Apologies to those who are holding out for some delicious food pictures. Trust me – there will be a delicious Japanese post up soon..
For now though, with my second baby’s arrival potentially 2.5 weeks away, I’m hurriedly trying to pack my hospital bag, get the baby’s clothes in order, and finish up the nursery – which leads me to the topic of BABY EQUIPMENT. What should one have at home once your bundle of joy finally makes its appearance?? Well, honestly, you don’t need much. But like every excited parent, I like to be over-prepared!!
Here’s my list in priority of what I feel is important. All are, interestingly, optional!
1. COT – optional why? Because some people choose to co-sleep. I’ve read the arguments for and against co-sharing numerous times and discussed it with patients who ask me about it from time to time which I won’t get into here… But the bottom line is that I’m so exhausted when I go to sleep and a very sound sleeper that it’s simply not safe for my baby to come anywhere near my bed until it has the strength to scream loud enough to wake me up or push me off them in case I accidentally smother them! It’s all about safety for me. So our child will be inheriting Lil’ E’s Boori Country Classic Cot in white. We have ordered in a new Latex mattress for her mostly because I’m a little OCD & also because of hygiene purposes. The Boori cots are larger than most cots because they are convertible cots where you can change them into a bed for toddlers. Our son didn’t do too well on it though because we had to take the railing down when he was 12 months old because he kept climbing over it which was ridiculously dangerous. We tried other bed rails but he hated them. And without the bed rails, he fell out of the bed multiple times each night. In the end, at 14 months of age, we purchased him a king single low bunk bed where he essentially sleeps close to the floor on the bottom bunk each night. He loves it and it’s rather cute how he only takes up 1/20 of the bed.
2. BATH TUB. This is also optional because you can theoretically bathe your child quite easily in the laundry sink (as long as you ensure you wash away all harmful chemicals first). You can also co-bathe with them in your standard bath tub but it takes up a lot of water each day if that is what you’re prepared to do. When Lil’ E was a newborn, born via emergency caesarean, we started off with the Mothercare egg-shaped bath tub (approx $25 at the time) which we perched within our laundry-type sink in our rumpus so that the basin would be at an easy height for me to comfortably bathe him in.
Then we moved him onto the Stokke Flexi-Bath which he is still in to this day, apart from his showers after swimming sessions. The Flexi bath is great because it’s large and can supposedly fit a child in until they are 4-5 years old. It can also fold up so is great for places where spaces are confined (eg. apartments).
We have taken it on holiday with us in the car and after 2 years of almost daily use, it has truly stood the test of time so far. This one retails for $69.95 but look out for sales if you are interested because you can often get it for much cheaper.
Ultimately though, the IKEA Lattsam baby bath is fantastic. It’s only $9.95 and although it doesn’t have a plug for easy drainage, you can easily empty the majority of it with a scoop first to avoid flooding your shower recess. It’s huge and it’s what we bought for Lil’ E to bathe in at my in-law’s house.
3. BABY MONITOR. Let’s face it. No matter how heavy a sleeper you are (like myself). Your own baby’s cry will awaken you each and every time. But there’s nothing wrong with having a baby monitor. In fact, I’m addicted and I still love watching my 2.5 year old sleep. What I’m not so into are the movement monitors which alert you when you baby hasn’t moved for a little while. I think they’re over-rated and unnecessary. We are currently onto our third baby monitor and have finally found a keeper! My husband has done even more extensive research than he did previously and is onto a fancy schmancy computer web camera which I have personally fallen in love with. We use it in conjunction with an app called “Foscam Pro” which is available online and will allow us to keep an eye on both children at the same time. You can easily login via your computer, via your phone and my personal fave – my iPad which I leave on overnight now with the brightness option all the way down. It’s like any baby monitor except it doesn’t have a temperature gauge which is no big deal as we have a digital clock with a temperature gauge in Lil’ E’s room which I check on before I go to sleep of a night time… And it has the advantage of showing you a hell of a lot more detail (the infra red is awesome on the webcam) and actually has much better sound than the ones we’ve had in the past. Plus there’s no interference so in our very elongated house, I can see crystal clear images where ever I am. I adore it.. Here’s a photo of my son at the moment.. Another thing is that I love how you can move the camera remotely in case he creeps down the bed or is playing or reading in his bedroom whilst he should be sleeping!
4. CAR SEAT – I have said this is optional because you can theoretically take cabs everywhere or public transport or simply walk without a car seat but for people like me, a car seat is pretty much mandatory. I’m not going to advise you in this department but you should definitely check out your state or territory’s guidelines to check out what is considered safe and to help you determine what you’re prepared to pay for. Victorians should refer to RACV’s Child Safety Restraint Guideline and ensure that their car seat is properly fitted or at least adequately checked by a qualified child restraint fitter.
It’s also a good idea to get a Back Seat Mirror (shown here is a Britax one from Baby Bunting) whilst your baby is rear-facing so that you can see what they’re up to.
