What could/should have been on The List.

The List that I posted many months ago had most of the essentials I needed when Johaan was born yet there were still few things I had to run to the baby store for. There were few things that we bought in advance but didn't make it on the list because I was not sure they will be so essential, these are also listed below. And then, there are things that we did buy but were not happy with and things that I would never think about of buying but were very useful. Hmmm, this already sounds like another long list.

Honestly, I don't know how people live without a diaper disposal system. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating but still I find it so useful not having to wrap each diaper (and as we know at the beginning there are lots and lots of diapers to wrap) in a plastic bag or not having to take the trash downstairs several times a day. We decided for Playtex-Diaper Genie Diaper Disposal System (cost: cca.$24.00) and we have no complaints. It is easy to take the trash bag out and change the refills. The only negative thing I can think of is the smell once your baby's poop stops smelling like roses but we just put baking soda at the bottom of the bin and that solved the problem.

Yes, I was one of the people who thought I was going to raise my kid without ever using a pacifier. Well, that lasted exactly nine months and few days because after our first night in the hospital with Johaan that was the only thing that would allow us to sleep at least a half hour at the time. I was so concerned that it will mess up Johaan's nursing ability but fortunately he was pretty good at latching on correctly from the start. And then we came home and guess what, we had no pacifier (since it never made my List)! My mom bought the kind they use in hospitals (Philips AVENT). But after few days Johaan just kept crying and crying and after we ruled out all kinds of causes for his crying (like collics, being hungry, tired etc.) we determined it has to be the pacifier! :) So we bought another kind (NUK) that stayed in Johaan's mouth better. Little did we know that the pacifier was not the real problem. In any case, I would recommend to have at least one pacifier handy when you come home with the baby.

My friend Patricia lent me a DVD "Happiest Baby on the Block" (Harvey Karp, M.D.) few months into my pregnancy. I did plan to watch it but for some reason there was always plenty of time left until I was in the hospital with Johaan and the DVD made it back to Patricia without being watched. I didn't know much about swaddling but the nurses in the hospital showed us how to do it, my husband became an expert in swaddling. The only thing we didn't pay much attention to was that our little Johaan liked to take his arms out. And we let him, thinking, if he is happy like that why forcing something else. But then the times of crying started, and times of not being able to fall asleep. It took us two months to borrow that DVD back from Patricia and I tell you, that night was a quiet night without fussing. The DVD talks about many ways how to help your baby to fall asleep. Number one thing for us was the swaddling. Swaddling with arms in! What we found out was that if baby has his/her arms out he/she gets distracted by waving them in front of him/her and he/she doesn't know how to put them down and go to sleep.
To make swaddling easier we were using HALO swaddle blanket (that I got as a gift for Johaan before he was born, just didn't use it right - with arms in!). 

We found few bathtubs that we liked, unfortunately the one we bought first (Summer Infant Right Height Center) didn't work out that well. It had a raised plastic piece at the end of the newborn "bath support" part that was pushing right into Johaan's private part. So we bought another tub (Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Deluxe Aquarium Bath Tub, cost: $33) that we are still using although we have some difficulties bathing Johaan now when he is too big for the sling. If you have a good experience with bathing your baby, please leave a comment, I would really like to find a product that works, especially because Johaan loves being in the water and so I want him to have a good bathing experience. 

We purchased a water thermometer (Aquatopia Deluxe Safety Bath Thermometer Alarm, cost: $10) because I was never sure if the water was the right temperature. The bath tub we have does have a water thermometer build in but after a while it seemed to stop working so I didn't want to risk it. I know you can test the water temperature on the back of your wrist (our grandmothers did it, our moms did it) but I just couldn't do it.

Johaan lost more than 10% of his birth weight and then was gaining weight rather slowly. I wanted to make sure he was on track so I purchased a scale so I could weight him at home. The scale we bought (Health O Meter Grow with me Baby/Toddler scale, cost: $37) is really accurate, I am getting same results as at the doctor. It shows weight in pounds as well as kilograms.






Tummy time is very important for babies from the first weeks of their lives. And they feel the best if they don't have to wear any clothes or diapers on. We were trying to figure out how to make this happen without Johaan peeing all over the place and then my mom came up with a great idea, she bought a regular plastic table cloth that we would spread on the floor, we would put a think blanket over it to make it gentle on Johaan's skin and Johaan could play with no restrictions all he wanted. It was amazing to watch how much more movable he was.  


Other items that needed to be bought:

Rain cover for stroller bassinet (my UPPA baby stroller didn't come with one,only seat part has a rain cover).

Disposable changing sheets - I would put these over the changing pad cover so I didn't have to change the cover few times a day, especially at the beginning when there were lots of "accidents".

Please add items that you found useful but didn't see them on The List in the comments below. Thank you.