Car seats and stuff

Hi ladies,

I had a few questions for you and hope you can share your own experiences!

1) DH and I are getting the graco snugride seats this weekend. I've heard from lots of people that they are lighter in terms of lifting in the early days. Has anyone used these and are they happy with them? I don't know if there is a reason to shell out more money for the snugride 32.

2) In terms of stuff, we've tried to be pretty conservative about what we buy b/c we don't know what a newborn needs, so far this is what we have or are getting this w/e... please let us know if anything urgent is missing:

-cribs (2)
-mattresses (2)
-changing table
-crib sheets
-bunting bags (2)
-sleepers (6-7)--> I think we may need more but I don't want to go nuts b/c I don't know what size the babes will be
-socks (2 pairs each)
-changing pad
-diapers (size N and 1)

-wipes
-rocking chair
-Ez2Nurse pillow
-waterproof pad for the crib/bassinett
-a couple of hats
-pack n' play for a downstairs changing table
- a few receiving blankets
-swaddle-me wraps
-baby carrier

I think that's it. Am I missing anything major?

:thanks:

 

Hi Anna, Congrats on your little ones!

My twins aren't here yet but I do have a 14 month old so it's all pretty fresh in my memory. We used LOTS of sleep sacks -- especially nice for winter babies. And, they come in a size that lasts until they're about 9 months old. Keeps them cozy since you can't use blankets when they're little. Also, since they are really big on them at first it keeps their little hands warm. Actually, my daughter was born in Oct and I used to put little mittens on her hands inside of her sleep sacks to keep those little hands warm.

I also used my boppy a lot with her. She love to recline on it and look at me while we talked, sang, kissed her feet, it was a comfy spot for her.

She loved the mobile over her bassinet. I don't think I saw that on your list.

All the best!

Michelle

 

Things you can get now and will need alot of are:

Towels
Washcloths
burp cloths

 

I like the regular Graco Snugride even though they do grow out of them fairly quickly, they seem to be really popular, have a good safety record and they are affordable. I thought about getting the 32 so he could use it longer but I doubt I'd be able to carry it around at that point anyways, I'm barely 5 ft. I think your list so far is really reasonable, the only things I'd add are a swing, a bouncy seat and a double stroller.

 

I don't know how you plan to bathe the babies but I used my daughters infant bath tub for every bath. I know some people like to do it in the sink but they get pretty big fast and I liked to have the support of a bathtub underneath of them since they are as slippery as seals when they are all soaped up. They are pretty inexpensive, less than $20, and it was one of our most used baby items.

 

Personally I think you will need some more socks. Living where it gets cold we used to put socks on the babies, then the fleece footed pj's and then sleep sacks when it was cold in the winter time. Be sure to get at least 2 mattress pads per crib, they make cleaning up wet sheets in the middle of the night much easier. Personally I found that we didn't use very many recieving blankets, for us having 4 or 6 would have been more than sufficient. We ended up using blankets that were heavier and a bit bigger and still use them every day.

Be sure to get a lot of burp clothes, we went through close to a dozen a day at times and having more than that meant I wasn't doing tons of extra laundry.

Mittens....for winter babies I think these are essential. Even though my boys were born in the summer we still used these all the time.

 

I think the Graco Snugride is great - I have used it with my first two kiddos and now with my twins. Getting an infant seat with higher weight/height limits for this type of seat is overkill, in my opinion - by the time you max out at 20 lbs. and 26 inches, it's way, way heavy to lug around.

 

:thanks: I appreciate all the quick replies!!!

I actually forgot to add that we do have an infant bath tub and 2 bouncy chairs and towels.

I will get the sleep sacks and extra socks though b.c it's rather cold in Toronto in Jan/Feb. DO sleep sacks typically have sleeves or are they sleeveless??

We've got a double snap n' go for the early days and have a double stroller in mind.

We're looking at a new valco ion twin stroller. It's kind of pricey but is sturdy, handles well and isn't as heavy or huge as some of the others. The other one we were thinking of is the baby trend city elite. Any feedback on those strollers or any others???

Have a great day!!

