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Top 10 #8: Bath Tub/Seat
Posted on August 6th, 2008 3 commentsThis is the eighth item in my Top 10 Things I Could Not Have Lived Without During My Baby’s First Year post.
We used a baby bath tub for the first nine or so months of Samantha’s life. We put it in our kitchen sink and washed her there. We used a Safety 1st Comfy Duck Bath Center and loved it! It fit perfectly in our standard-size sink, had a drain hole for the water, a temperature strip, two recessed holes for shampoo or toys, the foam part the baby lays on is slip-proof, and it came with a rinse cup and a sling for a newborn. We never used the sling because it basically suspended the baby over the water, instead of having her lay in it (not enough slack in the design of the sling).
My only complaint about this tub was that it was difficult to rinse the shampoo out of Samantha’s hair (what little she had!). The tub was inclined enough that, if we poured water on her head, it would go in her face. We ended up turning her whole body around and holding her over the end of the tub/sink with one arm, and rinsing with the other. It was a bit of a pain with a crying, wriggling newborn, but not too bad with an older baby who was accustomed to the process.
When Samantha was sitting up well and outgrew her baby bath tub, we bought a bath seat. We purchased an Aquababy Bath Ring. We’re very pleased with it. Even though Sam is sitting up just fine on her own, I still wouldn’t trust her to sit still in a tub for a bath. I’m sure she would squirm around, try to stand up, etc. With the seat she sits still, except when she can’t reach a toy floating in the water.
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Top 10 #7: Exersaucer
Posted on August 3rd, 2008 No commentsThis is the seventh item in my Top 10 Things I Could Not Have Lived Without During My Baby’s First Year post.
We absolutely loved having an exersaucer! We got an Evenflo ExerSaucer Delux – Wild Thing when Samantha was about five months old. She loved the attached toys and they kept her busy! This particular model was nice because the legs were spring-loaded, and Sam loved to bounce up and down in it!
I did all the research about exersaucers versus walkers and based my decision on the goal we wanted to accomplish: keep the baby in one place and entertained so I could do things like make lunch, go to the bathroom (very important), etc.
For the first few months we had the exersaucer in the living room, where we spent most of our time. We were careful not to over-use it and didn’t put Sam in it too long or too often. Then for a couple of more months, we put it in our bathroom, so Samantha could play in it while we each took a shower. It worked out very well in that setting, especially because our bathroom was big enough.
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Top 10 #4: Bumbo Baby Sitter
Posted on July 23rd, 2008 No commentsThis is the fourth item in my Top 10 Things I Could Not Have Lived Without During My Baby’s First Year post.
We used a Bumbo Baby Sitter for several months. It’s basically a firm foam seat that a baby can sit up in, even before they can sit up on their own. As soon as a baby can hold up their head, they can sit up in a Bumbo seat! We used this all the time with Samantha so she didn’t always have to be laying down in her swing or other seats. You can even buy a plastic try that fits on the front. We used this as her travel high chair and it worked great! It’s easily washable and quite light. I believe the only other seat similar is the bebePOD.
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Top 10 #2: Automatic Swing
Posted on July 16th, 2008 No commentsThis is the second item in my Top 10 Things I Could Not Have Lived Without During My Baby’s First Year post.
Since babies loved to be rocked, and Samantha particularly loved to be in motion, an automatic swing is a great thing to have! We have a Graco Swing ‘N Bounce 2-in-1 Infant Swing. Sam didn’t actually use her swing a whole lot. She did like it occasionally, though. It was very useful for the times when she wanted to be held and rocked a lot; we’d put her in, turn it on, and she was all set! She did fall asleep in it quite a few times.
This one had a couple of toys and a tray area (not that they’re eating finger foods at this age), and it had toys and a mirror hanging overhead. The other nice feature was that the whole seat detached from the swing and it could be used as a bouncy seat that vibrated. We didn’t actually use this that much, probably because we were given a separate seat similar to it that we used more often.
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Top 10 #1: Nursing Pillow
Posted on July 13th, 2008 No commentsThis is the first item in my Top 10 Things I Could Not Have Lived Without During My Baby’s First Year post.
I strongly recommend a Boppy Nursing Pillow. Whether you are breast or bottle feeding, this pillow was a great help. If you are bottle feeding, you can have at least one hand free to read or use the computer, or, if you’re breast feeding, you could even have two hands free if you want! It was particularly helpful while I was breast feeding Samantha, because she didn’t latch on very well at first, and I needed two hands to get her head and my”self” into the right position, and it was great to not have to worry about holding the rest of her body in the right spot.
You could use pillows to do the same thing, I suppose, but the u-shape of this pillow is perfect! You can also use it help prop up a baby during tummy time or have a baby sit in the middle of it on the floor when they’re learning to sit up!
The other nice feature is that you can buy fun colorful slipcovers that are washable, plus the entire pillow itself is machine washable! There are other companies that make a similar pillow, but I didn’t leave the house without my Boppy!
Yes, the baby’s under there somewhere!
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