Babystuff: the good, the bad, and the ugly
(ok, none of it's ugly, it's all pretty cute.)
We ran into kirmish at the babystuff shop the other day, and it reminded me I've been meaning to post about what I've found useful and not useful.
Most (unexpectedly) useful: the little soft-sided carry-cradle that some friends gave us. After the first night I couldn't handle having her in the bassinet where I couldn't see her, so we put her in this little cradle on our bed. The sides keep her from wiggling under the doona and overheating, but I can just lift my head off the pillow or place my hand on her chest to check that she's ok. (Because I don't know about other parents, but having brought this miraculous creature into the world, I am so scared that SIDS will take her away. So, doing everything I can to keep her SIDS-safe while also letting me sleep. Which is another post in itself...) She's getting too big for this now, so we need to figure out what to do now... Before she was born I looked for a cot that could fit next to the bed at the same level, but couldn't find any in the baby shops, so ordered a normal cot. Now I've found the ABA sells 'co-sleeper cots' designed to go next to an adult bed for ease of night feeding.
A lot of parents on the bellybelly forums said they didn't find a change table that useful, as they just used surfaces around the house. But I'm glad we bought one, because it's the right height for us (checked that in the shop!) and has useful pockets to hold wipes and nappy pins/Snappis. I got a portable one, so easy to move into the bathroom and put her towel on it to transfer her straight over from the bath.
The bassinet and stand we got from friends have been great; the stand has wheels, so she can go around the house with me, and it rocks, which REALLY helps to get her to sleep. The stand also holds her bath. I'm not sure if we'd miss the bath if we didn't have one; we haven't bathed her that often as she hated it at first and it takes too long to do every day. Baths are suggested as a relaxing pre-bed thing, but Bridie finds them more exciting than relaxing! So I was just wiping her face and hands each day with a wet cloth (and her bum gets wet wiped and dried every time we change her nappy). Now it's warmer I've been giving her 'sponge baths' with a wet cloth all over; she quite likes this, but is not such a fan of the cooling tepid bath idea... So we probably could have gotten away with bathing her with one of us in the big bath, or in a bucket when she was little and the laundry sink now.
Her clothes and nappies are in a hanging shelf thing, rather than drawers, which makes them easy to grab. Speaking of nappies, I repeat that terry cloth flat nappies are really useful even if you're not using them as nappies! In this heat, Bridie's been spending most of the day naked on her playmat and a couple of terries on the floor.
Speaking of playmats, pyrrha's quilt is awesome. Particularly the fleece side for easy wiping up of drool!
I didn't bother buying a nappy bag as I already had a biggish zipup tote. All one needs is a plastic bag for dirties, and any big bag is a nappy bag. If I wasn't breastfeeding, the little insulated bottle bags that all the specific nappy bags seem to come with would be more useful, but I am, so they're not.
We took ages deciding on a stroller, and eventually decided on the MacLaren Vogue - light enough for my to lift, small enough to fit on PT (though I haven't tried getting on a tram with it yet), but sturdy, newborn-suitable, and easy to set up and pack up.
But more often than not, I carry her in a ring sling. Keeps her warm in winter and shaded in summer, helps her sleep, leaves my hands free, love it. We also have a Baby Bjorn upright carrier that D and I can both wear (it's easily adjustable, while the ring sling is not), which has been great for her reflux and neck strength. When she gets bigger we might get an Ergo as they have a hip strap which helps to carry heavier infants. We were also given a Hug-a-bub style sling and a Mei Tai, but they're more difficult to get her in and out of so I haven't worn them much.
And that's all the babystuff I can think of!
We ran into kirmish at the babystuff shop the other day, and it reminded me I've been meaning to post about what I've found useful and not useful.
Most (unexpectedly) useful: the little soft-sided carry-cradle that some friends gave us. After the first night I couldn't handle having her in the bassinet where I couldn't see her, so we put her in this little cradle on our bed. The sides keep her from wiggling under the doona and overheating, but I can just lift my head off the pillow or place my hand on her chest to check that she's ok. (Because I don't know about other parents, but having brought this miraculous creature into the world, I am so scared that SIDS will take her away. So, doing everything I can to keep her SIDS-safe while also letting me sleep. Which is another post in itself...) She's getting too big for this now, so we need to figure out what to do now... Before she was born I looked for a cot that could fit next to the bed at the same level, but couldn't find any in the baby shops, so ordered a normal cot. Now I've found the ABA sells 'co-sleeper cots' designed to go next to an adult bed for ease of night feeding.
A lot of parents on the bellybelly forums said they didn't find a change table that useful, as they just used surfaces around the house. But I'm glad we bought one, because it's the right height for us (checked that in the shop!) and has useful pockets to hold wipes and nappy pins/Snappis. I got a portable one, so easy to move into the bathroom and put her towel on it to transfer her straight over from the bath.
The bassinet and stand we got from friends have been great; the stand has wheels, so she can go around the house with me, and it rocks, which REALLY helps to get her to sleep. The stand also holds her bath. I'm not sure if we'd miss the bath if we didn't have one; we haven't bathed her that often as she hated it at first and it takes too long to do every day. Baths are suggested as a relaxing pre-bed thing, but Bridie finds them more exciting than relaxing! So I was just wiping her face and hands each day with a wet cloth (and her bum gets wet wiped and dried every time we change her nappy). Now it's warmer I've been giving her 'sponge baths' with a wet cloth all over; she quite likes this, but is not such a fan of the cooling tepid bath idea... So we probably could have gotten away with bathing her with one of us in the big bath, or in a bucket when she was little and the laundry sink now.
Her clothes and nappies are in a hanging shelf thing, rather than drawers, which makes them easy to grab. Speaking of nappies, I repeat that terry cloth flat nappies are really useful even if you're not using them as nappies! In this heat, Bridie's been spending most of the day naked on her playmat and a couple of terries on the floor.
Speaking of playmats, pyrrha's quilt is awesome. Particularly the fleece side for easy wiping up of drool!
I didn't bother buying a nappy bag as I already had a biggish zipup tote. All one needs is a plastic bag for dirties, and any big bag is a nappy bag. If I wasn't breastfeeding, the little insulated bottle bags that all the specific nappy bags seem to come with would be more useful, but I am, so they're not.
We took ages deciding on a stroller, and eventually decided on the MacLaren Vogue - light enough for my to lift, small enough to fit on PT (though I haven't tried getting on a tram with it yet), but sturdy, newborn-suitable, and easy to set up and pack up.
But more often than not, I carry her in a ring sling. Keeps her warm in winter and shaded in summer, helps her sleep, leaves my hands free, love it. We also have a Baby Bjorn upright carrier that D and I can both wear (it's easily adjustable, while the ring sling is not), which has been great for her reflux and neck strength. When she gets bigger we might get an Ergo as they have a hip strap which helps to carry heavier infants. We were also given a Hug-a-bub style sling and a Mei Tai, but they're more difficult to get her in and out of so I haven't worn them much.
And that's all the babystuff I can think of!