baby week: baby gear

My friend Erica had decided that this should be "Baby Week" where mothers chime in with what they found helpful to have when the baby came home. Obviously, I'm a little late in joining the game since it is Wednesday, but I thought I'd chip in with my ideas.

This is my list of "essential" baby gear to have for when coming home from the hospital (or soon there after) and for the first few months. Living in Kenya means I had to stock up when I was home in November, order things online for my parents to bring in January or April, and then just live with what I had.  I do feel very fortunate that I was give a ton of stuff for our baby as either gifts of hand-me-downs.  We hardly spent any money preparing! :)

In no particular order, here's what I had and loved:

Soothie Pacifiers:

I wasn't planning on getting a pacifier - it wasn't one of the things I stocked up on or even really considered. Erica sent me a two-pack of these Soothie Pacifiers which came with my parents when Kyalo was about 4 days old.  I figured, "what the heck" and gave them a try.  They ended up being such a huge life saver...especially when out: shopping, in church, in the car, etc.  I could also give them to Kyalo to help him fall asleep.  Love them.  He doesn't use a pacifier nearly as much now, but those first few months were really great.  I wish he hadn't kicked the habit quite so soon...

Burp Cloths:

This is probably a no-brainer, but I really did use a lot of burp cloths. I'd recommend getting cloth diapers and using those as they seem to work well.  I used them for everything.  They worked as a nice little pillow in the carrier, a rag, something to protect my clothes from spit-up, and an easy solution to the mess that he made regularly.

Baby Carrier:

I really, really wanted an Ergo because they're supposedly the best, but they're also over $100, so when I was home I found one in Marshall's for about $15.00.  This was an infantino front pack.  I don't think they make that particular kind any more, but I loved it.  Since Kyalo was 8 pounds at birth I was able to use it right away.  Afternoons were dicey around here, so I would put him in it and we'd walk the Kijabe hills.  When I was home this summer I got another infantino carrier - one that has the weight down on the waist.  I love it. I got it at Target for $35.00 I think. 

Cloth Diapers:

They're not for everyone, I know, but I'm glad I got a pack of cloth diapers.  I agonized  for months over what to get - there are just so many options nowadays.  I finally settled on bumGenius diapers because they seemed easy enough.   I have 18, which last about a day and a half...then I wash them and hang them out to dry (no dryer here) and so I have to have some disposables on hand as well.  I like knowing that I'm doing a little to keep the baby footprint down a bit.  Maybe I'll get more some day, I don't know.

Car Seat:

I wanted to get a really good car seat because I live in Kenya where road traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death here.  The available seats here are pretty expensive and not that sturdy. I wanted the best!  I stumbled on a friend's Facebook page once where she was thinking about getting this car seat: the Britax 55 Roundabout.  It is a convertible car seat - can go up to 4 years old or something. I liked that it meant only buying one car seat, and that it would last a long, long time.  Plus it has very high safety ratings.  It took Dexter a day to install it before we went to the hospital.  That baby is not going anywhere!  Now, while I was home my mom borrowed the infant car seats (the kind that you can take out while the baby is still sleeping) and that was very nice, too.  But for our situation, I'm glad to have this one.

Baby Cot:

A friend lent us their baby cot (which was actually a part of their stroller) and that was a huge help, too.  The first night home from the hospital I put Kyalo in his crib and he just looked so small I couldn't bear to leave him in the room alone.  I put him in the cot between us for a couple of weeks - which was nice since I was recovering from the C-Section.  We took it to friends' houses so Kyalo had a place to sleep, and put him down for naps there for a while, too.

Musical Mobile:

This was a gift at my baby shower, and it turned out to be a hit with Kyalo.  It plays music, and turns around, and he was fascinated by it. I loved it because it gave me about three minutes to do something (run to the bathroom, heat my tea, change clothes, check email), and because it helped him to fall asleep. We used it so much that one day it broke!  I'm trying to figure out how to get a replacement of the piece that broke.

Vibrating Chair:

 {4 days old}

According to Fisher Price, this is an Infant-to-Toddler Rocker.  But it vibrates, so I call it the vibrating chair! This was a gift from my mom and it continues to be a great place to plop Kyalo.  He doesn't always love it, but it could give me 5-20 minutes to get things done. It has a detachable piece that has hanging things on it. I attached that around 3 or so months and he enjoyed hitting at the things. One even has a pull down piece that plays a bit of music - it felt like a bit accomplishment when he figured out how to do it himself.   It is nice that it will grow with him for a while.

Baby Monitor:

Another gift that I'm glad to have! Our house is fairly small, so I didn't think I would need a monitor, but it is nice to have when I'm doing things in the kitchen to be able to hear him right away.  It helps to have it at night as well because when I'm really really really tired it helps me to hear him.  The base in his room has a night light, and the part that I carry around has a wave-meter type thing so I can see just how forceful he is. I'm fairly sure the one I have is British, so I won't put any links to it. But I think they're a great piece to have.

Prayer and Patience:

You can't buy those, obviously, but you need them, more than anything I think!  Patience comes and goes for sure.  Prayer seems critical, too. I like to pray over Kyalo while nursing (esp in the middle of the night as it helps me not be so bitter :) ).  You can really never have too much prayer and patience.

And that's my list. It probably isn't all-encompassing, but it is a start.  What would you tell someone? What did you have?