Happy 11 Months to Riley! That's right! Riley is 11 Months Old TODAY! I have learned alot and wasted ALOT of money on stupid products so I thought sharing stuff that actually worked and made my life easier would be helpful to all my friends/family having babies.
1. The Ultimate: The BOB! I have three other strollers, yes, THREE and this one is the BEST! Parents would tell me that I must buy a Bob and I had no clue what they were talking about. Well, now I'm in the know and I'm telling you, there is no comparison. This stroller is smooth, sturdy and easy to fold and maneuver. It's expensive, but its SOOOO worth it. You can also find them on sale sometimes especially if you are in the DC area since Great Beginnings is in Gaithersburg. That is where I got mine and I got it 20% off. On a side note, Great Beginnings is awesome. We bought our baby furniture there and a slew of other things...its like a Costco for baby stuff. Check it out.
2. SwaddleMe. Babies love to be swaddled and they love to sleep all bundled up. We swaddled Riley for the first three months (until she could roll around and get herself free). This brand is the best. Halo is the other brand but I didn't like all the velcro complicated steps. SwaddleMe is easy and comfortable for babies. We tried using blankets (keep as many of those receiving blankets from the hospital as possible) but they would come undone, but the SwaddleMe stays secure which makes for a very happy baby.
3. White Noise App: This may seem silly but since we brought Riley home I have rocked her to sleep to White Noise on my iphone. It's a free app or you can buy it and its a Godsend! There are all kinds of stuffed animals that have this type of noise (and yes we have a few of those too) but the App is the best. She still goes to sleep to it.
4. The Boppy: Early on this product is essential. We would plop Riley on this and she would fall asleep or just hang out. When they start rolling over its time to put this product away but it really helps for the first few months.
5. The Infant/Toddler Chair: Riley LIVED in this chair. She loved that it vibrated and could rock and then when she first started eating Gerber foods I would feed her in it since it had a lock to it. There are many variations out there but I have linked one similar to what we had. This is a great baby gift too. She still likes to rock in it so it can last for a while.
6. Activity Gym: These are great for babies up to about 6 months. Riley loved to hang out on the mat and play with all the toys dangling in front of her. We had a few variations of these too and all of them work the same.
7. The Bumbo: This product helps them learn to sit up and is great to put them in so that you can do other things like make food, clean, etc. Riley loved sitting in it and watching me do things plus we first started feeding her in this too.
8. Pottery Barn Blankets: For the first few months, we would go through 2-5 blankets a day. Babies make messes and these all purpose blankets are the best. They are organic, soft and bigger than other blankets so they became our quick favorites. Also, they stretch a bit so if you need to swaddle, they work the best. Other blankets from Carter's or even the ones that we took from the hospital didn't work as well as these.
9. The Swing: Now, this isn't a must purchase product but it sure was nice. It's rather large so if you don't have room for it, its fine to do without. But Riley loved swinging in this. It makes nature sounds and has a mirror above her so she would look up at herself. She fell asleep in this alot as well. We only used it for the first 6 months. After that she was too big but I'm sure other babies can use it up to 9 months or so.
10. The Attachable Feeding Chair: When we started feeding Riley Gerber foods and such, putting her in the rocking chair or bumbo wasn't working too well so we bought this great contraption that attached to a table. Since we had a big kitchen island it made sense. She loved it too. She could kick her feet and also feel part of the action if we were eating dinner. We eventually got a real high chair but this worked great for a while and its even better if you don't have alot of space. It attaches and dettaches easily to any table.
11. The Activity Cube: It seemed like a standard toy at any doctor office when I was kid. I had no clue you could actually buy them! So Riley has a little one which she still plays with and a big one that she also plays with everyday. These are awesome!
12. Ipad Case: Riley just recently figured out how to press the button on the ipad and iphone to stop whatever app is playing. Then she gets upset that the game stopped. This ritual of me turning the App back on and her pushing the button to stop it was growing tiring so luckily Fisher Price created great products to stop this. We just purchased the Ipad Case from Babies R Us and downloaded the free Fisher Price Apps from the App Store and things are going much smoother now. She loves to play on the Ipad so this is an essential product!
That's my list so far after 11 months.
A few other things: Find a baby consignment store! Luckily when we lived in Chevy Chase there was a great baby consignment store right up the street called Kensington Caboose where I got many items and sold many items. Here in San Diego there are also a few and wow, you save a TON of money! There are toys, walkers, shoes, clothes, etc and all in great condition at an even better price. You will be surprised at how much baby stuff costs and then to see the same stuff a dramatically discounted rates you will be very happy. For example, we bought the Baby Bjorn front carrier at Great Beginnings for $129. When I went to Kensington Caboose for the first time, I saw the exact same one in the box for $29. So before you go out and purchase all these fancy new and expensive products check out consignments in your area!
I would love to see comments and if anyone has any other must-have items so please share!
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