Expecting

[Melanie11]

I just want to say that over the weekend I went with a friend who just had a baby to start my registry and I was completely overwhelmed by all the "stuff" a baby needs. Wow!

 

[OSUguy98]

I just want to say that over the weekend I went with a friend who just had a baby to start my registry and I was completely overwhelmed by all the "stuff" a baby needs. Wow!

We started our registries a few weeks ago, with the intent on adding things a little at a time... once we added all the "big" stuff (crib, dresser,etc) we were too overwhelmed with all the other little things (esp. not REALLY knowing what it is quite yet) to get... you can only pick out so many yellow and green things.... my wife loves blue, blue everything.... but we're pretty sure we're having a girl.... and apparently, social law dictates that girls can't wear blue...

Good luck on the registry setup!

 

[snickerd3]

I just want to say that over the weekend I went with a friend who just had a baby to start my registry and I was completely overwhelmed by all the "stuff" a baby needs. Wow!

then there is the stuff that depends on the baby, i.e. a swaddle baby or a sleep sac baby. Mini snick hated swaddling since the nurses tried right after he was born, but he doesn't mind the sleep sacs.

Swings are another baby dependent item, everyone swore by them, their kids calmed down and passed out almost instantly. we bought one out of shear desparation one weekend and minisnick didn't particularly care for it. It is more of a toy than an aide. He prefered his bouncer chair.

 

[mizzoueng]

Mini-mizzou loved the swaddle balnkets (the ones with the velcro), we tried the sleep sacks and it just seemed to irritate him at first. He likes to kick his feet and we thought he felt "trapped". After the first few nights though he got over it.

The swing was a life saver, we could put him in it and he would pass out. The bouncy seat too, the one where they lay down in it and it vibrates and plays music when they kick. He passed out in that MANY times.

Plus, a lot of this stuff we got at garage sales, since we didn't know if it would work on him, we got it second hand at reduced prices. Then if it didn't work, we weren't out a lot of cash.

 

[klk]

I've been doing lots of research and window shopping, but haven't purchased or registered anything yet. I found the most useful book that I highly recommend: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Bargains-8th-Fu...y/dp/1889392332 Its sort of like consumer reports for baby stuff.

I've decided I'm going to take the minimalist approach - I'm only going to buy what is absolutely necessary (crib and carseat for example) and then wait and see what my baby likes before I purchase anything else.

Oh, I guess I haven't announced it on here yet, but we found out we're having a little girl!!! :wub:

 

[Melanie11]

I have been looking at Baby Bargains and I really like it. My husband is all about only getting neccessities so we are doing the same thing.

Congrats on Team Pink!!

We find out in two weeks and it is going to be a long two weeks!

Just to emphasize how frugal my husband is...instead of buying a baby monitor he wanted to set up our two laptops and have skype on to hear the baby. :wacko:

 

[snickerd3]

oh...related to buying carseat. If you are going to buy the infant carrier with base I HIGHLY RECOMMEND taking your significant other with to the store and grab a small case of formula on your way to the carseat department. Place the case of formula in the carseat (to stimulate baby weight) and try walking around carrying it for a bit. Do this with all the different handle styles, until you both come to an agreement on the handle style, then pick the color/fabric. Your wrists and knees will thank you later.

We both found graco and evenflo handles very uncomfortable to hold on to. We ended up buying babytrend becasue the triangle handle allows more natural grip angles.

 

[klk]

Good idea snick. One of the stores we went to had several 10lb weights to simulate the baby. I'm definitely taking hubby with me for the final selection.

 

[mizzoueng]

We bought the Chico (green and gray, don't remember the name), we primarily got it for the maximum capacity of the pumpkin seat and the associated removable base. This sounded good and all, but the seat itself as a result of the higher rating was heavier.

BTW, on carseats, the kind that you put them in after 1 year (blah blah), when you are checking those out check the distance of the cupholders from the area where the kid will be. This is not a case when they are rear facing as the kid will be too young to give snacks to. But when they are forward facing and you aren't in the back with them, those cup holders need to be close to hold snacks and toys. Our little one couldn't reach them until 18 months.