 

Since you are getting swaddle mes, I would necessarily think that you need more sleep sacks. My girls were swaddled for naps and night until they were 4 months so I think a sleep sack under all that would be ridiculous! If you do enjoy swaddling, I would get miracle blankets. i had the swaddle mes too and after about 3 weeks, the girls would bust out of them in 5 minutes or they would wake up to it around their neck. The miracle blankets were amazing!

The double snap and go is something I would deem necessary for the first year. I just got my side by side stroller and I LOVE it. I was hesitant to get it because it wasn't as expensive as the others(a lot of the time, you do get what you pay for), but this stroller is fantastic! http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-Expedition-Jogging-Stroller/dp/B001NIZSGE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1260474882&sr=8-1 it handles well and the girls love to both be in front. I tried my sister in law's tandem stroller she has for her 11 months old and the baby in the back was always mad!

 

I would add more sleepers. You can easily go through 6 or 7 in a day on some days! I would also nix the N diapers and just buy 1s. I barely used those for DD1 and she was 6#1oz. Or you could just do what my best friend did for her baby (that I'd never thought of and I have 4 kids!)-buy gift cards instead of diapers so that way you buy what size you need when you need it.

 

We had a regular Snugride from 2005, and when we bought a second for the twin, we stuck with the same smaller size to use the same bases. However, I have to tell you how GLAD I am that we did this. After installing them last week in our van, in the 2nd row captains seats, we learned how hard it was for anyone to get by the bases alone, so had we gotten the 32's we'd have really been in trouble.

Lesson learned = if you do buy the 32's check them out in your vehicle first!!!

 

the 32's are quite a bit bigger and heavier (although more luxurious for baby I think with more padding) but after having a safeseat(compares to their new 32) we got the twins the snugrides and are much happier. I hated our double snap and go, too flimsy so we got a duoglider it's better but still not as nice as our quattro tour for our last singleton, we both say we should have bought the quattro instead of the duoglider.

Miracle blankets are awesome so if you can exchange the swaddle me's I would. My babies have been sleeping from about 11 at night to anytime between 5 and 7 am for about a month already and I am pretty sure swaddling is a big contributor.

I used receiving blankets as burp cloths, if you have a spitter they're bigger and can catch more lol.

Gift cards what a great idea! Wish I would have thought of that!

Do you have a diaper bag? What about diaper cremes and baby wash and lotions etc? Pacifiers? Baby laundry detergent?

Good luck!

 

Sleep sacks come with and without sleeves. We barely used the sleeveless ones. When it's cold enough for a sleep sack you really want sleeves.

 

Don't have my twins here yet, so can only speak of my experience with my son. We used the swaddleme's when he was younger...but they get (at least our's did) to a point where they just don't want to be confined anyway...that's when the sleep sacks are a MIRACLE!!!! The can roll and be active in them. And you can use them for many, many months! We used the sleevless and sleeve kind, and I preferred the sleevless one b/c he had on a sleeper underneath...it grew better with him.

Also wanted to mention Chicco Keyfit carseats. They are a bit more pricey, but they are HIGHLY rated for safety and ease of installation. In addition, they are the only carseat that is approved for babies as little as 4 lbs, so if you may be looking at having preemies, these are a great buy. They also have a wonderful resell value and despite what you may hear, you can fit these on the snap n go (just look up a video on youtube to show you how).

GL!

 

I looked at the snugride 32 as well but decided it was too heavy to lug around. I got the Evenflo because I really like the Z-handle, and once the baby is holding up his/her head ok, I'll just move to the convertible seat and put it rear facing.

My SIL is giving me a bottle warmer--supposedly indispensible for EBM or formula bottles, safer and quicker than the microwave or boiling water on the stove.

I've actually avoided buying anything because I'm waiting to see what will be under the tree...I keep pointing out that Walmart is across the road from the hospital

 

We bought our first snugride for my almost 4 year old, and at that time it was the top rated car seat, which is why we got it. It worked out great and we just bought a second one for our girl baby

 

I have a little tidbit to add as far as burp cloths go. We used the gerber birdseye cloth diapers as burp rags. They are super absorbent and they are all white so you can bleach them to keep them clean. They are a little pricey, but totally worth it. My DS had GERD so bad he eventually needed surgery to correct it around 18 months and these SAVED us more times than not.

I totally recommend them.