These are the things that we've come to love during the past five and a half weeks!
Baby K’tan Baby Carrier – The double-sling design is a cross between a soft sling and a structured front baby carrier or backpack. It is made entirely of soft 100% cotton, and the two loop design holds the baby securely. It’s very comfortable because it rests on both shoulders and has a built-in back support band, and it is easy to use – no wrapping or buckling involved. Plus, it has 10+ positions, is machine washable and dryer safe, and can be used for a long time (up to 42 pounds)! And most importantly, Emma loves it!! If she’s fussy, she normally calms down right after I put her in it and start walking around. She falls asleep in it fairly easily too! It’s great when I need to take her somewhere and don’t want to carry her car seat/carrier or can’t use the stroller. Example: I went to the Just Between Friends consignment sale the other day and couldn’t take the stroller in, so I just put her in this sling. She did great the entire time I shopped!
The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp – Most new parents have heard of the 5 S’s for how to calm a baby, but this book is wonderful in its detailed instructions on how to do each S (Swaddle, Side/Stomach, Shushing, Swinging, and Sucking). This was indispensable advice for us for Emma’s first five weeks of life because she had to be calmed down and put to sleep in our arms before we could put her in her crib.
Luna Lullaby Soothing Swaddle Blankets – These blankets are great because they’re 44” x 44”, so they’re much larger than normal receiving/swaddling blankets. They’re made of soft muslin that is breathable and stretchable. They even come with a DVD with step-by-step instructions on how to swaddle a baby.
MAM pacifiers – these are the only pacifiers we’ve found that Emma will take!
Mommy’s Melodies Soothing Plush Bear – Emma loves the mother’s womb sounds, but it also plays 3 lullabies and 2 nature sounds. It automatically shuts off after 5 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about remembering to turn it off or it draining the batteries all night long.
Now all we have to do to put Emma to sleep is to combine those last three items! Swaddle her up good and tight, give her a pacifier, turn on the Mommy’s Melodies bear, give her a kiss, and put her in her crib. We normally have to go back in her room once or twice to put the pacifier back in her mouth and turn the bear back on, but that totally beats having to walk and bounce and sway and rock and pat and… okay, you the get picture… for 45 minutes or more!
Medela Tender Care Lanolin – I’m not going to go into detail with this one, but let’s just say that this stuff was a necessity during those first few weeks of breastfeeding.
MommyGear.com – This is a great website for purchasing nursing bras, especially for those of us with larger cup sizes! You can shop by size, and they offer free shipping on size or style exchanges on all nursing bras.
Boppy pillow – I didn’t think I would need one of these, so I just used regular pillows at first. But after borrowing a friend’s Boppy, I don’t feed Emma without it (unless I’m out of the house). Plus, we can put Emma in it to prop her up or for tummy time!
Baby Nail Scissors – I tried using the clippers on Emma’s little nails… let’s just say it didn’t go well! The scissors are so much easier and safer to use, in my opinion.
bumGenius Cloth Diapers – If you’re going to use cloth, this is the way to go! We only have a few of these because they’re pretty expensive. The all-in-one's come in sizes XS - L, so you have to buy more as your baby grows, but they're so easy because you can just throw the whole thing in the wash. With the bumGenius 4.0 diapers, you have to deal with inserts, but they have snaps to adjust the diaper to three different sizes.
Amen to the Lanolin, Happiest Baby, BumGenius, and Boppy!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to get a new sling for Baby #2. I have a Peanut Shell, but it doesn't work well for Jason. Can Daniel wear the K'Tan?
What covers do you use with your prefolds? We used only prefolds at first and have slowly (in fits and starts) added a few pockets, fitteds, and all-in-ones. I still prefer prefolds at home because laundry is so much simpler and faster, but it's hard to be BumGenius for nursery days.