Car Seat, High Chair, Pack & Play etc recommendations?

I was all gung-ho on getting a travel system (Graco seemed the best safety / quality / price to me).  But Cooper grew so fast before 5 months we had to buy a "big boy" car seat.... one anchored in the car.  It makes me wonder if the travel system was worth the extra money..... still it was useful for a few months (before he got too heavy) to carry him around from car to store to house, etc without removing him from the seat. 

The base was easy to move from car to car.... we were going to get an extra one from my brother, but he never gave it to us and it turns out we never needed it.  But I'd just take my husband's truck when I went out with the baby and he'd use my car.

Now with our "big boy" seat it's just as easy to move the seat in and out - no big deal.

I agree with one of the previous posters about the "cheaper" Pack 'N' Plays -- $50 vs. $120 and for us it works great!  Cooper still sleeps in it next to the bed. 

The bouncey seat we got from one of my brothers was what we used the most.... Cooper took naps in it (still does, although he's way big for it now!) and he sat in it while I was showering, etc.  Our bouncey seat was not a fancy one, but does vibrate.  (Cooper really never cared for the vibrating.) 

We got a highchair from our neighbor, but we still haven't used it.....  we plan to bring it out after the holiday decorations come down.  So you have time for that (Cooper is 6 months.)  

We never got a diaper genie / diaper pail  --- we put the dipaers in a plastic bag and throw them out in the regular garbage, no big deal. 

I do love our Bumba seat but Cooper didn't sit in it until about 3 months.  Still good registery item since it's a good price for people to buy as a gift. 

Cooper did use his swing until he outgrew it (about 4 months old he was too tall for it). 

He has an exersaucer he has used since about 4 months old.  He enjoys that.  (We bought it at a garage sale for $10 - great condition!) 

I agree about newborn diapers -- we were given several boxes and had to exchange them for size 1 or larger because of how little time Cooper was in the NB ones. 

Oh -- we have an awesome video baby monitor that has a handheld screen that was given to us as a gift :  http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2265802   Although we don't often put him in the crib (where we have the camera) it has come in handy -- even when I'm showering and he's playing with his piano in his crib, etc I can keep an eye on him. 

You can not have too many burpy cloths and sleepers at first --- Cooper went through 2-4 "costume" changes a day at first because of spit up, peeing, etc. 

Cooper's favorite toy is his dog. LOL. 

Enjoy the baby shopping!  It sure is fun!

Cindy

Keep in mind you probably won't need a high chair until baby can sit up on their own to feed.  Even with the "reclining" feature, it seemed.. inconvient to feed a baby who could not hold themselves up very well while they were much higher than you.  We didn't start using our high chair until Kaitlin (and, well, Daniel) was 6 months old.

Pack and Play's are all about the same.  They all fold and go.  Look for a "theme" you like.  The mobiles and such are the "feature"  -- I wouldn't buy into the "mp3" player or whatever in these.

Buy up on a swing.  Don't buy crap.  We LOVEDLOVEDLOVEDLOVED the FP baby papasan swing.  Magnus, being the geek he is, jacked ours up to work on AC AND batt power.. but we never used the battery.  What was nice, beyond the whole not going through 6 batteries every two days, was that you could actually have it swing AND have the mobile and music all going at the same time without something sounding sick.  I don't know if I'd go "SweatPeace Swing" level.. but don't buy the "I only swing one direction" or "You have to crank me to work" swing.  Trust me.  A good swing is a godsend.  We didn't buy one at first, and when we finally got one, I slept for more than 20 minutes at a time for the first time.  When ours died while Daniel was a baby, I seriously considered going out and buying another one --- even though he would only use it for about 3 months MAX.  It was a tough call. -- 120 bucks for 3 months of use.  Seemed like a no-brainer to me, but Magnus said no.

Buy gowns.  Gowns.  Gowns.  They will make midnight, 2am, and 4am changes much better.  Snaps are impossible when you've had 5 minutes of sleep in 48 hours.  Trust me.

Don't register for a ton of bottles, if you do at all.  Ask for one or two of a variety.  Guaranteed, baby will hate whatever the most expensive or the one you get the most of, after you wash all 24 of them.  Same with pacis.  And I'm all for breastfeeding.. but I'm also all for "pump some so dad can have the joy of 3am feedings, too" if you can manage it.  Course I say that when I could never wake my husband up for his share...

People love to buy pretty clothes.  Don't bother to register for them.  Honest.  They'll be bought regardless.  Same with shoes, pretty bibs, and booties.  Oh, and hats.  Hats people buy.  Not functional hats, but hats.


