baby products review

So, I'm no expert. My babies are only six months old. However, unlike most moms, who go about things one at a time, I have two very different personalities living with me right now and, as such, I feel I'm somewhat qualified to give advice on baby needs. Karla & Grant - are you happy with your gate purchase? Because I stand by my gate - I'm still in love with it. At some point every day I still smile when I walk through the gate. In any case, here's my opinion on baby items:


The good (necessary):

• Crib (duh)

• Bassinet OR Moses basket (we did Moses baskets b/c my sister-in-law gave them to us. We purchased little mattresses for them and called it good. The girls shared one until they were a month old, and slept in their own until they were two months old. Then we finally switched to the crib.
• Bouncy Seat OR swing. Eve LOVED both the bouncy seat and the swing. Mae tolerates the swing and never enjoyed the bouncy seat, BUT you need somewhere you can strap them in and get them to fall asleep while you nap. The straps are essential so they don't end up like this:
• Saucer OR door jumper. Both of our girls LOVE both of these things. Every day we still spend a lot of time in both and they've been great for smiles.
• Play pen. Pack-N-Plays are both wonderful and horrible inventions. They take advanced degrees (I think three undergrad and four masters) to set-up. However, once they're up they're fabulous. Getting them down causes the same concern, so, unless aboslutely necessary - keep them set-up at all times. We're actually using my 28 year-old play pen b/c it's ten thousand times easier to use. I'm sure the babies are being exposed to all sorts of dangerous things, but so far they seem fine, so I'm not switching.
  
• Rocking Chair. Every house needs one. Period.
  
• Stroller/car seat/travel system. With twins this was kinda tricky to figure out, but in the end we went with a Graco double stroller and matching car seats. It's been great. the car seats snap right on to the stroller. The stroller has good shock absorbers, folds fairly flat fairly easily and everything works together well. PLUS, my HS classmate who has 2 1/2 year-old twins uses the exact same stroller, so I know it's good for the long haul.
  
• Buying diapers: I KNOW not everyone has access to this -but here are my opinions of diapers: Huggies are GREAT, but overpriced. Costco's Kirkland's are just generic Huggies (these are my first choice). Luvs are ok, they're my second choice. Pampers always seems to give Mae rashes, but it's all we used in the hospital. White Cloud (Sam's club generic) are generic Luv's. Walgreens brand are HORRIBLE. Never, upon pain of death, use these on your children. I don't care how cheap they are. Both girls broke out in a rash within 24 horus of using them.
• Toys: Start small. The interlinking plastic rings (24/approx. $4) and fabulous for everything and still occupy the girls daily. Blankets with tabs on all sides are also fascinating early on. Also have a couple different car seat toys to alternate.
• BOPPY. I am a boppy convert. When we were registering I thought they were ridiculous and for the first three weeks we didn't have one. I don't know WHAT I was thinking. Ridiculous. THIS is a fabulous product. I was able to stick a baby under both arms and breastfeed Mae on one side and bottlefeed Eve on the other. Randy could bottle feed them both. It's fabulous. Now we use it for helping catch Eve when she falls over (she's good at sitting, not great)
• Baby blankets (and lots of them) It's a good thing a lot of people give blankets, b/c we used them all - especially in the cold Midwest winter. I think at last count we had 23 different blankets of varying material, size and patterns. And each one is well used.
  
• Crib toys: We only have a mobile (that the girls cannot reach) in the crib and they do just fine. The crib is for sleeping, not playing, so IMO, keep the distractions in the crib to a minimum.
• Gate. We have two dogs. Two wonderful energetic dogs. Who just now are beginning to live in rooms other than the kitchen. Did I mention they're also patient? So, check out this post to see my opinions on gates.
  

Unnecesary items:

• Baby wipe warmer. Unless you plan to bring it with you always, you're really just training your baby to be pampered. What happens when you're out at Wal-mart in the winter and you change their diaper? Screams. I've seen it happen. They get used to what they have. I'm a no frills mom, and this is total frills. Don't waste your money and don't register for it.
  
• Bottle warmer. There were times this would have been really useful, but overall, we just didn't have space and time for a bottle warmer. So, for breastmilk, Mae just took it straight from the source and I just pumped early for Eve. Otherwise, we make their formula up just ahead of time, most of the time. The rest of the time they've just learned to take it chilled. They've never really minded - not even in the middle of the night.
• Everything on the list above. We do have everything above, but we also have two babies, so we need more distractions.
  

My number one tip:

DO NOT BUY ANY OF THESE THINGS NEW. (ok, ok, you can buy new diapers). And maybe the ring toys. And rocking chair. OK - anything that's normally over $30 - look for it used. Ask family (hint, hint, Jeni), check craigslist, shop garage sales. People were extraordinarily generous with us, so between that and garage sales we've only spent money on the consumables (diapers, formula, wipes).

I'll bet I have a lot more opinions, but this is what I can come up with for now. Enjoy and let me know where you disagree, or where you have a differing opinion. I'll try to post on clothing and bedding needs soon.

Oh - the one thing I do not place any limits on nor begrudge Randy for purchasing are books. The more the better. LOVE books.

One more tip - start thinking now what lullaby you want to sing to them. Singing is intregal to bedtime. I sing 'Baby Mine' from Dumbo and started doing it when they were two days old. Now, when I start singing that song they stop what they're doing, look at me, smile and quiet down. Eve even starts to close her eyes, even if she's not all that sleepy. Brilliant!