Author Topic: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?  (Read 12645 times)

justajane

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #50 on: November 30, 2015, 10:40:02 AM »
Just wanted to post a Cyber-Monday day for those who are expecting or have younger babies. I would do it myself, but my "baby" is already 18 months, and I don't want to overbuy, lest he potty train early.

Anyway, if you spend $250 at Target today on designated baby items, you get a $50 gift card. If you stack this with the 15% today and the 5% for the red card, you can do pretty well! I believe it is good on almost all diaper brands, wipes, baby toys, pacifiers, bottles, shampoos, etc.

Here's a booster it's good one, but if you click on the red fonted "$50 gift card" it will give you the details:
http://www.target.com/p/graco-highback-turbobooster/-/A-14515453#prodSlot=medium-1-1

elaine amj

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #51 on: November 30, 2015, 10:44:30 AM »
sunflower: loved your list!!

I did personally skimp on books myself. We had a small handful of baby books and then would just get different ones from the library, etc. I kept planning on filling up our bookcases more but my particular babies were happy with me reading the same books over and over and over and over again. To this day, the kids primarily get their books from the library and they have rarely owned more than 20-30 books at a time (usually less).

As for me, I happen to own hundreds of books for myself :) But I am a bookworm with specific, hard-to-get (i.e. will never let go) collections from my childhood (To my eternal sorrow - neither kid has been the least bit interested in my collection of obscure, mostly out of print, primarily British, children's books).

serpentstooth

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #52 on: November 30, 2015, 10:48:00 AM »
Just wanted to post a Cyber-Monday day for those who are expecting or have younger babies. I would do it myself, but my "baby" is already 18 months, and I don't want to overbuy, lest he potty train early.

Anyway, if you spend $250 at Target today on designated baby items, you get a $50 gift card. If you stack this with the 15% today and the 5% for the red card, you can do pretty well! I believe it is good on almost all diaper brands, wipes, baby toys, pacifiers, bottles, shampoos, etc.

Here's a booster it's good one, but if you click on the red fonted "$50 gift card" it will give you the details:
http://www.target.com/p/graco-highback-turbobooster/-/A-14515453#prodSlot=medium-1-1

If you don't need baby stuff and use disposable diapers, it's a very good deal on UP&UP diapers. I'd partake, but we have tons of diapers already. Hip2Save did a couple scenarios:

http://hip2save.com/2015/11/30/target-com-hot-buys-on-diapers/

arebelspy

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #53 on: December 01, 2015, 03:48:26 AM »
Good thoughts, thanks!

Good luck with the birth!! :D

Anyone know if the baby gets a carry-on? ;)
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Ceridwen

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #54 on: December 01, 2015, 07:00:00 AM »
Good thoughts, thanks!

Good luck with the birth!! :D

Anyone know if the baby gets a carry-on? ;)

No, but a big-ass diaper bag counts as a purse!

argonaut_astronaut

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #55 on: December 01, 2015, 07:27:40 AM »
Anyone know if the baby gets a carry-on? ;)

United and Frontier don't count diaper bags toward your personal item or carry-on so I assume that others are the same. They are sticklers about mixing your stuff in there. I checked a car seat and tried to pad it with our winter coats and they counter agent told me to remove the other stuff or pay for the extra bag. YMMV.

Per United (https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/baggage/infant.aspx):

Customers may carry the following infant and child articles on board, in addition to the maximum carry-on baggage allowance:

Diaper bag
Breast pump
Government-approved child seat (infant carrying seat or car seat)

serpentstooth

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #56 on: December 01, 2015, 10:50:42 AM »
Anyone know if the baby gets a carry-on? ;)

United and Frontier don't count diaper bags toward your personal item or carry-on so I assume that others are the same. They are sticklers about mixing your stuff in there. I checked a car seat and tried to pad it with our winter coats and they counter agent told me to remove the other stuff or pay for the extra bag. YMMV.

Per United (https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/baggage/infant.aspx):

Customers may carry the following infant and child articles on board, in addition to the maximum carry-on baggage allowance:

Diaper bag
Breast pump
Government-approved child seat (infant carrying seat or car seat)

Strollers also didn't count as luggage last time we flew.

TrMama

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #57 on: December 01, 2015, 11:15:35 AM »
I can't remember about extra carry-ons, but the checked luggage allowance for infants can be generous. The last time I flew with a lap baby we were allowed 2 extra checked bags for the baby, even though we hadn't bought her a seat. A stroller can be gate checked and doesn't count against the checked luggage allowance. This was with Air Canada and probably varies by airline.

I was able to cram a few extra small things into the "pack and play" playpen we always brought with us for baby to sleep in. My youngest also slept in it at home (no crib) and it made travel so easy. When we got to our destination she slept great because we'd brought her familiar bed with us.

cats

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #58 on: December 01, 2015, 12:01:20 PM »
No kids yet, but we are preparing for our first and my big advice would be to let all your friends with kids know you are expecting and that you aren't averse to hand-me-downs.  We've been very generously gifted all sorts of stuff...no idea how much we will use (it sounds like babies are unpredictable in their likes/dislikes), but if things don't work out at least we haven't paid a mint for it and there is a thrift store just down the street if we can't find another set of parents to unload it on.  Your parent friends may also be able to clue you into good sources for purchasing used items.  We've found out about a couple of local swaps and consignment sales, which have been great for filling out the 0-6 month wardrobe, plus picking up some additions to my maternity wardrobe and some random baby/nursing accessories that have been on my "might be helpful but not sure I want to shell out full price on them" list.  Hopefully they'll also be useful for a little while as baby gets bigger (eventually I think they get harder on clothes, making hand-me-downs more scarce...).

Also, in our area at least, Craigslist is proving to be a very good option for things that you are perhaps less likely to get used from friends.  I got a nice stash of mostly new cloth diapers for about half their retail price, and an Ergo carrier for about a third of the retail price.  We have also found a lot of (good!) stuff on the street (last week I picked up a set of diaper snappies and a very nice diaper wrap, still in their original packaging, for example), but that may be a phenomenon local to our town.

Also, I don't know what kind of childhood/babyhood you had, but I will say that our parents have both been somewhat useful as a reality check.  We both feel we were pretty well cared for materially as children, so if our parents didn't have it, it is probably not ESSENTIAL, just nice/helpful. My mom has also suggested a few things that fall into the "they didn't exist then but gee they really would have helped with this problem/inconvenience" category, which is nice advice to have when trying to decide on "extras".  Like, she did not have a nursing pillow but when she found out they exist now she really encouraged me to try one as she said she did have a lot of trouble figuring out comfortable positions to nurse in.

K-ice

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Re: Baby Gear - What Do We REALLY Need?
« Reply #59 on: December 01, 2015, 01:41:32 PM »
True NEEDS for an infant.

Car seat (some hospitals will not let you leave without one, even if you are walking/busing home.)

Diapers
Blankets
Boobs (or bottles & formula)

This is bare bones but honestly that is it for the first month or two.

Realistically, you should have some clothes too. But my LO was happiest in a blanket the first few weeks.

The Baby Box in Finland provides the basics.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415

Those Scandinavians know how to raise children on a budget.
I find IKEA has great value for cribs, high chairs, diaper change pads, baby dishes etc.

Later I will share some of my wants, & best/useless gifts.