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.

[AdoreMyDogs]

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.

PM me, if you could, when you find out the gender. I'm really disgusted with PT right now and going to log out and not visit for awhile. Please make sure you PM me in case I'm not back when you find out!

Hugs!

-Leslie

[finn's mom]

PM me, if you could, when you find out the gender. I'm really disgusted with PT right now and going to log out and not visit for awhile. Please make sure you PM me in case I'm not back when you find out!

Hugs!

-Leslie

Sorry to hear that. I sent you a PM.

[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!

[prechrswife]

I know what you mean about the baby clothes accumulating. I just gave away 4 garbage bags full of girl clothes, newborn-12 months sizes, plus a few 18 month summer ones. And that's not counting the ones I pulled out because they were stained or off-season for our friend's coming baby.

We never tried a bottle warmer at all. We used the microwave, about like Kari described, on occasion, but both of our girls were good with room temp formula, thankfully.

[prechrswife]

Another thought on car seats--Even though it is possible to just use a convertible seat from the beginning, with a newborn, you will probably want to have the carrier kind. That way, you can take the baby in at restaurants, etc., without having to take them out of their seat, and there is a place for baby to sit while you are eating, shopping, etc. Otherwise, until baby can sit up, you will be holding him/her the whole time.

Another thing we love is our front carrier. Ours is a Snugli, but there are a number of brands out there. We used ours with both girls until they outgrew it, and it is still in good enough condition for baby boy. Great for those times when you want baby close but need your hands free--grocery store, etc. I tried using a sling carrier with Katherine, but she hated it with a passion. I have seen others use them with a lot of success, though.

[sparks19]

Diapers.... Do you have a BJ's near you? or even costco? if so... buy diapers there. seriously the value is amazing. in the smallest size diaper hannah ever wore we got over 200 diapers for $40. In the grocery stores here we would have been paying almost $40 for less than half of that amount. and the BJ's brand diapers (Berkley and jensen)... awesome. I wish we had started using them earlier. they are only $25 a box and they work great. we haven't had any trouble with them.

for diaper rash and other tushy irritants... keep a jar of aquaphor on hand. It's expensive so I woudln't use it all the time (I use desitin most of the time) but when their tushy starts getting irritated just use the aquaphor after every bum change and you will see a vast improvement in 24 hours... in my experience anyway. It has been awesome for Hannah.

[DJFyrewolf36]

Nick is kind of a pain about his formula, if it isn't warm he will refuse to eat lol. I think having it at room temp bugs his stomach, as Ive noticed that he seems gassy and uncomfortable if he has to eat at room temp when we are out somewhere. He needs special anti gas bottles though too or else he gets REALLY cranky!

As far as diapers go, Ive been really lucky insofar that the cheap store brand ones really seem to work for him. They fit right and they don't leak. I got a whole bunch of newborn diapers but Nick outgrew THOSE before I could use them all lol.

[Husky_mom]

Congrats to you too Kari!!... two PT babies YAY!!!

I used Avent bottles and Gerber ones... the Avent ones were pretty practical I loved them!!

diapers.. I used every kind... all disposable... Huggies way to much $$ for the same, Pampers gave rash... and after trying all... there was a brand made here that was very nice onteh pocket and great on him... no drips or rashes... also I´ve tried some walmart brand.. white cloud and parent´s choice... both great...

whatever you two choose for disposable ones stay witht he ones with velcro type closure... adhesive closure sucks...

I got my stroller, carrier from Graco I think.. LOL... and only dust has made it´s way... it´s still as just as new... tip top condition...

now for baby registry.... ADD EVERYTHING!!!!... add even thing you are going to buy yourselves... here you get "points" for every registry purchase which you can later trade in for stuff.. so if you buy your stuff through the registry you´ll get more "points" to trade... also they´ll give you nice presents....

get nail clippers, medicine spoon dosifier or the new pacifier style ones...

one tip get a box of diapers every payday as a routine.... you can get them from now... stage 3-4 is what I used most... then 2... and 1 and newborn I used least maybe just a bag or two...

and as your babies will be newly born on almost old climate.. you can as well get a baby wipes warmer...