 

[snickerd3]

We bought the Chico (green and gray, don't remember the name), we primarily got it for the maximum capacity of the pumpkin seat and the associated removable base. This sounded good and all, but the seat itself as a result of the higher rating was heavier.

that was another reason we bought the baby trend cuz it had a 30lb limit while others were 25 lbs, but mini snick is going to outgrow his in the length limit, which is 30inches, WAY before the weight capacity. He was 26" at 4 months.

 

[klk]

I've heard similar stories that the baby usually outgrows the infant seat by height instead of weight.

I'm heavily leaning towards the Chicco because it seemed easy to adjust the straps and snapped in really easily to the base. The only downside is I've heard it doesn't fit in most strollers or in the front of grocery carts. The carrier seemed as heavy as the rest of them, especially once you put a weight in the thing to simulate the weight of the baby.

 

[mizzoueng]

The chico fit nicely into most grocery carts. the only ones we had problems with were the ones at Sams Club. I think they are built a little longer so the seat didn't catch like I wanted it to. but then again the carts there are big enough to fit him and half a side of beef.

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT ------ Wifey and some friends are running a couponing/savings site, called froogaloo.com They offer advice on saving money and wifey just posted something about saving for/with baby, so deal abound on baby related items ----- SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT

 

[Dexman PE]

I've got a ton of baby stuff (including car seats) which could use a new home. They were purchased new and only a couple years old. Not looking to get any money for them, so would part with them for the price of shipping...

I'll look through my stuff to get a complete list of what I have and post later.

 

[Chucktown PE]

I would like to part with all of our baby stuff, however my wife has plans to reuse it all......again.

 

[ElCid03]

You and me both.

 

[snickerd3]

We got this as a christmas present, but I wish we got it sooner. It really is a sanity saver sometimes. Minisnick will stop crying 98% of the time if we turn this toy on. I intend to buy it for every babyshower I go to in the future.

http://www.target.com/dp/B000YDDF6O/ref=gp_se_search-results-asin-redirect ://http://www.target.com/dp/B000YDDF6O...-asin-redirect

 

[Chucktown PE]

We got this as a christmas present, but I wish we got it sooner. It really is a sanity saver sometimes. Minisnick will stop crying 98% of the time if we turn this toy on. I intend to buy it for every babyshower I go to in the future.
http://www.target.com/dp/B000YDDF6O/ref=gp_se_search-results-asin-redirect ://http://www.target.com/dp/B000YDDF6O...-asin-redirect ://http://www.target.com/dp/B000YDDF6O...-asin-redirect

My personal opinion is that you could replace this with a myriad of other toys that light up or make annoying beeping sounds and achieve the same results, at least that's how it was for our kids. Admittedly, they liked some more than others, but I think it's each kid's personal preference.

 

[MA_PE]

Just to emphasize how frugal my husband is...instead of buying a baby monitor he wanted to set up our two laptops and have skype on to hear the baby. :wacko:

Frugal. yeah that's the ticket. Baby monitors are like $30.

FWIW, Waaayyy back when my kids were small, someone gave use a nightlight/cassette (yes I said cassette, the "kids" are in college now) player that looked like Mother Goose. It came with a lullaby tape and you'd start the tape going and the nighlight would dim with time as the music played. We put the kids (infants) to sleep with it every night and worked great.

I did a quick search. Couldn't find the same machine but this is pretty close.

Nightlight / CD player

 

[TouchDown]

I would like to part with all of our baby stuff, however my wife has plans to reuse it all......again.

We sold almost all our baby stuff 3 years ago, when we thought we were done at 2 kids. My wife enjoyed shopping for new baby stuff when #3 came along.

Now that I've attempted to eliminate the possibility of #4, we held a garage sale last week. 8 hours of sale and 2 weeks of my wife prep'ing everyhing and we're $1k in the green. I only wonder what we paid originally for all this stuff. We only sold about half, so we're doing another garage sale in the beginning of May.

Here's #3 a few months ago - he likes mashed potatoes:

 

[maryannette]

That is TOOOO funny! How can anybody look at that and not smile?