5. PRAM / STROLLER. There are so many different brands and types of prams available. Some people have several. We’ve only ever had one – the Bugaboo Bee in special edition denim (because my husband wanted to look cool whilst he pushed it)! We liked it because it was compact, relatively light, and easy to assemble (in one piece). Plus it only took up a fraction of our boot space. It’s also very easy to steer and fits through narrow aisles without any difficulty.
6. DIAPER CADDY. We ended up with one after we got sick of always changing Lil’ E on his change table in his bedroom. At the end of the day, you can change a kid anywhere – on an allocated change table, on your bed (just be fast to avoid any spillage), on your couch, on your kitchen table, or even on the floor! But what you do need are some baby wipes, some clean nappies, and most likely some nappy rash cream all in the one spot. So that’s what we did. We bought a plastic basket from Daiso (for $2.80) which successfully served its purpose. Easy and ready to transport all over the house and even to the grandparent’s house if need be. 
Diaper disposal systems are also something worth looking into but at the end of the day, if you use nappy disposal systems, you’re not really saving the environment and we found the best way to seal in odours was to use sandwich-sized Ziploc-type bags. The actual Ziploc brand bags are great but we found the Hercules ones were just as effective and smaller in size thus fitting much friendlier in the diaper caddy as well as Lil’ E’s baby bag. You don’t have to use bags for every nappy – just the soiled ones! Plus with newborn nappies, you can usually squash a couple into a sandwich bag.. I’m just saying..
7. MOSES BASKET. Sure these only last until your baby can independently sit up (3-4 months) but ranging upwards from around $90 – these are well worth the money. Why? Because you can take your baby with you anywhere. You can take them all around your house, into your study, into your family room, around you when you’re cooking, to family & friends’ homes, and even into the bathroom with you when you just need to wee or have a shower! Truth be told, we actually took it on holiday with us which was great. And at night time, after the first couple of weeks when we slept him beside me in our bedroom (in his Moses basket) on our Natuzzi ottoman, we put his Moses basket within his actual cot of a night time, and then gradually after a week or two, transferred him directly into his cot for his night time sleeps. Feeling guilty that we hadn’t bought anything new for our second baby, on a whim, whilst purchasing her new cot mattress, we stumbled across this great quality product – the Born with Style moses basket for $110 from Parenthood
which is much better quality than the Mothercare version we purchased more than 2.5 years ago. As sheets, we are just going to line the mattress with a towel, and then cover with a bamboo swaddle.
8. BABY CARRIER. We used and will continue to use our Baby Bjorn Miracle Carrier. There are all sorts of carriers out there which makes it confusing but Lil’ E loved the Baby Bjorn because he was nice and close initially, and then as he grew bigger with better neck support, he was up nice and high and could see and interact more easily with things by facing forward. We even took Lil’ E hiking in it because the back support is easily adjustable for each caregiver. It was also priceless in those situations where I needed both hands free and the pram wouldn’t hold enough – eg. grocery shopping on my own with baby in tow!
9. BOUNCER / SWING / ROCKER. I knew I had to have one when I watched Sex And The City as a teenager and saw Miranda’s neighbour save her sanity by giving her her old baby bouncer to settle her son! What was even funnier was the day Samantha was stuck babysitting Miranda’s son whilst she was out getting her hair done and the bouncer stopped working. You probably all know it but I still grin when I recall of how Samantha utilised a vibrator to re-energise the bouncer.
Anyway… old sitcoms aside, I absolutely adore the Baby Bjorn Babysitter Balance. Why? Because you can manually bounce your baby in it (they can also bounce themselves when they’re a little older) and you can also incline the baby seat so that they can see you (I used to put Lil’ E in it on the kitchen table so he could see me whilst I was cooking), and you can also recline the seat right back so they can sleep comfortably in it. Lil’ E was particularly colicky so it was, to me, one of the best purchases we ever made. You can also lay it flat for storage. If you do get one, keep the box so that you can travel with it. We took it interstate with us a couple of times.
We also own the Fisher-Price Rainforest Open Top Take-Along Swing which my husband prefers to the Baby Bjorn. It was, at times, the only thing that he could silence Lil’ E in (he said it was because he lacked the appropriate mammary ducts)! And fortunately for me, sometimes it afforded me an extra hour of sleep in the mornings… It produces soothing music and rocks on its own at whatever speed you so desire.
10. NURSING / FEEDING CHAIR. This is the final item that I’m mentioning. Realistically you can just as easily nurse or bottle feed your baby in your family room or in your bedroom. But if you want somewhere with no distractions (especially if you’ve often got family members around), it’s nice to have an allocated area in your baby’s room – especially at night time for your baby’s ‘dream feed’ or initially when they’re less than 3 months of age – their 3-4 am feed! We purchased the IKEA Poang armchair & foot stool for this purpose which was comfortable enough and certainly served its purpose. Plus it’s good to know the cover can be taken off and washed! It’s available in a number of different designs to match any nursery…
So there you go. There’s my list of baby equipment which I would recommend. In the lead up to my second (& final!) birth, I’ll be posting up articles about what’s great in a diaper bag, and what to pack for hospital – not only for yourself but for baby as well..
Let me know what you think… Elaine xx
de-brief me 