th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Isn’t Jello (aka gelatin) made from bones? Wouldn’t that make ALL Jello “bone-in”? My vegetarian mom certainly won’t eat it and I thought that was why…
Shawna | January 8th, 2008 at 12:02 am
HA. THese are the gifts I buy for EVERY mom to be that crosses my path.
Jean | January 8th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Oh, I thought of something else —
A Marpac Sound Screen machine. It looks worthless, like an upside plastic bowl for $50. But it is the best white noise maker EVER!
We spent the cost three times over in other things that didn’t work before finding this.
Relaxnsmile | January 9th, 2008 at 12:46 am
baby bouncer or infant seat - my son lived in his forever! and where else do you put a kid when you want to shower or eat and he’s not sleeping?
the infant swing is also the greatest. i like the new ones out now - the fisher price cradle swings
the fisher price space saver high chair - you can put a newly feeding infant there and it even reclines
yes, i am a fisher price enthusiast!
I also used the sound machine for my son. Homedics has a nice one that also has some lullabys that loop and an animation that projects onto the ceiling. We use the rain sound for us to get to sleep.
bea | January 9th, 2008 at 5:04 am
I can’t remember the brand, but the thing that helped us out (after our first was a little older, and able to sit up on his own) was a chair that had clamps to attach to any table. We took it with us whenever we ate out, whenever we had parties or whenever we were invited to someone’s house. Instant high chair, and if you’ve used some of the high chairs restaurants provide, you know they can be disgusting. This chair (I think we paid around $20 at Target for it) was so multi-purpose, folded down flat, and was so sturdy that we took it everywhere.
Now that our baby #2 is here (born only last week, Jan 3rd) I know it’s one of the things we’ll still get more use out of, and it makes it nice on camping trips or vacations not to have to worry about lugging some kind of high chair around with us.
Here’s a link to a chair similar to what I’m talking about: http://shop.happymothers.com/shop/product.aspx?&sku=CHHOHCB&ref=sortprice&utm_source=sortprice&utm_medium=shopflat&utm_term=Chicco&utm_content=Hook%20on%20Chairs&utm_campaign=CHHOHCB&zmam=8563630&zmas=1&zmac=12&zmap=CHHOHCB.
Andrea | January 9th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
I picked up (2nd hand) a stroller that has sort of a skateboard attatched to the back. Great to contain kid#1! Now I hve seen models with a seat or stand kind of a thing and the skateboard alone that you just attach to any old stroller.
I like the exersaucer but I like the “vintage” or original one with the plain tray - super easy to 409 and wipe down the tray without all the embedded toys and gizmos.
And the gift I give at every shower is gas drops. You never realize you are out until you need them!
Deanna | January 10th, 2008 at 2:10 pm