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

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I found that cloth diapers leaked much more than disposable, even with the special diaper covers.

My sister said that too. I just have crushing environmental guilt.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Do you feel that way about sanitary napkins? I've looked at the alternatives on that front, and have decided that convenience is going to win out over environmentalism. And I personally will have wasted a lot more environmental resources with those in my lifetime than one baby will waste in the ca. three years that it's wearing diapers.

Just a thought.

-J

unsolicited advice ;)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I use Lunapads when I'm mostly at home. I do what they suggested on the website and have a bucket of cold water in my bathroom that I throw the pads into. Change the water twice a day and put a lid on the bucket, and most of the blood comes out before they even get to the washing machine. Then I just wash them at 40 degrees with the rest of my underwear.

When I have to use disposable pads for one reason or another, I use Natracare. They are made of unbleached fibres & do not contain plastic or latex except for a thin recycled plastic wrapping to protect the pad before you use it. They are also 100% biodegradable. You can get them in ultrathin and they are pretty good - the only thing is they only last a couple of hours, unlike the evil latexy ones that last all night.

Re: unsolicited advice ;)

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Wow! I hadn't realized these existed. Thanks for the tip, h-l. I'll look into it.

-J

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

I did some research on this, and as I remember, it's about a wash, because of the impact of heating water, bleach, detergent, and drying. And the new ones do break down better than the old really plasticky ones.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

That's what I've found too. We use disposables, I use sanitary pads, and I assuage my guilt by being green in other areas (like how much of our household furniture was acquired from the curb and repainted/slipcovered *grin*)

[ailbhe]

I find that the cloth ones we use leak a lot less than the best disposable ones we've found. And we use the super-active breastfed-baby runny-poo disposables.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

The environmental cost is about the same for cloth versus disposable; it's more a case of water/energy versus landfill.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

One other point -- if you ever leave your child with a babysitter, be sure to have disposables. My brother had cloth diapers and we dropped him off at the church nursery one day. He was very whiny/crying when we got him back. The nursery attendent, who had obviously never seen cloth diapers before, pinned them THROUGH his skin.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

That's just awful! Thankfully, modern cloth diapering systems don't require pins. (Let's hear it for velcro!)

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask whether the curiousangel and rivka knew that you can buy washable nappies that are basically the same shape as the disposable ones now... but I guess they do. Oh well.