Best baby buys: 2013

Sleeping

Cots -

Even though it may not look pretty like a traditional wooden cot for me the best buy is a travel cot. This is why-

It allows you to have two levels. Up high for a newborn so you don’t have to reach down to far every time you need to attend to them. Most of them come with a changing station attached so you don’t need to buy that as an extra, taking up lots of room. Also when you babe finally starts to stand you don’t need to worry about them hitting their heads like you would with a wooden cot. The soft netting is very baby proof. Also when using a camera it is easy to see your babe through the netting unlike a wooden cot which has bumpers all around making it harder to see your baby.

Lastly if you are traveling you can just pack up your cot and take it with you.

Best cot- a travel cot

Brand - Greco

Extras - make sure to get a good mattress.

Baby monitor

A baby monitor is well worth the investment because you will end up using it way more than you ever imagined. It will put your mind at ease while you soak in the tub staring at your sleeping babe.

We love our Motorola

Comfort

A new born needs very little in ways of toys. A nice soft toy to have at bedtime is nice to have as part of a bedtime routine. Popular are ones that glow and make soothing sounds. My favourite that my daughter still uses 10 months on is Ewan the sheep.

Clothing

For the first few weeks I would say the only thing that makes sense is to put your babe in Onesies which button all the way down. These will mostly come in multi packs. You have to change newborn so often [can be up to 6/7 times a day] that you want something easy and practical. Onesies that have buttons all the way from foot to neck means no battles and tears trying to get things over poor babies head. For a newborn, ones with mittens on the hands are helpful, as they tend to scratch their faces a bit.

Bath time

You can put your new born many places to bath, the kitchen sink a small bucket, in the bath tub with you, but I found the easiest thing at first is a proper babies bath. It supports the little babe well and helpful to have that for new time parents. The headrest should be slightly padded.
For me it was important to try and stick to as much Organic products as possible. A newborn is so pure and free of any toxins and many products even for babies will contain harmful ingredients.

I loved 'Earth Friendly Baby'

Feeding

When feeding your baby we all know breast is best but not always possible or easy. I would recommend nipple guards for those first painful few days.

Pumping

Having a good pump is always useful even if you plan to solely breast-feed. For example you may get Mastitis when you need to pump a breast to get ride of blocked passages. You may just get too exhausted and desperate for a good nap, and then pumping can allow your partner to bottle feed one night. Or for some if you have to return to work and want to keep giving your babe breast milk a good pump is worth every penny. For mothers planning to use the pump a lot I would definitely recommend a double action one. For only sparse use a one sided one will do. For either only electric will do as the last thing an exhausted mother wants to do is sell pump!

For me best brand is - Medela or Advent

Bottles

For bottles you just need to make sure they are BPA free. Also be aware that the nipples come in different 'sizes/flows' from slow/small to fast/large holes. Its good to have about 6 so you don’t need to always be washing one right away.

Also do get a bottle cleaning brush very useful.

Most popular are - Medela, Advent, and Born Free, Nuk

Formula

Again for me Organic is the only way to go on this. Putting the best, purest 'food' into you babe is vital.

Most popular brands - Holle and Hipp

Getting around/travel

Stroller

There are so many strollers out there with such a wide price range [ £100 to 1000+] that you really have to just go into a store and test them out. You need to decide how much you are willing to spend and then go and look at that price range. It also depends on where you live, city with smooth or bumpy roads, country side ect in regard to which one will work best for you. I would just suggest getting one which you can rotate cot so baby can either face you or away, makes things easier. Also for those who travel a lot by car its worth getting one with the cot/seat that detaches and can be transferred to the car seat. It saves waking your sleeping babe all the time.

Most popular brands- Maclaren\ Mini City\ Bugaboo\ Quinny

Baby Carrier

There are many carries out there and for some reason Baby Bjorn seems to have most of the market and publicity but to be honest they are real back breakers. If like us you have a babe who wants only to be in a carrier and never a stroller you need something really comfortable. The Beco Gemini is by far the best with all the babies weight going to your hips and not your back. The baby can also face out, or in and can be carried on front [ from birth] or back or hip [ from 6 months]. The Ergo is also very nice and popular with the celebs but baby can only face in.

Most popular- Beco Gemini, Ergo, Baby Bjorn

Must have-

The vibrating chair - this is the secret to hopefully keeping your babe from crying too much when you are too exhausted to walk them round. The vibrating chair is a great place to put your new born for 20 minute slots when they have been lying down for a while. It allows them to slightly sit up enabling them to see what is going on around them.

Muslin squares- you will use these all the time to wipe up dribble, vomit ect from you, the baby, or your sofa. Get at least 10 small or 5 large.

Best baby buys

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

6 - 12 Months

3 to 6 Months

New Borns