Get These Items Now

These are all the items that are important to have as soon as the baby arrives.  My son came a month early, so don't waste time because you never know!

Breast Pump:  We bought the Medela Freestyle that comes with a fashionable bag (like you’re bringing this thing as a purse with you anywhere).  This one is up to you.  You can start using it in the hospital right after you give birth and the nurses can help with it.  Most doctors recommend breast feeding for at least the first couple of months, and if that doesn’t work for the baby (or you find it creepy), then a breast pump might be the way to go.  It sounds like a lot of money (a good one is in the $200-$350 range), but with the money you’ll burn through on formula, it’s a wash or more cost efficient to buy a pump.  Or you can be like my wife who wanted to try it, did it for maybe two weeks, and now it’s a $250 paperweight.

Car Seat: We had it narrowed down to the Britax Chaperone and the Chico Keyfit.  We ultimately went with the Keyfit because it was slightly lighter and my wife is a weakling, and the Chaperone didn’t fit with some other pieces we were planning on buying (see Snap and Go Stroller below).  These are the two highest rated chairs in the market…the Chaperone is rated slightly higher in safety, but I have to believe that’s negligible, as there are standards they all must pass. 

Car Seat Base: Buy one for each car…you don’t want to have to switch them in and out.  Local Police Precincts have people that can check to make sure you install this correctly.  Have this done BEFORE the baby comes.  With our son coming a month early, I got to get up on discharge day and try to figure out how to install it.  It’s not tricky once you do it, but when you’re in a rush, it’s confusing.

Snap-N-Go Stroller:  We haven’t used this yet, but I’m blaming the ridiculous arctic weather.  Basically, the car seat comes right out of the car and snaps on to this to make a stroller.  Graco makes travel systems that’s basically the car seat, base, and snap and go type stroller, but we chose to go with the Chicco Keyfit and the snap and go which is the same effect.  Not waking the baby to put them on the stroller is a beautiful thing.

Bundle Me: Depending on when you’re due, this thing is awesome for the winter.  It’s basically a giant furry sac that goes in the carseat.  No need to get them in ridiculous snowsuits…just dump them in this thing, put it up, and you’re good to go.

Side snap shirts: BUY THESE.  A LOT OF THEM.  Getting a newborn’s head through a shirt hole is the single worse experience ever.  These things are great.  Every time I go to the store, I buy more of them. They’re just plain white shirts by Gerber.  Buy them in long sleeves, short sleeves, with mittens, without mittens…you’ll use them under outfits, to sleep in, in the sleep sacks.  They’re great. 

Dr. Brown’s Bottles: PROS: no colic and no gas. CONS: take freaking forever to clean.  There’s 5 pieces per bottle…if you plan on washing them by hand, god bless you.  I did it for the first couple of weeks before I caved and started washing them in the dishwasher.  My poor raw hands couldn’t take the 45 minutes a day to wash them.  So I do nipples by hand, all the rest in the dishwasher, and then sterilize them in the Dr. Brown’s sterilizer once a week or so.

Dr. Brown’s bottle warmer: We tried doing it just in a pot, but that takes a while and is torture at night.  I tried the Simple Years warmer and it spit boiling water everywhere.  The Dr. Browns one is great.  Just make sure you clean it every couple of days cause it gets gross.

Swaddle Me: You will learn to swaddle.  That’s how newborns sleep.  The first week or so we just kept him in a blanket swaddled.  Then we moved him to Swaddle Mes and he loved them.  They’re like sacks that have wings that you Velcro around him with his arms in, so he feels snuggly.

Sleep Sacks: Basically a potato sack with arm holes.  Giant, very warm, and since you can’t use blankets, these are the way to go.  These are really for when they get bigger and don’t need to be swaddled anymore.

Swaddle Me Sleep Sacks: Swaddle Me + Sleep Sack = Swaddle Me Sleep Sack.  Great middle ground for converting them from Swaddle Mes to Sleep Sacks.

Lots of blankets:  Especially when first home, you’ll just keep them in blankets.  You can’t put them in the blankets to sleep in (unless swaddled tight), but they definitely come in handy.  Just the thin receiving blankets are perfect.

Itzbeen:  Best invention ever.  It’s basically a stop watch for diaper changes, feedings, and sleeping.  Don’t get confused and think that you’ll remember…trust me, you won’t.  We use this thing as the bible.  If one of us changes or feeds him, we can just check it and see when the last time was.  It’s either this or write everything down, but this is way better.

