So, I've already mentioned in previous posts that you need to get a pack of Depend Underwear, a mattress cover and a sound machine. I recommend The Hatch. It's really pretty, lights up in different colors and plays different sounds. You can program it for a "wake up" alarm with lights or with a special "naptime" selection each day. It's one of the best things we have for Coralie (and ourselves! It helps us sleep too!).
So, what else is on my list as top must-haves for a newborn?
Things I can't live without:
NoseFrida: Those bulb suckers are of the past. Plus, you can't clean them. If you do introduce water to them, they probably start growing mold. Basically, they're gross! The NoseFrida is a device that allows you to suck the snot out of your tot's nose. It sounds gross and I had reservations, but when little Miss got her first cold, I used it every day for like two weeks. It's a miracle device. You can see what you're getting out and you can clean it and replace the filters. It's great! I also recommend getting the saline solution from the same company. It doesn't have crazy ingredients like other brands. It's basically water and sea salt. Baby safe!
WubbaNub: We only have one...the elephant. This girl LOVES her WubbaNub. It's lovingly called "the wubs" "the nubs" "wubba" "wubbers", you get the point. It was her first pacifier (we swore we wouldn't give her one for weeks and we lasted like 2 days...parents of the year). It goes with us on EVERY car ride. It's with her in the swing for naps and in the bassinet at night. It's the best thing ever. She can now get it back in her mouth if it falls out and she always has a friend to play with. It's awesome!
Boppy Lounger: This is not the boppy. It's the Boppy LOUNGER. We have a song that goes with it.."lounging in the boppy loung-Ah, oh lounging in the boppy loung-Ah". You'd have to hear it to get it...it's a catchy tune! This thing goes on the floor to contain her. I can put it on the bed (never do this unsupervised) so she can watch me fold clothes. She sits, sorry, "lounges", in it while I brush my teeth and wash my face and get ready. We have friends that use it on their kitchen counter so the baby can be with them as they cook...again, supervised. It's a brilliant thing! It sure beats putting the baby right on the floor! It has a "velour" side and a material side. We keep the material side down, so it doesn't collect things, like my hair, from the floor!
Fisher Price Swing: Everyone told me I HAD to have a Rock 'n Play. Their kids would only sleep, nap, live in the Rock 'n Play. We got one (if you get one, make sure it's the one that plugs in and rocks on it's own. Ain't nobody got time to rock it yourself.) Coralie HATED the Rock 'n Play. She screamed every time we put her in. I couldn't put her down during the day. I was loosing my mind. So, we decided to try a swing. I found the Fisher Price Swing with the help of a friend on a Buy, Sell, Trade Facebook site and the moment we put her in, she was IN LOVE! This swing is THE BEST! So good that I rented the exact same one when we traveled to San Diego because it's part of our everyday life! For us it's this swing, for you it might be the Rock 'n Play or the Mamaroo. You'll figure it out! The winning device makes all the difference!
Zip up onesies: Zippers > snaps. In the middle of the night outfits that zip from the bottom > everything else in the world. Zippers are your friend! Kevin is my diaper changer. It's been him from the start. Thank the Lord for a partner that can help and was willing to help! When she'd get up, he'd change her diaper while I got ready to feed her and then we'd swaddle her back up for bed. This is still the routine, even though her "middle of the night" wake up is like 6am now. When my diaper changer says he needs zippers, he gets zippers! Target has the best onesies that zip from the bottom (Cloud Island and Cat & Jack brands), but any ole zipper will do! We don't care if it's cute, if it doesn't have a zipper, we aren't buying.
SwaddleMe Swaddles: Know how everyone wants you to use a flat piece of cloth to wrap your baby like a burrito? And then they can break out in like .09 seconds? Yeah, these SwaddleMe Swaddles have been our go-to since about 3 weeks of life. We tuck her feet in and Velcro it around her and she's snug as a bug all night. Well, she can break out now, but it still keeps her contained for the duration of the night. I don't know what we'll do when she is able to roll over because these are our favorites!
SwaddleMe Swaddles: Know how everyone wants you to use a flat piece of cloth to wrap your baby like a burrito? And then they can break out in like .09 seconds? Yeah, these SwaddleMe Swaddles have been our go-to since about 3 weeks of life. We tuck her feet in and Velcro it around her and she's snug as a bug all night. Well, she can break out now, but it still keeps her contained for the duration of the night. I don't know what we'll do when she is able to roll over because these are our favorites!
While we're at it, let's talk baby registries. A baby registry is SOOOO different from a wedding registry. With the wedding registry, we just took that scanner and walked down the aisle saying, "yep, that looks good. Love those wine glasses. Do you want a new shower curtain? What china pattern is your favorite?" With a baby registry, there was SO. MUCH. RESEARCH. "Is this going to be safe for the baby? Are there any recalls? Should we do plastic or wood or glass? Does this $400 car seat fit into the $300 stroller or do we need attachments? This one must be safer because it's European. Is this nipple size most natural or will it screw her up for life? Etc." I was so stressed out trying to find the best products for our baby on-the-way and it was so frustrating to get gifts that we didn't even register for when I had put in all of that work! People, BUY OFF THE REGISTRY! To do my research, I read Lucie's List from front to back. I'd recommend signing up with them. You get a lovely email each week while you're pregnant and then post-delivery emails that help you know what to expect with your little munchkin. I also looked at consumer reports and read comparison reviews. I've heard that the book Baby Bargains is a great resource. Parents (consumers) compare baby gear and give you first-hand feedback.
