Hellobee

Awesome post! This could not have come at a better time. I foresee a lot of registries changing today!

If you had to choose between the Breeze and the Baby Bjorn Travel crib, which would you choose? Are they worth the splurge, or should we just get the Graco?

This list is awesome! I bought the marpac sound machine because of your and Mr. Bee’s recommendation. It is a must-have for us.

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! I’m about 15 weeks, and I’m at the very early stages of researching baby items. This will be such a great starting point.

This is wonderful. I’m sure a lot of people will get use out of it.

How was the Episcentual sunscreen? I remember at some point you were also trying Babyganics…which one wins for you?

@lovebird: I can’t speak for the Breeze, but the Bjorn travel crib is amazing if you actually are on the go a lot. If you won’t need something often, a normal PNP is fine, especially if you are going on road trips vs. planes. It’s just heavier and not as quick to set up.

This is a really great list. A few things I love:

1. Sunscreen – So important to have Titanium Dioxide (Sunscreen) and Zinc Oxide (Sunscreen) instead of other chemicals.

2. I will have to try the natural bug repellant with picaridin.

3. Love the cheap Gerber Essentials bottles, BPA free and made in the USA for less than $1/bottle. My baby loved these cheap ones! Expensive is not always best.

4. I am surprised to see the Ergo on a 0-3 month list. We did use it as an infant but used it much more once she was around 4 months!

5. I also LOVED my splurge on the medela Freestyle. I have a girlfriend that borrowed it and exchanged her PISA because she loved the freestyle so much more!

Love this list! But I do have one question. Your toys go from 6-12 months and then to 18 months. My LO 14 months…… any recommendations for one year old toys? Or did I just miss it?

Wow. This is amazing!

@lovebird: it depends how you’re going to use it. if you’re going to use a playard at home often, maybe move it from room to room, and occasionally for nonair travel (because it’s heavy), the breeze is the easiest by far. there’s absolutely no way you could make a mistake setting it up.

for occasional use like leaving it at grandma’s house, a pack n play is fine. it’s a little bit of a hassle to set up, but my mom can do it and it’s definitely the most affordable.

the bjorn is easy to set up and lightweight so it’s great for travel, but you have to check it in. it’s not small enough to be a carry-on on a plane. the go crib was awesome for us because we kept it in our suitcase when we went to the philippines.

so it really depends how you’re going to use a travel crib — how often, whether you’re traveling, how you’re traveling, etc.

@looch: we had the babyganics spray, but the ratings on it were worse on the cosmetics database so we’ve just stuck to episencial. for some reason all spray sunscreens have a worse rating than cream sunscreens. we came back from the philippines without sunburns, so the episencial worked well!

@Thehistoryofus: i had an in style because someone was selling a brand new one on my listserv for 50% off, so i couldn’t pass it up! otherwise i would have definitely gone with a freestyle.

olive was also not too much into my sling, so i had her in the ergo pretty early on!

@artbee: i divided the toys just for you.

@Mrs. Bee: awesome, thank you!

Wow, this is amazing! Thank you!

@mrs. yoyo: thanks for your insight!

@mrs. bee: How often does one use a playard at home? I suppose I was thinking of using it as a crib in our second residence and to bring along when we visit people’s houses if we need to put the baby down for a nap. I don’t foresee too much air travel.

@lovebird: a lot of people use a playard for the first couple of months when the baby sleeps in your room with you, or as a second crib in the living room for instance. then it also becomes a playpen… a safe place to put your baby down if you need to go to the bathroom. some people use it every day, some people end up not using a playard at all. it’s one of those things that you won’t really know until the baby is here.

if it is for your second residence and occasional nonair travel, then the breeze is really awesome. you can just grab it and go in seconds without having to worry about taking it down. if i were using it for that purpose, i would get the breeze so anyone could set up the crib since no instructions are needed. but the breeze is much bigger and heavier than the bjorn — as big as a pack n play when it’s folded.

as far as how much we’ve used our travel cribs, we’ve only used them when we traveled. we never used them at home. but we also have limited space. maybe we would have used a playard more if we had a house.

the breeze is expensive, so if you’re not going to use it that often and only as a travel crib, you could just go with the bjorn which is $80 cheaper. they’re both great so you can’t go wrong. i also love the gocrib.

Totally bookmarking for future reference! Thanks for compiling this.

Awesome. Bookmarked. Thanks!

This is an amazing list! I totally wish we had a parenting listserv in my area.

Oh my goooosh, SO MUCH STUFF!! I can’t even wrap my head around all this stuff that kids know as they grow! Bee, this list must have taken FOREVER for you to put together!!

@sweetchic: it was actually compiled from guides i’ve already written, so it wasn’t that bad! the scary part is… this is a mere fraction of all the baby gear we’ve been through. this is just what i recommend!

@Mrs. Bee: ACK, how do you deal with storage?? I’d love to see a post about how you store all your gear!!

@sweetchic: we actually don’t have that much stuff. as soon as the kids outgrow something, i sell it on my listserv. i am brutal when it comes to purging the kids’ things.

i didn’t even save charlie’s baby stuff — i just sold it and rebought it used when olive was born!

this is an amazing post! thank you so much! i’ve been looking for a good bug repellent spray for my little one for our trip to Thailand next month.

is there a reason for the particular vitamin D drops you use? the pedi told us to buy them because I’m EBF-ing my daughter and my husband went and bought the yellow Enfamil box. They smell SO BAD. I pump a little milk and add it to that and she takes it, but I still feel awful. Wondering if the ones you listed are any better?

@sorrycharlie: polyvisol and trivisol smell and stain, so i like the carlson drops much better. i can buy them at the local health food stores here, and they’re the most popular alternative to the ones from enfamil.

@vivian – we took natrapel wipes to the philippines with us which should be easier to use on kids. i bought them on drugstore.com!

@Mrs. Bee: do you think whole foods would carry them? i had no idea it stained but it looks like it should – it looks like iodine! yuck. smells terrible too. i feel so bad giving them to her.

@sorrycharlie: yes i’ve heard that whole foods carries them but not sure if they still do. i used to buy them on amazon, and other online stores used to carry them too, but they’ve been harder to find lately.

@Mrs. Bee: Thank you! I hate to be a pain in the tush, but it is really helpful to know what’s good for my LO’s age!

@artbee: no problemo! the toys in the 12 month section that charlie still plays with are the broom, vacuum, sandbox, doll, water table, play kitchen… the toys that have had the longest life and most use are art supplies, play kitchen, sandbox, blocks, and trains. those never ever get old!

14 months was a little too young for really building with legos/blocks though. now he wants to build every single day!

LOVE THIS LIST. Totally reviewing this in the coming weeks for any essentials we’re missing!

ummm… wow. overwhelmed, but in the best way possible!

Great list! Gonna have to go through it again in a couple months!

I was going through this list and adding your great recommendations to my registry! Thanks for the great advice!