[lamamax3]

I just read this article about what baby gear new moms need. While it's nice to see a short list, rather than the tons of junk pushed at parents, I take extreme exception to her section on bottles. She points out that "even if you plan on breastfeeding" you will eventually need a bottle for expressed milk. Why couldn't she just have said, you need bottles if you don't plan on breastfeeding? Why did she feel the need to undermine the very notion that a woman can have a baby without bottles? I have three kids, I nursed them all into toddlerhood, and I NEVER used a bottle. We didn't own any.<br><br>
She also said that "even if you plan to cosleep" you would eventually need a crib. We were given a crib when baby #1 was born. It has been in pieces under our bed for #3's entire life <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109493/baby-gear-the-only-five-items-you-need?mod=family-kids_parents" target="_blank">http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...y-kids_parents</a>

 

[Raine822]

It is certainly possible to BF and never use a bottle but not necessarily a bad idea to have a few. After DD2's birth I am staying home and thought I would have no need for bottles this time. I packed them all away. Shortly after her birth I ran into and issue and need to have surgery. Had to find and drag out bottles again.<br><br>
Same with the crib, maybe never used but good to have in case you end up needing one.

 

[sapphire_chan]

Sorry did Walmart go out of business while I wasn't looking? Bottles can be bought in most stores, grocery, drugstore, Target, Walmart. Cribs can be found in Target, Walmart, a laundry basket with a folded up towel with a receiving blanket tucked tightly around the towel because it's not like a newborn needs a ton of space or rolls over.<br><br>
And Walmart and a lot of the grocery stores are 24 hours. So if you realize you really need a bottle at o dark thirty, you can get it. You could even get a crib then, if you suddenly really needed one.<br><br>
And if it's for something like a surgery, you'd definitely have time to buy some. Sure, it'd suck if you gave away some bottles when your first child didn't need them, but you can avoid that by not buying any for either child until you need them.

 

[Pandme]

Yeah, dropping money on a crib just in case seems like kind of a bad idea.<br><br>
Wait until you know you need one, then get it.

 

[akind1]

I agree that bottles and cribs may not be absolutely necesssary. That said, how many moms must work on occasion? or full time? in this case, bottles are definitely a must have. We had a total of 4 or 6 bottles when DS was born. You don't need many, but it is nice to have a few for if you have to be away from your DC for longer than the space between a feeding. And yes, you can run out and buy some on an emergency basis, but I like having things on hand.<br><br>
as far as the crib . . .my dad built us a beautiful crib. Really it is gorgeous - solid cherry. DS has taken some naps in it . . . eventually he will sleep in it overnight. I think. I agree, not a must-have, but it looks nice in the nursery <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> (which is the one room in our house that stays clean, because other than going in there to weigh DS or get clothes for him, we don't use it)<br><br>
my #1 not needed item is a pacifier. Even if you bottle feed, not all babies take to them. I'd rather wait and see. Now DS did take them, but once he found his thumb - around 3 months - he has taken them less and less. I think if I threw all ours away, he'd never know the difference. That and you never know which sort they'll prefer, IF they take them.<br><br>
FWIW, I also really think infant bucket seats and strollers are unnecessary. the first really really unnecessary, and the second is nice to have, but half the time I end up wearing or carrying DS anyway.

 

[CalaRei]

I was given bottles with a pumping kit in the hospital. (I am, however, kicking myself for not taking my own bottles that had better nipples, considering I was almost doomed to supplement twins and the hospital bottles ran amuck with their latches. Things are good, now, though, we got through it!)