Keep in mind that older folks (and me) like to find items at a brick and mortar store. They want to hold them and know exactly what they're gifting. Most don't have Amazon accounts, so it's good to have other options. We would have made a Target registry, but unfortunately there's not a Target in an area where we have a large number of family members, so we had to choose something else. We registered on Amazon.com, BabiesRUs (RIP), BuyBuyBaby and Babylist. Babylist was a cool idea because it compiled all registries and showed you the cheapest price for each item. However, it wasn't the best. Not all of the items I registered for transferred over to Babylist (no matter how many times I reloaded them). Babylist required the purchaser to "claim" an item and mark that they had gotten it or you had to go in and manually take items off. This was time consuming and ultimately led to duplicate purchases because not everyone claimed what they had purchased. And, if you had a return to Babylist, you had to send the item back in the original box....which was really not possible with gifts coming from all over the US and abroad. To top it, Babylist would only give you credit on their site for a return, no money back...and they didn't necessarily had items I wanted. Great idea in theory.
I found that Amazon was the BEST by far of all the registries. There are so many perks and the ease of returning things to Amazon is awesome. No questions asked, you just ship it back and get a credit in a few days.
Amazon has three great deals for baby registries. #1, they have the Welcome Box. This is an awesome box of goodies that comes to your house to say, "Wow, you're pregnant. Congrats and please accept a bunch of free stuff from us." OK! Basically, you have to set up your registry on Amazon and include items from each category that they deem you need items from (or select a box in that category that basically says, "naw, I'm good.") and then spend $10 by buying something off your registry (or having someone else buy something). And you click on a button to say "send me my box, Amazon".
My favorite swaddle of all came from this box and we play with the maracas daily.
#2 is the Amazon Completion Discount. It's 10% off (15% if you're a Prime member) of any remaining items on your registry. Heck, you can add items to your registry to get the discount on them. This discount is good up until 60 days after your "due date" or the date you put down on your registry. This is a great way to get those lingering items that you need at a discount, which I won't complain about. Many of the other baby registries do this as well, but Amazon was really easy!
#3 Free Diapers and Wipes. Looks like they call this Baby Bucks now, but basically if $1000 of the items you've registered for have been purchased, you qualify for $100 of free diapers and wipes. You do have to be a Prime member to get this deal, but WOW! Looks like you can use it 90 days after your "due date". We hadn't quite reached the $1000 mark, so I used my Amazon Completion Discount first to get that 15% off and then we hit $1000 fulfilled from the registry and I got the free diapers and wipes. This is a deal you can't beat!
You can add items to your Amazon registry that aren't from Amazon, which is also nice. If you're not convinced or want more info about other registries, I used this momtricks site to do my research and make my final decisions.
If you're getting ready to register, I wish you the best. It's hard to make those decisions, but it's really fun to start receiving items and be able to wash them and put them away as you nest and get ready for baby's arrival! I wish you no returns and great success with the gear you've chosen!
Keep in mind that older folks (and me) like to find items at a brick and mortar store. They want to hold them and know exactly what they're gifting. Most don't have Amazon accounts, so it's good to have other options. We would have made a Target registry, but unfortunately there's not a Target in an area where we have a large number of family members, so we had to choose something else. We registered on Amazon.com, BabiesRUs (RIP), BuyBuyBaby and Babylist. Babylist was a cool idea because it compiled all registries and showed you the cheapest price for each item. However, it wasn't the best. Not all of the items I registered for transferred over to Babylist (no matter how many times I reloaded them). Babylist required the purchaser to "claim" an item and mark that they had gotten it or you had to go in and manually take items off. This was time consuming and ultimately led to duplicate purchases because not everyone claimed what they had purchased. And, if you had a return to Babylist, you had to send the item back in the original box....which was really not possible with gifts coming from all over the US and abroad. To top it, Babylist would only give you credit on their site for a return, no money back...and they didn't necessarily had items I wanted. Great idea in theory.
I found that Amazon was the BEST by far of all the registries. There are so many perks and the ease of returning things to Amazon is awesome. No questions asked, you just ship it back and get a credit in a few days.
Amazon has three great deals for baby registries. #1, they have the Welcome Box. This is an awesome box of goodies that comes to your house to say, "Wow, you're pregnant. Congrats and please accept a bunch of free stuff from us." OK! Basically, you have to set up your registry on Amazon and include items from each category that they deem you need items from (or select a box in that category that basically says, "naw, I'm good.") and then spend $10 by buying something off your registry (or having someone else buy something). And you click on a button to say "send me my box, Amazon".
My favorite swaddle of all came from this box and we play with the maracas daily.
#2 is the Amazon Completion Discount. It's 10% off (15% if you're a Prime member) of any remaining items on your registry. Heck, you can add items to your registry to get the discount on them. This discount is good up until 60 days after your "due date" or the date you put down on your registry. This is a great way to get those lingering items that you need at a discount, which I won't complain about. Many of the other baby registries do this as well, but Amazon was really easy!
#3 Free Diapers and Wipes. Looks like they call this Baby Bucks now, but basically if $1000 of the items you've registered for have been purchased, you qualify for $100 of free diapers and wipes. You do have to be a Prime member to get this deal, but WOW! Looks like you can use it 90 days after your "due date". We hadn't quite reached the $1000 mark, so I used my Amazon Completion Discount first to get that 15% off and then we hit $1000 fulfilled from the registry and I got the free diapers and wipes. This is a deal you can't beat!
You can add items to your Amazon registry that aren't from Amazon, which is also nice. If you're not convinced or want more info about other registries, I used this momtricks site to do my research and make my final decisions.
If you're getting ready to register, I wish you the best. It's hard to make those decisions, but it's really fun to start receiving items and be able to wash them and put them away as you nest and get ready for baby's arrival! I wish you no returns and great success with the gear you've chosen!
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