The adult bookshelves we have would be unsafe. A long time ago H built us stackable cubes/rectangles that we keep books and travel souvenirs on in our living room. We also have sentimental value books there that we want to keep for her but need to wait until she can handle them gently. So short of securing 20 some wooden boxes to each other/the wall AND finding a new home for all the adult books/things on the shelves we have to something to keep her away from them for now. That’s pretty much our only decor in the house and we have nowhere else to put them unless we installed a storage system or bought something with a door to hold them. When we moved here we definitely were not planning on having a baby in this space at all. Add to that that this is a rental so we’re trying not to put too many holes in the wall anchoring things (everything in her room is anchored, as is our TV), it’s just not an ideal situation.
Re: bedtime - it’s weird because some days she sleeps and sleeps. Yesterday she got up at 5 and H went in, settled her for 5 minutes, and she slept until 9am. Today she got up at 5 and would not settle, so he brought her to me to nurse, and we put her back in her crib where she slept maybe 30 more minutes. Other days it’s up and at 'em at 6:30 with no chance of settling back to sleep. I think since H has been trying to settle her she’s gotten a more consistent wake time (it used to be anywhere from 4:30 was game for a wake up), but it’s just not as late as he wants. I think he might be unrealistic to consistently get a toddler to sleep from 7:30p-7:30a every day. We trained her out of every other wake up by H going in and settling her but the 5am one it just doesn’t seem to work.
Back again, this time with diapers. Been cloth diapering for Bobbin’s whole life but always used liquid detergent. The bulk zero waste store is finally open and since they opened during a pandemic and I really want them to stick around I’m getting over my sticker shock and trying to buy all my cleaning products there. I’ve heard some say that powder detergent cleans diapers better, some say it doesn’t. The Lidl liquid detergent I tried on a whim isn’t as good as the Wegman’s one I previously used so my choices now are get it from the bulk place or make a trip to Wegman’s - so either way I’m making a trip for this. Looking for any experiences/cautions y’all might have
Powder seems equal or better than liquid for me. I’ve used the j Watkins and the tide unscented. I avoided one that was like a really lazy homemade recipe because I want the power
Not the same as diapers, but I’ve been surprised how well the JR Watkins powder does with cloth potty pads. I’ve previously used my local zero waste store bulk powder on my own clothes and noticed no difference from big corp detergent. Right now I’m using up a jug of Mrs Meyers honeysuckle that is $$$$$$ and not very environmentally friendly but I emotionally needed something with nice fragrance for a change mid-April, heh.
Thanks y’all! I bought it and some of their oxy powder to try (I do the prewash with oxy). Also grabbed a new compostable dish brush and a dish soap block.
I’m super pumped to try so much of their stuff when we run out. They have toothpaste tablets, lots of cool food containers, nifty wooden kid toys, bulk beans and herbs, and much more
A few pre-parenting questions. I’m at 12 weeks and just told our parents. My mom loved her mother’s day present
Clothing! My normal pants don’t button anyone so I’m down to 2 pairs of joggers sweatpants and 1 pair of leggings. Any tricks in the interim, or do I go straight to maternity pants? (My legs get cold easily so dresses and skirts don’t come out til summer.)
Of all the home stuff to organize or buy (crib, stroller, bottles, diapers, etc.), what was the easiest for your family? What was the most complicated?
Spouse and I are lucky to have plenty of family leave. 3 months FMLA for him and 6 months paid leave for me (european-heavy employer, hallelujah). After that we really don’t know… daycare? nanny-share? take my parents up on their babysitting offer? take a longer mid-career break? I’m on the older side and reasonably established in my (fairly flexible) career, so could do a part-time consulting for a bit too. I’d probably go nuts without some work in a field I care about though. On the financial front, solid savings and at this point I think we favor quality of life over maximizing income. How did you all think about the various options here and any advice for first-timers?
Congratulations! November babies rock, just saying
1- go straight to maternity clothing! It can even relieve nausea lol. It’s crazy how nice properly fitting clothing is. Everyone I know wishes they had switched sooner. EVERYONE.
2- we really struggled with choices around the travel system (car seat and stroller), crib mattress, and storage options (live in a small place and had to rearrange so much to make a baby Fit haha)
3- work I can’t help you. I’m a PRN nurse and had planned on going back when she was 4-5 months old. (She’s almost 6 months now). But then she refuses to take bottles and has weight issues, and we couldn’t figure out childcare, so we decided to delay. And now there’s a pandemic and my field is seeing no work, so… home I am! Lol.
We’ve opted for an “easy come easy go” strategy, and embracing single use over “permanent” pieces. Honestly babies are so variable, something like 8 weeks is an eternity. And with Buy Nothing and stuff like that, it’s easy to pass stuff on. So we just have fairly high turn over on stuff and get it to work.
If you have any specific small space concerns, let me know. We’ve done lots of trouble shooting
Yes, maternity pants. Also, they come in under the belly and over the belly varieties. Different people prefer different ones, so if you’re unsure you may want to try one of each. I’m a under belly person.
For baby arrival, I wrote down what babies need: clothing, sleeping, feeding, transport, pooping. Then covered each of those needs off, and kept money aside for whatever we needed to buy to save our sanity afterwards.
Maternity leggings! Love them. I’m pro over the belly. I wore size m from week 14-34 and my one pair of large and large pyjama pants from week 34-38. Starting the pants that early also meant less clients guessed.
And 2 stretchy non maternity sweater dresses with and without leggings broke up my leggings and a tshirt wardrobe.
My maternity coat was hard to source, eventually ordered online from old navy.
Lockdown started with me canceling my (postpartum) baby shower. So I was all set up to 6 weeks and then fucked, because even if I knew what I needed, I no longer knew how to get it.
Clothes were super easy at once upon a child to bulk buy. Now I go to the grocery store or Walmart and bulk buy. Diapers are easy - a cloth diaper kit and whatever diapers are on sale for overnight.
I would suggest researching bottles and formula. I have to supplement a small amount and wish I had glass bottles and knew what formula things to look out for
I also liked tracking pee, poop and feeds on the hospital papers and wished I’d had a similar diary
Most furniture and toys were easy to source. I knew my budget and lifestyle and everything has similar safety tests. so far I’ve been really glad that I didn’t shop more (except for wishing for more clothes) because the more I look, the more I overthink.
I personally really like baby tracker for this. (It’s fully functional as a free version). Bonus that it is the only cross platform version if you have a partner or other caregiver also tracking. So, SirB has an Android and I have an iPhone and we can both track to the same profile. For people with the same system, I hear huckleberry is also quite nice. Not sure if it costs Monet or not.
Found this thread and joining in. I got a bunch of mat clothes off my buy nothing group at 17 wks after I had been having to sit at my desk with my work pants top button undone discreetly. Now I think I’ll never go back to normal jeans! These things are amazing!
a under belly person.