We have tried products on our own and received recommendations about products from many people. I realize that all kids are different shapes and sizes and every parent will develop a list products that they love but I wanted to share with our readers a list of products that are our Best of the Best. We have used, loved and will continue to use these products until we exit out of that stage. We are getting closer everyday to being out of the weeds and we are retiring items at what seems like a much quicker pace these days.
The writer of the blog did not receive compensations in any form (cash or free products - not that I would not take either, it wasn't offered) for there inclusion in this list. No animals or infants were hurt while using any of these products.
Formula
- We were fortunate to be able to start our kids off on the good stuff from mommy.
- Our Number 1 favorite formula Generic - Target brand Up and UP formula or Walmart brand Parent's Choice
- We used Enfamil and Similac when we had coupons or free samples from the hospital or doctors office. The brand names are so expensive and we found out quickly that the generic's compared exactly to the name brands and were much cheaper and the kids didn't know the difference.
Let's be honest up front, if we got free diapers our kids wore them and they liked it. However, our free diaper tree died and then you have to spend your own money on them.
New Born - Pampers Swaddlers
- A favorite for the umbilical cord notch, wetness indicator
- To be honest, for infant diapers we didn't really care who made them, especially if they were free
- We have tried them all and we always came back quickly to the Huggies-Little Movers. We like the way they fit our kids. If you've changed as many diapers as we have, you will find a favorite. It might not be Huggies for your kids but it was for ours. At least give them a try.
Overnight - Huggies - Overnights
- They hold a bunch of liquid and have Winnie the Pooh on them. You can't go wrong with Winnie the Pooh.
Swimming - Huggies - Little Swimmers
- I like to call them poo catchers, because that is about all they are effective in doing.
Wipes
- Huggies - Just pick one of the many different types, we eventually graduated to whatever Huggies type we could buy in bulk at whatever store we happened to be in when we needed them
Diaper Cream to battle diaper rash
- There's many on the market but there's only two to use
- Eucerin Aquaphor - buy it by the case and use it for the minor cases
- Flanders Buttocks Ointment - buy it by the case and use it for the major cases
- This one can be tricky to find, if you can't find it on the shelf you will have to ask for it in the pharmacy department. CVS has it in the pharmacy department.
- Both of the these products have our five star testing rating...don't put anything else on your kids backside, you are wasting your time.
Bottles
- New born stage - Medela bottles that went with Medela pump (not in our best of list because I don't think there's any competition - Medela makes a work horse for pump - ours has supplied meals to 6 kids)
- Infant - Dr. Brown's
- They worked for us. They make a bunch of claims that I can not confirm occurred when we used them but I will say they worked and our kids weren't fussy after eating (maybe the claims are true).
- It took us awhile but we finally figured out the bottle thing. If you have one child you need a minimum of 9 bottles, unless you get some thrill out of washing baby bottles constantly. We found that nine gave use two days of bottles and worked best in our schedule and didn't break the bank account buying bottles. Buy as many as you can afford, think of them like underwear. Washing your clothes is directly related to amount of underwear you have (at least for a man).
- We washed our bottles in the top rack of our dishwasher and used the extra heat cycle. We washed them by hand when needed but washing bottles all the time will eventually brake your soul.
- We have been a Graco family. They typically have good rating and have worked good for us and the wife can find a color and/or pattern that will work.
Strollers and High Chairs
- The only requirement with these two items - find one that you like
- Strollers - too many choices here, we ended up with a Graco stroller that was compatible with our car seat, umbrella strollers and have now graduated to sit and stand stroller
- High Chair - too many choices here (plastic, wood all shapes and sizes) find one you like
- You will need/want a bumbo (although Ansleigh didn't use it much) or feeding chair -they can travel with you if needed.
- Personal Comment - if you have two that will be in a stroller at one time, you will need to make a decision - inline or side by side. We didn't have this problem, ours graduated to an umbrella stroller when the next child arrived. I can't make an official recommendation but I will suggest from my 4 years of observing moms and dads that you will need both. The inline for ALL shopping and the side by side for all outdoor activities. You can use the side by side for shopping but most of the isles are not made for the extra width and will cause you to get "looks" from fellow shoppers.
Diaper Bag
- Men stay out of it. You get to carry and use it but this is you wife's territory.
- It doesn't matter at this point you are getting ready to have a kid that is going to spit up, throw up, pee or poop on you. The diaper bag is the least of your concern.
- They all suck. They each have their individual issues (leaking, bad for kids teeth...etc). Save yourself a few trips to the store and buy one type of each and see which one your child likes the best and which one you can stand with its issues. We ended up with the flexible straw type - don't like them but we tolerate them.
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