oh no! I'm a baby bucket mama!

[wannabe]

I tried REALLY HARD to find virtue in my first child's intense hatred of the car seat and stroller,. Like those people whose child refuses solids until they're one so they start saying no child should have solids till then, I cuddled my kid in her sling and looked askance at the babies in their buckets. (of course, I was stuck at the mall until she'd napped and nursed so she'd be calm enough to go in the ruddy thing for five minutes to get us home, so I had lots of spare time for aspersion-casting, and anyone who gets to leave the house daily deserved my jealousy)

But crikey it's convenient to not wake the baby for the whole outing! And last night we went to a restaurant, and he had his own little hygenic seat to sit in and we all ate our meals two handed!

I feel like bursting into that disney song "it's a whole new world"

[SollysMom]

I hear you wannabe. I admit that I too "cast judgement" on those who use them all the time even when baby's awake, but I'm with you that it's quite useful when you don't want to wake the baby, and also at restaurants. I wear my baby but could never get comfortable enough to sit and eat at a restaurant while wearing him. I don't go out to eat often, but when I do it's definitely useful to have the bucket. I put it on one of those wooden highchairs flipped over, or some restaurants have a sling that you can sit the bucket right on.

[Jessy1019]

The buckets are definitely nice for sleeping babies and restaurants. We do eat out a lot, and when my daughter was small, she spent most of our meals sleeping in the bucket. My son, on the other hand, hated being in it (and grew out of it at four months anyway). He's almost two now, and he's still sitting on my lap through most meals. I've gotten used to eating over his head.

Just get them out of the bucket by a year, and I won't judge you.

[NaomiLorelie]

Originally Posted by Jessy1019

Just get them out of the bucket by a year, and I won't judge you.

When 17 mo dd is sleeping and we are dining out or shopping we will put her in the bucket. We keep it in the trunk for that purpose.

[Jessy1019]

Originally Posted by NaomiLorelie

When 17 mo dd is sleeping and we are dining out or shopping we will put her in the bucket. We keep it in the trunk for that purpose.

Ooops. <blush> I was actually thinking of my partner's neice, who turned one this month and is still riding around in the bucket and being taken into places and left in it (awake).

I usually just transfer my little guy into a stroller if he's sleeping and we're going into a store or restaurant. It's definitely a nice break, to eat without being climbed on!

[fairejour]

I only hate it when people put the baby on the floor! Argh, how would you like to stare at people's feet all day. Babies are people who want companionship and conversation too!!

[LolaK]

Honestly I just don't see the problem, babies who don't like it will let you know (my friends have plenty of them). Mine was always perfectly happy to sleep through dinner in her bucket and I loved eating like a person when we went out.

Now of course I have to eat one handed when we go out because I am holding all my friends newborns who don't like sleeping in their buckets

[mommy2abigail]

I'm so jealous. I'm praying my next kid will like the bucket a little bit more than my first.:She HATED it, and screamed bloody murder in the car for a year. Not fun. I wouldn't wake my sleeping baby to get him/her out of the bucket...I'm just not that into proving a point....

[Kessed]

The only think I mind is when people take the bucket and click into the stroller at the mall - then back into the car - then into the special vibrating stand at home... I feel sad when kids NEVER come out of the bucket.

By the way - my DD is 13.5 months. We just moved her out of the bucket. She's 19 pounds. She would still fit her SafeSeat for along time. She fights being strapped in SO hard that if it was a quick trip into a store - we would leave her in it.

[NaomiLorelie]

Originally Posted by Jessy1019

Ooops. <blush> I was actually thinking of my partner's neice, who turned one this month and is still riding around in the bucket and being taken into places and left in it (awake).

I usually just transfer my little guy into a stroller if he's sleeping and we're going into a store or restaurant. It's definitely a nice break, to eat without being climbed on!

I was just messin' with you. I totally understand your point, because by a little over a year all of my kids wanted to walk on their own which makes things more difficult but they deserve some autonomy.

[Dov'sMom]

DS outgrew the bucket (an older model that only went to 26 inches) at 4 months, but we used it in the stroller for meals long after that...until he was sitting well enough that I didn't mind letting him play in the high chair. That way he could see us and be part of the meal.

