This morning as i stopped by the store on the way home from dropping Athena at school, i got a text that said "baby gas drops".
I had sort of forgotten this stuff existed (not gas drops), but the first thing that came to mind was, I need gripe water! It's funny how you have your first kid, and you try to get every little thing, bottle warmer, wipe warmer, different types of booty cream etc. you get it all because you want to be prepared for anything. Then you have baby number two and your like, ok i got this, and you get your favorite things, and leave out a whole bunch of stuff you never used and didn't want to waste money on. Then by baby number 3, you've been in the game long enough your like, I got it all figured out i don't need help, but then you see one of your friends who just had their first post about some new baby thing you had never heard of. For us it was Gripe water with Athena, five years after our first child and on to number three and we had just heard of gripe water! But that's not the only thing, by the time Donovan was born halo sleep sacks had just become the newest baby craze, i remember looking at them in the store and laughing, i'm supposed to pay 30 bucks for one of these things? Who can't swaddle? By Athena, we knew about them but i still wasn't willing to pay for a sleep sack when we can swaddle a baby just fine in a baby blanket. But With Beatrix, we got several of these sleep sacks from friends at work, and even the hospitals hand them out now apparently. Baby #4, almost 10 years in the parenting game and we are still finding out there are some cool baby things out there, and still some basic baby hacks we always fall back on.
So Gripe Water, baby hack number one, that we didn't know about until baby number 3! This stuff might as well be a magic potion. you give to a cranky gassy baby and somehow it fixes it. The first time i heard of this stuff was when Athena was a baby, i couldn't believe it would work, but at some point i ended up in a Walgreens buying a bottle and was amazed at how well it worked.
Baby hack number two, or maybe i should say toddler hack, because i've only ever used it on Donovan, Melatonin Gummies. I didn't hear about these things until Donovan was almost three and Athena was still a baby (sort of, they're pretty close in age) Donovan was our one child (and the only boy) that ever gave us a hard time with going to bed. I always thought it was funny when friends would mention their kids not going to sleep, or staying down at night. Then we had Donovan! Melatonin is the stuff in Turkey that makes you sleepy. When i found out they made these for toddlers (and actually kids, and adults too), it was a game changer. I'd give him one of these about 30 min. before i wanted him in bed, and fifteen minutes later he'd be passed out!
Baby hack number three Halo Sleep Sacks. When Kira was born over 9 years ago, sleep sacks were not a thing. I remember showing Brandon how to swaddle in the hospital, i remembered from when my sisters were babies. We spent a lot of time perfecting swaddling, Brandon is still the master swaddler in our house, but i can swaddle too, hehe. When Donovan was born Sleep sacks had just become the craze. I remember seeing them in stores and laughing at $30 to buy one sleep sack when you can just swaddle your baby yourself. By Athena Sleep sacks had been out for awhile, i still had the same reaction everytime i would see them. I thought it was crazy people paid for these things, and thought it was even funnier that people couldn't learn how to swaddle properly with a blanket. But with Beatrix, we ended up with several sleep sacks. I had several friends at work give me sleep sacks, and apparently even the hospitals hand them out now! Bea was probably home for about a week before Brandon pulled one out and decided to try it out. Ok so sleep sack, easy peasy, but i still like a blanket. That being said, i probably wouldn't buy sleep sacks, but as gifts sure sleep sack late night in the dark i get it. We were joking around one night about how swaddling with a blanket is like driving a manual, and swaddling with a sleep sack is like driving an automatic. Sure the automatic is easier, but i mean manual is better right, lol. So Sleep sack, we didn't even try that piece of baby gear until baby number 4!
Baby hack number four, goes to our K Cup maker. Obviously i wouldn't suggest buying a K Cup maker simply for a baby but i you already have one they're great! And no i'm not going to recommend making a baby a cup of coffee, it's for easily heating bottles, and of course coffee for the parents lol. When Kira was a baby we bought a bottle warmer. I mean it was a standard baby item, people use them all the time. But i hated it! I had this crazy idea that it would heat the bottle really fast and then we could feed her faster, but it took a while to head up, and wasted counter space. It wasn't until Donovan that we found out how great the K Cup maker was, and
this was simply because we never had one when Kira was a baby. But with Donovan we had already been using one for coffee for quite awhile. But what we learned was the fastest way to head up a baby bottle is to fill a coffee cup with how water from the K Cup maker, since it always had instant hot water, and through the bottle in the cup, warm bottle is right around the corner. This also was a life savor when Athena was less than two months old and the hot water heater went out at Christmas time, it was the only way we could make warm bottles until the hot water heater was replaced, which took way longer than it should have due to the holiday week!
Baby hack number five, goes to our bassinet. Another one of those baby things we never used until baby number 4! We always put the kids straight into full size cribs, so a bassinet seemed like waste of money. However with Beatrix, space was an issue so we got a bassinet, granted it is only a good option for a few months (though her being born so small may have added some time on for us) but it buys us time until we can upgrade into a bigger place with another room. However, it became quickly apparent that bassinets, especially ours with wheels on it, is amazing. To be able to roll a baby bed around from room to room, easily, is pretty awesome.
I have a lot of other baby hacks, but this is going long and maybe i will do a part two later. A few extra things that were either got a thumbs up or thumbs down over the years are as follows:
-Dr Browns Bottles (thumbs up)
Only bottles that worked for all four of the kids, pain in the butt to clean compared to other bottles, but excellent bottles all around for gassy babies
-Wipe Warmer (thumbs down)
Used on of these years ago with Kira, and never again. It dried out the wipes and was not convenient because it had to be plugged in, where as a pack of wipes you can just take wherever you want.
-Bumbo (Thumbs down/thumbs up)
After Kira i thought Bumbo's were an incredible waste of money. Kira never liked hers, she cried every time she got put in it, but Donovan ended up loving his right off the bat, and Athena was sort of in the middle. The truth is i'm sure we will get one for Bea, but it seems to be hit or miss depending on the baby. There are other methods to help a baby sit up, a bumbo can be nice but not necessary.
-Ergo, Specifically Ergo baby carrier (thumbs up)
for three babies, and three different carriers, i thought baby carriers sucked! Especially for women like me with large chests. There wasn't room for the baby, it was uncomfortable, made my back hurt etc. Pain in the butt to put on, and the list goes on. I tried traditional carriers and wraps hated them all. With Bea we got an Ergo Carrier, and i learned right away not all baby carriers are built the same. I love this thing, room for baby even with my big chest, lots of back support, and lots of room for baby to grown. I wish i had found this out 4 babies ago!
-Diaper Bag (Thumbs down)
Okay so a diaper bag is sort of a must have with a baby, and pre baby it's all fun to fill it up with all the baby stuff your gonna need, but then you have a baby and it sort of becomes just one more big bulky thing to have to drag around. Most of the time i leave the house without a diaper bag at all. We have some diapers and wipes in our glove box, and depending on how long we may be gone i may shove a bottle in the car seat, but thats about it. Long trips yes of course, but honestly a backpack is usually easier to hall around, or in my case my purse is big enough i could shove whatever i needed in it for most trips. I still think you should have a diaper bag, but they truly suck lol!
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