Recommendations from a Recent Third-Time Mom

This is what worked (or didn’t work) for me:

Get a Baby Papasan chair. We didn’t have one for M, but we borrowed one for K and he loved it. He loved it so much that I wanted to get one for Miss D. Lucky for me I have great friends who bought one for me. Miss D also loves the chair. These are particularly crucial for those first few weeks.

Also? Good friends are great to have when they bring supper after baby is born. I loved not having to cook all the time when K and D were first born. If you’re wondering what to get the friend who just had her second, third, fourth child? Bring her a home-cooked meal and stay and hold the baby so her and her husband can eat a hot meal together.

Pass on the Diaper Genie. We attempted to use one with M but it filled up so fast we got tired of emptying it all the time. It was just as easy to throw the really stinky diapers directly in the can in the garage. But honestly by the time the diapers were stinky we’d already abandoned the Genie anyway.

Ditto for the changing table. We never got one. The floor works perfectly fine.

Get a battery operated swing. When the baby won’t stop crying and you’ve tried everything, usually the swing will offer the baby some “space” which is probably what she wanted all along.

Avoid clothes with big collars when your baby is younger than 6 months. The collars just stick up and get in their faces. I find it annoying so I bet the baby really hates it.

If you’re stocking up on diapers before baby’s arrival, just go straight for the size ones. I still stand behind this even though D was small enough to wear the newborn diapers for quite a while. Most of the time you will have a bigger baby, especially if you’ve had kids before. And if you end up having a smaller one? Well, eventually she’ll be in the bigger size anyway and you’ll be stocked up when she is.

Speaking of diapers, I just found the site Diapers.com and ordered some diapers and nursing pads. The shipping was free (with $49 order) plus I had a code for $10 off my first order. And I didn’t have to lug a big box of diapers around Target while trying to keep K, M and D all in line. If you want to try it out, please use this code: AKAR3125 to get $10 off your first order (over $49) and they’ll give me a tiny credit. I ordered on a Wednesday morning and had my order in home by noon on Friday.

If you think you’ll have more kids, buy only gender-neutral or boy sleepers. Babies don’t care what color their pjs are and when girls get older they probably won’t object to wearing pjs with boats or cars on them. Husbands will likely object to seeing their sons in pink footie pajamas with butterflies on them.

Take your baby to have portraits taken as a newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year at the very minimum. It does not matter where you go for the sessions. You will cherish those portraits when your kids are grown and having your grandbabies. Then you will be able to pull out your child’s portrait and say “see? Baby H looks just like you did at that age.” This will seem important to you then.

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That’s all I have for now. I’m sure there will be more.

What products, etc did/do you love for your babies?