Parenting & Family

First kid on the way, what are the basics that we need to start with?

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Jun 26, 2005
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riseagainstthemachine wrote: Yes, it would prob be better as the real baby monitor would alert when there is a loud noise or whatever. how does that one you recommended alert you that the kid is crying ect?
With a security camera type, You can actually keep a constant live feed ON. Just take one of your old iPhones, iPads, old Android phones, and install the app of the camera and turn it ON. Using your home wifi, and keep your device plugged into the wall for power. DONE.
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Jun 23, 2017
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a quiet and powerful humidifier for Canadian winter in case your baby has sensitive skins and gets itchy because of the heat.
And make sure you use purified water in your humidifier or you have a demineralized cartridge for the machine. You don't want your baby breath in potential mineral dust from the tap water
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donlaw wrote: You can rent a breast pump machines from some pharmacies such as London Drugs and Shoppers. You will need to purchase brand new set of attachments because of health and safety reasons. London Drugs rents out the Madela Symphony which is the medical grade version, and I think it's about $3 a day. The attachments I believe are $80-$90.

mini towels/face cloths to wipe drool...we have a box full of these and use them all the time. There's always one or 2 stuffed in all places in case we need one.

baby wraps like mobi wrap. Used this all the time to help put baby to sleep when we got tired holding in arms.

Load up on wipes. Like someone previously mentioned, we also find Costco wipes are the best. Huggies wipes are good as well. We didn't like pampers wipes after using the free samples so we avoided them.

Crib/Bassinet. We started out with a bassinet which we borrowed from friends and then at 3 months transitioned to the crib.

Bottles. Ours wasn't very fussy with types of bottles but we did have an issue with Colic and bought Dr. Browns to alleviate. But the key is look at bottles that say anti-colic and should be fine.

Baby monitor. We use this one as a monitor. you need to download an app on your phone/tablet. I think it's similar to the one you purchased. The notifications are quick, within a second and picks up crying and other loud noises. Thinking long term, would be re-purposing it as a security camera.
https://www.amazon.ca/YI-Wireless-Secur ... mera&psc=1

Meal Prep. Something a few friends mentioned. If you don't have help and don't have time to cook, join a meal prep plan where they deliver food to your door.

Setup a routine. First 2 weeks were a nightmare. Awake from 1am to 5am and only slept in the afternoon. We had made sure we had a routine set up right away to ensure baby slept at night. Every evening we had dinner, nap, bath, feed and bed. Did this from day 1 after coming home from hospital and baby took after 2 weeks. Since then never needed to wake up in the middle of night.
Thanks everyone and OP for the post, we're also expecting on April!

We already got 2 bottle samples and my wife feels like we won't need any more... She plans on breastfeeding as much as possible. I personally think we need some more bottles on hand (and I prefer glass vs plastic). I was looking into Dr browns but reviews (and it looks) hard to clean. So right now I'm thinking of the Avent glass bottle line.

I'm curious, how many bottles do people usually have on hand?

Regarding the routine, so no matter if the baby is sleeping during the scheduled dinner time, you'd wake them up for the routine?
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Congratulations guys, having children is exciting! Smiling Face With Open Mouth We were just as concerned with things when we started thinking what to buy for our first child. If I compare what we never used with the third child I would like to mention a few things:

-a humidifier with purified water, sorry but that one made me laugh, pampering yourself and your child is a big waste of money. Wait until your child is really diagnosed with some skin issue or intolerance before you buy any of these things.

-expiry date on car seat's - is there an expiry seat on your car seat? Or the passenger seat? Expiry date's is good for the manufacturer of the seat.

-cloth diapers, easy and cheap.

-security camera? Seriously Face With Tears Of Joy When you get your first child a parent's inner alarm system goes of. You wish you never discovered you had it. You'll figure it out.

