This is how I am feeling lately. (Little) belly pics to come soon.
In other news, does anyone have any carseat/stroller/babygear advice or suggestions? Chris seems to be going through a little sticker shock after walking through his first baby store last weekend. I'd love to hear what carseats and strollers you went with especially, as well as any other baby gear items that you loved or hated!
4 comments:
Out of everything we received and bought ourselves for Logan, we used the Aura Evenflow travel set the most and for the longest amount of time (it's a stroller/car seat combo--I think it was close to $200 in 2007 which I think is really good and it was never recalled--gotta look out for those!). It came with a base, and that stayed in the car (we bought another so that it could go into my hubby's suv and we could use both vehicles with ease) and the car seat just clicked in and out of that base. I could then take the baby in the car seat, and place the whole thing on the stroller, that it also snapped into.
The car seat had 2 positions--for infant faced backwards at an angle, and upright for when facing forward. Logan grew out of his at 6 months (he was a long baby though--75%tile) and got a different car seat. The stroller we still use to this day (I call it my off-roader, because i can go in the dirt/rocks etc).
The biggest waste of money/time for us was the diaper genie (maybe it was a knock off). It didn't work and was a pain and the refills were expensive to us (you will be amazed with how many diapers a child can go through a day!). A can of Lysol works perfectly fine and did the job better I think (I just sprayed the pail after we took the diapers out).
I loved a very controversial book called babywise. A lot of people are set against it, but I just used it as a guideline. Understanding the whole scheduling thing (3 hour cycles of, eat, play, sleep) made sense, and helped me get my life back, and made Logan a VERY happy baby. it said babies know nothing and if you give them something to rely on, it makes for less fussiness.
My breast pump was the other item that helped me the most and that I got a lot of use out of.
One of the top bits of advise that I ever got was from a nurse at the hospital I gave birth to. She told me the "5 S's." She said one of these 5 things help with a fussy baby, cause they remind them of the womb and/or are just comforting to babies, and she was 100% right!
Sucking (comforting), swaying (movement of womb), swaddling (tightness of the womb), skin to skin (comforting), shushing (sound of the womb).
If you have any questions (that you want to ask a virtual stranger lol) my email addy is melissa.henning@gmail.com
I also have some tricks/advise for diaper rash, if you ever need it since I am a CNA/skin care professional (aka professional butt wiper lol).
Sorry for the long post!
First off, carseats are only good for 6 years from the date of manufacture. This said, if you are having more than two kids, you cannot use it for all of them. I don't think that is really worth investing a ton of money in something that you have to throw out in a few years. Also important, any seat that has been in a car accident is no longer usable--so don't buy one from e-bay or used. You don't know where it has been! (Why take a chance on baby's safety!)
If you buy one of the infant carriers that snaps into and out of a base, make sure that you can tighten and loosen the straps from the front. Often you will see a little button at the front by baby's legs to loosen/tighten, this is the best!
At the hospital, I have been seeing a lot of seats that only tighten from the back. A huge pain for a baby sitting in the seat, it is so inconvenient that I am convinced that after a few days, it will never again be properly tightened (so scary!).
I did see a huge carseat/base/stroller combo a costco recently. You may want to check it out.
I am convinced that more expensive is not better. On our toddler car seat, we bought a nice, top of the line, expensive one for John, then were always fighting over the use of the second cheap one we bought--it was so much easier to use!
My favorite carseat is one we bought at WalMart with the little bar that is pulled over Marci's head. As an added bonus, Marci uses this padded bar to catch a quick nap in the car.
Yes, I have lots of advice on baby items (especially because I see a ton of it at work). Feel free to pick my brain any time.
We are doing lots of Olivia prep right now so this same thing is on my mind.
Don't feel pressure to do this...because you want everything to be perfect for Spencer Munchkin...and it's just an opinion anyway...but I have found that everything but car seat and crib mattress (which must be new safety-wise) can be bought used.
It means that we can often buy the best of the best for much less than we would pay for bottom of the line new.
For example, off of craigslist, we got a beautiful crib and all the accessories and a brand new baby mattress for less than it would cost just to buy a baby mattress at Walmart. (Really it's darling and I'm still oogling over it.)
We bought used baby clothing. We got boxes of flawless brand name clothing and it equaled out to be 15cents an outfit. (Lucky find but they're out there.)
All the places we've lived, we've really needed a good umbrella stroller. Maclaren's are the best but $$$$ if bought new.
Anyway, with a stroller figure out what you want to use it for first (ie for Spencer Munchkin as an infant? or jogging? just occasionally?)
Uh Bradshaw is done letting me type. =)
I remember feeling that way! I didn't really fit into my maternity pants until three weeks or so ago. But, then again, our baby boy is up really high!
I have no idea bout car seats either. We did register for a car seat/stroller duo that is reasonably priced so we'll see...
Post a Comment