7 Must-Haves for First Babies

A first time mama-to-be recently asked me for a list of must-haves. Here’s what I’ve come up with. 1. Stroller — I’ve been so many years out of the loop now, that I have no idea what’s out there. For starting out, especially if you don’t have a car and plan on taking cabs, I highly recommend getting a Snap ‘N Go (see here for a comparison of different carseat carrier models). That option will last you about a year. If you want to have a non-carseat options, then you sorta can’t go wrong, though, with a Baby Jogger City Mini. If you plan on having another kid in the next two years, then I highly recommend getting one of the Phil & Ted strollers — then, when #2 comes along, you can just buy the P&T doubles add-on kit (not that we’ve already pushing for #2 or anything…). 2. Swaddles — I recommend getting at least two of these. I prefer the Kiddopotamus Swaddle over the Summer Infant one. Ergo Carrier Beco Butterfly II Carrier 3. Baby carrier(s) — I recommend getting one cozy, stretchy wrap (like this one) and one soft structured one. I’m really happy with the Beco Butterfly, but I think I’d

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Disposable Baby Bottles

(I wrote this last week and forgot to post it, which is why there’s no mention of our new baby…who will be introduced in the next post.) I’m not going to lie — we are not the “greenest” family. Now, disposable-goods-using as we may be, there is no way I would ever use disposable bottles on a regular basis. Not only would I feel guilty about the wastefulness and laziness, I would also go broke. However, they are an excellent option for long plane rides. I remember when Hila was using bottles and we were traveling the annoyance of packing bottles, a bottle brush, and dish soap and then having to balance in a turbulent plane bathroom to wash them out so they didn’t get smelly. It was not fun. So will I buy these disposable bottles for our next baby? Yes. Will I be strong enough to reserve them for travel only? I hope so.  The first option here isn’t even too expensive. It’s the Vital Baby Disposable Sterile Feeding Bottle. For a pack of 4, Amazon charges $5.99.  Next up is the Steribottle Ready to Use Baby Bottle, which comes in packages of 5 (for $4.79) and 10 (for

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The Search for the Perfect Cup

When I had a baby, I was obsessed with finding the right bottle. Now that I have a toddler, I must find the perfect toddler cup. As of now, we’re still using the BornFree Trainer Cups. Hila is extremely attached to them, and while I’d love for her to graduate away from these very bottle-like cups, I can’t bear to take them away from her. I’m hoping that if I can find other sippy cup that she likes, she’ll slowly create new, less intense attachments to other cups, making BornFree weaning and the transition to a real cup easier. We have random ones around the house. A Life brand cup from SuperPharm, some Munchkin straw cups, and a few Minnie Mouse Take and Toss sippy cups — but she doesn’t really seem to care for any of these. Especially not for drinking milk out of. (She’ll happily drink water or juice out of anything.) Next I will try the Boon Fluid – No Spill Toddler Cup. Maybe it’s time to just stop wasting money on fancy cups and teach her to drink from a cup. Perhaps an attractive mug, like the Thinkbaby Kid Mug would be a nice next step.

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Booginhead SippiGrip: The Real Deal

Here’s an inexpensive baby product that once you have, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without. The Booginhead SippiGrip is a sippy cup/bottle strap that attaches baby’s cup to her stroller, car seat, wrist, high chair, etc. What a great idea! Now, when Hila says, “Uh-oh” and then throws her bottle (yes, in that order), I don’t have to pick it up! It remains hanging on the strap for her to pick up on her own when she’s ready.

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MAM vs. Avent bottles

We’ve been through lots of bottles in this house, and until recently, kept coming back to the Avent bottles. Out of the Nuk, Soothie, and some other brand that I don’t remember, Hila seemed to like the Avent best. Whenever she eats, however, we need to put a cloth around her neck because she ends up dribbling out a huge amount of milk and getting it all over her body, her clothes, and whoever is feeding her. I would never dream of feeding her without one of those cloths. It is just extremely messy. For some reason, I didn’t even think to hold the bottle responsible for this, and just assumed it had to do with Hila’s mouth and tongue — we had the frenulum snipped when she was few weeks old because she wasn’t nursing, and thought somehow that her nursing problems were just feeding problems in general. I recently got bored with the Avent bottles and bought some MAM bottles (including a blue one that says “Little Man” on it — whoops). The MAM nipples are wider than the Avent‘s and fill Hila’s mouth better. This means that there aren’t huge pockets of room open at the sides

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The First Years Soothie Bottles

We just got The First Years Soothie Bottles which was exciting because Hila absolutely loves the Soothie Pacifiers and we thought it would heighten her bottle-feeding experience. They’re good bottles…I don’t really such a difference from the Avent bottles that Hila normally uses, except for one brilliant innovation: The cap of the bottle snaps onto the bottom of the bottle so when you’re feeding you don’t need to worry about misplacing the cap. Very smart. The bad part — the cap doesn’t fit on the TOP of the bottle! The caps are so loose that I needed to tape it shut so it wouldn’t open in the diaper bag! I think maybe we just got a dud of a set. There’s no way that they would not know about this problem and have fixed it right away. So should you buy these? Just check to see if the cap fits snugly. If it does, then you definitely should. All bottles should have the caps attach to the bottom. What a great idea! Wish I would’ve thought of it!

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Glass Bottles

I plan on breastfeeding our baby, but I imagine there will be some times when it just makes more sense for someone else to feed him/her a bottle (like in the middle of the night). I never really thought about this before, but as soon as I saw these cute mini WeeGo Glass Bottles,I decided that I’d like to go glass with our bottles. I think that as the kid grows and learns how to hold the bottle him/herself, it wouldn’t make sense anymore to use glass for the obvious reason that it may break, but while mom or dad are still in charge, why not use something a bit more hygienic? Glass bottles are chemical-free and easier to wash and sterilize. And with the rubber sleeve and the silicone nipple, it makes for a cute, colorful, and clean feeding experience. The WeeGo Glass Bottle also comes in a 9 oz. size. Both sizes come in a variety of colors, including Ocean, Sky, Pink, Orange, Raspberry, and Yellow. A little cheaper and only slightly less cute is the Siliskin Evenflo Glass Bottle. It comes in light pink and light blue and holds 8 oz.

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