Baby products? Questions for PT skin kid moms.

[beeniesmom]

Hi! This post is for existing moms of little ones.

I've been gathering info. from a few people but thought that a thread on the subject would be great.

Other first time moms on PT will benefit too.

A few friends of mine have been urging me to start a baby registry for the little one to come. I have no idea what to put on it. Sure, bottles, diapers and the usual stuff.

My problem is that there are so many brands.

What products, but mostly brands of different items would you recommend and what products/brands are a waste of money? Safety features... etc.

Any input would be great... from car seats to bottles to pumps to diaper brands etc...

[finn's mom]

I'm excited to hear what people have to say! Especially about car seats, strollers, cribs...As far as bottles and other necessary smaller items, I'm just going to go with BPA free plastics, natural when I can afford it and as much as I can find that's "Made in the USA." I've been told 100 different things as far as brands go, so, I'm just going to go that route.

But, I'm lost on strollers and those bigger items!

[prechrswife]

On car seats, if you don't mind it costing a little more, Britax is the best out there. That said, our infant carrier seat is an Evenflo, and it has served us well. When the girls have gotten bigger, we have gone to Britax Marathon convertible seats and love them. They get very high ratings on safety. As I said, they are pricey, but we decided that was one area where we would splurge.

We got a wooden high chair, which is pretty to look at, but hasn't been very practical. If you want wood, go with something like an Eddie Bauer, not one of the models from a specialty store. That said, ours has lasted, and we are still using it, but not that practical overall...

Our oldest daughter used the Playtex bottles with disposable liners, our younger used the vent-aire kind. Both are good. A lot of it boils down to the preferences of the baby.

Our Evenflo double stroller is huge, but it is easier to steer than our Cosco single stroller. Those are the only brands we've really used there. You probably will want an inexpensive umbrella stroller for occasions where the big stroller is too bulky. We have used ours in airports and when we are on car trips where we have tons of luggage, etc.

For diapers, we mostly use Luvs, just because they are less expensive and work well. Pampers Swaddlers and then Cruisers are great. Personally, we have had leak issues with Huggies, but I don't know if that is the same for everyone. On the other hand, I prefer Huggies wipes.

When we got our swing and bouncy chair, we went on the cheap end, and they only lasted through one baby. (Since our oldest was adopted at 9 months, we didn't get these until the second time around.) This time, we are going to have to get new ones and will probably go mid-range, although we'll probably stick with Fisher Price. Not for sure on the brand, though.

If you are planning on doing any formula feeding, our girls have done well using both the Parent's Choice (Wal-Mart) and Target store brand formula. Because of FDA regulations, the nutritional value is on par with the name brands, and it is much less expensive.

With our oldest daughter, we got a convertible crib, and that has been nice because when the time arrived, we just switched it over to a toddler bed. She is 3, and we are still using that bed with her crib bedding. That said, with the new baby on the way, she will be getting a "big girl" bed, daughter #2 will get the convertible crib, and the newborn will get the baby's current crib (not convertible).

Make sure you have enough of the practical items like onesies, sleepers, gowns (although I personally prefer sleepers to the gowns, but that is just me), bibs (you will need more than you think), hooded towels, baby washcloths, receiving blankets, etc.

I've written a novel, but I hope this helps. If I think of anything else, I'll add it.

[finn's mom]

Those are awesome tips! Thank you for taking the time to write that out. It's all helpful information! Again, it really does come down to baby and parent preference, but it's great to have a jumping off point! I'm the same way as you, I think we'll splurge on car seats, and go less expensive on some other things.

That's good to know about diapers! I think what I want to try and do is go with cloth diapers when I'm home, and disposable when we're away. I like the idea of not spending as much money and the environmental benefit of it as well. But, I definitely don't want to have to worry about a stinky cloth diaper if I'm at the grocery store, haha. So...disposables will be a part of our routine, for sure!

I plan to breastfeed, too, but I do want to have formula as a backup. It's nice to know the store brands are just as good as the name brands.

I have a lot of friends and family that are sending me used baby clothes upon knowing the sex of the baby. We've already been sent books and magazines, so that's been nice not having to buy those!

