When did you start think about the kind of Car Seat, Strollers and other much needed baby items?
SO H asked:
I am four months and wanting to know when people start looking into which Car Seat and Strollers are the beat. Also does anyone have any suggtions of any good brands or store to look for these baby items. Please tell me what work and does not work for you and why.
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I am four months and wanting to know when people start looking into which Car Seat and Strollers are the beat. Also does anyone have any suggtions of any good brands or store to look for these baby items. Please tell me what work and does not work for you and why.
April 1st, 2009 at 8:06 pm
are you having a baby shower i would wait until after then, if not around 6 months or so
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 am
As soon as I found out I was preggers with number 1 …I was so excited I began buying neural coloured bits and bobs and storing them away! It helped me clothes-wise as there was less to buy when I was larger/more tired and really didn’t have the energy to face shopping! I would advise you start now, although some women wait longer. With my second [in progress!] I didn’t start shopping until I knew I was expecting a girl - I wanted to know the sex before buying bits this time to have more of a colour theme - purely a personal choice though!
I recommend Mothercare for just about anything and everything! Their home delivery service is fantastic too. I bought swaddling blankets for my newborn in my first pregnancy and found these a complete godsend for getting baby to sleep in the first few weeks. Invest in a good breast pump too if you plan to breastfeed.
I wish you good luck with your new addition!
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:03 pm
about 5 minutes after the positive test
April 5th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
as soon as i found out and i bought some little things in neutral colors stuff like that i was crushed when i lost it. I was really wanting to be able to buy all that stuff when i found out what it was but i wouldn’t buy big stuff til after your baby shower because you may get some of the things you need there.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:28 am
just a suggestion, besides car seats (buy new only), check out freecycle.org in your area from people in your area. get free stuff from neighbors!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:25 am
I started buying after my first doctors appointment. If you find a good deal on something, grab it girl! You will need it later.
Start buying diapers now!
April 13th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Well we have been looking at different things… but havent bought anything… I am almost 14 weeks and I want to have my baby shower about a month after I find out what the sex is… (so in 2 months) so that I can make sure I have everything! I dont want to wait till I am 8 months preggo and then start to try and get stuff that people didnt get for me! Also premies arent that uncommon, a friend of mine her shower was a month before her due date… and the baby was 5 weeks early!!!!! I would reather be prepared than not! Good luck!
April 13th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Hello! Congratulations. I started to think about it right away. Reading and searching.
My best recommendation would be that the infant travel system’s are nice, but if you don’t have $300 to spare in 6 months, then I would recommend getting a carseat that ranges in weight, and try to find an infant carseat on your local Craigslist or Ebay.
I loved to be able to carry the baby when he was sleeping in the carrier and snap him in the car, but he is now 6 months and that $300 carseat just needed replaced with another $300 carseat!!!! We used the Chico Cortina Travel System, and just bought the Britax Marathon. He loves it cause he can see out the window, and we love it cause it lasts until he is 65 pounds!!!
The stroller with the infant travel system is nice as well, because the seat clips right into those and you can continue to use it after you no longer use the car seat.
I would not buy bottles until you test them out. My son hated the nipples and had such bad problems throwing up that we had to switch to the Playtex drop-ins to get rid of as much air as we could. I would suggest buying a couple bottles and testing them out. Also, Don’t bother with getting any bottles smaller then 8 ounces. You can always add less, but they so quickly grow out of the 4 and 6 ounce.
I bought the majority of this at Babies R Us and Target. Where I was also registered for my shower.
It’s hard to guess with swings and chairs and stuff. Our son hated the swing, but loved the vibrating chair. The chair we bought was perfect because it grows with him. He still uses it daily and it eventually can become a toddler rocking chair!
If I could do it all over again, these are things I would do. It’s hard being a first time parent, you just buy it all! The best thing I could tell you is to wait on things that you need to test like bottles and pacifiers, formula (my son was on 4 different kinds).
Diapers- Pampers all the way. I am so diappointed with Huggies and Luvs. Pampers are so soft and they actually absorb!!!! The other ones left my baby soaked in the morning!
Best of luck!
April 16th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I am just over 5 months and have bought almost everything already lol I never have had any patience.
