Our Favorite Things (2.5 Weeks)

This is going to be the first post of an ongoing series about what baby/mommy items we are currently loving. (Or hating, as it may be.) Obviously things will keep on changing as my baby continues to grow, but I thought it would be fun to post about what we like at the moment. With all the gear available it is almost impossible to anticipate what will or will not work for you and your baby, but here's what we have found so far...

For Baby:

At the moment most of the daytime hours are spent sleeping, eating and pooping. He does have a couple of hours of "quiet alert time" though.*

*I am using the term "quiet alert time" which I got from reading a book called Baby Wise. It is a book about the sleeping habits of babies. The basic premise is to work towards getting your baby on a sleep/eat/wake schedule. (In that specific order.) So many mothers have recommended it to me, so we are going to give it a try. So... after a long nap, I immediately feed him, and then follow that up with some "wake time." We sing, dance, and use some of the following little toys to give him some stimulation. Now-- newborns are sleepy. Very sleepy. Sometimes we have success at this and sometimes he is immediately comatose again after coming off the boob. At this stage of the game I am not expecting much out of him or out of myself. We try and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. We are putting the building blocks in order though and it is something to work towards. Oh-- and in case you haven't read the book-- there is no "wake time" at night. You feed them and put them immediately back to bed. One last thing-- when you read the book it comes across as a little overly rigid and scheduled, IMO. I think there are definitely some valid points there though, so I'm just taking from it what I think works for us.

Ok-- back to the fun stuff. Things my baby loves during the few hours of happy (he could care less about these things if he is crabby) wake time during the day.

-Black On White and White on Black books by Tana Hoban. These little board books have no words. They are just very graphic shapes that my boy seems to love. He now follows the shapes as I move them slowly from side to side in front of them. (As skill they master in the first month.) You could really make your own versions of these books on the computer with some solid shaped clip art.

-The Fisher Price Aquarium. This is made to attach to the baby's crib, but since he is not sleeping in his crib yet, I put it about 7 inches away from his face when he is lying down. (I have to hold it there so it doesn't topple over on him) He is mesmerized by this thing! I think it's the bubbles. Sometimes this will even calm him down if he is getting a little fussy.

-Blinds on windows. We didn't even have to buy this one. :) He loves to stare at the light coming through the closed blinds on the windows. I will say that besides staring at me or his daddy, this is by far his favorite thing to look at.

-Swaddle Designs blankets. My boy LOVES to be swaddled. We don't do it as much during the day so he has a chance to stretch out, but when he goes to bed at night he is most definitely swaddled. These are the BEST swaddling blankets! They are large and the fabric stays put after you assemble the swaddle. We have two of them and alternate them each night. We have a couple of those swaddling "sleep sacks" but he prefers these. Maybe the sleep sacks are too loose?

-Gerber Organic Cotton Cloth Diapers. I use these for burp cloths. They are so much softer and more absorbent than the non organic ones. Not sure why, but I already got rid of the other ones.

The jury's still out on these...

-The swing. Yes, he will sleep in it, but he sleeps almost anywhere. Many moms swear that the swing will calm a fussy baby, but really, he only has a very limited amount of fussy time in the first place and when it does happen he really just wants to be held. The swing makes it worse. I'm not going to pack it up or anything just yet, but so far it is not a necessity for us.

-The Baby Bjorn. It may have been a problem of operator error, but he did not like this. Maybe I was too clumsy and jerky while trying to get him in it. Whatever it was, he was not a happy camper. We'll try it again soon though.

For Mommy:

-Target Nursing Tanks/Bras. I have one of the $40 "Glamour Mom" tanks, and a couple of the "A Pea In The Pod" bras which are on the pricey side as well. My favorite nursing undergarments? My Gillian O'Malley ones from Target! I am not large chested to begin with and while I have definitely gotten larger while breast feeding, I'm still not huge. (I wear a 34 C these days rather than my usual 32B) Maybe someone with larger breasts would need more support, but these are the most comfortable ones I've found so far.

-Lansinoh Breast Pads. I tried to use the organic cotton washable breast pads. I tried and I failed. Maybe I leak a lot or something, but those washable ones would never dry out and having the moisture trapped against my breast irritated the heck out of my nipple. I had to go to the less environmentally friendly disposable ones. They are so much better for me! They wick the moisture away wonderfully. I ran out of them the other day and used the Medela brand ones that came with my breast pump. Basically the same premise, but when the Medela ones got wet they smelled awful! Like hospital disinfectant or something. Not good.

Well, I think that's all I have for now. He's growing and learning so much already though-- I'm sure I'll have to update this list sooner rather than later!