We loved our Graco stroller.  In fact, we still use it for Daniel and we had it for Kaitlin.  Not part of a travel system, though.  Has made it across the ocean and back -- and is still kicking.  It's a decent piece of construction, that stroller.

Thanks so much!

The papasan swing has been raved about so that is definately on the list.

I would love to breastfeed but agree 100% that Chris should share the joy of 3am feedings so a few bottles will be on the list as well - I guess I'll put on there maybe 1 of a couple different bottle types.

Thanks again!

I know a lot people responded but I am going to tell you about us anyways!  This turned into a book! Excuse my spelling and grammer I am taking care of Molly while typing!

My daughter is 7 months old and I have the graco travel system but you need to get the one that the seat goes to 35lbs and then we have the extra base She was born May 17th not sure when you are due but then we have the bundle of joy blanket thing for the carseat for the winter because the coat is hard to put on when in the seat and she falls asleep so alot of times I transfer from the car to stroller and she stays asleep. And its a godsend when its cold!

Molly HATED gowns threw fits when I put them on her to we used sleepers

We have the fisherprice cradle me swing the little lamb one and it was wonderful she loved the mobile and the features already mentioned were nice same as papsan. We also had the little lamb cradle me bouncy seat. That was the best thing ever! We would swaddle her and put her in it and she would sleep for hours!

She will only take one kind of binky so when you buy them open one pack at a time I have 18 binky’s she doesn’t like, we used the nuky ones most like the breast she likes them.

LOVE platex nursers (dropins) HATE the vent air. I only like the target brand or platex brand drop-in refills though the others seem to leak. My daughter was a gassy baby with acid reflux and the nursers are awesome you can get all the air out and if you lose a bottle usually its okay as far as cleaning because you throw the drop-in away and I feel like every time she uses them its sterile. You push on liner until the milk is to the top getting all the air out. Make sure you get slow flow nipples.  We also like the nuky bottles if you don’t want drop in’s.  I found that these two caused the least nipple confusion. Molly actually had more trouble taking the bottle than the breast.

If you end up using formula get a stirrer from BRU it will get all the chunks out without a bunch of air from shaking.

If you are going to store milk I used the medela plastic bottles they have a 12pack I believe they hook onto the pump they are washable and so easy.

Just get plain white socks," cute" ones are a  pain to match up!

We use ALL free and clear not dreft it’s a waste of money.

Molly is allergic to pampers and the regular huggies she can only use huggies supreme that come in size NB, 1, 2 etc not the “1-2" “ 3-4" she breaks out so don’t open a bunch of diapers until you know because you can exchange for dif. Sizes and types if needed

You won't know how many NB's you will use if any I had a small baby so we used them awhile but don't open them until you need them the hospital gives a pack and you take the xtras home.

She hates receiving blankets I have like 20 she only likes soft fluffy blankets.

Our highchair we bought when she was like 5months its fisher price Brentwood I like it because the tray is just one compartment and super easy to clean.

We got the baby Einstein jumperoo molly loves it she can jump and spin!

Also we got the bumbo chair with the tray we used this until we bought the highchair for feeding and molly loved to sit up so the bumbo was great!

We also got the combi umbrella stroller for hubbys car the Graco would not fit he has a Mercedes c230 the trunk is smaller. The carseat can go in that stroller to and it was nice for quick runs or small spaces

Research slings in case you need one I am having one made it’s like the Moby sling I have 3 others that me and Molly both hate!

Thanks so much for responding! All the advice / suggestions are SUPER helpful for a first time Mommy to be!

ooooo... i love this topic, though hubby hates it. when i had my son (who is now 3.5) hubby would say i needed to get a job with consumer reports because i am obsessed. I bought and sold on ebay till i was satisfied and happy with almost everything. so hopefully this time around it wont be so bad. i wont make any promises though 0:-)

Travel system - i loved the convienence of taking the babys car seat and snapping it right into a stroller. The stroller part i hated. i tried a few brands and the stroller was bulky & heavy. this time i have the car seat with extra bases (for hubbys car and my moms since she will watch the baby when i go back to work)  and 2 snap and go's. One for my car and one for hubbys. I think it is more that i am not a fan of a full size stroller because with my back i need something easy to fold and easy to lift. The stroller that i have now i hope to continue to use (i will eventually have to get a sit and stand though) is the city mini. I heart this stroller. there is a strap under babys butt (so it cant be folded if baby is in it) that you lift and the stroller folds up by itself. it has a huge sun canopy. you CAN get an attachment to clip the car seat on. draw back is that it is european so all accesories like snack tray, cup holder, rain canopy, pram, are sold seperate. they sell the city mini at buy buy baby but i got mine on ebay cheaper.