What I would advise to do is, get enough rest in the first couple of weeks but pick up on exercise. Buy a decent walker so you can take your child with you and start to think about eating healthy food. Most of my co-workers got to really obese levels during their year of staying at home. Think about yourself, meditate and trust your gut.
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Apr 24, 2017
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gekaizer wrote: Thanks everyone and OP for the post, we're also expecting on April!

We already got 2 bottle samples and my wife feels like we won't need any more... She plans on breastfeeding as much as possible. I personally think we need some more bottles on hand (and I prefer glass vs plastic). I was looking into Dr browns but reviews (and it looks) hard to clean. So right now I'm thinking of the Avent glass bottle line.

I'm curious, how many bottles do people usually have on hand?

Regarding the routine, so no matter if the baby is sleeping during the scheduled dinner time, you'd wake them up for the routine?
The Dr. Brown bottles are a pain in the butt to clean. But I've gotten used to it so it's not a big deal anymore. We have 5 plastic bottles (starter pack) which has 3 large bottles (240ml I think?) and 2 small ones (max 120ml). It's more than enough for us. We also have some medela 150ml bottles because originally we were going to pump so I can help with night feeds, but because ours sleeps throughout the night, it wasn't necessary. We only pump to alleviate pressure and now for mixing cereals.

I think different people will have different opinions about sleeping babies. The nurses and doctors at the hospital told us we should wake up our child from naps so that they can feed. We didn't do that, and neither did many of my friends and co-workers. We would let ours sleep until she woke up for dinner on her own. And most of the time she woke up before "dinner time" and only occasionally slept past, so wasn't an issue. She still napped afterwards before bath time (which is always a 30min power nap)
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gekaizer wrote: Thanks everyone and OP for the post, we're also expecting on April!

We already got 2 bottle samples and my wife feels like we won't need any more... She plans on breastfeeding as much as possible. I personally think we need some more bottles on hand (and I prefer glass vs plastic). I was looking into Dr browns but reviews (and it looks) hard to clean. So right now I'm thinking of the Avent glass bottle line.

I'm curious, how many bottles do people usually have on hand?

Regarding the routine, so no matter if the baby is sleeping during the scheduled dinner time, you'd wake them up for the routine?
We have been using the Philips Avent bottles. I prefer glass over plastic myself. We have 2 small bottles we use to feed our daughter and a bigger bottle (around half liter I think) to store any excess milk. We usually follow a schedule we have setup for the baby. While most of her feedings happen when she is awake, we do feed her one in the middle of the night while she is sound asleep,lol. I think the first 2 weeks are always difficult as there is no routine. But from the beginning, we were trying to settle our little one in a predictable feed/sleep/play cycles and it has certainly helped a lot.

P.S. Do not buy now, but be open about the idea of a breast pump. It has been a godsend for my wife.
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don't buy too much stuff, you wont use a lot of it. toys are a prime example, young kids will like the box better then the toy.

things like a change table are overrated, I changed 1000s of diapers, on the floor worked just fine.
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I echo the post above. Its not about what you buy, its about what you don't. We thought there were all these things we "needed" to buy but you quickly realize you need very little. Some things may come in handy, others not so much. I bought crap I never used. Bottle warmer, baby food processing system (huge waste of money). Baby carrier sling. So much other crap I can't even think of. Big waste of money. Of course, certain things you do need, but if it sounds gimmicky, or there is a traditional way of doing something that does not require a space waster to do it, choose the traditional route.

I'd strongly recommend the security cam too over a dedicated baby monitor. They are so much better in every regard, and can be re-purposed when no longer needed for the baby. And they are usually way cheaper. I bought 2 baby monitors that sucked, and each were twice what a security cam would cost, and the pic quality and versatility of something like a Wyzecam were leaps and bounds better. Its not so much to watch the baby sleep, I find they are great for calculating actual sleep times. Your child may wake up half an hour before they start making enough noise for you to know they are up. Without a baby monitor, you may think they had an extra half hour of sleep, where with a monitor, you'd know their nap time was in fact much shorter.

