You’ll find any number of lists out there with items new moms “must have.” I found plenty of these lists when I was pregnant, but I found a few things lacking from those lists.
Of course you need a crib, a car seat, a stroller and such, but some items seemed frivolous to me. That’s when I called on my network of other working moms to see what really was a good idea to have, and what really did need to stay in the stores rather than add to the mountain of baby gear clogging my house!
One I didn’t believe was the stuffed animal pacifier. The one we nabbed? The wubbanub (affiliate link): http://amzn.to/1IERHgB
Sure, I planned to be the “no pacifiers” mom… right up until my preemie arrived, and right up until my ears wouldn’t stop ringing as he cried his hungry way through his pre-nursing diaper change. My little one ended up not wanting a pacifier “just because,” and only when he was hungry but couldn’t get immediately to nursing or the bottle. The wubbanub at udders animal helped balance and weight the pacifier to help my still developing baby keep it in his mouth, and as was mentioned by a fellow working mom… they are so muche easier to find when the fall or get dropped, whether that’s in the house, in the car or otherwise on the go. The bonus for these? The stuffed animal my little one was able to hug close.
Speaking of feeding time… I’ll have to return to add more “must haves” at another time. For now, it’s meal time for my little guy. 🙂
Ok, back to business…
Regarding strollers and car seats, there are any number of right answers for this. We decided we wanted as little gear as possible, so we selected items with as many uses as possible or with interoperability. Working in a fitness-oriented field, it was important for me to have a jogging stroller, so we picked a Graco travel system similar to this one (affiliate link): http://amzn.to/1xVqVPu because it had the seat that when attached to the toddler jogging stroller eliminated the need for two different types of strollers. That said, we were also gifted a car seat carrier that made our car seat and stroller set up more grocery store friendly. A car seat carrier similar to our can be found here (affiliate link): http://amzn.to/1BdoNUu
We chose a reasonably priced system that received great reviews overall, and honestly didn’t see the need to pay a used-car price for our stroller/s or travel set up for our little one.
Another one that varies fe pending on who you ask… the play pen or pack-n-play type item. I was resistant since I figured the house isn’t so big that I needed two spots for my baby to use, and I didn’t think I’d want to carry around anything bulky on the go. Then, I had my little one, and while he was in the NICU, I decided it’d be nice to have a place for him in the main side of the house. I found a deal on one of the Graco Pack ‘N Plays with a couple of extra attachments like a changing pad and a vibrating bassinet. During those first several weeks home, this ended up being invaluable. Our little one could snooze in the bassinet between feedings, which left me free to nap (rarely could I settle my mind and reconcile with my checklists, but I always intended to nap), wash bottles or catch up on any number of other things like laundry! Having the changing pad right in the center of that cycle also helped save valuable time and effort when my energy was flagging. This version is similar in style, though a different color scheme than the one we picked (affiliate link): http://amzn.to/1DbJyi9. We haven’t taken it on the road yet, but when/if we do, I’ll update this post.
On the subject of batteries… I read article after article saying certain gear used too many batteries or went through them too quickly. This all may be true, but we tried to save the heartache and stocked up on batteries ahead of time. We bought large packages of C-sized (affiliate links): http://amzn.to/1H2tZ2d; D-sized: http://amzn.to/15MYWXM; and even the more routinely used AA-sized: http://amzn.to/1uV086J; and AAA-sized: http://amzn.to/1y15YPC. We didn’t know what items might need them or what size they might need, so we made the investment early to dissuade our own frustrations later when the baby might be crying and his (perhaps favorite) bouncer needed juice.
Another bit of sound advice I received before baby arrived was that if I thought I might need or want something down the road, it would be much easier to research it early and put it in my Amazon shopping cart for quick delivery when I didn’t have time to fret over research and shopping. This was especially true for mom gear. There are so many options out there, and different people like different comforts after delivering a baby–this can include nursing and pumping items to wipes and diapers for baby…but, you don’t have to commit early to everything if you’re strapped for funds or space provided you can get what you need fairly quickly after getting home from the hospital.
Regarding baby monitors, we were quite overwhelmed. There are so many styles and configurations–with video, without video, with sleep pad, without sleep pad, two-way voice, one-way voice, etc. However, none of the traditional types gave us the same information or “warm fuzzy” feeling as the data we were able to receive while baby was in the NICU. Then, I discovered the Snuza Go! (affiliate link): http://amzn.to/1JMMgP2. This device clips to our baby’s diaper and monitors his movement. If the baby stops moving for a period of time, the alarm sounds on this device to both give the baby a reminder or parents an alert that something might nt be right. This device is small and can be taken anywhere the baby is taken which made it much more appealing to us. Having this gave us a bit more peace of mind when putting our little guy to bed.
Homemaking For Working Moms 