I linked each item to a place you can buy it, so click on the item if you are interested! Don't worry - I am not getting compensated in any way by writing these reviews and providing links...just trying to be helpful. :)
1. Angelcare Monitor* - This is probably my all-time favorite and I recommend it any chance I get. It is not just any monitor. Not only does it work like any other monitor, it also has a motion sensor pad that you put under the crib mattress that is so sensitive it can detect if your baby is breathing. If it doesn't detect breathing, the alarm goes off. We did have a few false alarms when we used this with Will because apparently babies can get into such a deep sleep that their breathing becomes extremely light and hard to detect. Even so, I didn't mind dealing with the false alarms every now and then for the peace of mind it gave me 99.9% of the time. I even read one theory that if you do get a false alarm, the baby may have been getting into too deep of a sleep and being startled by the sound of the alarm may have been needed. If it weren't for this monitor, I think I would have gotten a lot less sleep in those first few months (and we all know it's not much sleep to begin with!).
We did have Will sleep in our room for a few nights after we came home from the hospital, but we quickly realized that none of us were getting much sleep with that arrangement. So we ended up moving Will to his crib very early on and I don't think I would have been able to do that if we didn't have this monitor. We all slept so much better!
We stopped using the sensor part of the monitor when Will was 6-7 months old because that is when he started rolling around a lot. If he rolled too far to the edge of the crib, the sensor couldn't detect his breathing...so we started getting a lot of false alarms and at that age, the sound of the alarm would sometimes wake him up. The alarm typically didn't wake him up when he was younger, so we would just check on him and turn the alarm off.
*Ours only has one unit, but I couldn't find it online. I did see the one unit version at Babies R Us today.
2. Happiest Baby On The Block DVD * - We received this as a gift when we were in the hospital and I didn't get around to watching it until Will was a couple of weeks old. At that point, it was a last resort because I didn't know what to do when he cried for 3 hours straight during the night no matter what we did. Not even trying to feed him would calm him down!So basically, the DVD just teaches a soothing technique. It consists of the 5 S's - swaddling, shushing, swinging, side/stomach position, and sucking. When I watched the video, I thought, "Yeah right, that won't work with MY baby." But sure enough, when we did everything just like the video taught, it almost always worked with Will for the first 3-4 months of his life. After watching, I couldn't believe that I had waited until Will was two-weeks-old to watch it! That doesn't sound like a lot of missed time now, but those first two weeks felt like an eternity at the time!
I even downloaded a hairdryer recording from a website called www.calm-your-screaming-baby.com (haha!) and put as many tracks of it that would fit on a cd and we would play it anytime he needed to calm down (this is the "shusing" part of the 5 S's). We had three copies of the cd - one in the cd player in his room, one in the cd player in our living room, and one in my car.
We ended up using it as white noise in his room anytime he slept and he actually still slept to the hairdryer sound up until a few months ago when the cd player in his room broke. And now he sleeps just fine without white noise...so I know it didn't ruin him for life or anything like that!
*I have never been able to find this DVD sold in a store. There is also a book that can be found in most bookstores or libraries, but I think the DVD is far more helpful. If you live near me, I will be happy to let you borrow mine if you promise to give it back!
3. Chicco Cortina Travel System - Just in case you are unaware, a travel system is basically a matching stroller and carseat. The carseat snaps into the stroller so that you can easily move your baby from the car to the stroller without bothering him too much. I originally decided to get the Chicco Cortina system because I read that it wasn't as heavy as some of the other travel systems and it was easy to open and close the stroller and snap the carseat in and out of it. I also really liked the simple look of it. I've never really been a fan of the patterned strollers and carseats...especially for boys.
Once I tested it out in the store, I was sold. I could definitely feel the difference in the weight from the other travel systems (although any carseat is heavy once your baby gets over 12 pounds or so) and I did find it very easy to use as well.
Now that I have had the travel system for almost three years, I can most definitely say it was one of our best buys. The stroller and carseat are still in great condition and I will be using them again with Reed. But there is more! When Will was a little over a year old, we flew to South Carolina to visit my grandparents. You can gate check strollers (and FYI, it doesn't count as one of your bags), so as we were boarding one of our flights, Chris was trying to quickly get the stroller to fold up and something broke. I was very upset and thought there was nothing we could do, but I decided to call Chicco and see if maybe there was a part we could replace. I briefly explained the problem to the lady that answered the phone and she told me they would send me a new stroller at no charge....and they did! That is the best customer service I have ever received, so I am now a fan for life and tell everyone I can to buy this travel system!
I will say that it probably won't be the only stroller you will ever want. We actually have two other strollers. One is an umbrella stroller (also Chicco) and it is better for Will at the age he is now and the other is a jogging stroller that I borrrowed.
4. Noodle & Boo Ultimate Ointment* - I bought a bottle of this to use as diaper cream before Will was born. I was a little bit shocked by the price, but I had heard it was really good so I bought it anyway. Let me just say that we used this on Will's bottom everyday of his life for the first year and we still use it to this day (although only when needed now). The same bottle. Yes, the bottle I bought almost three years ago. It is running low, but there is still some in there! He has never once had diaper rash and we have also used it for dry or irritated places on other parts of his body. It is really a great thing to have on hand! I will be getting another bottle soon for Reed.*I bought the bottle we we have at Holly Hocks. It is a 4 oz. bottle and was over $20. It looks like the 2.5 oz. tube may be the only size they sell these days.
5. Ultimate Crib Sheet - This is basically a flat waterproof pad that snaps onto the crib to put on top of your normal crib sheet. Now if you haven't ever had to change a crib sheet in the middle of the night due to an accident of any kind, this probably makes no sense at all. However, the first time you find yourself having to untie and retie all the pieces of your crib bumper in the middle of the night just to be able to change a crib sheet, you will be wishing you had this wonderful invention! Up until today, I just had one of these but there were a couple of times that I wished that I had two so that on the nights when there was more than one accident, I could easily switch them out and wash the dirty one. So I picked another one up at Babies R Us today and I know that I will be glad I did.
Another thing that should be noted about the Ultimate Crib Sheet is that you don't have to sacrifice the look of your nursery for it. Since it lays flat on top of your normal crib sheet, you can still see your cute crib sheet that matches everything else in the nursery and it never has to get dirty!
So these are my top five must-haves if you are about to welcome a new baby into the world...I hope this list is helpful to someone out there! :) If I discover anything else in the coming months, I will be sure to let you know!