Seriously, less is more. You'll find you can get by with the basics, trust me. I remember spending hours and hours before the child was born poring over reviews for this that and the other, strollers, car seats, cribs etc. etc.., in hindsight, I don't know who that person was. Its all just the same crap. I have another one coming in the spring, and I've learned my lesson. Not doing all that again. Don't sweat the small stuff. Exciting times are ahead, congrats.

Oh, do buy a good thermometer, for some reason, these little things have fevers all the time. And remember, the baby product industry is one of the biggest scams the devil ever pulled on the world. They play into a parents fear and uncertainty, especially first time parents, who think that if they don't spend the most money on their kid buying the best stuff, they are failures as a parent. Don't buy into the hype, its all hooey designed to sell you something you don't need.
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As others have said, less is more. For your first kid, you think you need all this stuff but after awhile, some stuff just becomes clutter. Depending on how much space you have to store stuff, you can buy stuff now since it's Black Friday or Boxing day. You don't need a crib right away, depending on how fast your baby grows, a bassinet can last for the first 4-8 months.

Things I found very useful that we used a lot were: swaddle blanket with velcro (swaddling a normal blanket is next to impossible when you're tired as hell), olive oil (great natural solution for dry skin and cheaper than dedicated creams), multiple change pads (for the rooms we were in the most often), baby wipes and the diaper genie.

Things we found useless: bottle warmer, wipes warmer, any type of cute diaper storage containers

For breast pumps, I'd say a single one will suffice, we bought a double one and my wife just ended up pumping from one breast at a time in the end.
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May 23, 2017
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midget_man wrote: I echo the post above. Its not about what you buy, its about what you don't. We thought there were all these things we "needed" to buy but you quickly realize you need very little. Some things may come in handy, others not so much. I bought crap I never used. Bottle warmer, baby food processing system (huge waste of money). Baby carrier sling. So much other crap I can't even think of. Big waste of money. Of course, certain things you do need, but if it sounds gimmicky, or there is a traditional way of doing something that does not require a space waster to do it, choose the traditional route.

I'd strongly recommend the security cam too over a dedicated baby monitor. They are so much better in every regard, and can be re-purposed when no longer needed for the baby. And they are usually way cheaper. I bought 2 baby monitors that sucked, and each were twice what a security cam would cost, and the pic quality and versatility of something like a Wyzecam were leaps and bounds better. Its not so much to watch the baby sleep, I find they are great for calculating actual sleep times. Your child may wake up half an hour before they start making enough noise for you to know they are up. Without a baby monitor, you may think they had an extra half hour of sleep, where with a monitor, you'd know their nap time was in fact much shorter.

Seriously, less is more. You'll find you can get by with the basics, trust me. I remember spending hours and hours before the child was born poring over reviews for this that and the other, strollers, car seats, cribs etc. etc.., in hindsight, I don't know who that person was. Its all just the same crap. I have another one coming in the spring, and I've learned my lesson. Not doing all that again. Don't sweat the small stuff. Exciting times are ahead, congrats.

Oh, do buy a good thermometer, for some reason, these little things have fevers all the time. And remember, the baby product industry is one of the biggest scams the devil ever pulled on the world. They play into a parents fear and uncertainty, especially first time parents, who think that if they don't spend the most money on their kid buying the best stuff, they are failures as a parent. Don't buy into the hype, its all hooey designed to sell you something you don't need.
Thanks for that. I have been looking for a good thermometer, do you have a suggestion or advise?
Got that FIDO account!
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May 29, 2006
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riseagainstthemachine wrote: Thanks for that. I have been looking for a good thermometer, do you have a suggestion or advise?
the one at Costco, braun, we have been using it for years, works great.
it goes on sale every month or so.
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May 23, 2017
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rocking23nf wrote: the one at Costco, braun, we have been using it for years, works great.
it goes on sale every month or so.
Its actually on sale right now, but people were commenting on it not being good for newborns because of their ear size. can you let me know how you feel about this, id rather get the advice from someone whos used it
Got that FIDO account!
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riseagainstthemachine wrote: Its actually on sale right now, but people were commenting on it not being good for newborns because of their ear size. can you let me know how you feel about this, id rather get the advice from someone whos used it
we had no issues with it. we have had our share of sicknesses in the house, I have 5 year old twins. honestly you know when you kid has a fever after the first few fevers. symptoms are always the same, tired, lethargic, red checks sometimes, runny nose sometimes.

