Show us Your Life: Top Five Baby Products

Kelly’s Korner has the fabulous “Show us your life” series and this week I decided to jump right in.

The topic: baby gear.

My husband and I are self-proclaimed “gear people,” which is just a nicer way of saying WE LOVE STUFF.  Haha!  With an eight month old bouncing around, baby products are often on my mind.

Here are my top five picks for infants

1. Baby Bjorn

Although I don’t follow many of the Attachment Parenting guidelines, I found that baby wearing is great for us.  It has allowed us to bond quite a bit, and I can get a lot done (cleaning, shopping, walking) with him right next to me.  Dr. Sears says that babies who are “worn” experience higher cognitive development because they are learning about the world from our (literal) perspective, rather than from the floor level.  This puts them in a state of “quiet alertness.”  Now that he weighs 18 or 19 pounds, he is a little heavy for me, so I have to be picky about when it is used.  (My cap is around 30 minutes at a time.)

2. Bouncy Seat

Jackson does not fit in the bouncy seat any longer, but it was a TOTAL LIFE-SAVER when I needed to take a shower, cook or work out during the first few months.  We were given this as a gift, and it was EASILY one of the most used items he had.

3. Jumperoo

My little guy is lucky enough to have two Jumperoos!  We have one at our house and one at Grandpa’s house.  At home, we have the Fisher Price Rainforest model, which is around $90; but at Grandpa’s he has Fisher Price’s Laugh and Learn model, which is right at $100.

HANDS DOWN—The Laugh and Learn is SO MUCH COOLER!!

It has everything!  If you are in the market for a Jumperoo, I would definitely recommend it. Jackson just loves it and gets so excited when he gets to play in it.

4. Bottle cleaning dishwasher baskets

These make my life SO much easier.  Simply place the bottles into the basket and run them with the dishwasher.  For the first few months, I did everything by hand, but now it is hard to believe how much effort and time I put into washing his bottles.  When they are eating every few hours, you have a lot of bottles to clean!

5. Microwave Bottle Sanitizer

Once the pediatrician said we had to start supplementing nursing with formula (because he wasn’t gaining weight), I bought a microwave bottle sanitizer, which has worked like a charm. You can sanitize six bottles at once, and you are done in four minutes.   Compared to the traditional sanitizers that you have on your counter, these are much easier to transport.

Heidi at The Fabulous Life in the STL gave some outstanding advice for new moms.  And my favorite…do not buy in bulk in the beginning!! You will not have a lot of free time on your hands for the first couple months, so you don’t want to spend those precious hours taking back items that just don’t work for you.

What are your “must haves” and tips for new mamas?

© 2009, Amy. All rights reserved.

October 2, 2009 | Filed under Baby,Products,Show Us Your Life