Baby Product Reviews

I thought now that I have 13 (almost 14!) months of mothering under my belt, and I am clearly now an expert mom, I'd review some baby products and gadgets that worked, didn't work and were total lifesavers!

Best of the Best

Bouncy Chair - We got this one and I was doubtful at first.  Sawyer seemed so small in it, and he didn't particularly like the vibrating.  But lo and behold, it became easily the best thing we had!  When he was small I had him take naps in it, lulled to sleep with the vibrating and music.  I used it on the kitchen counter so I could cook.  After we moved to Austin and I was staying home with Sawyer, we got into this great routine where I would shower while he played in the chair, and then he would nap while I blow-dried my hair.  Eventually we even used it as a high chair!  I started feeding him rice cereal in it because I didn't care for doing it in the Bumbo chair, and we just kept with it, waiting to buy a real high chair until Sawyer was almost 9 months old!  It's wonderful because you can move it all over the house easily, travel with it in your car, take it to the grandparents' houses.  I just can't say enough about how this chair got us through our first year together!

Pack-n-Play - I remember wanting this mainly for traveling.  We didn't even want it set up in our house when Sawyer arrived.  I think my mom urged us to do otherwise, and obviously!  It is so great.  We used it for about 3 weeks in our room, and then moved S to his crib, but I think we kept it in our room for a while and I would put him down for naps in it.  (Why, I'm not sure.)  When we moved to Austin last August, we took a long-term house sitting gig while we waited for our Houston house to sell and Sawyer spent his naps and nights sleeping in that in the master closet (with a fan!).  Once we finally moved into our rental home he spent the next several months continuing to sleep in the pack-n-play in his room while we waited to get all the right pieces to assemble his crib again.  We have never flown with it (and it is heavy), but it is so easy for traveling or taking to a friend's house so we can have dinner.  It's incredibly simple to put together and Sawyer always slept great in it!  The only thing I will say about it is I know some come with flaps that roll down on the side to make it darker for sleeping, or with canopies on the top.  I might go with something like that next time!

Floor Play Mat - This was another lifesaver.  It was the only way I could make phone calls when Sawyer was a couple months old and loved to babble and screech.  He loved the lights and music and eventually grabbing for the animals.  This is where he was playing when he rolled over for the first time!  So obviously it gave him lots of motivation!  It was also a great thing to bring out in the afternoons when he just doesn't seem interested in anything else!  I also liked it a lot because it folds up and is easy to store in a closet. 

Swaddles - I could never recreate the hospital swaddle - we watched YouTube videos and everything.  Thankfully I had registered for this swaddle randomly and fell in love with it.  I know there are lots of brands, and I'm sure they're all wonderful, this Summer Infant one is just what I had, remembered was in a drawer one night and used.  Sawyer moved so much when he slept I felt like it helped a lot - and sometimes that's just how mom needs to feel.  I used them up to the largest size, and even then kept it wrapped around his legs and just phased his arms out of it.  I freaked out when it was time to take the swaddle away... and what do you know?  He slept fine without it!  It was a great security blanket for me, though, and I really loved using them.

Video Monitor - This might tie with the bouncy chair for favorite baby thing ever.  We started off without a monitor at all.  We were living in a 1200 square foot house and shared a wall with Sawyer's room, and my "new mom ears" heard anything and everything.  But it was hard to sleep soundly and I was always wondering why he might be fussing in the night, so we opted for the same video monitor my mother-in-law got.  Babies R Us doesn't have that monitor anymore, but it was by Safety 1st.  The picture was okay and the battery life wasn't great, but it did the job.  I liked that I could see what was going on, or I could turn the volume all the way down and just see the lights light up if he was making noise.  It definitely made me sleep better!  Eventually we dropped that monitor too many times on our tile floor and it died for good, so we grabbed this new one from Target.  Now that monitor is amazing!  It has a way clearer picture and the battery lasts for so long, we never have to plug it in until I go to bed.  Love it!

Exersaucer - Another thing I wasn't totally convinced about.  We bought one when Sawyer was around 5 or 6 months old, but he just took some time to warm up to it and then it was a wonderful place for him to play so I could get some stuff done!  We got this Baby Einstein one, but I might buy a cooler-looking one next time.  It did the job though!  He would play in it while I cooked, while we would pick up and clean rooms, while I folded laundry.  And once he started crawling, we used it whenever we just needed him to stay put for a few minutes!  Jeremy still used it just until recently when he would get ready for work in the mornings.  We even brought it for weekends in Houston and when we spent a week over Thanksgiving in Wimberley.  Now I think the appeal has totally worn off for Sawyer, but it did last us 6 or so months.  Not bad!

Infant Carrier + Base + Stroller - This is a really cool thing.  My mom said she never used a carrier with my little brother (which was only 13 years ago!), but I found we used the carrier a lot.  Anytime I went to the store or Target or to a restaurant, he went in in his carrier and he always did great in it.  But he never complained about riding in the car either, so we may have just been lucky.  I really liked that the carrier clipped into the stroller, as well.  And the ease of having bases in our cars was amazing!  We had one in each of our cars, and we also got bases for the grandmas' cars.  We're actually still using this as a car seat in my car since Sawyer still needs to be rear-facing and it works up to 30 pounds 22 pounds, per the Babies R Us website.  (Looks like we're getting a second car seat this weekend!)  All in all, I was very happy with this system.  I also really liked the colors (gender neutral, even though we knew he was a boy!) and I have had to wash the cover before and it washed fine.

