As a first time mom it was easy to go into a baby store and want to buy everything. From Pumpkin's first year, here are the best and worst of what we purchased.
Top 5 Best Items:
5-High Chair-our high chair got a lot of use (especially when we first started solids) and still gets used today. It is a hundred times easier to feed a baby in a high chair than it is on your lap.
4-Baby Swing-the baby swing was an awesome tool to help me get stuff done while Pumpkin transitioned to not always sleeping on mommy. Our baby swing had a very nice vibrate feature to it also. We think Pumpkin had a bit of reflex as if she laid flat for too long she would projectile vomit, but the baby swing was at an angle so it made for a happy baby and a productive mommy.
3-Infant Bucket Car Seat-the bucket car seat is the way to go for the first year. A convertible car seat might save you money in the long run since you will only need to buy one car seat, but it does not snap out of a base, but the bucket car seat does. The bucket seat was amazing for those times when Pumkin fell asleep in the car, as it enables us to move her without waking her (sometimes).
2-Infant Baby Carriers-my daughter was one that hates her car seat as a newborn, so my ring sling and mei tai were quite the life savers. Even once she adapted to tolerating her car seat, then liking it, I have consistently found uses for baby carriers. They have enabled us to have many enjoyable shopping trips, restaraunt visits, walks, and has made certain chores much easier (like laundry-I could wear my daughter while I gathered the laundry upstairs instead of having to juggle trying to carry her in one arm and two hampers in the other).
1-Pack-n-play with a changing table-from her newborn days through present day, there is not a day that we don't use the pack-n-play. We keep it in the family room and use it for pretty much every diaper change. The high edges of the changing table help keep our "mover" baby in one place long enough for a quick change. Meanwhile the pack-n-play portion has become our baby supply shelf. My daughter doesn't like to be confined so we never bothered removing rhe bassinet. Instead it holds all of our diapering supplies, some toys for entertaining Pumpkin during a change and whatever else we end up throwing in it. Unlike a standard shelf, no one can see the mess except for the person changing the diaper, so it helps in keeping the rest of the house tidy. While this may be an item that I could learn to live without, it's number 1 because I don't WANT to learn to live without it. Being a new mom, I deserve at least one true convenience item ;)
Top 5 Worst Items:
5-Car Seat winter cover-this one needs some explaining. It is not that all car seat winter covers are bad-just the one we bought. In true new mom fashion I went for cuteness over functional. We chose a cute teddy bear cover and it is pretty thin. I always wound up stuffing the car seat with blankets to make up for the fact that the cover was pretty much all show. If I could do it all over I would opt for a plain, THICK, warm, blanket looking cover.
4-Nursing Cover-I used this a handful of times and hated it and I suspect Pumpkin wasn't a big fan either. When we did use it, it is hard to see to latch Pumpkin on. When I did get her to latch she would constantly unlatch, and we just never were able to get comfortable. We both much preferred to leave the room and nurse.
3-Cart Cover-we used this about twice because it was cute and I wanted to. Here is the thing about a cart cover-your baby isn't going to be sitting in a cart to use it until she can sit on her own. Your baby MIGHT be starting to do this at 6 months, but really we are talking more like 7 to 8 months old. At that point I was more concerned about slowly building up her immune system than sheltering her from every germ out there. Usually if she is sick already I would wear her and avoid the cart altogether, or healthy I would use the wipes located by the carts in most stores and give the cart a quick wipe down.
2-Diaper Genie-we used this until it got filled up. This was that garbage we always forgot about until I went to put a diaper in and there was no room. Quite honestly, I was so busy as a new mom that it was easier and faster to just throw it in a different garbage and move on. Then I would get caught up doing whatever was next that I would totally forget about empting it again. They look great on paper, but a standard garbage that everyone is already used to taking out regularly is much more convenient.
1-UV scanner germ killer thing-a-ma-bob-I admit I don't remember the exact name, but if you see it in a store you'lol know what I'm talking about. We bought one of these because it would be cool to keep baby in a bubble like that, and we put it right in the diaper bag, ready to go. Well for the first few months Pumpkin wasn't really interested in grabbing at everything in sight, by the time she was 1-she was old enough to not need sheltered from every germ on the planet and 2-I had totally forgot about it. One day she was trying to teeth on a table and I remembered it, went to get it out and the battery was dead. We did not use the product once, our baby girl is just fine, and we did not feel like we were missing anything.
