Baby Supplies...
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Baby supplies... what is really necessary? Do you really need everything they sell at Babies R Us? The honest answer is no. You really need very little for a baby. | Well, obviously, your baby will need some clothing. If it is summer when baby is born, you can get by with several onesies and a few warmer items. If it is winter, you may choose blanket sleepers instead. Whatever season baby is born in, just buy accordingly. Babies spit up a lot. Their diapers leak. Be prepared to change baby's clothes several times per day at first. Baby blankets are obviously necessary. While thick warm ones are nice to wrap baby in, those thin receiving blankets make great burp cloths, and they can soak up a lot of spit up when baby erupts. A specialized blanket to wrap baby in makes it easy to keep baby warm while being in the carseat. It is shaped to fit snugly around your baby and allows the seat belts to pass through. If you're doing cloth diapers, you'll need a diaper pail and one of those handy Diaper Ducks to rinse soiled diapers in the toilet. You'll also need to decide what kind of cloth diapers you want to use and stock up. If you're doing disposables, you'll need to stock up on diapers and wipes. If you plan on taking baby out of the house, a diaper bag of some sort is handy. If you're doing elimination communication, you won't need anything but a few heavy duty towels to help mop up the occasional accident and some heavy cloth diapers to put under your baby when he or she is lying down. If you have a car, you must have a carseat to transport your child. It's the law. Strollers are fine, but they can be expensive and the cheaper umbrella strollers aren't suitable for newborns. |
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Some people feel more comfortable if baby is in their own bed, but using a co-sleeper is better than isolating the baby in a crib down the hall. Sleeping with your baby helps baby maintain body temperature, regulate his or her breathing, and less likely to die of SIDS. When baby needs to nurse, mom can just roll a bit closer and open her pajamas. Everyone gets more sleep.
Once baby is born, the skin around their wrists and ankles sometimes gets dry and peels. Applying a perfume-free natural lotion or emollient is helpful. For the occasional diaper rash, a soothing cream that contains lanolin or zinc can help keep the urine away from the skin. Bathing baby's bottom or airing it out goes a long way in preventing diaper rash.
If you're nursing (and I highly recommend it if at all possible!) you will find it more convenient with a nursing pillow of some kind. Re-usable nursing pads are more comfortable for mom to wear in case of milk leaks than disposable nursing pads, which get wet and cold. Ugh. They still make me shudder. I suggest cotton pads or crocheted natural wool pads that are treated with lanolin. The lanolin soothes sore nipples and prevents milk from leaking through to clothing. A breast pump is not necessary unless you plan to go back to work or plan to be away from baby for any reason. They make nursing cover-ups now for "discreet" breastfeeding in public, but while baby is small, a blanket does fine if you're shy. They don't start pulling the blanket away until they get older. We will be posting baby product reviews here, so if you have a baby, pregnancy product you sell, let us know! We'd love to review it and post about it on our site.
If you'd like to submit a product for review, fill out the form located on the link below.
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