Serving Tray

If you are breastfeeding you will most likely be spending a large amount of time on the couch. Once you have your Boppy and your baby on your lap it is hard to get up and move around so you will want to have everything you may need within reach. I keep a tray on the couch all day and it holds the TV remotes, my phones, a book, tissues, magazines and a bottle of water. My daughter also seems to time her meals at the same time I am eating mine so my husband often serves me my dinner on this tray. If you are planning on breastfeeding I recommend that you buy a tray to use during the first few months.

Kiddopotamus Portable Changing Kit

The Kiddopotamus travel changing pad can turn any messenger bag into a diaper bag. What I love is the pockets that hold diapers, wipes and ointments as it keeps everything within reach. Most public bathroom changing tables do not have room for your baby and your bag and the last thing you want to do is bend down to dig into your diaper bag to find the wipes while your baby is flailing around on the table.

If you haven't been able to find a "diaper bag" that suits your style then just add this to a bag you like. Besides, most diaper bags are overly bulky causing moms to over pack as if they won't be returning for weeks.

Safety 1st Steady Grip Nail Clippers

There are tons of reviews available for all of the big baby gear like swings and car seats but when it comes to small items I found it hard to find recommendations. My posts for small items will be short as there isn't too much to say about them but they are still important choices to make for your baby.

The first time you cut your baby's nails it is traumatic. I started out by just using a baby emery board as recommended by the nurse, but my daughter's nails grew too fast to keep up. I switched to baby nail scissors but those things were hard to master. I was scared of using the nail clippers for fear of cutting her fingers off but the shape of the Safety 1st nail clippers allowed me to be very precise in my clipping. They are easy to grip and you can cut the nails down lower without grabbing any skin. Now I only have to cut her nails once a week.

Safety 1st Diaper Pail

If you have it in your mind that you need the Diaper Genie please reconsider. When we were registering for baby gear I was convinced that we needed a Diaper Genie. I had no idea why, I guess their brand marketing had brainwashed me into thinking this was the only diaper pail that would work.

Fortunately I procrastinated too long and never got the Diaper Genie. The Safety 1st Diaper Pail that my mother gave me as a hand-me-down works great. The Safety 1st version costs about $15 less than the Diaper Genie and it uses standard kitchen size trash bags, instead of the $6 refills. We are using scented kitchen bags and we have no problems with diaper smell in the house.

Baby Gear Pros: Less expensive, can get bag refills at any grocery store.

Baby Gear Cons: None

Nursing Gliders

It seems like in every episode of the Baby Story on TLC, the parents have one of those huge gliding nursing chairs in their nursery. I feel that those chairs are over hyped and it is one baby gear item that you can definitely live without.

In the first few days at home I was convinced that our lack of a "nursing chair" was why my daughter was having trouble latching on. My husband and I came very close to going to Babies R' Us and buying one but I am very glad we didn't. After one week of nursing problems my daughter became a pro. I no longer needed 5 pillows to prop her up or a foot stool for positioning. I can now walk around and nurse her or nurse her lying down in bed. If we had bought one of those ugly chairs it would be collecting dust in the nursery as who wants to be sequestered to the nursery every time their child needs to eat? Nursing on the couch in the living room is a much better option.

Playskool Made for Me MP3 Player

A couple of weeks ago my daughter decided that she needed to be held all of the time. The minute I would try to put her down, whether she was awake or sound asleep, she would wake up and start screaming. This made it impossible for me to get even the most basic tasks done, like eating or peeing. I was so desperate one day to accomplish something that I just put her down and began vacuuming. She immediately calmed down and after 10 minutes went to sleep. The next day I tried the same trick except this time I didn't need to clean my house so I just let the vacuum run while I went through my to do list.

Not wanting to destroy my vacuum or waste electricity I searched for a white noise machine on the internet. That is when I discovered the Playskool Made for Me MP3 Player. It is a portable MP3 player for ages 0+ that can be loaded with your own music or sounds. I ordered one from Toys R' Us and we use it every time we put our daughter down to sleep. The pre-loaded music is OK but the key for us was downloading a 30 minute loop of a rainstorm that makes our daughter fall asleep and stay asleep longer.

Baby Gear Pros: Easy to use, lightweight and portable, great volume control, has settings that allow the music to play for 15 or 30 minutes and then the device will turn off.

Baby Gear Cons: Disappointing that the device is not rechargeable. It requires 4 AAA batteries that only last about 2 hours. We bought rechargeable batteries but it is still a hassle to unscrew the battery compartment and charge the batteries every day.

The device has colored lights that blink when music is playing. You cannot shut off the lights and this can be distracting for a baby trying to fall asleep. We have to cover ours with a cloth.

Playlist software only compatible with PCs.

Update: Our player broke recently. The MP3 unit seems to be the culprit as whenever we put it into the player it stops working but it will cycle through the prerecorded tunes without the unit attached. I reached out to Hasbro and discovered that they are no longer making this product. My guess is there were quality control issues given how quickly this broke for us with only light use.