Travel system- I got the Mutsy in Ocean Blue and a traveller car seat-
Instead of a moses basket or crib I got an amby baby hammock-
Then I found out it was a boy I was having and bought tons of baby clothes! I got everything from ebay and saved a fortune i.e. the car seat costs £130 new cost £30 including delivery and it’s in perfect condition.
April 18th, 2009 at 5:43 am
When really doesn’t matter too much - just make sure that sometime before your 36th week or so you have a car seat installed in your vehicle, your bag packed, at least a couple of outfits to bring baby home in, and diapers. Many other things are just extras that you may not even get around to using right away. Like a changing table - I never used one. A crib - my son slept with me, made breastfeeding MUCH easier and allowed all of us to get more sleep, including baby. One other thing I’d want at home that makes life with a newborn, particularly a colicky one or cranky one much easier, a sling, wrap, or pouch. Pouches are awesome for newborns, though they won’t last the baby as long as a sling or wrap. Skip the infantino or baby bjorn carriers - they just don’t last very long, aren’t incredibly easy to use and are not as easily portable as others are. A wrap will give you the most versatility, but takes a little more effort to learn to use.
As for which stroller - that really comes down to your preference and features that are important to you. If you plan on having other kids relatively soon, definitely invest in a good quality stroller. It gets used SO much that many of the cheaper Walmart/Babies R Us brands like Graco and Cosco and Evenflo Bite the dust after a couple years.
It is really completely up to your preference, but, here’s my 2cents. Personally, I’d pick out an awesome stroller (since the ones that come in a travel system often aren’t all that great!) b/c the stroller is the part that you will be using for the next 3-4 years. You really need to like it, and have it be quality so you don’t find yourself with a busted stroller in a year. Also, you can save money by purchasing a high quality used stroller, whereas if you buy a travel system, you can’t get it used b/c it is not safe to get a used car seat. You could however, get a used stroller and check its compatibility, and get a car seat new that would work with it. That’s what I did.
All that said - as a single parent on a seriously limited income, I now realize I should’ve completely skipped the infant carrier stage. Its not a ‘needed’ stage in car seats, its just a convenience thing, and a recent - as in the last 15 years or so - invention to have a stay in car base and separate carrier. Here’s why I think its a waste: doesn’t last babies very long at all. You spend $60 and up on this carrier that is only going to last 5-8 months! And then you have to purchase a convertible car seat, and somewhere down the line a booster seat. If you skip the carrier phase, you just eliminated one seat. There is now one carrier on the market that promises to fit 99% of babies up to at least their first birthday - Graco SafeSeat1, goes to 30lbs. However, there are limitations to this awesome seat. It really will fit most kids that long, but that’s a catch-22. You really going to carry your 25lbs baby in a carrier?! And, the recline can not be adjusted when its installed in the car. Newborns have to be rear facing and reclined 45 degrees. Older babies who can hold their heads up well can be 30-45 degrees, and most want to so they can see more. So your baby may come to hate the SafeSeat at some point b/c he can’t sit up any straighter, but then again, maybe not. You never know. Also - b/c it is a bigger seat to last longer, it doesn’t always fit well in smaller vehicles. Try before you buy. And - it costs significantly mroe than its regular weight (22lbs) counterparts, at least double. My son was a BIG baby (still is a BIG kid!) and outgrew his carrier at 4 months. And, after baby gets above 10lbs or so, they are a pain in the butt to carry - quite awkward. So its not as convenient as it may at first seem. And some of the ‘convenient’ ways people use them aren’t good.
