Thread: Thursday QOTD

What is your 'can't live without' baby gear item(s)? Besides the obvious choices like diapers and a car seat.

For me...

* car seat cover for winter like this http://www.amazon.com/Kiddopotamus-C.../dp/B000TW0R4I
* bibs (DD spit up ALL the time)
* swing or bouncy chair for when I need to put the LO down
* my boppy pillow was very useful

for once they are sitting up & I'm still using it... I LOVE it!!!
* Phil & Teds meToo portable high chair.

For me it was the BébéSounds Angelcare baby monitor. Its a movement monitor in addition to a regular baby monitor. We never even used the sound monitor since baby is in the crib in my room for at least 6 months. I could actually sleep knowing it was on!

Another thing I love are big receiving blankets. I used them as nursing covers and to swaddle baby and changing pads and countless other things! The little ones just didn't cut it for us .

ETA: Oh! And my Baby Hawk carrier! DS was still so tiny when DD was born it let me get things done & go places with them by myself. Even at home! If I was cooking dinner I couldn't just put her somewhere and trust my 17 month old wouldn't touch her or knock her out of whatever she was sitting in. I wore her all the time when she was tiny.

My 'can't live without' items are just the essentials. Diapers/wipes, clothes, car seat. Everything else is optional. We lived with only the essentials for the first 6 weeks of DD's life so I learned very quickly that 99% of baby stuff is want and not need

I did like her baby bathtub because I always felt much more secure with her in that than in the big tub. They're so slick when they're wet and soapy!

Gowns for nighttime diaper changes. Not having to deal with snaps in the middle of the night when you are sleep deprived and in low light, great invention.

Some of the things I really liked were my boppy pillow, my itzbeen timer (my brain totally went away with the lack of sleep), and good quality burp cloths!

The essentials were, of course, diaps, car seat, etc

It's hard to remember. I'm like rbrooks14322 - we went without many of the luxury items for a while. The thing I loved having was a big stack of old school white cloth diapers to use a birp cloths. My mom had a bunch emrodered (sp?) with an "M".

I did love the Bumbo too. Abby was pretty strong from the start but VERY small. It was nice for her to be able to sit in and mess with the toys on the playmat instead of always laying flat. Also, when it was time to start feeding cereal, she was too little for the high chair. This was perfect for us....again - another item that was a hand-me-down.

Baby bjorn without a doubt!

The fisher price seahorse was and still is an essential in my house. Annabelle still uses hers as a lovey to help her settle down for naps and bedtime. A swing turned out to be wonderful when she went through a very rough period where all she wanted for hours on end was to be rocked - having a place where she was still rocked while I went to the bathroom or ate was a lifesaver.

My Mai Tai baby carrier is a life saver! I have terrible feet and it leaves my hands free to hold the bannister when I go down stairs so I don't fall. I also have the fisher price ocean wonders fish that attaches yo the crib and it's wonderful for hypnotizing them to sleep I also, contrary to everyone elses beliefs believe in having a couple of bottles and formula around e even when planning on breadtfeeding. Letting my dh give that one bottle a night and letting me sleep five hours in a row the first couple of weeks was the only thing that preserved my sanity!!