Arms Reach Co-Sleeper

The Arms Reach Co-Sleeper has helped to make nighttime feedings relatively quick and easy. The Co-Sleeper fits right next to our bed so all I have to do is reach over and lift my daughter out when she wakes up to eat. This is especially nice this time of year since it is cold in our room at night and the last thing I want to do is get out of bed. The Co-Sleeper has also made putting her back to sleep easier as she knows I am right there and I can keep a reassuring hand on her while she dozes off.

Carter's Lap Pads

I received my first set of Carter's Lap Pads as a gift and they have become an essential component of diaper changing. They are waterproof so we place them on top of the diaper changing pad cover and this saves us from doing tons of laundry. When our daughter decides to pee mid diaper change, all we have to do is throw the pad in the hamper, not the whole cover.

I also have a pad or two in our diaper bag. I place these on top of the diaper bag changing pad to catch any mess that may happen on the go. I am sure they have uses that I haven't thought of yet.

Bella Band

The Bella Band was a must for me during and after my pregnancy. There is a period of about 2-3 months when you are too small for maternity pants yet you are too big for your old jeans and pants. Instead of having to go buy pants and jeans that were one size bigger I bought a few Bella Bands and was able to extend the life of my regular pants.

The Bella Band also came in handy for the first month after birth. I was very eager to get back into my pre-pregnancy jeans and put away my maternity clothes for good. Even though my hips and stomach were still too big, with the help of the Bella Band I was able to get back into my old jeans and put away my maternity clothes for good.

With the Bella Band I was able to put away my maternity clothes earlier and get back to into my regular clothes

Medela Pump In Style Advanced

If you are planning on breast feeding, then this is one product you must have. I don't know what I would have done in the first week after birth if I hadn't already purchased the Medela Pump In Style Advanced. Both my husband and I agree this was the best $300 we ever spent.

My daughter spent her first week after birth in the hospital being treated for jaundice. The treatment involved her being kept under special lights for most of the day in order to improve her condition. The more we kept her under the lights, the faster we could get her home. This didn't give my daughter and I much time to bond and consequently she had latch-on problems. Fortunately I had purchased the Medela pump and was able to avoid having to feed her formula while in the hospital.

I continued to use the pump for another week after being released from the hospital. It was very easy to use and each session only took 10-15 minutes. My daughter is now breastfeeding but I will be using the pump again when I return to work and I am very happy to know that I won't be spending hours at work pumping. My pumping breaks will end up being shorter than my coworkers' cigarette breaks.

If you are planning on breast feeding I encourage you to purchase the Medela Pump In Style Advanced before you give birth. Yes it is pricey but if you end up in a similar situation it will be invaluable. Early in my pregnancy when I told my husband I had to purchase a pump he scoffed at the price tag. But after our ordeal he said he would pay triple the price if he had to do it over again. If for some reason you don't end up needing it, then you can always leave it unopened and return it.

Baby Gear Pros: fast, non-nondescript carrying case, comes with a cooler to store milk for a few hours.

Baby Gear Cons: expensive

Huggies vs. Pampers

I have a feeling that diaper effectiveness is more dependent on the child's shape than on the design of the diaper. However I still thought I should share my early experiences with various diaper brands I have tried.

We started out using Pampers Swaddlers Newborn size as that was what was provided in the hospital. I then purchased a package of Newborn size Huggies after receiving a coupon for a couple dollars off. We had no issues with the Pampers but the Huggies could not contain anything my daughter produced. At one point I was nursing her and felt a warm liquid streaming down my belly. At first I thought it was milk but then realized it was pee that was pouring out of the side of her diaper. I didn't want to waste the diapers so we continued to use the Huggies until they were gone but we had to change her more frequently and only used Pampers if we were leaving the house. We now are using Pampers exclusively and I don't think I will try another brand unless we run into problems once we advance to a larger size.

Update: I tried Huggies size one because I had purchased a pack before my daughter was born. After 3 diaper changes my daughter's diaper rash returned. I have realized that it is not the fit of Huggies but the lack of absorbency. Pampers have a layer that wicks away the liquid immediately where as with Huggies it stays on the surface and sloshes around. I will never try Huggies again.

Update 2: I found out that the P&G website has a page that details when the next P&G brandsaver will be in the Sunday paper. This is normally when you will find Pampers coupons.

Aquaphor

Our daughter developed a horrendous diaper rash during her first week home from the hospital. It was red and raw and looked similar to a second degree burn. Changing diapers was excruciatingly painful for both her and us as her wailing brought us to tears.

We were desperate for something that would stop the rash. We stopped using wipes as we believed wipes had started the problem. We slathered her bottom with Desitin to no avail. We then switched to Balmex but that still didn't work either. My sister mentioned that Aquaphor was the only product that had cured my nephew's diaper rashes so we went out in search for this miracle product.

We had to visit a few stores before we found a drug store that carried it but it was well worth the search. After only a few diaper changes we began to notice improvements. We now use it after every diaper change and the rash has not returned. I would highly recommend that you stock your changing table with Aquaphor before your baby arrives.