- Would you prefer the Angelcare monitor or the video monitor?
- What bottles do you like? I'm trying to decide between Avent and Dr. Brown's (worried about Dr. Brown's because as a working mom I am worried I won't have time to clean all the pieces and worried I might lose some pieces between home and day care.
Any other advice would be awesome, but those are my main two dilemmas at this point. I promise I will be back this weekend with a recap of my week and my 18 week post. It has been rather crazy this week.
17 comments:
I used Avent bottles, and just had a plain jane $30 monitor!
We have the lights and sounds monitor and never had a video or angelcare, but a video will last you longer than an angelcare.
We used drop-ins and will not be using them again, I hated having to buy the inserts and don't want to think about how many are sitting in a landfill now.
When my daughter was expecting the boys, she was advised to only get a few of a different kind. Dr. Brown are great but are hard to clean. She settled on Avent. Just gave a bottle to my newest 'grand' - an Avent.
We started off with a regular monitor and I just decided when he was 5 months that we needed a video monitor. I am so glad I did because the time we got the monitor Reid started rolling over on his tummy and then we would know why he was crying. After we got the video monitor we were like how did we live without it. It is the BEST... also we use the Dr. Browns bottles and Reid is 6 months now and he never spits up and never had colic. He is the best baby. As far as being a working mom and cleaning them, we stick them in the Dr Browns dishwasher basket and put them in the dishwasher every night. It works great and I recommend it.
I love Avent bottles...all 5 have used them and have been very happy babies.
I was terrified of SIDS and I LOVED the angel care monitor. It was the only way I slept the first year. And it totally works, because we tested it over and over again. :)
I love reading about all of your decisions! Products have changed so much since my triplets were born almost 4 years ago. I wanted to give you a tip with the Dr. Brown's bottles. I only used Dr. Brown's and loved them. Early on, I discovered that washing them in the dishwasher was the easiest and I would put them all in a lingerie bag (for the washing machine). I found they didn't get as clean in a dishwasher basket. It kept all of the parts together and they came out so clean every time. Good luck with all of your decisions!
First off, let me tell you CONGRATS on your little boy!
In response to your questions:
-I used the drop-ins with both of my boys and they were great. We tried several before we finally settled on these.
-Because I was a freak when we brought our boys home and was so worried, we had both a video monitor and a movement sensor. However, we used the BabySense movement sensor at BRU and would definitely recommend that over the AngelCare. It takes batteries and has only given us 1 false alarm ever and that was when it was time to change the batteries. From all the research I did (and it was LOTS), the AngelCare gives lots of false alarms.
Hope this helps. And CONGRATS again!
My children are a little older so I hope you don't mind my suggestions. You'll figure out what works best for you. If you can, while at BRU "borrow" a Baby Bargains book to walk around the store with while registering. There will be some good suggestions in there. I wish I would have had a book like that when I had mine as I wouldn't have registered for so much stuff that didn't work for us.
We had a regular monitor but with two receivers so we could have one on each floor. The video monitors were really new and really expensive in 2000 when we had our first. So I have no advice on that except I loved having two receivers since we have a 2-story house...one in our bedroom and one in the family room.
As for bottles....register for a few different kinds. Every child has different preferences for bottles. Avent worked best for our oldest (a son). The playtex didn't work at all...so I threw them out thinking they were trashy...only to find out that our 2nd child liked the drop-in ones and they were easier with the breast milk. Our 2nd and 3rd had Dr. Browns too. I will mentioned that Dr. Browns leak so you don't want to put water, formula or breast milk in them and then in your diaper bag...very very bad mistake made several times on my behalf! There's a special brush you can get to clean them and they were not that hard to clean as I remember.
Some things I loved were my simple and inexpensive day tripper bag from Lands End. Boring but perfect for everyday wear and tear as I went through a lot of diaper bags. It's about $20 and would be perfect for the daily trips to the sitter and then you could have a fancier or prettier bag for when you're taking the baby somewhere if you don't like the simple look. I had it for my 2nd and 3rd children and it was in such great shape I gave it away a few years ago and it has been used since then!
I loved my fisher price baby papasan chair....bigger (wider) than a bouncy chair and the music shut off after so long.
Don't forget to register for things like baby spoons and bowls, sippy cups, diapers, wipes, etc. We still are using our gerber bowls from 2000. They are awesome and perfect snack size bowls for the whole family.
Congratulations on your son.
I used Avent bottles with both of my boys and they loved them. Now I use the Avent Sippy Cups with Nikolas.... I don't think you can go wrong choosing Avent.
I know you are planning on pumping and breastfeeding when you go back to work. I am using the Medela pump and bottles. We have one Avent bottle I like, but it's easier to just use the Medela bottles and pump in them during the day, store them in the fridge that night, and then let her eat from them the next day. It saves you a step from pumping into one type of bottle, pouring the milk into another and then having more bottles to clean. Getting the bottles and breastpump ready for the next day can be a chore when you're tired and had a long day a work. She has never had a problem with the Medela bottles, but you can buy different flow size nipples if the baby needs a slower or faster flow when learning to transition between the breast and bottle.
We don't have a monitor. I looked at a bunch of them, but I'm paranoid about leaving her alone in the room with one (we have a two story house) so she's always in whatever room I'm in.
I don't know you if you're wanting to use a pacifier or not, but the Nuk pacies are good for breastfed babies because the nipple is supposed to be shaped closer to the breast. Those are what we've used with Cameron and Kayla.
Congratulations on little boy Ledford. Let me know when your shower is : ) Dana
I used Avent bottles with my last daughter and loved them. I don't have a suggestion for a monitor or video system b/c I didn't use one.
Congrats on the baby boy! I used Dr. Brown's bottles. I had a preemie and that's what the hospital recommended. My little one has never had a problem with spitting up or colic either, just like the poster above said. I agree that if you put them in the dishwasher basket, they get clean and then you don't have to worry about washing by hand. As far as losing pieces, yes there are the 2 insert pieces, but you get so used to them being part of the bottle. If you do forget them, it makes a huge mess with milk spilling everywhere when you try to feed the baby that you are likely to never forget them again. I just had a regular monitor.
I used Avent and a friend borrowed them from me and her preemie could not handle them so I went and bought her some Dr. Brown's and he does great. I think it depends on the baby. Maybe you should buy a couple of each and try them out. As for a monitor I just used a cheapie and it worked great.
We used the video monitor and could not have lived without it. Still using it!
Dr. Browns were great for her reflux, but were really hard to clean.
Good luck!
We have the Angelcare monitor, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Our daughter had RSV when she was 9 week old and she was on a breathing monitor for 8 weeks. After she was off the breathing monitor, I wanted something to make me feel comfortable when she was sleeping, so we bought the Angelcare monitor. Worth every penny! Now she's 15 months old, and we are still using it. It just gives me a sense of peace.
I used the same angle care monitor for all 3 of my girls and so glad I did. It only went off one time and who knows what would have happened if it had not. Unlike the video, it is watching when your not and will wake you if something goes is not right!
I have 3 girls and they all preferred 3 different kinds of bottles and pacifiers. They come into this world knowing what they like and don't like!
It seams hard making these decisions now, but I promise it will all be easier when he is here. You will be surprised how you just 'know things'.
Good luck!
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