 

[sapphire_chan]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>akind1</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/15393811"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">as far as the crib . . .my dad built us a beautiful crib. Really it is gorgeous - solid cherry. DS has taken some naps in it . . . eventually he will sleep in it overnight. I think. I agree, not a must-have, but it looks nice in the nursery <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> (which is the one room in our house that stays clean, because other than going in there to weigh DS or get clothes for him, we don't use it)</div>
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It's really great that your dad has excellent wood working skills. He can make your ds a small table and chair. Most "toddler" chairs are ridiculously large and and high off the ground. Oooo, and he could do a table where half the table is low enough to use with the chair and the other half is around waist height for your ds for standing to play.<br><br>
I assume you told him that you were going to have a nursery and so forth before he started on the crib? I've heard of people making a nursery because they felt they had to use a gifted crib. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/yikes2.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="yikes">:

 

[rparker]

The only item on that list that I even remotely "needed" was a car seat. I never had a bouncy seat. I barely used the bottles and bought more than I needed. A crib would have been a colossal waste of money since we never used one. I eventually bought a stroller but I could have lived without one. Lists like that are the reason my childless friends are convinced that it's so expensive to have kids <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked"><br><br>
But the question I have is... where are diapers on that list? A few hardcore EC mamas may disagree, but diapers and my breasts are the two "items" that I truly couldn't have lived without.

 

[dawaller]

I agree. Diapers are the only real necessity (unless you birth in the hospital, and then you need a carseat or they won't allow you to take your little darling home). I do like the luxury of a carrier, though. I used a homemade wrap when DS was born, and switched to an ergo when he was 3 months or so. I figured the money I saved on not buying a crib, changing table, sposies, formula or tub was well spent on a good carrier. Oh, and I got a great pump. I figured that even a whizbang ferrari of a breast pump was less expensive and more beneficial than formula. It paid for itself, really.<br><br>
And rparker...your breasts are two items on their own and you most certainly shouldn't have to live without them, haha! ;-)

 

[kavamamakava]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>lamamax3</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/15392391"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">I just read this article about what baby gear new moms need. While it's nice to see a short list, rather than the tons of junk pushed at parents, I take extreme exception to her section on bottles. She points out that "even if you plan on breastfeeding" you will eventually need a bottle for expressed milk. Why couldn't she just have said, you need bottles if you don't plan on breastfeeding? Why did she feel the need to undermine the very notion that a woman can have a baby without bottles? I have three kids, I nursed them all into toddlerhood, and I NEVER used a bottle. We didn't own any.<br><br>
She also said that "even if you plan to cosleep" you would eventually need a crib. We were given a crib when baby #1 was born. It has been in pieces under our bed for #3's entire life <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109493/baby-gear-the-only-five-items-you-need?mod=family-kids_parents" target="_blank">http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home...y-kids_parents</a></div>
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Same here. Never owned a bottle and never owned a crib. I have 3 children and also tandem nursed the first two until #1 weaned while I was pregnant with #3 and then tandem nursed the younger 2 until #2 weaned when she was 4.5 and then nursed the youngest until she was 4. I think each of my kids had some encounter with a bottle at some point but just chewed on it and didn't realize what it was for. When they got old enough to drink something besides breastmilk we used sippy cups. And none of them has ever even seen a crib in person. My poor deprived children. hehehehehe

 

[ewe+lamb]

We only used one thing on this list for our kids - the car seat, and even then when ds was born we didnt have a car so it wasn't absolutely necessary - the thing we did need were the cloth nappies, a ring sling and wrap - I couldn't have done without those. We never used bottles or dummies - although when dh told his work colleagues that we didn't have all this stuff none of them believed him and told him he was lying!!

 

[akind1]

Well, my dad made the crib because they were going to buy us one as their "gift" and didn't like any of the ones they saw in the stores. That and we did set up a nursery for DS. . . it is good storage space! I think his next thing to build will be a rocking horse. less usable than a table and chairs, but we don't even have a grown up size table and chairs in our house.<br><br>
I had thought (when I thought it might be possible to be a SAHM - it is not, i am the only one working at the moment) to never use bottles. Alas, I must work, and DS gets his "boobie juice" as a friend of ours calls it, this way. I think for a lot of people, bottles really are a must have. breastfed or not.<br><br>
and they were handy when out and about those early days when nursing took 45 minutes to an hour, and the bottle around 15. now, nursing is as quick, or quicker than, a bottle, and we don't bother with them when we are out. DS gets 1-2 bottles the 2 days a week I WOH.