Newborn – Three Month Favorites
Swing – I spent a lot of time thinking about what items we should get two of… and where we could get by with just one. I (naively) thought that one swing would be just fine. Wrong! I am fairly certain we wouldn’t have survived the first six weeks without dual swing action. There were several weeks where both babies, Jack in particular, slept best in a swing; they both still nap in them occasionally. There are a lot of options out there; here are the ones we used.
- Fisher Price Snugabunny – My friend Ashley was kind enough to let us borrow this…1) it’s adorable, 2) the shape of the swing itself seemed to soothe both babies and 3) it’s adorable. J The only downside was that it was battery-operated.
- Fisher Price Rainforest – This was the swing that Nick ordered off of Amazon when we (quickly) realized one swing would not cut it. It plugged into the wall, which was nice, although I still preferred the shape of the Snugabunny.
Aden and Anais muslin swaddle blankets - I have to admit, when I saw the pricetag for these, my first reaction was "are they made of gold? will they be wiping my child's butt?" because dang, they are pricey for blankets. However, they are The Perfect Weight for swaddling and we use them still today. You can layer them for extra warmth or use just one. I always felt like both of our babies ran hot and so even in the winter, we frequently used just one muslin blanket. Neither Jack or Ellie has 'loveys' but they love their blankets and it's become a soothing mechanism. We swaddled Jack until he started rolling over at around 4.5 months; we only recently stopped swaddling Ellie. It definitely helped them sleep longer during naps and at night.
Joovy Twin Roo - this only applies to expecting twin mamas, but this was one of my favorite items. We had planned to use a double snap and go stroller for the first six-nine months (basically, you just 'snap' the infant car seat in the stroller and I guess 'go'?)...the original one we looked at had promised it was compatible with our car seats but that was a huge lie. There were no other snap and gos on the market at the time the babies were born, so I found myself frantically searching the Internet. I kept finding Internet threads where women were talking about the elusive Joovy Twin Roo, which was a new double snap and go stroller that people seemed excited about, but its release date had been pushed back multiple times. I ended up calling the manufacturer to find out the target date and as it happened, it was mid-January. So, I decided we could survive without a stroller for the first month and we did! Luckily, our babies were tiny (at the time) and not too difficult to carry around on our rare outings out (basically to the doctor). This stroller is awesome because it is easy to use, incredibly easy to manuever and I love that I can see both babies faces while using it. It is very inexpensive, but the quality of its construction was impressive. I have been happy with all of the Joovy products we've used (we just ordered Joovy highchairs!).
Wubanub pacifier – I know not everyone wants to use pacifiers since they have been branded Evil for breastfeeding mamas, but 90% of the moms I know used pacifiers and had no problems with breastfeeding, so I'm chalking up pacifier hate to "Lies 'They' Tell Parents To Scare Them." Pacifiers are like socks – constantly getting lost. Somewhere in our house, Ernie the Multi-Toed Wonder Cat has squirreled away many a pacifier. The Wubanubs have small stuffed animals attached to the pacifier which is completely genius because they are nearly impossible to lose. I’m not sure what age these are intended to be used for, but we started using them early on because I was tired of hunting down lost pacifiers. Incidentally, I was doing a lot of research on weaning our babies off of the pacis (planned to do it around one year old based on a conversation with our pediatrician) when the babies pretty much just weaned themselves off at around 4.5 months. They use them occasionally now, but it's pretty infrequent. File THAT under "Things I Worried Needlessly About AKA Welcome To The Rest Of Your Life".
Diaper Genie – People either love or hate the Diaper Genie. A lot of people told me we wouldn’t need it, but they are liars. Just kidding – I think the reason it worked so well for us was 1) the number of diapers twin produce and 2) the way our house is laid out. If we had to take a poopy diaper out to the garage trash every time, we probably would have lost our minds. Because we spend so much time in our family room, we actually have the Diaper Genie in there. It keeps the smells at bay…mostly.
Pack and Play with Changing Station - Again, I think some of this is dependent on how your house is laid out, but because we basically lived in our family room for six weeks, it was helpful to have a pack and play in that room for babies snoozes and diaper changes. We still use it for napping and diaper changes, or just as a 'baby jail' while we are trying to get out the door.
Nose Frida AKA The Snotsucker - The concept of this (Swedish, I think?) contraption is pretty gross...basically, you are using a siphon and your own lung power to literally suck the snot out of your little one's nose. However, there is a filter that protects your mouth from the grossness and frankly, when your baby can't breathe, you'll do anything to help them feel better. This worked so much better than the suction bulbs the hospital sends you home with.
Kick ‘N Play Piano - Somewhere around 6-8 weeks, I realized that we needed something to entertain one baby with while we attended to the other. Enter the Kick 'N Play Piano. At first the babies would just barely bat at the toys, but as their motor skills and coordination grew, they loved kicking their feet to 'play' the piano and grabbing the toys. I like this because it converts to a toy that they can play with as they get older because the piano is removable. In general, I am a big fan of toys that 'grow' with the baby.
Children’s Place zippered sleepers - Approximately 1800 people recommended these to me and they were all right. They are the perfect weight for pretty much any time of year, easy to get on, can stand up to multiple washings and they look cute. We had very few newborn 'outfits' and pretty much just rotated sleepers for the first two-three months.
Tummy Calm - Jack had a lot of gastrointestinal (read: gas) issues his first few months and I swear we tried all manner of remedies. The only thing that ever worked consistently was Tummy Calm, a homeopathic remedy. It's pricey (about $20/bottle) but gas drops, griper water, etc never worked for us.
Chicco KeyFit infant car seats - Although these were not the lightest car seats we looked at (an important consideration when carrying two!), they were definitely the easiest to install and to get in and out of the car. They are also approved for babies 5lbs and up, which was important to us since we knew Jack and Ellie might be on the smaller side. Their safety ratings are high and they've help up nicely over the first six months.
Okay, that's it! It probably goes without saying that in reality, we could have survived without some of these...it's just that they helped so much, I think it's worth sharing what worked for us. In reality, babies need very little...these products are (mainly) to make the parents' life easier. Which is worth a lot, in my opinion. :)
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Chicco KeyFit[/caption][caption id="attachment_906" align="aligncenter" width="225"]
Chicco KeyFit[/caption][caption id="attachment_907" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Swaddle love[/caption][caption id="attachment_908" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Kick and Play Piano[/caption][caption id="attachment_912" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Children's Place sleepers[/caption][caption id="attachment_911" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Swaddle blankets and pack and play[/caption][caption id="attachment_910" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
More boppy nap[/caption][caption id="attachment_909" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
More wubanub love[/caption][caption id="attachment_913" align="aligncenter" width="225"]
Still loving our boppy![/caption][caption id="attachment_917" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Jack taking a swing nap[/caption]
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Doub(le) Wub[/caption][caption id="attachment_921" align="aligncenter" width="225"]
Wubanub (pretty much got us through Jack's PICU stay)[/caption][caption id="attachment_922" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Boppy sharing - not a good idea[/caption][caption id="attachment_923" align="aligncenter" width="225"]
Snugabunny swing nap[/caption][caption id="attachment_924" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Children's Place sleepers[/caption]
