Lyla will be thirteen months old on Saturday and we are slowly phasing out a lot of the newborn items that have been such a huge part of our day to day over the last year. I have to say it’s a mix of emotions as I pack away things like her swing, doorway jumper, and playard. On one hand, I’m a pretty big sap so everything is nostalgic to me. On the other hand, it’s exciting to move into new phases of babydom…plus we’re needing the floor space for other oh so important gear….toys! I see lots of baskets and bins in our future.
I figured now was a good time to wrap up my review of the baby items that we registered for. You can read part one of the list here. As I mentioned before, Flop does not mean the product is bad, just that it wasn’t a necessity for my particular kid.
Please note that current safety regulations and recall information should always be considered when shopping for baby gear.
Baby Monitor: Summer Infant In-View Digital Color Video Monitor. We didn’t want a super fancy monitor that we could access from our phones due to hacking reports (and cost). I did, however, want a video version. This one has a great picture and sound quality. The range isn’t huge, but it did work recently at our beach house out at the pool and our room was three stories up. Rating: FAB
Teether: Sophie La Girafe. This cute teething toy is rampant on suggested “natural” baby registry lists these days, so of course we jumped on board. I wanted to love it, but as with most things that baby holds, it ended up on the ground a lot. The natural rubber is great for the health aspect, but every micropiece of dust, hair, etc from at least a mile radius will immediately stick to it. It wouldn’t be a huge deal, except you can’t submerge it in water. Spot cleaning in between those cute little horns was the last thing I had the energy to do fourteen times a day. Rating: FLOP
Car Mirror: Munchkin Baby Car Back Seat Mirror. I don’t realize how much I like having this until I’m in Tim’s car with baby and it’s not there. Being able to see her at a glance is really nice. This makes a great registry add on item. Rating: FAB
Car Seat/Stroller System: Chicco Bravo Trio Travel System. The car seat was an item that I did a ton of research on prior to registering. At the time, the Chicco Keyfit 30 had some of the best safety ratings on Consumer Reports and that’s what ultimately determined my selection. I’m glad we went with the system as the car seat is so easy to snap into the base as well as the stroller. The stroller is easy to fold and fits in the back of my small SUV comfortably. We also registered for an additional base so that we have one in both of our cars. Rating: FAB
Swaddle Sack: SwaddleMe Original Organic. We used these swaddle sacks every night for the first few months. It worked great to quickly comfort baby during fussy spells, as well as to keep her warm at night with a light layer. Our sweet girl was bound and determined to give me a coronary, so she decided to flip onto her side our first night at home and refused to be put back on her back. We had to swaddle with her arms out so that if she flipped on her tummy, she could maneuver more easily. Rating: FAB
High Chair: Fisher Price 4 in 1 Total Clean. We haven’t moved past phase one of this four step program, but so far it’s served its purpose quite well. I was drawn to it for the ability to fold-up and the neutral colors. Space is of the essence, and when we take the seat off the base, it’ll be nice to easily store the legs in a closet. The cushion is easy to remove and wash. Rating: FAB
Bottles: Life Factory: Bottles were another heavily researched item. I knew I wanted to go with glass bottles, but wanted them to also be functional (ie…not easily broken). I was thrilled when I came across Life Factory. The bottles are glass, but they come with protective silicone sleeves. Brilliant! The sleeves protect the glass from breakage as well as make gripping easier. We’ve graduated to the sippy lids and unfortunately, the spout broke on both of them after being thrown out of the high chair….however, the glass did not! Rating: FAB **Update: These bottles have now lasted through two babies. They’ve been dropped numerous times from a highchair and still no breakage. Highly recommend!!
Nursing Pillow: Boppy. We went with the most popular option for this. I will say, it was very convenient for those first couple of months of newborn life (nursing, bottle feeding, and just for baby to lay in during the day). The organic cover was very soft and cute as well. Rating: FAB **Update: We also purchased the lounger version with Rose and loved it. So light and easy to tote around the house.
Newborn Bathtub: Puj Foldable Tub. There are a trillion options for baby bath tubs on the market with lots of bells and whistles. I needed something that could be put in the kitchen sink and was easy to store. The Puj was absolutely perfect. It folds together and holds with magnets for bath time and then I could stick it to the washing machine lid to dry afterwards. It takes up no space and baby used it until she was ready to sit up in the tub by herself. Rating: FAB
Bath Towel: Carter’s Little Lamb Hooded Towel. I guess this isn’t necessarily a necessity, but it sure is adorable!! Hooded towels really are a great idea to keep those sweet little heads warm post a relaxing tubby time. Rating: FAB
Diapers: Honest Company. Chlorine-free diapers were a must for me. I settled on Honest Company because the diapers were easy to find at Target and on Amazon and fit the chemical-free bill. They are a little less soft than some of your other newborn diapers, but they never seemed to be uncomfortable for Lyla. When money is a little tight, I will sub-in Kroger’s Simple Truth diapers which are also chlorine-free. Rating: FAB
Wipes: Babyganics. I spent a lot of time reading reviews and checking out EWG.org for a brand of baby wipes that I felt comfortable using. Unfortunately, Lyla had a reaction to the Babyganics brand and we weren’t able to use them. Rating: FLOP. **Update: I’ve been using Kroger’s Simple Truth wipes for the last almost four years. They are affordable, clean, and easy to get. If you don’t have Kroger in your area, I would opt for the Honest Co wipes.
Wipes Warmer: Munchkin. The wipes warmer made me feel better as I projected onto Lyla the thought of “who wouldn’t want a nice warm wipe at 2am?”. In actuality, she seemed to care very little whether the wipes were warm or not. Even so, I like it. Rating: FAB
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