Hellobee

In this edition of the Swarm, the bees share which baby gear they wish they had purchased, or purchased earlier.

I wish I’d bought some newborn clothes and just kept the tags on. Everyone I knew never used newborn clothes and went straight to 0-3. We were team green so I bought a few gender-neutral 0-3 outfits and nothing in NB. Little M turned out to be smaller than expected, lost quite a bit of weight in the hospital and didn’t gain it back quickly – he wore NB clothes until he was 8 weeks old! I was out shopping for clothes within a few days of his birth when I really should have been resting. I know a few baby stores like Carter’s have an indefinite return period if you leave the tags on and keep your receipt. Also BIG burp cloths. I made several more when M was first born so they’d fit across my entire lap and save my pants from dripping milk and spitup.

I really wish I would have purchased a video monitor. I would love to peek in on what she’s doing. Not just because it’s interesting, but it could save me a trip to her crib.

I wish I had registered for or purchased the ergo. I received the moby and baby bjorn as hand-me-downs and didn’t think I’d need another carrier, but the ergo is the best one I’ve tried by far and I wish I’d had it from the start! With the next baby, I’ll get the newborn insert because I didn’t need it for Liam since I bought it when he was already four months old.

I wish we had bought the Rock and Play. I didn’t even know it existed until Hellobee!

Cobi was also in newborn sizes until 10-12 weeks old, so I wish we’d had more newborn clothes. We only had two sleepers that fit for the first month. Some of the newborn items were even big on him.

I agree with Mrs. Stroller and Mrs. Pen — I wish we would have had more newborn clothes. She wore them for at least 2-3 months, and everyone insisted that babies are either too big for NB outfits or outgrow them quickly. While that may be true, it wasn’t the case for us.

I underestimated the need (and value!!) of bibs and burp cloths. We bought tons more after the baby was born.

This is a silly thing, but I wish I had gotten either the big giant baby towels or just splurged on some really nice regular-sized-person towels. Those tiny baby towels with the hoods are useful for about two months, then they are just too small! I think I might cut mine up and reuse them as diaper wipes!

I wish I had the rock ‘n play and the plain Gerber cloth diaper prefolds to use as burp cloths instead of actual “burp cloths.”

I wish I had bought an exercise suavity ball. It’s so cheap and LO loves being bounced on it – an affordable substitute for the glider we didn’t buy. It’s also a great postpartum core workout!

I did not know products like the Rock-n-Play (and other similar rocking bassinets) existed. I would have LOVED to have one of those as they seem to have multiple uses (bassinet, rocking motion, bouncy seat) and are relatively inexpensive. I had never even seen one until my friend registered for it well after we had Baby H. I feel like if we’d had that, we wouldn’t have bought a huge swing out of desperation.

The only swaddle that held LMW is the Woombie. I wish we had started with them from the beginning (instead of miracle blankets) because they’re so much easier to use!! I hated unswaddling and reswaddling since the miracle blanket was so complex, and we had to teach the grandmas and babysitters how to use them, which was tough. The Woombie just zips up and it’s so easy to use and even more difficult to escape than the miracle blanket.

We really didn’t acquire much for child #1. In fact, we received a TON of hand-me-downs (including furniture) and were gifted the rest. So I really, really wish we had splurged on a video monitor. But I just couldn’t seeing as we had three “regular” monitors in the house already. Looking back now… I wonder if it would have made all our sleep issues easier? Maybe. This go around, I may just be splurging for one!

I think the one thing I wished we had bought would have been an ergo. With my oldest, the Baby Bjorn was the hit thing and I hated them. We were given a hand me down that my husband used, but I was pregnant with my twins so I never carried him in a carrier much. It hurt my chest to have him strapped to me. With my twins we had two wraps. I loved them but my husband hated them. (We could never agree on carriers.) Then when they were past the newborn stage, we purchased a twin carrier. When my daughter was born, I tried all the carriers we had and she hated them all. I bought a few cheaper slings to try out and none worked out. So I gave up and just carried her. Now I have what I think is tendinitis in both of my arms.

When we came home from the hospital with Owen, we initially had him sleeping at night in a hand-me-down bassinet in our room. It was such a pain. Even though it was right next to our bed, I couldn’t actually see him in it when I was lying down. Being a paranoid new mom, I was constantly sitting up to check on him. Plus, every time he woke up to nurse, one of us had to get up to go get him. About two weeks later, we gave in and bought the Arms Reach mini co-sleeper. Best. Purchase. Ever. We are using it again with Eloise, and it’s still fantastic. I love being able to have the baby right there but not be paranoid about blankets and pillows getting into her space. I can sit up and grab her when she is hungry and not have to get out of bed to do it (key during those first few sleep-deprived postpartum weeks). I can also fall asleep with my hand on her to help her calm as she goes to asleep. I so wish we had had this from day one.

I wish that we would have purchased a white noise machine. Soon after having Norah, we started using white noise during her naps and at night. At first we used the sleep sheep. This was wonderful other than it shuts off after a certain length of time and doesn’t actually have “white noise.” Then I started using my ipod. It worked well other than I no longer had my ipod for other uses and eventually it died from overuse from running all night long. After all that, I purchased a $10 Conair sound machine and never looked back!

I wish we would have purchased the rock n’ play. Against my better judgment and all the advice here on HB, I didn’t think we would use it. Now I wish we had somewhere for her to take naps in the living room other than her swing, which she didn’t like at all in the beginning. I’m definitely getting this for our next one!

I wish we would have gotten a CD player or white noise machine. Isaiah loves music/sounds and I have to use my phone for it. Pandora is great except they put a limit on mobile hours, so we made it until the fifth day of the month before we ran out.

Also, I wish we had gotten real cloth diapers for burp cloths long before we did. We got the terry cloth burp cloths as a baby shower gift and I thought they were the same thing. Repeat after me: all burp cloths are not created equal.

I wish we had gotten more footed pajamas instead of all of the sleeper gowns. The three of us hate those gowns and I ended up taking them out of his dresser altogether. Everyone raved about how great they are, but they were a huge pain for us. We’re all most comfortable when he’s in a one piece outfit with either snaps or a zipper, and if it has mittens it’s even better. I’ve heard lots of people say mittens are worthless, but we use them constantly. Isaiah likes to put his fingers in his eyes. I cut his nails regularly, but he also seems more comfortable with them on.

My mom bought all of Charlie’s clothes before he was born so I didn’t buy a single thing. One thing I always needed more of was plain white onesies, both long and short sleeve, especially since Charlie was a winter baby. Plain white onesies (Carter’s are my favorite) in every single size from newborn and up (we used them up to 24 months!).

I also had a My Brest Friend with Charlie, and eventually bought a Boppy. I found the Boppy infinitely more comfortable for me, and still use it daily for Olive at 17 months!

We had a sleep sheep and did the cd and iphone white noise for a while before finally splurging on a Marpac sound machine. It’s our #1 can’t live without baby gear!

~~~

What gear do you wish you had purchased or purchased earlier?