From the moment a baby is born, she is showered with gifts. From the baby showers with diapers and blankets to the hospital's baby hats and bulb syringes (I'll come back to that later). But what does a baby really NEED? Well, ok, not that much. But there are some very clever baby gear items that we found quite helpful. And, of course, some that we owned, but never used.
Things we had and used often:
Bouncy chair: With vibration, that's key. This item made it possible to pee without holding the baby.
Nose Frida: This thing seems disgusting, and I mean....it is. BUT when you have a 4 week old with a cold, which we were lucky enough to experience, you will use it and you will love it. For those of you who aren't familiar with the joy of the Nose Frida, it's kind of the same idea as the bulb syringe snot sucker that we all steal from the hospital, but the parent actually sucks the snot out of the baby's nose. Don't worry, there's a filter that stops the snot from ending up in said parent's mouth.
Things we thought we didn't need/want, but ended up needing:
- Newborn sized clothing: People kept telling us not to stock up on newborn sized clothing because lots of babies are born already too big. Well, ours was not. On day 5 of Ella's life, I was scouring Carters for NB sized onesies. It's true she did grow out of them after a few weeks, but what was she supposed to wear in the meantime?? Give me all the onesies in all of the land! (PS: Did you know onesie is not a real word? My spellchecker is going crazy.)
- Swaddles: We tried to swaddle Ella when she was tiny and she did not enjoy it. Newsflash: she doesn't have to like it if it works, which it does. We did not try again for way, way, way too long. The first time we bit the bullet and put her to sleep in a Velcro swaddle....was the first time she slept for longer than 45 minutes. Ah-mazing.
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| When my wife found a swaddle Ella can't "Houdini" out of |
Things we thought we'd use, but didn't:
- Baby carriers: We registered for two and we received a few hand-me-downs as well. So far, we've "worn" Ella a collective total of three times, only one of which I would consider successful. Maybe it's because it's been 10 degrees here basically every day of Ella's life...or maybe it's because the Baby Bjorn directions make my head spin. Either way, I think Ella is destined for the stroller.
Trying to put that *adorable* but complicated
outfit on a wiggly baby - Cute, but not at all practical outfits: Before you're actually holding your 8 lb, wiggly human
, that 0-3 sized dress that buttons up the back seems like a perfectly reasonable idea. As it turns out, ain't nobody got time for that. Baby girl lived in the aforementioned onesies and sleepers for the first 3 months of her life. (PS: Sleepers with zippers for the win. Boycott snaps. That might be my best baby advice.)
Figuring out snaps at 3am in the dark
- Aiden & Anais receiving blankets: What's the big damn deal? We were told by many people that these were must-have items. I just don't get it. When we tried to use these as swaddles, we found they were too small and didn't have enough stretch to stay in place. Plus, our dainty 8lber could easily get out of the swaddle. These "blankets" are less thick than your average bed sheet, so not terribly useful for keeping a winter baby warm. I mean, they're cute, but also super pricey and basically useless. We ended up buying some nice big stretchy cotton blankets from Carters for a quarter of the price and relegating the A&A blankets for use as floor covering during tummy time. Expensive floor coverings.
