Quote:
Originally Posted by maisiedotes  We looked on the babies r us list to see what we needed, but bought much less than they suggested. And we did NOT need a boppy, pacifier pod, a bazillion burp cloths, etc. My mom once told me babies need a boob, warmth, love, and a place to sleep. Everything else is just extra.
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I ditto this. We got by with very little compared to some of those lists. Here's what I couldn't live without:
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cloth diapers (we ec'd, so probably used less than average but I think we had about 2-3 dozen newborn ones and by the time she had graduated out of those we were down to about a dozen one-size plus a few for night time specifically). I might try prefolds this time, since they're cheap and people who use them swear by them. I didn't try with Meredith until she was way older and they didn't work out for us, but if we started with a newborn I think they would be good. Though we have one one-size GoodMama diaper that I absolutely would love to get more of. They're super expensive though, even used, but of all the diapers we have it's definitely the one that wears the best and fit the best through all her sizes, so potentially worth it.
-With cloth diapers,
wool soakers are the best cover in my opinion, especially since we'll be having spring babies. Way more breathable than plastic in the heat. Meredith always gets rashes if we use plastic.
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cloth wipes: we had a friend give us about 30 of them, which was nice in the beginning when she was pooping a lot, but was quite excessive once that slowed down. We only use one or two a day now.
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mei tei: I'm planning to get a
Beco for Meredith and will use our mei tei for the new baby. I might get a
sling this time too, for nursing.
-I also ditto pp on the
sleepers and onesies, especially for a newborn. I had people give me cute little trendy jeans and shirts, but Meredith was often naked (she was a summer baby) and when she wasn't, I found sleepers and onesies were easier.
-
babylegs: If you can sew, these are easy to make from socks. These are great if you ec, but also nice to put under pants when in a carrier when it's cold out, since often the pants will ride up a bit and there will be a bit of a gap between the socks and pants.
-some sort of
diaper bucket: We just bought a 5-gallon bucket from a hardware store and found a lid that twists on and off.
-my mom bought me a
change table and crib set (even after I told her we would be co-sleeping and didn't need a crib
), and we never touched the crib but the change table was surprisingly handy. We kept all our diapers on it and it was nice to have a place up high to change her. I wouldn't say I couldn't live without it but it was useful.
Things we bought or were given that never really got used (doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them, they were just not useful to us!):
-an Arm's Reach cosleeper: I put Meredith in it the first night and she immediately started crying and we brought her right into bed with us. She never ended up sleeping in it. Occasionally I would put her in it if I needed to get something done, but generally she just stayed in the mei tei.
-a crib: we cosleep and now she sleeps in our bed for naps
-a bouncy seat: I actually think these could be handy for some babies. Meredith never really liked it. She was a bit of a high-needs baby though and pretty much had to be in arms 24/7 until she started crawling.
-a baby bath: we actually never bought one, but were loaned a tummy tub by our midwife. It was handy, but we actually ended up bathing with her most of the time and rarely used the tub even when we had it.
. Then I'll come back and post.
. I can go 'Yep, need this, nope, that's useless, oh, def need that, what the hell would I use that for?!' etc and so on. I'm a Libra and can be a bit, er, unfocused 
so it helps to have things like this laid out in front of me.
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