They do? Mine seemed just fine. There were several holes cut through in the exact same places as where the strap came through the carseat and the restraints were in the same place as when the cuddle bag wasn’t in there.
Thanks! I’ll keep an eye out for them.
Hubby is really enthusiastic about the feeding - it’s important to him so it’s important to me. As well, I will be away from the baby periodically and there are a couple of other issues.
Unfortunately, co-sleeping is not an option for us (you’d have to see where we sleep to understand).
And of course all advice is welcome. I know everyone is different!
That’s what she told me. She had diagrams showing how the legs sometimes or arms sometimes end up in a less than ideal position. I didn’t question her since I haven’t bought anything yet.
Hmm. Interesting. I can see how that might happen once they got bigger and how they could get scrunched up inside, but my son didn’t seem any more scrunched then he was when the cuddlebag wasn’t in it. (We compulsively checked too, or at least Mom did. I scared her when small with how I fell asleep in a car seat so she was always checking to be sure he was fine.)
Maybe the nurse was just concerned because not all people check?
Mine was $3 at a thrift. 
Cyros: That could be it. It can happen at any age that they end up sitting wrong.
Ginger: I’m jealous. I couldn’t find any that weren’t new and I hit quite a few thrift and consignment stores.
A handy way to spread the cost out is to buy a pack of diapers every couple of weeks, all through your pregnancy. I found that I didn’t really notice an extra $10 here and there, and I bought various sizes so when the GypsyBaby suddenly didn’t fit into size 1, I had size 2 handy. If I ended up with a pack or two extra of a size, I just took them back and exchanged for a larger size. (Fat little kid is four months old now, and already busting out of size 3 diapers.)
I bottle feed, and I only bought six little and six regular size bottles. I don’t feel like washing more than that. I hate washing bottles.
As for bibs, I hate the ones with ties or snaps. Velcro closures are the way to go on bibs. You can’t have too many bibs. I have at least two dozen now, and I still need more. They get grungy-looking pretty quickly.
You’ll need lots of socks. Both of my boys left a trail of little socks everywhere we went, as they both learned to kick them off by the time they were two weeks old. I consider baby socks disposable, because I know I’ll never see them again if we leave the house.
I wasted money buying pacifiers, for both boys. Both would only take the one the hospital sent home, and I’ve never found that kind in a store. I know nothing about breastfeeding and pacifiers, though.
I bought a bassinet for my first. Waste of money. He slept in it for a month or so, and outgrew it. The little one hated it from the first day, because he felt too closed in.
My battery-powered swing is a sanity-saver. Both kids loved the swing, and it gave me a break to get stuff done.
This is a weird one, but I wish I’d bought one of those baby wipe warmers. I thought my nephew was a loon for buying one when his baby was born, but both of mine absolutely hated wipes that were even slightly chilly. (Can’t blame ‘em; I wouldn’t want my butt wiped with something cold and wet, either.)
For my first, I bought a crib that converts to a toddler bed, and then to a full size bed. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I might have another baby. :smack: So I ended up having to get a separate toddler bed for the 3-year-old anyway so the baby can use the crib. Keep this in mind if there’s a chance you’ll have another one.
That’s all I can think of for now.
If you’re getting a stroller, I’d suggest getting one of those light, umbrella strollers. They go for about $20 - the huge, multi-function ones go for hundreds. Plus they are light and easy to manuver. The larger ones feel like you’re guiding a semi around and weigh a ton. I had both, and only used the big one when I was at the mall and needed a place to put packages.
Babies shouldn’t go into the umbrella strollers until they can sit up well on their own. Lots of times do I see these little kids all flopped in the umbrellas, it doesn’t look comfortable at all.
(I’ve yet to get an umbrella stroller, we have the big travel system and a wagon. Plus those umbrella’s were not made to be pushed by tall people.)
We had the same experience. Our daughter was 8 1/2 pounds when she was born, and didn’t get any smaller, but was in 0-3 month clothing for a long time. Unfortunately, I’d listened to everyone’s “Don’t buy 0-3 month clothing, because it’ll be too small before you even leave the hospital!” advice, and bought her a ton of clothes in 3-6 months. We moved from cold New York to warm Virginia when she was 2 months old and she had a ton of cute, warm 3-6 month stuff that ended up finding a new home via ebay.
Some things that I thought were very helpful were the boppy pillow, which allowed for hands-free nursing, gowns with elastic bottoms and mitten flaps on the hands (Easy for diaper changes and you don’t have to mess with those teeny mittens that get lost in the wash.) and a pack of washable changing pads that I can only find at Babies R Us now. I get them for baby shower gifts, because they came in very handy. Em would pee as soon as we took her diaper off, and those pads saved us a lot of pee on the floor, couch, bed and car seat. We never bought a changing table and rarely used her crib until she was at least 8-9 months old.
I also had the Avent Isis pump, and it worked really well for me. I never tried an electric, though, so I can’t compare them.
Oh Stainz …What a fabulous thread! Thank you! ((HUG)) 
My husband and I were in a Baby’s R US store the other day, and I felt so overwhelmed and completely out of my element. I almost left in a panic!
This is great! I am furiously taking notes…
Oh, and Velma , that gift card idea is brilliant!
I didn’t use breast pads at all, never leaked once.
Shop for a peditrician now, and ask them what to stock up on - baby tylenol, cold medicine, a vaporizer, a ped will have a list.
