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Just curious what others have found helpful with a newborn or infant. How many of each item do you think would be the minimum to get by for a week at a time?
This includes (but not limited to! Add other items if you think of any!):
Bottles/accessories
Cloth diapers (preference to cloth instead of disposible)
Bibs
Change of clothing
drool bibs or feeding bibs? For clothes, drool bibs, and receiving blankets, you will not go a week without doing laundry anyway. You won't even go a day in the early weeks. Bottles are hard to register for and hard to buy for other people. We tried 2 or 3 different kinds, and some people don't use them at all ever. Start with a starter set
I think it is better to err on too many than not enough. In the early stages babies barf and poop out of their clothes necessitating 2 or 3 changes a day if you want a sweet smelling kid. Just a normal feeding can sometimes generate spitups, leaks etc and a fresh bib is necessary for every meal so the math is not hard to figure out. Receiving blankets -those smallish flannel ones -I'd say about 4 or 5 a day depending on the kid.
scoks-booties get lost, kicked into their own poop so 2 or 3 pair a day.
Nothing worse than wanting to take our baby somewhere- having company come over to look at the baby- then realize you don't have clean clothes for it. Remember Mom will be tired and sometimes laundry does not get done when it should.
I think it is better to err on too many than not enough. In the early stages babies barf and poop out of their clothes necessitating 2 or 3 changes a day if you want a sweet smelling kid. Just a normal feeding can sometimes generate spitups, leaks etc and a fresh bib is necessary for every meal so the math is not hard to figure out. Receiving blankets -those smallish flannel ones -I'd say about 4 or 5 a day depending on the kid.
scoks-booties get lost, kicked into their own poop so 2 or 3 pair a day.
Nothing worse than wanting to take our baby somewhere- having company come over to look at the baby- then realize you don't have clean clothes for it. Remember Mom will be tired and sometimes laundry does not get done when it should.
It would have been a huge waste for us. My son spat up twice in his whole infancy. Both times on someone else (yay me lol). He never went through more than one outfit a day. You just never know.
Some babies are messier than others. And it takes practice to get the diaper thing perfected, so during the learning curve there's more laundry to be done.
I never used little bibs. Recieving blankets were only for propping my preemie up in the car seat, or to position her in the crib. I bought footed sleepers for cooler weather so we didn't use socks or booties at all until she was a little older. We used sleepsacks or the velcro swaddling blankets in the crib instead of recieving blankets.
I don't think you can go a week without doing laundry if you're using cloth diapers. It's not something I've ever tried, but just judging from the times I've had to wash underpants that kids have had toilet accidents in, it doesn't get better with time, the sooner you wash those kinds of things, the easier they are to clean.
Bottles...I wouldn't stock up on bottles at all until you know what is going to work. Some bottles just don't work for some kids. With my oldest, I used the ventflow bottles, but they didn't work for my youngest, and she had to have Avent bottles. She used to dribble a little milk from her mouth every time she ate, and so I would tuck a washcloth between us. I think I had a pack of 15 washcloths and that was always enough. There was too much dribble for those cute little bibs.
As an absolute minimum, I would have three crib sheets, several sleep gowns or velcro swaddling blankets, 9 footed sleepers (the zipper kind are so much better than the snap kind), one or two little outfits, and a couple of hats. Then for cooler weather, a thick furry blanket to put over the carseat. But I would plan on doing laundry more than once a week.
My answer would depend entirely on the parents' situation. We had enough of everything to last for about 5 days without doing laundry, but I had a washer/dryer. My sister didn't have a washer/dryer and need a lot more of everything just to make it through the week. If the parents aren't sure yet what they need, you might want to think about holding off on a gift until they've been home for a few weeks (or doing a gift card if you need to get something sooner) so they have time to figure out what their needs are. Some of the best gifts I received with my kids came a month after they were born when I desperately needed more blankets and bibs!
It would have been a huge waste for us. My son spat up twice in his whole infancy. Both times on someone else (yay me lol). He never went through more than one outfit a day. You just never know.
You were lucky. Our daughter projectile vomited at every feeding until she was around 10 or so months old. The doctor said her Sphincter muscle was more than likely not closing properly and that it would take care of itself in time. Well it didn't come soon enough for us, lol
You were lucky. Our daughter projectile vomited at every feeding until she was around 10 or so months old. The doctor said her Sphincter muscle was more than likely not closing properly and that it would take care of itself in time. Well it didn't come soon enough for us, lol
mine also spit up after every feeding, thus the laundry every day.
There really is no correct answer. Each child and family is different.
The only things I would buy in multiples are the things that are consumables (meaning they have to be replaced) or things that will be used in multiple ways or times.
Diapers - as long as you know what kind and what size will be appropriate. (Those who do cloth diaper do not want the prefolds sold in the stores, for instance) You do NOT want to run out of diapers at an inconvenient time. However you can't go too far planning for the future because your child's size will change and your preferences may change as well.
Wipes - if not used for actual diapering they can still be used for wiping surfaces, noses, fingers etc. They can be kept in several places in the house in addition to in the car.
Onsies - they can be worn under clothes for an extra layer, they can be worn by themselves on a hot day, they can be easily changed if soiled and they can be plain and less costly than an actual outfit. (plus there are nicer onsies for nicer looks as well)
Anything other than those will totally depend on individual likes/needs.
Being in Texas means we don't need super heavy sleepers, blankets etc. Therefore I used lightweight footed sleepers or drawstring gowns for my climate.
Personally, I never much used receiving blankets at all Instead I preferred blankets that were big enough to be wrapped around them completely.
I rarely used bibs until they were old enough to eat food and feed themselves. Instead I preferred the prefold diapers for burp cloths and drool wipes.
I did use a crib with all 4 of my kids and preferred 4 sheets to keep from doing laundry daily. However many don't use a crib so there is no need for multiple sheets.
I nursed, but also used bottles. With my first two I preferred the playtex bottles with the insert bag....so I needed quantities of the bags but not the bottles.
As far as clothes...I was definitely not the person who wanted my children dressed up every hour of every day, so all we needed was a couple of nicer outfits and then a good amount of basics. (which is where the onsies come in - all my kids spent many an hour in just a onsie since the weather here is warm/hot for 8-9 months out of the year)
When my daughter was born I only had about 6 outfits 3 or 4 bibs and no bottles or paci's. I was planning on breastfeeding only so I didnt see the need for bottles and paci's. Clothes wise im glad I waited because I ended up having to buy everything preemie. I also didnt get any diapers. I heard too many horror stories of 12 pound babys who skipped everything newborn.
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