Babies: What you NEED

Here’s a list of stuff you’ll need for your new little one.

For our purposes, we’ll assume that your family is breastfeeding.

Gear

  • Car Seat: Graco SnugRide 30 Classic Connect
    • Killer Feature: Simple, once you toss the installation guide and head over to The Car Seat Lady
    • Fatal Flaw: The manual/installation guide is completely unintelligible.
  • Baby Carrier: ERGObaby Carrier and infant insert
    • Killer Feature: for our little one, this can take him from screaming to sleeping in about 3 minutes. It’s magic.
    • Fatal Flaw: it’s awkward to bundle and put on by yourself. Can also overheat the baby without much effort
  • Baby Monitor: Angelcare Movement and Sound Monitor
    • Killer Feature: Movement monitor. It will (potentially) alert you if your baby stops breathing
    • Fatal Flaw: There is no way to leave the base station (microphone) on and turn the parent unit (speaker) off. The base station will beep like crazy and wake up not just your baby but everyone else in the house, too.
  • Baby Monitor: Video camera. While you don’t need video (you’re not going to watch when you’re sleeping!), it’s nice to have. Make sure you have an audio monitor, and then augment with a Dropcam brand camera (basic is fine) so you can monitor the crib remotely.
    • Killer Feature: dead simple to set up and use
    • Fatal Flaw: You have to pay $100/yr if you want video recording
    • Special note: I purchased a used Foscam FI9821W v2 which works great, but it’s not for the faint of heart to set up, and the “official” iOS app makes me cranky.
  • Changing station: the Skip Hop Pronto Changing Station is fantastic. I’m pretty much in love with everything Skip Hop makes.
    • Killer Feature: Portable, svelt and just large enough for a few diapers. Also has a wipes container and comes in manly styles.
    • Fatal Flaw: No shoulder strap
  • Diaper bag: Skip Hop Swift Changing Station Diaper Bag
    • Killer Feature: If you pack light enough, you can fit a 13″ laptop and charger.
    • Fatal Flaw: Its still a diaper bag.
  • Pack ‘n Play: get just the basic Graco Travel Playard.
    • Killer Feature: Travelable
    • Fatal Flaw: Still bulky
    • Special note: I should have known better. We initially got a larger version with a bunch of bells and whistles. The changing table is floppy (and not safe, separate post forthcoming), and the rocking cradle doesn’t. Another example of a product trying to do every thing and failing at them all.

Clothing

  • 4 newborn size onesies, footed with sleeves. Get ones that will cover the hands as well, so it doesn’t look like a werewolf attacked them in their sleep
  • Sleep sack – 2 is plenty

Health/general care

  • Dr Brown’s bottles preemie 2 pack- they fit Medela pumps
  • Oxy clean
  • Newborn size diapers even if you’re planning on cloth diapering, because you’re so harried in the first weeks, you don’t want top have to worry about something else like that too. You’ll go through about 8-10 a day.
  • Costco wipes

Breastfeeding

  • Breast Pump: Medela Pump in Style Advanced is the gold standard.If you get one in the backback or “on the go tote” you cannot remove the pump, period. The Metro bag version is a combination of the “starter” pack and a messenger bag. [UPDATE] By comparison, the Medela model, well, sucks. The Spectra brand is *much* better (albeit less portable). Recommendation is the Spectra S2 (no battery) or if you do a fair bit of traveling, the S1 model with battery runs about $75 more. Thanks to BreastPumpRatings.org for the ratings and recommendation.
    • Killer Feature: It works! If you give birth in a hospital, they will likely provide a starter accessory pack compatible with Medela pumps during your stay. With some ingenuity you can get the Medela cords to fit the Spectra valves.
    • Fatal Flaw: The bottles with pump attachments connected will not stay upright. This will lead to spilled milk. And crying.
    • Special note: Insurance companies are now required to cover pumps.
  • Nursing Bras: Some insurance will cover nursing bras (In WA state, Regence BlueCross/BlueShield does. Hit up Pacific Mothering Support Inc for assistance). You’ll have to ask my wife which one(s) to get.
  • Mom Care: Medela Tender Care Hydrogel pads.
  • Mom Care: APNO – our Doctor prescribed it; needs to come from a compounding pharmacy. This stuff is amazing, and baby safe!
  • Amazon Prime. If you are an Amazon Prime Mom (it includes all the usual benefits) you get a 15% discount on all things left of your baby registry, instead of 10%. If you don’t publish your registry you just have to wait a minimum of 2 weeks before you can claim your discount. If you’re breastfeeding, you’ll be watching a lot of TV. 😉

Misc (to be organized)