You’ll quickly need some basic saftey stuff. Baby gates and outlet covers and cabinet locks and door knob covers is what we used. They sell a lot of other saftely stuff, some of it pretty useless, some which is great situationally. We had this complex gate thing for the bottom of our open stairs.
We didn’t use pacifiers at all. Borrowed a swing (borrow what you can - babies outgrow things fast). Used a lot of sleep sacks. Didn’t managed to use a sling (or any other hands free type baby carrier) - though I tried.
Babies can be really picky. My daughter wouldn’t use the Advent bottles we’d stocked up on - so we had to go buy new bottles. My son wouldn’t use the Playtex we bought for him. They both wanted different bottles and different nipples than the other. One of my kids couldn’t wear Pampers without a rash, but Huggies were fine. My son barely used his crib, my daughter could have slept in hers months longer than we were willing. My daughter was bringing me books as soon as she could move, my son was too busy moving to care if we owned books (but went through puzzles like crazy - she seldom touched puzzles). My nephew is going through baby food right now, my kids barely ate the stuff - maybe three weeks worth of baby food before they were table food kids. Never used a baby bath - towel in the tub worked fine. My sister discovered the “johnny jumper” she bought won’t fit over the moldings in her house.
And parents can make different choices as well…my cousin has raised three children without a high chair. When they are ready to sit at the table, she puts them in those little “chair on a chair” things with the tray. I know lots of people who did without a changing table. I needed a hospital grade pump (insurance covered it), I have a friend who could hand express.
I guess what I’m saying is - hard as it is - you might want to wait. You are going to be short on time and energy to return diapers that make your kid break out in a rash (ours went to friends), clothes they’ve outgrown without wearing. You’ll find babies to be really expensive and you don’t need to regret $300 worth of travel system that lasts six months and then you wonder why you didn’t buy a double stroller to begin with as number 2 is on the way already. People you barely know will show up with gifts - new stuff and “I’ve got a couple boxes of clothes in my basement.” I remember the Babies R Us panic days well - and now after two kids I walk in there and wonder “does anyone actually buy this crap? What an incredible waste.” And I wonder how much farther the kids college savings account would be if someone had told me “whoa, most of that stuff you don’t need.”
Ha, I DID leave Babies R Us in a panic the first time I went there. It is overwhelming, and the list of ‘recommended items’ they give you if you register there doesn’t help. I think it is 20 pages long!
I thought of a few more things. If you have a winter newborn I found the sleep sacks really nice. You’re not supposed to put them under blankets yet and even as my son got older he moves around so much a blanket would stay on him for about 5 seconds. But if you’re like us you don’t want to leave the heat on 70 all day and night. I liked
this one but I think you can get them cheaper than this.
Also if you are breastfeeding I loved these nursing tanks here . I used them instead of regular nursing bras, which I hated with an ungodly passion. They are a little pricey but IMO worth it, I took one to the hospital with me and I have basically had one on since my son was born. They are comfy enough to sleep in (I found I needed the support at night, plus I would leak) and the mesh lining keeps breast pads in place if you want them. And they come in colors and prints, a nice change from the white or beige choices I got when looking for nursing bras. Plus a little tummy coverage is a good thing after a baby :).
This thread is GREAT! I am also due in November. I have family that is starting to ask what they can buy. My first reaction is always diapers! We’ve been offered a crib from a friend and a stroller from another family. My first reaction was my new baby needs new things. Then you take one look at price tags and you just think - my new baby needs things! Sticker shock was hard to handle.
Please keep the advice coming!
And hey - if you ever make that Excel sheet I’d LOVE a copy!!!
Avoid pacifiers if you can. They are such a pain.
I used the Avent Via system. They are containers that are re-usable or disposable, kind of like those Gladware containers but made for breastmilk. They are especially convenient if you use the Avent pump since you can pump right into the container and stick it in the fridge. You can even use them as bottles and feed baby directly from them. I liked that I wasn’t always pouring out milk from one container to another. I stored quite a bit in the freezer with them, and they are also very good for short-term fridge storage. If you really want to build up a supply and freezer space is an issue the bags do take up less room though. You can just get the smaller size at first, I froze milk in 2 oz. quantities for a long time, later I upped it to 4oz.
I’ll put a general note out there if you are planning to pump - don’t expect a huge supply at first. Some women do great the first time but I really had to be patient and train my body to let down with the pump. At first I wouldn’t even get half an ounce with half an hour pumping. I thought something was wrong with the pump, but I stuck with it. After a while (weeks) and getting used to the way the pump worked and what times were best to use it I was getting 4-6 ounces easy. So my advice is to get used to the pump well before it’s a must (if you are going back to work or whatever.) No one told me that about pumping and I was pretty distressed about it for a while.
I know this isn’t really along the lines of the other responses here, but you should also consider one or more of the following items:
- a 529 Savings Plan
- a Coverdell Education Savings Account
- several hundred shares of a quality mutual fund
- an inter vivos spendthrift trust
Start making annual contributions now, and you’ll never have to write aneurysm-inducing college tuition checks. Plus the little tyke will never have to take out college/grad school loans, and he or she may have just enough left over to put together a downpayment on his or her first house.
Okay, so I just noticed that you’re in Canada. A couple of the specific investment plans don’t apply to you, but my point still stands. Start saving up now.
One thing I didn’t see in here is cloth diapers. Not to use as diapers, but rather to use as burp cloths. Fang is swiftly approaching two, and we still keep these things on hand.
As for disposable diapers, I would recommend you look at Luvs. They are just as good as Pampers, but are definitely affordable.