Questions for people with infant care experience.

[rivka]

Here's what curiousangel and I have for the baby so far:

two nightgowns
one bib
one stuffed dachshund (thanks to geekchick)
one book of original nursery rhymes (thanks to papersky)
I Am A Bunny (board-book edition)
Touch And Feel Baseball (board-book edition)

It occurs to us that this might not be enough.

Tomorrow we're going to a Baby Products MegaStore to start familiarizing ourselves with our various options for gear. We're still far from buying, and even far from registering for gifts, but we want to get out there and actually handle various kinds of equipment.

So, those of you who have had infant experience, as a parent or daycare worker or babysitter:

What baby gear was absolutely vital?
What was a waste of money and space?
Are there any particular products you swear by?

(Quick rundown of current parenting plans, because I'm sure that they will affect gear recommendations: Li'l Critter will be breastfed. We disagree about cloth vs. disposable diapers. Li'l Critter will not sleep in our bed. We have a car, but also travel by bus and light rail.)

Comments

Ooh, boy

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

Need:
Carseat
Diaper bag (Kelty sells swanky ones which I covet)
Crib (buy used, but carefully)
More crib sheets than you think you need
Really good breastpump. I use the Medela Pump N Style. This enables you to, you know, go to movies during the first four months.
Set of rearview mirrors so that you can see into a rear-facing carseat without turning around. Cheap, but oh-so-useful.
Lots of clothes. For the first 2-3 months, the diaper bag always contained an outfit per hour. Because sometimes that was needed. They don't have to be designer, they just have to be clean and weather appropriate.

Sanity savers:
Battery-powered swing
Baby simethicone
Baby monitor
Sling
Bouncy chair/exersaucer
Emergency bottle and formula
Good nursing chair (shop for this now, or after the baby. Good for pregnant and good for nursing are entirely different.

On diapers:
My mom cloth diapered us all. I was going to follow in her footsteps until she told me I was crazy, pointed out that she had a laundry woman with the first two of us and was home for my brother, and said that modern disposables are much more comfortable for the baby. Compelling arguments, all. Also, at least here, licensed daycares cannot do cloth diapering.

I wish I'd had:
A changing table

On evolution:
Eventually, you will need things like a high chair and a stroller. I advocate buying pretty much everything at whichever form of used-baby-store you have. The stuff is nice, cheap, and usually safe. You don't need a climbing castle or most of the large bulky objects yet. But you'll know as you get there what you need. Right now, I need to buy Baz long-sleeve 3T shirts and a musical keyboard. Two months ago, he didn't need either.

Dear god, why:
Crib bumpers. They block your view, and then when they'd be really useful, they become dangerous to the kid. Don't bother.
Shoes for babies who don't walk yet -- why? we should start footbinding early? Baz had some neat little slippers with elastic ankles for when it was cold, but for the most part, he went barefoot.

[ailbhe]

We need cot bumpers now - and for the past 6 weeks - because Linnea was sticking her legs through the bars and hurting herself when she then rolled over. She's never needed them for her head, or across the top of the cot at all - we use one down each side.

Linnea went barefoot until the recent cold weather; she now has soft shoes which keep her socks on. Soon we expect her to learn how to get those off, and then it's dealing with tights every change...

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

My favorite child had wonderful little outfits with cuffs that fold out into socks and mittens. I think those were the ones (the bigger sets, at least) where the socks had little plastic grippy strips on the soles for when she was learning to walk. Those outfits were in very heavy rotation for as long as possible. Even when she was too tall for the built-in socks, and could only wear them as cuffs, we all thought of those clothes as ideal for baby-cruising-on-hardwood-floor.