You know, it really hasn't been all that long since I had a baby. Wild Man is just a little over 2, so less than 3 years ago I did copious amounts of research on various products, put together a registry, and bought things that I thought would work for us. I naively assumed that this time around choosing products would be easier, especially since I now have experience on my side. It is, however, even more complicated now.
C and I have been discussing bottles and diapers this week. With Wild Man, we registered for and received a number of Dr. Brown's bottles. I selected this brand based on the large number of positive reviews I read online and got first hand from moms and dads; however, Wild Man hated them. Granted, my boy hated bottles, and he only ever took them reluctantly. We ended up using Playtex nursers with him because they were the only kind he would ever take. C thinks we should play it safe and use these again with Z, but frankly, the number of plastic bags we threw away while using these bottles made me sick to my stomach. I want to try bottles that don't include a disposable liner again. But now, I have to pick out bottles that I think Z will like and that are BPA-free. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Let me tell you, BPA-free bottles are enormously expensive, and most don't look remotely inviting. Add to that our current diaper dilemma--cloth or disposable--and I've been doing a lot of baby product research in my spare time--as in when I'm not dissertating or chasing Wild Man. I'm learning that not everything is easier the second time around.
2 comments:
If you weren't writing this post looking for recommendations and advice, just disregard this comment!
We went through Medela, Dr. Brown, and Born Free bottles with La Dudarina. She never really took any of them, and then finally one day she was so hungry she sucked down a whole bottle of Born Free. Now she tends to be pretty good at taking bottles. I think it's a matter of waiting it out and letting them make the decision that they'd rather eat than wait for mama's boobs... of course, I say that now that I have more perspective, but I think we all go through a rough patch when we are trying to get our kids to take a bottle. I'm only putting that out there because I'm not sure all of the trying of different kinds helps as much as waiting it out. But I don't know.
We also love cloth diapering, and so long as you have your own washer/dryer it's quite easy. We like prorap and bummi covers best, but some people really love bumgenius (expensive all-in-one diapers). We just use hand-me-down and cheap Gerber trifold diapers on the inside of the covers I mentioned and some Kushies diaper liners for extra thickness. It works well for us.
Thanks for the recommendations on the diapers, Kate. I've been investigating diaper services as well. I've found one that limits the temp of the water and uses detergents without phosphates or phalates. These diapers also seem to eliminate the need for the diaper covers. But I can't figure out if it is as cost effective as if we washed them ourselves. The cost of the service is $20 a week, which seems reasonable, but I know we didn't spend $80 a month on disposables and I can't imagine our water/electric bill would go up $80 a month if we washed them ourselves.
As for bottles, I think the primary issue we had with Wild Man was that we didn't consistently offer him a bottle until he started daycare. I believed everything I read about nipple confusion, so I waited until he was almost 6 weeks to give him a bottle and then we only offered it to him a few times a week. He took the Dr. Brown's bottles at first, and then refused to take anything until he grudgingly decided to take the Playtex nursers. With Z, we will definitely introduce bottles much sooner.
Post a Comment