Toys Toys Toys by meddygarnet
With the proliferation of products for babies out there, you may be thinking of moving to a bigger house just to fit all your baby’s stuff. Before you go crazy on the baby shower gift registry and wind up with a lot of nice but fairly useless things, it’s good to start with what you must have and build up from there. Here is a list of what you shouldn’t be caught without when the baby comes home – some of it goes without saying, but we are going to say it anyway.
Getting over the hurdle
- Bassinet (if baby is going to sleep in your room)
- Change table
- Receiving blankets
- Bibs: however many you think you need, double it. Ditto for washcloths.
- Breast pump: if you plan to breast feed, this will increase your milk production and allow you to cup feed the baby extra milk (if you bottle feed in the first month, the baby can get confused and reject the breast thereafter).
- Formula: even though you plan to breast feed, many babies need supplementation at one point or another.
- Newborn diapers (size 1 if baby is over 8 or 9 lbs).
- Baby wipes.
- Infant car seat: you can’t leave the hospital without it unless you’re travelling in a cab, and even then it’s not recommended.
- Baby slings: can be easier than wrestling with a stroller while baby is light enough to be carried next to your body, and prefers this closeness.
- Diaper bag.
- Clothing including sleepers with feet, onesies, pants and socks.
- Digital thermometer.
- Baby toiletries: body wash, shampoo, moisturizer, brush & comb set, nail file.
Surprisingly, you can live without – at least at the beginning:
- Crib: baby will be swimming around in it and may not enjoy the feeling of all that space. You can use your bassinet for the first three months at least.
- Bumper pads – along with all that cute cuddly bedding, are no longer considered safe until after the first year when the risk of SIDS is greatly reduced.
- Baby monitor: you will be able to hear your baby’s cry across an ocean of time and space. A monitor will allow you to hear his or her every gurgle, which will simply keep you awake and irritable all night long.
- Toys: you probably have or will acquire tons of them, but a newborn can’t focus his or her eyes beyond about 12 inches and is not really interested in playing with anything but you, at first.
- Bottles: feeding bottles to a baby before breastfeeding is firmly established (i.e. within the first 4-6 weeks) can result in nipple confusion in your baby and a reduction in milk supply in you. Get bottles to pump milk into but ditch the synthetic nipples till later.
- Bath tub and bath toys: you can use the kitchen sink with a towel spread out under the water; rubber duckies won’t come into play until baby actually enjoys bath time.
- Baby oil and powder: the latest wisdom is that these are evil and should never be used under any circumstances.
...and something what will become a family treasure!
The main treasure is the baby, but what are the key object people try to save from houses on fire? Family pictures! Everybody has a camera at home, but a decent photo requires much more. You can ask a skilled friend of yours, or some local baby photographer. They can make marvellous pictures you will value more than original Rembrandt.