We're getting a bigger bucket (safeseat probably) for this next one just on the off-chance that it's also tall

[nolansmummy]

The bucket is extremely convenient. Thats why so many people get it. I would never wake a baby ever. So when we are just making a quick trip into somewhere in she stays. On the chance she wakes up, one of us will carry her.

[becoming]

Oooh, yes, I bow down to the bucket. (For long outings.)

[diamond lil]

I try not to judge bucket users, but I do have a problem with people who are grocery shopping, and their babe is screaming, strapped in the bucket, and they are standing over the cart trying to shush baby or shove a propped bottle in baby's mouth.

***Imagine Wild Bill voice from Silence of the Lambs***

"It takes the baby out of the bucket and comforts the baby."

I swear.....

[milkmommie]

I also hate to see babes left for hours and hours in the bucket just to convenience the parents. I always get the urge to pick up (and nurse) the crying baby in the bucket at the store while Mom or Dad ignores and keeps shopping.:
For this DD we didn't buy a bucket. We got the big rear/front facing seat that stays in the car. I always just transfered dd to the sling or baby bjorn when we got where we were going. When she was that little, she just went right back to sleep.....

[LolaK]

Originally Posted by diamond lil

***Imagine Wild Bill voice from Silence of the Lambs***

"It takes the baby out of the bucket and comforts the baby."

I swear.....

I often think it is hilarious and sad how much energy people expend jiggling or swaying the bucket to get the baby to stop crying. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just pick up the baby?

(I do know some kids who won't falls asleep in arms but will if their bucket is swayed - that's different. I am talking about just awake babies who are crying for attention or touch)

[cappuccinosmom]

The only think I mind is when people take the bucket and click into the stroller at the mall - then back into the car - then into the special vibrating stand at home... I feel sad when kids NEVER come out of the bucket.

That's my problem with them. When buckets replace mom almost completely.

My third baby used the bucket seat as a "rocking chair". He didn't like being worn too much, and was soooo heavy anyway, but also didn't like the swing. So I put him in a carseat and hauled him around to whatever room I was in, or set him outside to watch his brothers playing or nap in the sunshine (while I was supervising, of course.

[North_Of_60]

Originally Posted by Kessed

The only think I mind is when people take the bucket and click into the stroller at the mall - then back into the car - then into the special vibrating stand at home... I feel sad when kids NEVER come out of the bucket.

That is WHY I loved the bucket! Don't get me wrong, I loved wearing my daughter (and have a variety of carriers to support my love of babywearing) but as a mom with chronic pain due to a back injury, and having had pubic symphysis dysfunction and a 4thd degree tear, the first few weeks after she was born was rough. It was much easier for me to unclip it from the base, slide it along the seat, then pop it in the stroller and push. I had to bear no weight, AND I had something to hang on to as support while walking! I even walked the green market a bit in the first two weeks she was born by shuffling along hanging onto the stroller. I would not have been able to do that on my own with her in a sling.

By about 7 weeks post partum I was able to sling her pretty much all the time, but with the bucket I was able to go out, and be pretty self sufficient while getting things done. With the sling I would have jabs of pain and be forced to sit down, which took longer to get things done, and forget carrying anything like a grocery bag.

I never forced her to stay in it if she didn't want too, and never left her to cry or self sooth in it. It was simply an easy way to transport an otherwise content and sleeping baby.

[CheapPearls]

I too hate the idea of a bucket but darn it sometimes it's a lot better then a sling.

Tomorrow we have doctor's appointments. PRAISE this doctor in allowing 3 appointments back to back. I will be by myself with 3 kids under the age of 4 so darn right I'm going to take that bucket in with us and just put the sling in my bag in case we need it.

[felix23]

Originally Posted by Kessed

The only think I mind is when people take the bucket and click into the stroller at the mall - then back into the car - then into the special vibrating stand at home... I feel sad when kids NEVER come out of the bucket.

By the way - my DD is 13.5 months. We just moved her out of the bucket. She's 19 pounds. She would still fit her SafeSeat for along time. She fights being strapped in SO hard that if it was a quick trip into a store - we would leave her in it.

This is what I did with my bucket seat minus the snapping it into a stand at home. DD would usually go to sleep in the car and sleep straight through shopping. So I would take the bucket out of the car, put it in the stroller, when we got done shopping, put it back in the car, and if she was still asleep when we got home, I would carry the bucket in the house and wait for her to wake up. If she fussed I would get her out, but most of the time she just slept.