Carriers should NEVER be placed on grocery carts. It makes the carts unstable and they can tip over, seriously injuring the baby. Also, not all car seats fit all carts, and they don’t lock on, they’re just sitting there, posing an obvious threat. And some of the carts are shaped or sized in a way that it puts the carrier at an unsafe/uncomfortable angle for the baby. I’ve seen babies laying in carriers on carts with their head lower than their feet - not a good idea for digestion or spit up.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says Parents and caregivers should never Place an infant carrier on top of the shopping cart. “Many infant-only car safety seats lock into shopping carts, and many stores have shopping carts with built-in infant seats. This may seem safe, but thousands of children are hurt every year from falling out of shopping carts or from the carts tipping over. Instead of placing your baby’s car safety seat on the cart, consider using a stroller or front pack while shopping with your baby. ”
Also, we are seeing rampant developmental delays becuase babies are in these carriers (and swings, and bouncy seats…) so much. Look around everywhere you go and instead of holding their babies, people have them in these carriers. When on their back and harnessed (and any time a child is in a carrier, he needs to be harnessed, even though its not in a car!) they can not work the muscles they need to develop to crawl, sit up, and walk. In the manuals for these carriers, it even says specifically ‘for use in cars and strollers only’! But we all seem to miss that part.
So I highly recommend skipping the carrier phase. I think they are more a pain than a blessing, and a wasted of money if you don’t have a lot to throw around. Instead, get a convertible car seat that will fit a newborn (more on that later) and a sling, pouch, or wrap. Not one of those silly snugli or infantino carriers, but something like a ringsling, moby, or maya wrap. Wearing your baby gives everybody what they need. Babies get much needed closeness to mom (or dad, or anyone else for that matter!) and you get your hands free to do what you need to do, as well as you can even breastfeed in one! They offer many different positions to use them in, too, and go higher than carrier car seat weights (20-22lbs). Most go to at least 35lbs, so you will get much more use out of it for your money.
OK - so if you choose to skip the carrier phase, be careful about the convertible car seat you choose, b/c not all will fit newborns well. You want it to have low bottom slots.
Perfect options:
The Evenflo Triumph Advance (not the original Triumph, make sure it says Advance) is a great seat. $150 version at Babies R Us has padding similar to Britax seats, top slots of 17″, harnesses to 35lbs rear facing, and 50lbs forward facing. $120 Walmart version just has little less plush padding. Wide open belt path, easy to install, though it doesn’t have built in lockoffs. The harness adjusts at the front of the car seat, you don’t have to take the car seat out of the car just to raise/lower the straps. It’s one of only 2 seats that does this (The Britax Boulevard is the other, I believE), and it has infinite harness adjustment so the harness always fits perfectly until its outgrown. No more tugging straps to tighten them either. You tighten and loosen the harness using knobs on the side of the seat. As a major bonus, it can be used in a recline position even in forward facing mode. Awesome for kids who still sleep in the car. I LOVE THIS SEAT! LOL My son, who is too big for every other car seat at Walmart has the same amount of room in this as the Britax Marathon.
Cosco Scenera - $50 at Walmart/Kmart/Target. Great seat for the price. Goes up to 35lbs rear facing, 40lbs forward facing. Great rear facing seat, but is outgrown very quickly forward facing b/c of short top slots and short shell. You’ll still get you’re $50 worth out of it, though, as it will last most kids to at least 2 years, quadruple the amount of time of an infant seat!
As you’re shopping, remember these rules about seats:
1)the BEST seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car, and will be used correctly 100% of the time. (This is why convenience features DO make a difference and ARE worth the money! If its easy to use, you’re more likely to use it correctly.
2)Children should stay rear facing AS LNOG AS POSSIBLE!!!! The 20lbs/1 year rule is outdated and provides a bare minimum for turning kids forward facing. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration both recommend keeping kids rear facing as long as possible, up to the limits of their seat, preferably until at least 2 years of age. For good reason: A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 4 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age. A child’s vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone. In other countries, rear facing 2 - 3 - 4 year olds is standard, they understand that its safer. Here, we turn them as soon as we get to, seeing it as a right of passage thing or something. Ridiculous. Most convertible seats have a 30lbs rear facing limit, Cosco/Dorel/Safety1st/Eddie Bauer seats rear face to 35lbs, Britax rear faces to 33lbs.
3)Once you do turn them forward facing, they need to stay in a 5 point harness as long as possible. 4 years/40lbs is the minimum for riding in a booster, and most 4 year olds have no business using one yet. If they can’t sit upright for an entire trip, they need the harness of a car seat still. And, even if they do sit properly, a 5 point harness is safer, so you want to keep them in one as long as possible. This is important to consider b/c most car seats only forward face to 40lbs. My son just turned 3,