I'm excited to see what other's have to say, and am glad Carmen started this thread!

[AdoreMyDogs]

Those are awesome tips! Thank you for taking the time to write that out. It's all helpful information! Again, it really does come down to baby and parent preference, but it's great to have a jumping off point! I'm the same way as you, I think we'll splurge on car seats, and go less expensive on some other things.

That's good to know about diapers! I think what I want to try and do is go with cloth diapers when I'm home, and disposable when we're away. I like the idea of not spending as much money and the environmental benefit of it as well. But, I definitely don't want to have to worry about a stinky cloth diaper if I'm at the grocery store, haha. So...disposables will be a part of our routine, for sure!

I plan to breastfeed, too, but I do want to have formula as a backup. It's nice to know the store brands are just as good as the name brands.

I have a lot of friends and family that are sending me used baby clothes upon knowing the sex of the baby. We've already been sent books and magazines, so that's been nice not having to buy those!

I'm excited to see what other's have to say, and am glad Carmen started this thread!

I'll add more later, but if you're having a girl we HAVE to meet up. You wouldn't believe all the gorgeous clothes we have for Quinn. We were given garbage bag upon garbage bag of clothes. Her double shelf closet and her dresser are stuffed so badly that I keep the mountains of clothes that won't fit on top of her dresser or in a storage bin. I've had to give away perfectly good bags of clothes because I simply have no more room in my little house.

So, I'll give you some clothes if you're having a girl, it will benefit both of us, it will clear up lots of room for me and it'll provide your little bundle with some incredibly cute clothes

[finn's mom]

I'll add more later, but if you're having a girl we HAVE to meet up. You wouldn't believe all the gorgeous clothes we have for Quinn. We were given garbage bag upon garbage bag of clothes. Her double shelf closet and her dresser are stuffed so badly that I keep the mountains of clothes that won't fit on top of her dresser or in a storage bin. I've had to give away perfectly good bags of clothes because I simply have no more room in my little house.

So, I'll give you some clothes if you're having a girl, it will benefit both of us, it will clear up lots of room for me and it'll provide your little bundle with some incredibly cute clothes

That's awesome news! Thank you! As soon as we're able, we will find out the gender! I have a friend who just had a boy, and she has the same problem you're having, so I should be set. My mom's best friend (she's practically my second mom) has already bought some outfits, too, hahaha. I told everyone, though, that I want nothing sent to me until I get past the first trimester.

[BitsyNaceyDog]

Carmen, I know I already gave you my opinion on some things, but I'm going put some of it in here for Kari or anyone else.

That's good to know about diapers! I think what I want to try and do is go with cloth diapers when I'm home, and disposable when we're away. I like the idea of not spending as much money and the environmental benefit of it as well. But, I definitely don't want to have to worry about a stinky cloth diaper if I'm at the grocery store, haha. So...disposables will be a part of our routine, for sure!

That's exactly what we do, use cloth at home and disposable when we're out. I love cloth! BumGenius are my favorite. I'm thinking of asking my mother-in-law to help me sew some though to save a little money. Though ultimately cloth will save you a lot of money, they are still expensive.

I'm with Dusty on the Britax carseat, that's what Nathan has and we love it.

We use glass bottles, no concern with BPA or any other chemical in those. I also love Nathan's stainless steel sippy cups, you wont need sippy cups for awhile though.

I told Carmen the one product I totally hated was the bottle warmers we tried, we found them all worthless. Maybe others have had better luck, but this time I will not be getting one. We could never get one to warm the bottle to the right temp. It was either too cold or BOILING hot. We felt they were unsafe and we threw them out. (I have no idea what brands we tried, it's been too long since we had them.) We'll use the stove top to warm breast milk or the microwave for formula. People will tell you that the microwave is a big no-no, but really it depends on how you do it. We only ever used it when we were making a formula bottle, then we just popped the water in for a few seconds (depending on the amount in the bottle, 10-20 seconds) It was never hot, it wasn't even really warm, just slightly above room temp. Then we added the formula and stirred/shook it up. Doing it that way is fine. Formula doesn't need to be warmed at all (unless it's out of the fridge), but some babies prefer it warm. Nathan took it just above room temp.