Umbrella Stroller - We bought a super cheap one from BRU just to see if we liked it.  And we do!  The above stroller is nice for things like the zoo or to the mall, but sometimes it's nice to have something smaller, like for a quick stroll somewhere.  For the small price tag, I've been happy to have both stroller options.

High Chair - As I mentioned before, we were slow to buy this for our child.  I liked feeding him in the bouncy chair!  But it got increasingly messy and we needed to start him on table food, so Sawyer got this fancy high chair for Christmas!  We again bought this because my mother-in-law got one before us to keep at her house and I liked it well enough.  So we got it in the matching color to our travel system (because obviously, it matters) and I really like it.  I love that it's on wheels - much more useful than you might think, or for us it is anyway.  We roll Sawyer to the table, in the kitchen, in the living room or dining room.  It also had 2 tray cover things, so it's easy to take away and clean off, and the seat covers are slick and easy to clean also.  Apparently it folds up and away also, but I've never used that feature.

Inchbug Orbit Bottle Labels - Jeremy's cousin Amy gave us these as a baby gift, and mostly I was thrilled to see his name on something!  But once we started at daycare, I found these are amazing!  They are easy to see and recognize as "his" bottles, or cups now, and they won't fall off or peel off after going through the dishwasher.  They haven't even faded.  And you never have to take them off!  I bought another set, so now we have 8, and I am just so happy with these.

Dr. Brown's bottles - I used several different brands all the way until... well, until last weekend when we officially dropped his last bottle feeding!  I used BornFree, Avent and Dr. Brown's. and DB's were my favorite.  Nothing horribly different enough to make me only use them, but after using 3 brands they're just what I prefer.  Mostly I like how thin they are so Sawyer was able to hold them on his own more easily (and baby holding his own bottle is huge!).  The nipples and other flow contraptions worked well for him and us, so no complaints here.

Turns Out I Didn't Really Need...

Doorway Jumper - We bought this jumper the same time as the exersaucer, since we previously didn't have many activities for Sawyer.  It was okay enough, and luckily not too expensive, but next time around I'd like a stationary jumper.  Sawyer just banged himself into the door frame, and it took him a long time to warm to this at all.  And since I got them at the same time, I'd say the exersaucer was way better money spent.

Swing - Luckily, we borrowed (and still have!) a swing from Jeremy's cousin who didn't have room for it in her house anymore.  Sawyer tolerated the swing, and I got a couple long naps out of it!, but in general I'm glad we didn't spend the money on one.  That being said, I would probably buy one of those new swings that rocks side to side and back and forth.  (This lamb one is just too cute!)

Bottle Warmer - We used this for a month or so, and then since I used formula I got lazy and went straight to microwaving.  It worked fine and I never burned Sawyer.  Some people say it's easy to do this in the night, but I think it's quicker and easier to run hot water.  But that's just my opinion!  Maybe I'd feel differently now that we're in a 2-story house, but it didn't seem useful in our tiny 1-story.

Wipe Warmer - Didn't get one, didn't need one, don't wish I had one.  Sawyer screamed during diaper changes for a while, but he got used to it.  I tell myself they didn't have these in the 1800's... or in the 1980's... and we turned out fine.


Good, But Not Life-Changing

Diaper Genie - When my brother was born, 13 years ago when I was 13, I, along with my parents, was astonished at how cool the Diaper Genie was.  It was amazing!  You pushed the diaper in, twisted the top a few times and viola! Stink was gone.  That's my memory of it anyway.  The Diaper Genie is good.  I do like it.  I liked it a lot when our house was on the market and the maid came once a week and emptied it for me.  Ha!  Now, it really has a stink to it.  Jeremy swears plastic doesn't retain a smell, and I swear he needs to stick his head in it and tell me otherwise.  But I don't want to leave just a garbage bag hanging in his room, so it stays.

Bumbo - I thought Bumbos were just the cutest thing before I was pregnant.  I had to have one.  Even after Tracy recommended the Super Seat over a Bumbo.  And luckily, a blue Bumbo was mine!  They are so cute.  And I think they're great for training babes to sit up.  And they were good when I wanted a picture of Sawyer not laying down.  We even used it in February when Sawyer was 11 months old to take pictures of him in the snow.  Because I had such a love affair with the bouncy chair, I guess the Bumbo kind of took a backseat.  But you better believe I'll be buying a pink one if I ever have a girl! :)  And how cute is this little man?

Things I'll Be Getting Next Time!

BOB Stroller - I know I said I liked both of our stroller, and I do.  But the BOB seems pretty versatile, like easy to fold up and hearty enough to make it on the gravel walkways at our zoo (which, incidentally, the umbrella stroller does not).

Actually, maybe I'll need a double!

I know this post is majorly long, but I've been wanting to put my thoughts down on all this baby gear.  Hope it helps some of y'all!  What's been your favorite thing??