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moneysense.ca, 15/01/06
Splurging for Baby
Bottle Warmer: We just mix formula as needed by mixing warm water from an electric kettle.
Bottle sterilizer: We have one and we used it a lot, but I am still dubious about whether it is really needed.
Baby Monitor: We received one as a present, but since we can hear our boys crying a mile away, it still stays in the box.
Do you have tips for new parents-to-be? Let’s hear them in the comments section!
moneysense.ca, 15/01/06
We’ve got two young kids. It helps to have friends with kids, since we end up swapping clothes and lending toys and such.
The must haves are the swing and a bouncer (the wire frame with cloth stretched over it and a vibrating device at the feet). We started both our kids out in a pack-and-play that had a built in bassinet.
We have two cribs, the first one was around $400 new including the change table, the second one we got for $20 at a garage sale. The sad part is that it’s just as nice.
We got a mobile as a gift but it didn’t do much for our boys.
We have the two sizes of bottles now that our kids are bigger, but my wife nursed so our needs were different than yours.
And, to put this back on a financial topic, start your RESP early
Sean
Great post.
My boys are past their infant years but I remember that period well.
A couple thoughts:
1. If you are buying disposable diapers, try buying the ‘MC’ brand at Dominion/A&P. They cost ~$20/jumbo package (deal!) but better yet, you get 1 Baby Bonus point for every $20 spent. Get 10 points and they mail you a $20 gift certificate. (See http://www.freshobsessed.com/ourPrograms/bbc). At one point I had 2 boys in diapers concurrently and was getting said gift certificates at a ridiculous rate.
2. Another item we found indispensible was a fold-away play pen. This was great for taking on family excursions and also when my wife or I was cooking and wanted to keep an eye on our son during his ‘I eat everything I cruise/crawl to’ phase.
Sean and David: Thanks for your comments.
A friend of ours was just mentioning that a bouncer is really helpful. We’ll have to check that out.
Our boys are just starting to move, so we are investigating a play pen. I’ll check out the A&P diapers. I shop at Costco and the diapers are fairly cheap.
Well, I agree that the Bottle Warmer is a bit excessive, but we bought one because we were going to be travelling and well, it was a god send, because the hotel room didn’t really have anywhere where we could get boiled water.
My son is now 10 months and still enjoys formula from Powder (which we mix). We used premixed with his sisters, but are getting really CHEAP in our old age.
–C8j
If there is anything I swear by, it would be the television monitors. Since my twins were born prematurly, i was paranoid. I could rest easier just knowing I could see them both when I wanted. To this day, the monitors are always on, as already we have had one girl climb out of her crib. Now we can catch her when she attempts it again.
Thanks for the comments Big Cajun and Proud Mommy.
Also, I recently read in Time magazine that those Baby Einstein videos are not a good idea for babies under 2 years.
Too late now but breast feeding reduces all requirments for bottle warmers and any other thing connected to it.
Videos are good attention grabbers when kids get older 1.5 – 2.yrs.
Also being a techie guy the internet starts to take over as a great tool at 1.5. Check out the mulitude of kids stuff – PBS kids, CBC. Boobah is especially great for kids learning keyboard use.
The best winter tip, put velcro on kids sleeves with a patch on their gloves. tehy will never come off.