I'll add some more later when I have more time.

[finn's mom]

That's exactly what we do, use cloth at home and disposable when we're out. I love cloth! BumGenius are my favorite.

I'm with Dusty on the Britax carseat, that's what Nathan has and we love it.

We use glass bottles, no concern with BPA or any other chemical in those.

I will definitely check out BumGenius!

Awesome! I'll have to check out the Britax, I think I've seen it in the searches I've done.

I hadn't really thought about glass bottles, but I will probably do that! I might end up using plastic BPA free bottles for travel and outings, like with the disposable diapers, just for less weight. But, we'll see!

Can't wait to see what others have to say and the rest of your thoughts!

Thanks, Kari!

[Karen]

Oh, and keep an eye on Freecycle in your area - often "durable goods" get Freecycled when a child outgrows them, and as you have plenty of "lead time," it cannot hurt to look!

One little girl in our church has a ton of clothes her grandmother saved from when this baby's mom was a baby herself - lots of baby clothes get so little use that they are good for several kids worth of wear! The one sure thing about babies is they grow!

[JenBKR]

If you are going to breatfeed and want to pump, get a medela pump. They are expensive ($250 and up) but BELIEVE ME they are completely worth it.

We have an Evenflo car seat - when Ty was 2 months old someone ran a stop sign and we were in a pretty bad accident. The car seat held up extremely well, so personally I would recommend that brand.

Diapers, I think depends on the baby. We have found that Huggies work best for us...we tried just about every other brand and he pees right out of them.

Just my advice, but don't buy or register for any clothes, people like to buy baby clothes and you will probably end up with way more than you will need.

I like Dr. Brown's bottles, especially since Ty had some colic. They really helped with that.

One tip - you are not supposed to microwave breastmilk. Supposedly it breaks down the components of the milk. Forumla in the microwave works just fine, just shake it up a lot.

I'll probably think of more soon. Good luck!

[beeniesmom]

Are you having a baby shower?... perhaps you can ask for gift certificates as presents... I would say diapers but you need to figure out which works best for you and your baby so you don´t end up with tons of useless diapers...

oh and DO NOT buy tons of baby clothes... they´ll leave it behind in DAYS.. literally....if you really really like something, buy it the next size up so it gets weared at least a couple months... same with shoes

Yes, I think I am. A co-worker of mine said she was going to throw me one. I really don't know many people and don't have a lot of close friends so I was surprised at her gesture. It'll probably be 3 people! hehehe, including me. I am hoping my mom will fly from Italy to attend when the time comes. I figured my mother in law would buy some baby clothes. She always does that with the other babies of the family. I probably will buy but a few pieces. Thanks.

We have an Evenflo car seat - when Ty was 2 months old someone ran a stop sign and we were in a pretty bad accident. The car seat held up extremely well, so personally I would recommend that brand.

Oh my, I'm glad Ty was ok. Another reason to look at Evenflo. Thanks.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Buy Sudocream and Calpol in bulk! both are a god-send

[BitsyNaceyDog]

If you are going to breatfeed and want to pump, get a medela pump. They are expensive ($250 and up) but BELIEVE ME they are completely worth it.

I agree completely! I loved my Medela pumps (I had an electric and manual). This time around I plan to get a Medela Pump in Style. I pumped a lot with Nathan. Nathan was a very lazy eater (still is) and early on I had more milk than a cow. I'm hoping I don't need to pump nearly as much this time around.

[finn's mom]

This is the travel system my mother might get for us. She just sent me an email saying she found it for really cheap. It looks good to me. My mom is on fire with this stuff, it's cute.

http://www.albeebaby.com/grgltrsy7sin.html

[JenBKR]

This is the travel system my mother might get for us. She just sent me an email saying she found it for really cheap. It looks good to me. My mom is on fire with this stuff, it's cute.

http://www.albeebaby.com/grgltrsy7sin.html

That looks like a really good one. I am a big fan of Graco