Few questions?

Who has the play yards? Or play gates? Are they good to have or bad? I think they look nice and safe yet i fear i am restricting them too much? I want them to roam their own house yet it would be nice here and there and outside it would be great to have? Thoughts on them please???


Car seats - i need to buy two for the babysitter. I think i will go with the Cosco ones at walmart like 45 bucks. I have two britax marathons but i can not afford to supply those for her and i researched these and they seem nice. No more than she will need to take them out. What are your thoughts and does anyone have them?

Baby escema? Know anything about it?

 

I bought 2 of the play yards to connect for my oldest DD outside. She screamed everytime I put her in it so we rarely used it. The child hated being pinned up in anything - car seat, exersaucer, ect.! I have yet to use it for the twins. I don't mind them roaming around the house anyway. We've pretty much babyproofed already and we just put a gate across the bottom of our stairs last night. I just constantly check on them if they wonder into another room plus older DD tattles on them quickly if she sees them doing something they shouldn't be. Plus, the play yards take up a lot of room and I really don't want one in the middle of our room. I do know several people that did use them for their kids though.

Our biggest issue right now is teaching older DD to put the toilet seat down because one of the twins likes to play in the toilet. I try to keep the door shut, but older DD can't open it.

 

play yards/gates are a definite! -for me at least- i want to be able to have a safe place to put them while i run to the bathroom, etc
I have the Cosco seat from Walmart and its just fine. Its definitely not as nice but all seats have to pass the same safety regulations as far as i know, so, it works for me!
I have used Cetaphil or Aquaphor on baby eczema

 

awesome i will go and get the seats today... Thak you and Aquaphor is what i am using so awesome there and i am talking to DH about the gates... I see us using it alot outside... Hmmm ok thank for the replies so far...

 

Yeah, the scenera's are perfectly safe seats- they just don't have all the bells and whistles and aren't quite as cushy. We got one for my parents car when I flew home w/ one twin.

As far as gates- yeah, I feel a little guilty keeping them confined, but y'know, there's 2 of them and one of me. SInce they're at the age where they're getting into EVERYTHING, despite my best babyproofing, I'd be going after them all day long. During the day when I'm home alone w/ them, we mainly hang out in the play room where they can get into whatever they possibly get their hands on and I don't have to worry if I have to run grab the phone or if I'm spending time w/ one of them doing something.

 

Baby Ecsema (sp) - doctor told us to use corizone creams

Play Yards - Couldn't live without it. I have two superyards hooked together. I actually have them around the perimeter of an entire room but not hooked in a circle. The boys can crawls, walk, climb, etc. the entire room and feel like they are not enclosed. It really enhanced their ability to be able to pull up and cruise and hence they are walking now at 10 months old. It also provides a safe environment. It's so nice that my daughter will actually come over from her house to mine to sit with the boys in their playroom. I cannot stress what a lifesaver it has been.

As to Costco car seats. My daughter has the really nice expensive ones in her vehicle, but since I have the boys the majority of their waking hours I have carseats for my car as well. I have the Costco in my car and in my husband's truck and they are ideal for us. We take the boys out all the time and no problems that I can note.

 

I bought a play yard for outside only, and never used it. Around the house we have the stairs gated and a barrier to the cat food but the kitchen, dining room, and living room have been babyproofed and are free reign. I have a small cape style house, so keeping them in one room would just be too limiting.

 

We have the superyard XT with 2 extensions. They spend about 20 minutes at a time playing in it and learned to pull themselves up on it.
They like playing in it for a while if I have cool toys in there, then it gets old - BUT our house is very old and very hard to baby proof (only their room is done) and I like having a very safe place for them to play/wait while I take them out to the car in turns, change one of their diapers, or move them to their high chairs in the kitchen. The trick is playing in there with them a lot and making it big enough for them to crawl around in.

 

We never had the superyard or something similar. We have a fairly small house and it was pretty much baby proofed. The kids had free reign of the family room, hallway, and their bedrooms. The kitchen was off limits at times (i.e., when I was cooking, if the oven was on, etc.), but we just had a gate up. This worked well for us.

As for eczema, Ben had it pretty bad as an infant and it went away when we stopped formula (who knows if there was a connection, but it was bad on his face). We used prescrip hydrocortisone for bad flare ups, always kept aquaphor on the patches, and gave him baths in Aveeno colloidal oatmeal (they sell it in packets for the bathtub). We used Dove body wash for soap, and used Eucerin lotion for his body.

 

For car seats, my question would be how does your nanny drive? For example, I bought my MIL the biggest, baddest Britax seat on the market because I think she is a terrible driver and I want my son to be safe. (for the record, she hasn't had an accident with him in the car... thank goodness for good defensive drivers . In my home, the better car seats go with the person who drives the kids the most, so myself and our Nanny have Britax seats, and my husband Cosco because he rarely drives kids in his car.

I would also take a look at the weight limits (i.e. would you save in the long run buying a seat that converts to a toddler booster? etc.) This was important to me after the second car seat my son out grew!

With regard to play yards, we put a dutch door on our 3 year olds room. Best investment I ever made. My son is extremely large for his age, and no gate or play yard could contain him. With the door he is safe and can play with his things if I need a shower, and it doesn't take up an undue amount of space in my tiny house. We plan on doing the same for the twins after they start walking.

HTH,
Donna

 

i assume you are referring to the cosco scenera? those are good seats, and they have the highest rearfacing limits out there (35 lbs). make sure you get the 5-pt harness, not the overhear shield.