The last little while all my posts have been Christmas related, and don't get me wrong, I freakin love it. BUT I used to post a lot more mom type stuff, and that has drastically reduced. I have been meaning to do a mom post recently, and finally decided to do a product post I've been thinking of doing for a while.
Jake was scuttling across the floor after his dad's hat off all things, but he got some speed, and distance this week, and it's really the closest to crawling we've gotten. He's also sitting up better, and all around we're seeing more and more changes in our little guy. I've wanted to do a post on products that were lifesavers that we may not have known about or considered getting before he was born. Where he is 7 months, I decided to do 7 products, not in any specific order, maybe more the order we used them in.
#1 The Halo Sleep Sack Swaddle. Jake's first night was spent in NICU, because I had gestational diabetes, and also I physically couldn't feed him right away. His second night was in the room with us, and the kid would only sleep on our chest, which isn't terribly safe. There was panic attacks, crying, etc. Finally a nurse came in, taught us how to swaddle him tightly and finally, he would sleep. No sooner did we bring him home, and the kid could break out of his swaddle. We got so lucky to have friends who had a baby 6 months prior, and GAVE us their swaddles. We wrapped him tightly in those, and he would sleep no problem. We used both sizes of them, up until he learned to roll over. Jake had that startle reflex thing, I knew NOTHING about, and I swear by these sleep sacks.
#2 Avent Breast shells. This one can get a little tmi. So we're not even going to talk on how Jake fought me tooth and nail for over a month when it comes to breast feeding, we're skipping right to the part where he started latching. I guess it's very common to have the babies have a bad latch at first, and he did to the point of blistering, bleeding and, it was not pretty. Might I add, SERIOUSLY painful...I forget the pain of labour, not of early breast feeding. I was at a point where NOTHING could touch me without being in pain. Originally I bought these to catch leaking milk, and they did that, but they kept it so nothing touched my very delicate area, and air was able to get in to help heal. These were a short lived product, but saved me a LOT of pain.
#3 The Rock and Play. I went back and forth on this one, and figured that if Jake was going to sleep he would do it all in his bassinet right? WRONG! Getting a newborn to sleep can take forever, and when he was a newborn, he spent a LOT of time nursing, and that's generally where he fell asleep too. So I would pop on netflix while he nursed and just go. But when he fell asleep and I needed to do something (eat or pee generally) he would be awake by the time he was in his bassinet. The rock n play was in the living room, and literally was the reason I survived (remember, food?). My brother and sister in-law bought this so I don't even know if it would have been purchased but it saved us.
#4 Fisher Price smart connect deluxe soother. We had been using our phones for a long time, but that had us without our phones, a LOT, because babies sleep a lot. We went through a couple sound machines, and a bunch have an auto shut off, which did NOT work for us. When I found this one, and it was a decent price to boot, it worked out nicely. Not to mention it has different sounds for different things, so there was soothing music, sleep sounds. There are lights, which more than once settled Jake back to sleep. Oh yeah and it connects to my phone! So if I needed to change music, or pop on lights or off lights, all by my phone. I work in a cell phone department at an electronics store...this is a big deal to me.
#5 Ingenuity bouncer. All my friend swore by their swings, and I had one, and Jake HATED it. This was what we evolved to after the rock n play time was over. His bouncer seat was a HUGE hit. My uncle bought it so I could have a secure seat to put him in, and it helped me keep my sanity for the last 4 months...Jake is basically at the weight limit now, so we're about to say goodbye old friend.
#6 Camilia Drops. Wow, so babies teething situation is a lot weirder than I thought, I didn't realize the pain they can have for a WHILE before a teeth even breaks. These have been a life saver, and they're natural, so you feel better about giving them to your kid. My little guy loves them, and in about 15 min, he's generally feeling way better.
#7 Brest Friend, breast feeding pillow, they're all the same right? Wrong. So I actually own 3 pillows. I have the one I wanted, and I really hated it. My mother in law bought me one, and it was great for him for tummy time, but not for breast feeding. And then I got the Brest Friend. I found the others moved around a lot. The Brest Friend buckles and stays put, it also has a pouch for a water bottle or whatever. It's flat so the baby can stay in place better too. It's more expensive, but I have 3...so a little more for the right one? Worth it.
These are the 7, there are definitely other products we've used that I loved, but these would be the ones I would qualify as I didn't know I needed them, until I needed them. And several of these are personal taste for Jake and I, but I did a TON of research pre baby, and I didn't know what some of these were all about so, I put it out there to those who also may be in pain, or their baby is, or they're about to go crazy, or they just DESPERATELY need sleep.
K, Luv Ya, Bye
Nancy
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