We are in a time crunch, guys. Maybe we should get ready for this baby?! This pregnancy has gone much faster than my first, and it’s a little surreal that I’m already 32 weeks pregnant. We’ve been talking for months now on what gear we need and what we can reuse. We registered for and bought all neutral gear, knowing that we’d want to re-use as much as possible for our second child. There’s very little that we have to buy in the gear department, but it still surprised me (as a second time mom!) how much stuff we still needed to buy.
1. Pack N Play – This isn’t our exact model (ours isn’t available anymore), but we will be reusing the pack n play for Little Sis.
2. Moby – We loved our Moby wrap the first time around and I’m hoping its loved as much this time, too!
3. Boppy – We ended up with two of these even though we had registered for one, and I’m so glad I never exchanged the duplicate! Our original boppy is showing some major wear and tear (we used it a LOT) so I’m glad to have a brand new one on hand. I did buy two new covers for it, though.
4. MamaRoo – We got this as a surprise gift (I hadn’t even heard of it!), and Chloe hated it. Absolutely HATED. We plan on giving it a try this time, though, and seeing if it’s a success.
5. Glider – We bought this glider for Chloe and will be reusing it for the new baby.
6. Stroller – We aren’t sure if we’ll need a double stroller and if we do, we wouldn’t even use it until the spring time. We plan on reusing this stroller for any outings we might have and revisiting the idea of a double stroller next spring. (Our current travel system is no longer available for sale.)
7. Diaper Genie – We didn’t register for one, but somehow ended up with two of them and absolutely loved them. We thought we could get away using a regular trash can, and maybe we could have, but our house is small and the smell permeated. We will definitely be reusing these!
8. Clothes – We are fortunate to be having another girl and in the same (almost) season as our oldest daughter, so we will be reusing her clothes. There are a few pieces that we’ve bought, and depending on the size of Baby #2, we might have to buy more. Chloe was a peanut and born in the fall, but it snowed the week after she was born so we went straight to the fleece sleepers. This baby is due at the beginning of fall, so it will still be warm. Just in case, we’ve bought lighter sleepers and short sleeved onesies.
9. Swaddling Blankets – I have an embarrassingly large amount of swaddling blankets & cotton swaddles that we never used with Chloe. She hated them with a passion, and we’re hoping that little sis doesn’t!
10. Rock N Play – This was a life saver for us. I’m considering getting a second one just so we don’t have to carry it from upstairs to downstairs!
1. New Bedding – My splurge for both nurseries was custom bedding. We got a few sheet sets in navy and coral.
2. Baby Mat – We had soft, cushiony carpet throughout our home when Chloe was born, but we put in laminate flooring recently. I put this mat on my wish list!
3. Bottles – We threw Chloe’s out when we switched to whole milk, but I wouldn’t have wanted to reuse them anyway.
4. Aden + Anais Swaddling Blankets – I’ve heard so many raves about these and now that I have them in my hands, I can see why. They’re gorgeous, soft and light weight… perfect for a late summer/early fall baby.
5. Humidifier – I absolutely love this humidifier. We have the same for Chloe. It casts stars on the ceiling and doubles as a white noise machine.
6. Boon Lawn Drying Rack – I bought this on recommendation and am wondering why we didn’t have one for our first kid. This fits nicely on our counter top and will be great for drying our bottles and accessories.
7. Video Monitor – This is something we wished we had for Chloe but didn’t. We still aren’t sure what make or model we want, so my husband is still doing loads of research. We have time, though, since we plan to cosleep for a while.
8. Burp Cloths – We bought a handful of new burp cloths because our old ones were so badly stained.
What did you reuse or buy new for your second child?
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
All we bought were a new humidifier, a video monitor that has two heads so one for each room (motorola), another white noise machine, and some new bottles for baby #2… otherwise it was a lot of reusing.
Friends also let us borrow a rock ‘n play (Wish I had it for #1!! What an amazing tool), and snugabunny swing (Wish I had this the first time around too!!).
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
This is such a great list! I haven’t even started thinking about this yet. I do know that we will have to get a new crib and probably dresser (to double as a changing table) for baby #2, but that’s all I’ve really thought about. I’ll be stealing some of these ideas!
