We've learned a lot over the past 8 month and we are continuing to learn more as she grows. I have a lot of friends who are expecting (they seem to come in waves don't they?) and I think about all of the cool products that are out there for mommies. I thought it would be fun to put together my top 10 list of awesome products that we have enjoyed. Everyone is going to have their own opinions on these things, but for anyone not knowing about them or wanting to try something out these are the things we suggest. (Click on each name to follow the link to the product webpage).
1. My Brest Friend Nursing Pillow. I tried the Boppy at first, and even had the fancy two-sided one with straps. It doesn't even compare! The MyBrestFriend stays in place, is firm but soft, and Kylie didn't fall into the gap between my stomach and the pillow. Breastfeeding was a tricky thing to learn, and the MyBreastFriend helped SO much. Dare I say it made it easy? They look pricey, but if it doesn't weird you out too much you can find them on Craigslit. I think I payed $5 for mine and you can totally wash the cover. Best money I think I've ever spent on a baby item. I could go on and on and on about this one. Seriously love it!
2. Muslin Swaddling Blankets. They don't even have to be this specific brand. They are awesome! It was summer when Kylie was born and very hot (no A/C in our place). I don't even think we put clothes on her for the first few weeks. We just swaddled her at night. She grew out of the "swaddle" part pretty quickly as she loved having her arms out and it didn't really put her to sleep to have them in. But we are still using them today. They make great burp cloths (common, whose kid actually spits up in the area of those tiny rectangle cloths? Not mine!), boogie and drool wipes, blankets, and nursing covers.
3. UnderCover Mama. I'm more on the modest side of things when it comes to breastfeeding. That's why I love these! It's like a tank top that attaches to your nursing bra. So when you lift up your shirt, you are still totally covered around your waist. How cool is that?! Brilliant! I don't care for the price tag, but if you get a couple in some neutral colors you could rotate them pretty easily.
4. Soothie Pacifier. I totally understand this is different for everyone. But we tried two other pacifiers and Kylie wouldn't take them. She would gag for some reason. This was the only one that was able to stick, and therefore we loved it! Now she only does her sucking on the thumb, but this has turned into a great teething toy. She can put the whole thing in her mouth (as one of the comments on the webpage had mentioned), but I guess it didn't worry me too much knowing that it was definitely too big to get stuck in her throat.
5. Graco Click Connect. We were given an infant car seat that was almost new. We loved the idea of the Click Connect! (I'm sure other brands have their own versions of this too, we just ended up with the Graco). It was so easy to grab the infant car seat out of the car (and put it back in) and then click it into the stroller. We ended up going with a Graco jogging stroller later which was awesome because we could still fit her infant car seat onto it, even though she wasn't quite ready to sit on her own in the actual stroller. Now that she's older and has grown out of her infant seat it's not that big of a deal, but it made all the difference when she was in that infant seat! Loved the convenience!
6. BabyWearing San Diego. This group is so neat! They meet monthly at a local park and you can just show up and get free information about baby wearing. They have a HUGE pile of as many types of carriers as you could think of that you can try on for free and lots of mommies with TONS of free and very helpful information if you're trying to figure out how to wear or what kind you want. If that's not enough, you can sign up for their lending library. All you pay is $30 for the entire year and you can "check out" a different carrier each month. Do you guys even understand how much these carriers cost usually? $150 is the low end, they go way up from there. And you can get an entire year of all of them for only $30. So fantastic! I highly recommend it for first time mommies and babywearers because 1) you get to try before you buy (and not just in the store, but for the entire month when you really can feel how it wears on your back) and 2) babies grow so fast that it will save you money since a lot of carriers have specific size/weight limits and this way you can keep changing carriers are your baby grows. Unless you really plan to wear your child after the first year, this may be all you need. If you don't live in San Diego, you should definitely look into something similar in your area.
7. Nosefrida Snotsucker. Okay okay, this seems really gross. Some people are super germaphobes and I get it if you can't handle this. I'll admit it was strange and weird to use. But in my book it works so much better than those silly bulb syringes that you always see. First off, you don't actually stick this in baby's nose, just along the outside. I always hated sticking the bulb in Kylie's nose and felt like I was going to accidentally give her a lobotomy. Secondly, I've heard a lot recently about the mold that can grow inside of those bulbs. Maybe it's true, maybe not, but you'll never know unless you cut it open. I love that you can see through this, and you can wash it and actually see that it's clean! Lastly, that stupid bulb never really sucked anything. It gave one tiny puff/suck of air and then I had to keep going back and back. Poor Kylie. With the SnotSucker I can control how much suction AND it's continuous (or at least as long as I can breathe in for). 5-10 seconds and I'm done. That's it! Easy! Kylie still doesn't love it, but it is easier for both of us to get it over quicker.
8. Boogie Wipes. I didn't realize I needed them until Kylie's first really bad cold. Her snot would dry and get all crusty around her nose in the mornings. This really helped to clean that off gently. And honestly, everyone hates when their nose gets raw from tissue over-exposure when you're sick. This totally helped prevent that. We had a berry scented one at first that was a gift. I personally thought it was too strong of a smell and wouldn't have wanted it in my nose, so I've opted for the unscented ones. Now they are are staple for our house. And a small pack for my diaper bag too!
9. Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair. This was a hand-me-down that we didn't realize we'd love at first. It's best selling points: it can recline so you can put a fairly new infant in there to sit with you at the table, even if they can't hold their head up yet. It's portable. We have a family road trip coming up and I'm pretty sure this is coming with us. Kylie is now eating solids but it is extremely difficult to feed her in our laps since she's also very squirmy. And, we didn't even realize this until looking at the product online just recently, but you can actually take the back off once they get older so it's more like a booster. Ummm cool!!!
10. Foscam Wireless Camera. This only barely made the list. I'm still not 100% sold on it, but I do think it works okay so far. In short, it's a baby camera (or at least that's what we're using it for). I wanted a video baby monitor, so my nerdy husband put in his two sense and said he wanted it to be a wireless one (i.e. one that works over wireless internet). Ultimately, I do think this is neat for a few reasons: I can watch on my computer/laptop. So if I'm working on stuff online, I can also watch her while she naps. I don't think he has, but since it uses internet, nerdy husband could watch from his computer at work. I can also watch from my phone via a simple free app. I use this option at night since my phone charges next to my bed. We purchased it from Amazon.com and at the time it was only about $65. The video monitors that I had been looking at here upwards of $150 or more! And those are specifically just baby monitors. At least with this one, when we're done we can turn it into something else like a cool surveillance monitor or something ninja-like (right?). I don't know. Again, I'm not totally sold, but so far it's been nice.
Well guys that's about it. I could come up with a bunch of other things that have been cool, but these were at the top of my list. I hope you've enjoyed a peek into our world and what we love. I'd love to hear about your favorite products. A lot of these things were just from hearing them from my friends. The more we share the more we know, and I'm all about knowing what's out there!
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