As I approach the arrival of our next little bundle, I’ve been perusing our collection of baby gear and deciding what new things we need to prepare. The list of “Must-Have Registry items” expecting parents are given is enormous and expensive and most first-timers don’t know better and think all the stuff is necessary to have a happy baby. Well, I’m here to tell you, new parents have been fooled by these exhaustive lists. I remember getting the list when I was pregnant with Honeybun and just laughing. After many years of working in childcare I had a pretty good idea of what items were necessary for little babies and which were luxuries (or scams).
In terms of all the baby holders available, we tend to live very simply with our babies. Aside from necessary car seat, buggy, high chair and crib we are not big “gear” people, we have only a fraction of the “Must-Have Registry Items” listed on most baby sites (did you know according to one list it’s necessary to have 3 buggies and 2 car seats for a newborn? Granted, I’ve had many more than that but, only 1 of each for the first year with Honeybun). The only other big items we’ve ever had are a play yard (which we used as a napper/changing table in our previous houses with more than 1 level), a boppy pillow, a bumbo chair (which Sugarplum hated and has since been recalled…should figure out what to do with that one) and an exersaucer. No swing, no bouncer, no baby rocker, no cradle, no jumper, no walker, none of that business.
My girls spent most of their awake time on the floor (oh, the horror! A child on the floor?!?!). When they were tiny, I would spread a big blanket on the floor and tradeoff between back time, tummy time and propping them on tummy or back on the boppy pillow. When they got strong enough I also used the boppy to help support them while sitting (though I never wandered far, new sitters are very wobbly and a boppy won’t hold them in!) and the exersaucer when their head control was good (at first I always wedged them in the saucer with a blanket to keep them from flopping over in excitement or frustration).
So with all the options out there for amazing, wonderful, have to have it baby items, what is my one have to have it item for new moms? When I began pondering this question, the answer came quickly and easily to me: Breasts.
Feeding is the most important thing you’ll do with a baby when he/she is young and also probably the thing you’ll spend the most time on in the early months. Not only do breasts provide the perfect and best food source for young tummies, they are also the easiest solution to the constant feeding frenzy. They are easy to carry, come pre-assembled, pre-mixed, pre-heated and pre-filled, day and night. There is no extra washing, sanitizing, measuring, mixing, putting together/taking apart and they can NEVER be lost or forgotten. And, they’re FREE!
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