I couldn't wait to start baby shopping when I found out I was pregnant. I hung on until after the 20 week scan, when (thankfully) we were told things looked great, but approximately two hours later I let myself buy something for the baby. I didn't even know what I wanted but I knew it was going to be brilliant.
Gavin and I wandered around the shops picking up things like 'snot suckers' and dying laughing. 'WTF?!!!' we screeched. Some things we bought turned out to be great. Others not so much. These are the products that I found invaluable...
The Sling
For the first couple of months of his life Rian had colic - this, coupled with the general upheaval a newborn brings, meant that I was holding him pretty much all day. I had become aware of what they call Babywearing while I was still pregnant and so, based on advice from their website
here and from the girls in my own brilliant WhatsApp November '14 Mammies group (hi girls!) I decided on a Boba stretchy wrap (a bit like the one Stacey was wearing in Eastenders recently for baby Arfur). It was an absolute godsend - I was hands-free and able to do stuff again, but the best part was the snuggles that I got to carry around with me. Once he got bigger we moved on to a Tula carrier, which was a fantastic gift from some family members and we love it.
Bibs
Once upon a time, I used to browse things like make-up and clothes online and add them to my never ending wishlist of things I wanted to buy. Then the day came where I found myself getting excited that some new bib designs were coming out soon. Sad but true. But wait 'til you see these bibs! Not only are they gorgeous, with plenty of options for the boys as well as the girls - no amount of drool gets through these bad boys. And trust me, there were some amounts of drool and puke giving it their best shot! I would highly recommend you check out
Babyboo.ie and
Kosybaby.ie (Soon to be rebranded as
Rain and Conker ) for some serious bib shopping!
Sleep Alarm
There are lots of options in the monitor and alarm departments for keeping an eye on the munchkins. I would say I'm a fairly normal, laid-back type of person in the grand scheme of things but I am a bit paranoid when it comes to Rian - I have a fear of SIDS so I was obsessed with checking he was still breathing when he went to sleep at night. We bought the
Snuza Hero monitor, which clips onto the front of the nappy and tracks his breathing. I was tempted by the sleep mat type alarms but what put me off was the fact that once he started rolling around, he'd move off the mat and set off the alarm and I'd have a heart failure each time that happened. So this was perfect for us. It sits against his tummy and if it detects that his breathing has stopped, it will first gently vibrate which acts as a nudge without waking him, and if after 15 seconds there's still no movement the alarm sounds. It brought so much peace of mind, I would highly recommend it.
Thermometer
Invest in a decent digital thermometer. That is all.
Changing Table
People love or hate these - I love them. Changing Rian is like changing an octopus who thinks he's Michael Flatley. There's no way I'd be able to change him over my knees in a million years and your back would be fecked bending over him on the floor all day. Also - boys are a bit like an unattended garden hose on full power. Deploy a baby wipe over them before you attempt anything else. Also - Poonamis. My best defence was to put a sock over each pudgy little hand after I learned the hard way what happens if I don't. Let's just leave it at that.
Swivel Bath Seat
Once he was sturdy enough to not slump over - this was the business! He had great fun splashing and I could relax a bit and use both hands to get him washed, which is a great bonus. Obviously, you don't leave them unattended at any stage, but this is a very handy addition.
Weaning
However you choose to wean your baby onto solid food, little freezer pots to store batch cooking in are the handiest things. Keep an eye out for the Aldi baby events where they usually have some, but basically you’re looking for little pots with lids so when you do a batch cook you can stick them in the freezer and defrost when needed. Perfect portions too for when they’re more used to eating the solids.
When I first started him on solids I used the Annabel Karmel books for Baby Led Weaning and bought one of
these, which was great at the start. It’s funny looking at the tiny portions he used to be on! So hard to believe now – the child is like a bottomless pit.
There are plenty of other things I found great- like the
Jumperoo, his little bouncer chair thing that vibrated,
Sophie, but of course every baby is different.
Things I definitely would not bother with...
Nappy bins, a wipe-warmer (yes, really!!), spending a fortune on fancy toys that light up and sing songs... at least until you know what sort of things they like! Rian's favourite thing for a good three months was whacking the colander with the wooden spoon. I did buy a baby blender when he started eating solids. Turns out the normal blender we have did the same thing except better! Who'd have thought?
Catch up with Jen Ryan (a 30-something, married mam of one little munchkin and two dogs) on her hilarious blog, thescenicroutebyjen.com.
