So I know there is a lot out there on in internet of things that are useless for babies yet mother's want anyway. Some of it is true, but a lot of it is Malarky. I am still a little new at this mom thing but I can tell you there is a lot of crap you don't need but it's nice to have anyway.
1. A wipe warmer. This sounds like the dumbest thing ever. I certainly never had a wipe warmer when i was a baby so why should my baby get a warm butt every time she gets changed? It actually is really nice. Wipes are cold and when you live in a climate where it seems winter is the predominant season, it's nice to know your baby won't do a cold shudder every time you touch her skin with a cold ass wipe. Now of course when my mother bought this for my daughter it was not without a lot of harassment from me but I shut up quite quickly when i saw how nice it really was, especially when she had a cold... Now where is the toilet paper warmer for us adults??
2. A Bumbo Seat. A lot of people will tell you this is an unnecessary purchase as it's short lived and really has no point. I have found this to be completely untrue. Ever since day one my daughter came out of the womb wanting to sit in an upright position. This was the only way she liked to be burped and when she was being held if you didn't sit her upright on your knee you would regret it when the screams came. The Bumbo seat was such a life saver and still is to this day. It's exhausting constantly holding a baby in a sitting position so why not use something that is solely made for this purpose. I could sit her in it and walk away for hours it seemed and she was just content to stare and look around. Now I use it for feedings because we haven't purchased a highchair yet. It's easy to move around from room to room, so you can really just put baby in the corner and forget about her while you do what you gotta do... yeah I said it.
3. A jumper. Now back in the olden days when I was a kid these things didn't exist. Walkers did and no wonder you cant find them anymore because they were more like a deathtrap. Apparently when I was a baby I went down the basement stairs in mine (This could explain a lot) Nowadays people have smartened up and made these things stationary and call them jumpers. More like the most amazing baby entertainment system. You can plop your kid in here and they will be content for hours.. literally! You can actually have a life again, take a shower at a normal time, and remember what a hot meal feels like. This is worth every penny
4+5. A swing and bouncer. A lot of people will tell you having both is completely unnecessary but those people are full of shit. When you have an infant in the early months, it's all about rotating them from one thing to another and back again to keep them happy. Once the swing gets boring, move them to the bouncer and when that gets old back to the swing. Also babies go through annoying phases where they hate certain things so you need the other as a backup until their love returns :) Nowadays i find myself rocking my foot even when the bouncer is not around. My how life has changed
6. Wubbanub's! You will soon think there is nothing funny about this name. The 15-20 dollars these cost are worth every cent. When babies are very little they have a very strong tongue thrust reflex and you feel like you are spending most of your time picking up the pacifiers and putting them back in the baby's mouth. These are amazing because the little animal attached provides enough weight that when they throw the pacifier out of their mouth, it stays put on their chest. Who knew? As babies grow older they are amazing because they provide a comfort to them and they can start to hold it themselves. Let me tell you, in the beginning we didn't use these and went through a million pacifiers because you always lost them. Now we only have three of these and it's all we need. You actually will save money in the long run because you can't lose these under the bed and couch.
7. Carseat Covers. If you live in a warmer climate, bypass this paragraph and know that you suck. For the rest of us poor souls that live where it's freezing half of the year these are an amazing lifesaver. As you can see a little in the picture above it goes over the carseat and is pretty universal. It pulls up over the entire baby so you don't really have to worry about putting a jacket and hat on all the time. After all who wants to buy a winter jacket for an infant? What a waste of money. Also on top of the money spent, it begins to get too bulky in the carseat and it's nearly impossible to buckle them in with a puffy jacket. These are great because you can just throw them in the seat wearing whatever and cover them completely up when you go outside... Don't yell at me of course I'm not saying dress her in a swimsuit but you know what i mean.
8.The Boppy. Pretty much everyone has this on their registry and I wasn't sold on it when i was first looking at baby things. After all it's just a fancy expensive pillow right? Well if you are breastfeeding it's the most amazing fancy pillow in the world. Im tall so I found that pillows don't work when you are trying to get the baby to your boob, they are too soft and the baby just sinks. The Boppy is nice and firm so it's the perfect size to nurse correctly. This thing is probably the most used thing in our house right now and I wouldn't have it any other way. Plus the pets find them interesting so it's good for all.
9. The Swaddle. I cannot praise this product enough. In the beginning my husband and I didn't use it and it was horrible. Everytime we got the baby to sleep and tried to move her, her arms would fly out and startle her awake. It was terrible. We didn't think she liked to be swaddled but boy were we dumb. I don't know what we were thinking. As soon as we used it well into her 2nd month we soon remembered what sleep was. Pinning her arms down is amazing because she could no longer wake herself up. Nowadays 5 months later she still won't sleep without it and frankly I don't care because it works. Just get one
10. A bottle warmer. I was totally against a bottle warmer in the beginning. They are really expensive and why spend that much money when everyone has a microwave or hot water. I was given one by a friend and thank god because I would have never known how wonderful such a marvelous little machine is. First of all when you are breastfeeding every pumped bottle is a little different. You never get the same amount so it's really hard to know how warm to heat it up to. On top of that when you are dealing with a breastfed baby they are used to having milk at a certain temperature and often reject it if it's too cold or hot. This is where bottle warmers come in handy. You just figure out how much milk you have and it heats it to the magical perfect temperature. I don't know how it does it but it's amazing. You don't have to worry about getting it too hot and waiting for it to cool while there is a screaming baby in the background. It's amazing.
So I'm not saying these products will have the same effect on everyone but I'm just saying give them a chance. Its easy to knock something before you try it but I'm keeping these things around for the eventual baby number 2
