One of the biggest dilemmas us parents face is what is really required for our baby and what exactly is a waste of money. So here is our experience on everything we used and didn’t use in Ahan’s first three months. Ahan is now 4 months old. So this post has been one month in the making. I hope this helps some new parents!
Sleep
| Product |
What We Got |
Needed? |
| Crib |
Storkcraft Chelsea |
Inexpensive, Looks Great with our modern theme. However Storkcraft was very slow to respond to a recall. |
| Mattress |
Foam |
You have the choice of Foam and Spring. We picked the Foam. If you select spring, make sure to get one with lots of springs. |
| Bedding etc. |
A sheet set (sheet + mobil + comforter), extra sheets |
|
Changing
| Diapers |
Pampers Swadlers |
Ahan was born a tiny baby and Pampers fit him much better than Huggies. So we stuck to them. |
| Wipes |
Lots |
We got a large box of Huggies wipes from Sams. We are going to try out Members Mark wipes next. |
| Changing Pad |
Countoured Changing Pad |
We use this about as often as we change him on the floor or bed with a disposable pad under it. However this is really useful for massaging the baby. |
| Disposable Changing Pads |
Adult Incontinence Pads |
Disposable Baby changing pads are completely useless. We got some as part of a baby starter kit and I wouldn’t waste my money on them at all. Adult incontinence pads (we got them in bulk from Sams), the kind they used in the hospital are really good. |
| Wipe Warmer |
Babies R Us brand |
We used this a few times but it’s really a waste unless your baby will spend its first three months in winter. Wipes dry often and you need to put water in. Plus Ahan really didn’t mind cold wipes at all. As long as he was changed when his diaper was full he was as happy with cold wipes as warm wipes. |
Furniture
| Storage |
South Shore Color Motion |
Looks great. Very Sturdy. Was a little hard to put together because a part was missing that made it easy to hammer in the channels. After a call to South Shore, we were told to hammer the channels and they were really much tougher than we imagined. |
| Bouncer |
Baby Bjorn 123, Basic Bouncer |
The Baby Bjorn came highly recommended from online reviews and for the first two nights Ahan wouldn’t sleep in anything else! After that he wouldn’t even sit in it until his third month was over. Now he loves the thing. He hangs on to the bears and tries to sit up (at 4 months)
While Ahan wouldn’t sit in the Baby Bjorn, we tried this very fancy swing to see if he liked that. The swinging was too fast even at its slowest for a tiny baby so we gave it back and got just a basic seat for him to sleep in. |
Basics
| Clothes |
Lots! |
Most clothes came as gifts to us but you really need lots of onesies. You don’t need too many fancy clothes because it is very difficult to go anywhere with a baby anyway. |
| Pacifiers |
Born Free |
We tried playtex and Born free. Ahan likes the Born Free. YMMV though. Ahan is not really that much of a pacifier fan. He’ll take one sometimes when he’s really crying but he just treats it as a game where he spits out the pacifier and demands it back. Once in a while we used a pacifier to get him to sleep and a few to times to make him stop crying but holding him and walking around was always the faster option. |
Travel
| Car Seat |
Recaro Signo |
This is the only thing that you really have to have before your baby is born. We picked a convertible directly. More on that in my post on car seat selection. |
| Stroller |
Mia Moda Energi |
Since we skipped the infant seat, we needed a stroller that could take a newborn. We wanted a lightweight, small stroller but most of them take kids 3+ or 6+ months. So we ended up with this one. It is a really nice looking stroller. It is a bit heavy and has some trouble turning right on smooth surfaces (e.g. mall floor) but otherwise is very comfortable to sit in. |
| Baby Carrier |
Infantino, Sleepy Wrap |
Ahan liked the infantino for a while but now in summer it is too hot and at three months he was a little too big to face inwards and couldn’t hold his head well enough to face outwards (he loves being held facing outwards). The sleepy wrap thing is a miracle. Ahan just faints in it. |
| Diaper Bag |
Eddie Bauer Mini |
We have only this diaper bag and the only thing that makes it special as compared to a large purse for Parchayi is that it has bottle holders on both sides. Â We originally planned on buying this one and the Columbia backpack diaper bag so that I can carry it too but I’d say diaper bags are highly overrated. You can fit all the baby stuff (a change of clothes, diapers, wipes, milk, changing pad) in anything – purse, laptop case etc. and there is no need to buy a special diaper bag. |
Feeding
| Bottles |
Dr. Brown |
These came highly recommended. We tried Playtex and Nuk but Dr. Brown seemed better. Playtex dropins don’t work with a bottle warmer (based on online discussions, not real testing) but if you can use them it will save you load of time in washing bottles. |
| Bottle Warmer |
First Years Night and Day |
This thing really works fast. Keeps bottles cool and heats them up fast and to the correct temperature. |
Bath
| Bathtub |
First Years Bath Tub |
This tub works well for us and Ahan really enjoys his bathtime. |
| Misc |
Body Wash, Shampoo |
|
Misc
| Toys |
None |
In the first three months Ahan wasn’t even interested in the one or two colorful noisemakers we got as gifts. Just show him anything, magazines, book covers that was sufficiently bright was entertaining enough for him. He liked listening to music and was soothed by certain kinds of music like classical guitar. |
| Books |
Lots |
Ahan really loves books. His favorites are a book about a red dog called Clifford and a book called Llama Llama Red Pajama. |
If I think of anything else that I missed, I’ll update the list above.
what about diaper bags? thinking about the regular kind for carrying everything and the portable changing pads for shorter trips. Looking at the messenger bag types for bigger diaper bags and a couple different brands for portable: jelly or pattem pads for the fold-up short tripper changing pads. we live in a city so we make a ton of short trips out and thinking i’d / we’d need both kinds. thoughts?
thanks,
elizabeth
Thanks, I just added my thoughts on diaper bags to the table above 🙂