Breathable Crib Bumpers: The bumpers that will come in the bed set are great for show, but you can’t keep them on the crib when the baby is in it for suffocation reasons.  Get these instead.

A regular humidifier:  We registered for a cutesy frog humidifier by Crane and it looks great.  The problem is it didn’t do a god damn thing.  And within two days, there was disgusting mold growing in it.  How do I know it wasn’t doing anything?  I theorized that it wasn’t doing anything, so I bought a weather station that monitors humidity, and guess what…nothing.  I bought a Honeywell Germfree Large COOL MIST room humidifier (make sure it's cool mist) and it keeps the room about 10% to 15% more humid than the rest of the house.  And I don’t know how it works, but I can’t find any mold on it anywhere, and I check it ever couple of days.

Diapers: Seventh Generation diapers are the best, hands down.  As someone who has tried them both huggies (terrible) and pampers (less terrible, but not great), Seventh Generation ones are the best.  No leaks, no chorine or chemicals, comfortable to the touch. 

Vibrating Chair: We got the Fisher Price Little Lamb Chair.  It vibrates and plays music, and it’s small and light, so it can be easily moved around the house.  He really likes the vibrating.

Video Monitor: We bought the Summer Infant handheld color monitor and it works pretty good.  The picture is clear, the sound works great, but the battery works for crap.  Otherwise it’s perfect.  You can even see if the baby spits up on the sheets somehow.  I have it mounted on the wall, which works great.

Heartbeat Sensor:  This is one of those items that is not a must, and I thought for sure was a giant waste of money, but has actually helped me sleep at night.  So it goes under the mattress and detects if your baby stops breathing.  It’s amazing to me that it works.  It gives you a warning beep at 20 seconds, then blares and vibrates at 25 seconds, causing you to jump out of bed and poop your pants as you run into the room.  If the baby rolls way off it though, it will also sound, which isn’t cool.  It has happen to me twice so far in 11 weeks.  But it does let me sleep better knowing it’s there after one experience with him choking on reflux.    You need to buy a piece of masonite board from Home Depot for like $5 to put under the mattress if you want to use this by the way…nobody told me that until I couldn’t figure out why the alarm kept going off and read the book.  It also comes with two monitors that monitor room temperature and can be used as sound monitors, which is cool, but I think it was like $200.  Angelcare Heartbeat Sensor Deluxe System.

Mattress: Don’t buy an all Memory foam.  It can have a layer of foam over the coils, but make sure the whole thing is not memory foam.  Supposedly that is a SIDS risk, and you can’t use the heartbeat sensor if you want to get that.  Don’t chinse out on the mattress…your baby’s spine is developing so invest in a good firm mattress.
Buy a coil mattress that has at least 150 coils, 13.5 gauge steel coils, and 9 gauge steel border rods.  It’s scary that I still remember this for some reason.

Grooming kit: nail clippers, nasal aspirator, baby brushes…all things you need in one shot.  Just get the Saftey first kit and get them all.

Rectal Thermometer:  Get the giggling out of your system…the first time you stick this in your kid’s butt, you won’t be laughing if he poops on you.  They take the most accurate readings…don’t bother with the other ones…the ear one works better when they get alittle older, but for now, get the Vick’s rectal thermometer.

Basinet: This one is your call.  If you want the baby to stay in the room with you, you can either have the baby stay in a basinet, or use the pack and play.  We used the pack and play.  The padding in the basinets are not any better than the pack and play and at least it folds up when we’re done with it.  Basinets are huge and can’t be used for very long, so we went with the pack and play for the first month. 

Pack and Play: Continuing off the Basinet entry above, now that we’re done with it in the bedroom, we can fold up the pack and play, bring it with us, and use it where ever we need.  We bought a Chicco one that had a basinet attachment, changing pad station, and a mobile with remote.  It was $169 in Buy Buy Baby, but I can’t remember the model.  It’s pretty great so far. 

Glider Chair: I guess this isn’t a must, but you NEED a chair in the baby room.  The gliding action definitely soothes the baby.  We got the ottoman to go with it, which I was sure was a waste, but is actually pretty awesome.  It takes up a lot of real estate in the room, but we never use the chair without putting our feet up.