Top Ten

Here are 10 of my favorite baby products. I don't like clutter and "stuff", and even if I did, we don't have room for it. We tried to get away with as little as possible. We never bought a baby swing because they take out so much space. We also never had an infant car seat, just a convertible.

In the first months, we did without a pack and play, baby monitor and stroller. Because of his hip dysplasia, we eventually bought both. My dad also bought me a monitor when he came to visit. The pack and play is now stored again. I also now have a stroller I LOVE. Anyway, here are my top ten, in no specific order.

                      

1. Smartphone: I can not imagine surviving the long nights and breastfeeding without one. Also, having an easy way to take a picture and share it online right away. Now that I track how much Andrew eats, poops, meds, etc. Baby ESP is a great app. 2. SwaddleMe: Andrew liked being swaddled, he slept better. These worked out great even when he was in the spica cast and the rhino hip brace, we only swaddled his upper body then. 3. Bumgenius Cloth Diapers: My favorite type of cloth diaper so far. 4. Boppy Pillow: great for breastfeeding. He also liked sleeping in it, with a blanket over it when he was in the spica cast. 5. Baby ComfyNose: The concept may seem gross to some, but you will quickly get over it once you see how great it works. I use it a lot! So worth it. 6. Ergo Performance: I couldn't decide which carrier to choose because I'm really loving the Boba now too. It took a while for Andrew to like the Ergo, but now he is totally fine in both. Super must have!

7. Marpac White Noise Generator: I wish we would have gotten this sooner. At first we were using a cell phone app, but I noticed the sound loop, which was super annoying. While the Marpac is not visually pretty,  it works very well. Combine with #2 and bam! Hopefully these 2 little gadgets will help your baby sleep better. 8. Fisher Price Rocker: I thought this was a good alternative to a baby swing. This is another thing Andrew slept in when he had his surgeries. It's lightweight, so it can be easily moved from one room to another. We keep this in the kitchen. I put him in this when I need to take a shower, I just bring it to where I can see him. 9. Activity Gym: This is the only "big" toy we had, it was a gift. He really enjoyed it. I recently packed it away. He fell asleep while playing in it many times. 10. Bumbo: Because of Andrew's special needs, this was the only thing I could use to get him in a sitting position (when he wasn't in the cast or brace). We keep this in our car now, to use when we eat out, since he can't really sit in their high chairs. 

Others items that I also like and didn't make it to the top ten are: Boon Grass Drying rack, waterproof crib pads, baby monitor and night lights. I hope this is useful to someone :)

Cloth Diaper Adventures Part II

I wanted to have some one size diapers in my stash (especially for when Andrew outgrows his small Charlie Banana's). I ordered a couple of  Bumgenius and one Oh Katy. I like the Bumgenius, I think they work great. They are a bit bulkier than a sized diaper, which is expected. I do find it a little harder to stuff (when you put the insert inside the diaper cover) than the Charlie Bananas, the same with the Oh Katy's, I think it's because of the extra snaps that make them a one size diaper.

(Bumgenius, Charlie Banana One Size, detail of leg elastic and an Oh Katy)

The Bumgenius come with a regular insert (it has snaps to adjust the size) and a newborn insert (a thin insert). The Oh Katy comes with the same inserts as the Bumgenius. The sized Charlie Banana's come with 2 normal inserts. It's nice having extra inserts for when some are still drying or when I want to put them in other diaper covers.

I wanted to try the Oh Katy because it also has the insert opening in the front, just like the Charlie Banana. I want to have the option of using the disposable insert. The Oh Katy also folds up nicely (wrap n' snap, like it says on their website). I thought the snaps on the Oh Katy were weird, or it just looks weird on Andrew right now. I liked the Bumgenius better over the Oh Katy, I will still use it though because it works just fine, I'm just ocd about how it looks, lol

The last one size diaper I tried was the Charlie Banana. The only thing that kept me from ordering this one before was that, the one size diapers have an adjustable leg elastic, I didn't feel like messing with an extra step. I guess it isn't a big deal since you adjust only once, until the baby gets bigger, then you re-adjust. I have only used it a few times, but I think it also looks a little weird, I'm so picky!

In conclusion, all the pocket diapers I bought work great! I think I do want to be able to use the disposable insert, so maybe I will have a few Charlie Banana's or Oh Katy, I haven't decided which one I like better. With the Oh Katy I don't have to mess with the leg elastic, but I think Charlie Banana has better colors, we'll see... Since working on these 2 cloth diaper posts though, I feel like I have gotten more leaks with the Charlie Bananas :(

My stash will consist mostly of Bumgenius, I feel like they stay dryer. So far I have: 6 small and 1 one size Charlie Banana, 1 Oh Katy and 8 Bumgenius (they had a sale going on, so I bought 6). I love looking at all of them together, so colorful :) Feel free to ask any questions. Cloth diapering seems so overwhelming at first, but once you start, it's actually really easy.

Cloth Diaper Adventures Part I

I'm so happy I finally started using cloth diapers. The main reason why I wanted to cloth diaper was because I didn't like the idea of my baby sitting in chemicals 27/7 for maybe 2 years? Another reason was, I felt horrible throwing away the bags of disposable diapers, I could just imagine them in the landfill for so many years! Did you know that it takes about 500 years for one disposable diaper to decompose? Of course there is also the financial reason and well, cloth diapers are so cute and fun to shop for!

I started with gDiapers before Andrew's surgery. He fit in the smalls and I really liked them, they were very trim and cute. I was a bit concerned with how they would wear out though. The velcro would sometimes stick to the band and snag it, not pretty. The gdiapers have 3 pieces, which was a bit of a pain. The outer diaper, you could wash with regular clothes, as well as the plastic liner/pouch, but that one had to be air dried. And then the gcloth would have to be washed separate. Or you can also buy gRefills for a disposable option.

While he was still in the cast, I discovered Charlie Banana cloth diapers. I wanted something easier than the gdiapers. Since I wanted a trim fit, I went with the sized diapers instead of the one size. What I really like about them is that they are a hybrid cloth diaper, meaning I can use a disposable insert with them. There are only 2 parts to this diaper, the cover and the insert, aka a pocket diaper. Most of the pocket diapers out there have the opening for the insert in the back, this one has it in the front, so there's that little piece of material that holds the disposable insert if you want to use one.

I had almost a whole package of small disposable gRefills left from the gDiapers. I used them with the Charlie Banana diapers and they works great together! I love the material of the Charlie Banana as well, they are super soft in the inside. They have many cute colors to choose from too. The downside of having the pocket opening in the front, is that you are going to touch wet pee when you take out the insert, not a big deal if you want the disposable option you know?

Two  last things I really like about the Charlie Banana's, one is the wide elastic in the back, it seems comfier on the baby and it doesn't dig in as much as the Oh Katy or Bumgenius (which I will talk about in the next blog post). The second is, you can fold them up so they take up less space in your diaper bag. You can probably get away with not having to use a wet bag after they have been used, since they fold up so nicely. 

Stay tuned for the next blog post where I will compare one size diapers (Charlie Banana, Bumgenius and Oh Katy)