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
This is great! You’ve given me an idea for a similar post – I’m 37 weeks now and can’t figure out if I’ve got everything I need!
blogger / clementine / 998 posts
We have hooded towels but some aren’t terry INSIDE the hooded part! Come on Carter’s, how’s the hair supposed to get dry?
kiwi / 511 posts
We were gifted a second crib (both were handme downs from my sisters) so we were lucky on that count and we eventually moved the older one to a toddler bed (also gifted to us if it wasn’t I would have gone straight to a twin bed with rails).
Rather than the lawn drying rack for bottles I went with an over the shower head rack and hung it on the cabinet next to the sink with a command hook. (For reference we have a cabinet then window over the sink then another cabinet, so this style set up but this was just a picture off google images, but I put the command hook on the side of the cabinet the brown part. http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r26/LaniKaye221/Kitchen%20remodel/before/071007kitchen2.jpg) so that side of the cabinet was doing nothing and our counter space was precious. Now we are out of bottles but I still use it for sippy cups, travel mugs, medicine syringes etc. Whatever needs to dry.
I never really used my boppy, it is now my favorite pillow ever especially when I am sick. I loaned it to my DH when he was not feeling well and he loved it, so I bought him his own
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
@Mrs.Maven: love that you use the boppy for yourself
that is awesome!
blogger / honeydew / 7081 posts
This is a great list! I am definitely planning to get the A&A blankets when we have baby #2…I have heard so many great things!
guest
My lists are almost similar (27 weeks right now with girl #2). Just curious, is anyone reusing bottles? I was planning on it, now not sure…I did buy all new nipples. Love that little sheep baby mat!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Oh love that bedding!
guest
I am expecting baby #2 in November and had just planned on reusing the same bottles. I used Playtex drop-ins. Seeing that you are getting new bottles and Mrs. High Heels got new bottles it makes me wonder – do I need new bottles?
olive / 57 posts
Awesome, helpful list, thanks! Love that bedding!
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
We bought this video monitor because it was way less expensive than most and we didn’t need too many bells and whistles, and I love it/highly recommend it.
cherry / 187 posts
For baby #2, we bought new crib bedding, new video monitor with extra camera (we got motorola), extra swaddles, burp cloths, rock n play (wasn’t a thing when #1 was born), pacis, teething rings, nose sucker, sound machine, breast pads, nipple cream, spare parts for my breastpump (old ones looked a little moldy!), and breastmilk storage bags. We did not originally buy new bottles, but baby #2 had plans other than using her sister’s handmedowns! She was not doing well with a bottle as she breastfed WAY better than her older sis so we ended up buying all new bottles for her that she took better (lanisoh mOmma).
blogger / nectarine / 2687 posts
It’s great that there’s so much you can reuse!
GOLD / grapefruit / 4555 posts
I’m actually in the midst of compiling gear that we bought for each kid and why we needed it! Isn’t it incredible how much you need when it comes to littles?
blogger / kiwi / 675 posts
no.7 is priceless, we got the motorola as a gift and it has been one of my most used items the second time around. Couldn’t live without the ergo either. I needed a lot of new bibs and onesies too!
olive / 55 posts
We have that exact monitor and it has been great!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
@Lauren: @Kristin: I just got more bottles to add to the bottles I already had with #1. I bottle fed more regularly with baby #2 and wanted a couple more on hand, that’s really the only reason!
blogger / apricot / 335 posts
I just felt my friend’s Aden cloths and she has these “bamboo” versions instead of the organic… and we both agree that we like the bamboo ones better!? They are wayyy softer and feel more thin, perfect for summer. The organic ones felt thicker and a little bit more scratchy… just my two cents!
blogger / pear / 1563 posts
It’s great you’re able to reuse so much! And coming from someone that had less than 24 hours to prepare for her baby’s arrival, I’d say you have more than enough time left.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
That monitor has been essential with 2! My big new purchase was a glider. Soooo glad I got it.
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
I love how much you were able to reuse!! We thought we would be able to reuse a lot of clothes… but it was not meant to be!