http://www.babyjogger.com/city_mini_lp.aspx

Diaper bag - SKIPHOP!!! skip hop has lots of pockets and comes in many sizes (even some designer looking ones too) the reason i loooove this bag is because of the shuttle clips that allows you to attach the bag to the handelbars of the stroller so you are not trying to cram it underneath or use the strap to hang it. i have used the shuttle clips to hook it to shopping carts etc. sounds simple but this little feature is a lifesaving spacesaver

http://www.skiphop.com/category/DB.html

swing - i wasnt a swing snob but definatly look for one that has a plug in option... you dont want to run out of swing and realize you have no batteries

bouncer - fisher price makes a few designs with the lights and sounds bar that is activated by baby kicking their feet. my son looooved this

http://www.walmart.com/Fisher-Price-Rainforest-Bouncer/ip/54 20734

high chair - i am thinking about a full sized highchair now that we are in a house but when we were in an apartment we had this spacesaver highchair.... my mom loved it so much we got one for her house too...

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Space-Saver-High-Chair/dp /B000BXAI08

playpen - the full sized one we got great use out of when he was a little bigger. we had a babytrend with the bassinet insert. we didnt use the insert so much on the big pack and play because we had the mini one. The graco travel lite was awesome. we used it as a bedside bassinet for the first few months and having the mini pack and play was sooo convienent to bring when we went to someones house, worked out great at sister in laws wedding, and even better when we made a trip to missouri to see family.

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Travel-Lite-Crib-Pinecrest/dp/B0 00G7YNCS

bottles - started with avent... wasnt a fan switched to doctor browns. once i picked a bottle i liked i bought a bunch cause baby went through quite a few everyday and i must admit there were days i let the dishes go overnight before washing and sterilizing.

binkis - my son no matter how hard we tried always puts his binki in upside down so we had to get rid of a bunch of them and go only with the ones that didnt matter which side was up so he didnt mess up his teeth

Stock in mylocon drops!!! i breastfeed for a little over a month and then switched to formula. its great to have some nursery water on had and one of those little formula dispensers in the diaper bag. put them together in a bottle and shake to mix and you have a bottle of formula and a lot of bubbles. pediatrician said put a drop of mylocon in every bottle and no bubbles!

A good thermometer

tons of bibs and gowns and a FEW extra changing pad covers... i never felt like i had enough. but then i was doing laundry at the laundry mat so this time im not sure.

bathtub - i went through a few.. a slippery baby in a bathtub no matter how small is scary!!!! I finally found a great one that doesnt have me paniced the whole time baby is in the bath... and it has 2 stages to it so you can use it for a while. it is the primo euroabth
http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/2009/06/primo.html

car seat i had as infant was graco safe seat... no mater how many months you get out of the infant seat it is worth it just for conveinience
http://www.buzzillions.com/dz_694632_graco_safeseat_infant_c ar_seat_french_reviews


after that was out grown we finally settled on the eddie bauer convertible car seat.. 3 stage car seat. rear facing forward facing. then harness can be removed for a full back booster seat. my neice has the same one in pink :)
http://www.nextag.com/Eddie-Bauer-Deluxe-3-636127749/prices- html

some things i feel i wasted my money on >>>>

stupid diaper genie.... sure the diapers dont stink up the room but wait till you have to empty that thing a string of nasty diaper balls...gross smelly and i wanted to vomit... after emptying the first time we got a small wastebasket with a lid that we could but those little garbage bags in and took the bag out every night. after a while we were just tasking it right to the kitchen garbage with every change.

bottle warmer... too forever to warm up a bottle and thats not what you want in the middle of the night.

wipes warmer... dried out my wipes no matter what and turned them yellow

im sure there is more things i love and hate but thats all my brain can thing of right now :) Not all of my list is found at BRU. this time i am thinking of making a wish list at amazon and at BRU.

wow thanks!!!

LoL Vanessa I LOVE my diaper genie. But she is right there are a lot of things that I wanted that I don't use and things that I didn't think I would want that I love.

I have the whole Precious Planet set (bouncer, highchair, booster seat for traveling, etc.) I love that collection.

I have a Graco travel system that I absolutely adore. It's cute, cheap, light, and moves around amazingly.

I'm a HUGE fan of the NUK bottles. I was dead set on using the Vente Air bottles and got 3 sets at my shower and I hate them. The numbers rub off after 3-4 washes and they leak. NUK's are a little more expensive but I get $3 off coupons all the time from Good Start.

I second the gowns - night time changes are a breeze. Don't waste yours or anyone elses money on a whipes warmer or a bottle warmer. The whipes get dryed out and Drew never has issues with them being cold. And the bottle warmer just sucks, LoL.