I laugh at the parents who are anti medicine, I couldn't get the baby tylonal fast enough into the cup for them to drink.
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rocking23nf wrote: we had no issues with it. we have had our share of sicknesses in the house, I have 5 year old twins. honestly you know when you kid has a fever after the first few fevers. symptoms are always the same, tired, lethargic, red checks sometimes, runny nose sometimes.

I laugh at the parents who are anti medicine, I couldn't get the baby tylonal fast enough into the cup for them to drink.
great thanks, ill pick one up!
Got that FIDO account!
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Aug 2, 2001
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riseagainstthemachine wrote: Thanks for that. I have been looking for a good thermometer, do you have a suggestion or advise?
We personally just use a Braun under-arm thermometer. It's accurate, easy to use, and requires no filters (which the ear one does). On infants and toddlers they are more than willing to use it (ours are) and the readings are bang on.

Even with having them in daycare we rarely use our thermometer. If they seem sick just give them tylenol - the same as when you yourself seem sick you take some cough medicine (or whatever you seem sick with).


One tip: Children's Tylenol and Infant's Tylenol is exactly the same - just in different concentrations (listed on bottle). We buy the Children's Tylenol and just do the math on how much to give our infant. The only nice thing about the Infant Tylenol is that it comes with a plastic "syringe" to squirt it into their mouth, whereas Children's Tylenol just comes with a cup. Infants probably consume more with the syringe - ours have always seemed to. You'll likely use some as they start teething to make things easier on them.
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riseagainstthemachine wrote: Thanks for that. I have been looking for a good thermometer, do you have a suggestion or advise?
There is one on sale at Costco this week. A digital Braun. I have one, but just bought another from there last week for the cottage.There is a thread on it in the hot deals forum.

Edit: Did not read the other posts above before I posted this. So ya already know. Also, never had an ear size issue with it.
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I would set up a registry. Get a real baby monitor. Much better to have a real one that lights up when there is noise. Bassinet... get one used. Some people like the rocking chair, but we didn't really use it. Ikea crib for the win (worked well with my 2 kids).

Some bibs, a blanket for the carrier. Tommy Tippee bottle warmer is good. A nylony flexible backpack diaper bag is good. Swaddle (the ones with velcro).

Don't worry too much about the stuff.. my main advice is read up on sleep training. That is the best gift you can give your baby, to yourself and wife. I can give you pointers if you PM me.
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riseagainstthemachine wrote: great thanks, ill pick one up!
I saw that one as well but the digital readout does not light up so when you take a reading in their (probably) dark room, you'd have to use your phone to see the reading.
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Apr 24, 2017
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riseagainstthemachine wrote: Thanks for that. I have been looking for a good thermometer, do you have a suggestion or advise?
We had thought about the Braun one too, but I saw filters, and immediately thought more parts to buy. Also if baby moves around, I feared that we would do some damage to ear canal.

We ended up getting a touchless forehead thermometer so that there's less fuss. This is the one we got.
You can also check temperatures in a room and bottles which is kind of nice additional features.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0751F ... JTZ9Z4BKVT
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FYI baby time show in Toronto this weekend! all the vendors in one place and there are several talks as well. Breastfeeding 101 and whatnot. I'm hoping the vendors are giving out freebies too.

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