My Favorite Baby Things

I'm always giving advice (many times unsolicited) on my favorite baby products and baby vendors. So, I thought I'd post a list on the blog that I can update whenever I find something new and cool. So here goes:

Carriers:

Zach lived in his Hotsling when he was a newborn. It was the only way I ever had free hands, since he hated the swing and the bouncy seat. We got ours through Target -- less fabric choices, but it cost less than ordering it from the manufacturers' own website.

We've since moved on to the Ergo now that he is much bigger. We love this carrier and use it all the time. I can still carry Zach on my chest, and he loves to go to sleep when I carry him this way. It's design is similar to that of a camping backpack, with a padded waist belt, so the weight is on your hips rather than your back and shoulders. I have carried Zach around DC in this carrier for 4 hours. We also have the clip-on back pack, which allows us to leave the diaper bag at home for baseball games.

Breast Pumps:

I won't get into my story on breastfeeding, but the cheapest place I found to get pumps is Hackley Healthcare Equipment. Their prices aren't posted on the web -- they e-mail them to you. Don't worry, it's totally worth it -- their price when I looked was at least $50 less than the cheapest price I found elsewhere. And I've never gotten random mailing list email from them.

Swaddling Blankets

We didn't find this one until late, but we the Miracle Blanket was our savior until Zach ewas strong enough to break out of it. Jason called it the "baby straight jacket". And that is an accurate description. But Zach loved it, I think because it made him feel safe and warm.

Stroller

When Zach was a tiny munchkin (which was not for long) we used Graco's Snugrider frame to go with out Snugride carrier. We liked it because it had a large basket, folded flat, and was easy to pop in the trunk and pull it out and unfold. We bought it on the recommendation of a salesperson at BuyBuyBaby, who steered us away from a travel system. He made a really good point -- we would not know what type of stroller we really wanted until after the baby was born, so we should just buy the frame to use with the carrier and make a stroller decision later on. This was some of the best advice we were given.

My everyday stroller is a Bumbleride Indie. I cannot say enough good things about this all-terrain stroller. I bought it because it was the lightest and had the most compact fold of all the all-terrain/jogger strollers. After using the Snugrider for a while, I decided that I needed an all terrain because the sidewalks in our neighborhood are horrible, and I wanted a stroller that could be used on grass and sand at the beach. It has a great canopy that goes all the way to the bumper bar when the seat is upright. It reclines almost flat. You can actually see though the view window. The break works really well. And you can truly steer it with one hand.

Its late, and I'm tired. More on this tomorrow.