9 products for new mommies that I love!

Desmond is officially over 1 month old.  I'm finally getting into the swing of things with Desmond: I can anticipate his feedings and can generally read his hunger cues; I've become adept at changing his diaper at 3:45 in the morning with only a very dim nightlight to shed light on the process; I can put him into a sleepy wrap without Billy's help; and I can handle him without fearing that his head is going to flop off.  Things are a hundred times easier than they were 4 weeks ago (just like everyone said).  However, there are some products that if I didn't have them, my life would definitely be almost as tough as it was back then. 

1)  I can't iterate how important the sleepy wrap is to my sanity.  I wear it when I'm at home constantly.  In the morning (OK, early afternoon) when Desmond and I finally stagger out of bed, I change him, hang out with him until he needs to be fed, and then plop him into the sleepy wrap.  Desmond is what we like to call a "substantial needs" baby: not yet "high needs" but not yet "good" baby.  He fusses the most when he has to poop or pass gas, which seems like he needs to do just about anytime he's awake.  I would say that he sleeps 15-18 hours in one day.  Half the time he's awake, he is fussing.  He will, all of a sudden, screeeeeaaaam and clench his fists and turn red in the face and bring his legs in.  The only surefire way to stop his fussing when he has to poop or has gas is to nurse him or to put him in the wrap if it's been to close to his previous feeding.  I walk up the driveway to get the mail and come back and he's out.  It's fantastic!  I would highly recommend the sleepy wrap to anyone at all, but especially those mothers with substantial needs babies.

2) V-8 V-fusion is made of 100% juice and has 1 whole serving of fruits and vegetables in each can.  It is 170  calories per can and is made of things like strawberries, bananas, carrots, beets sweet potatoes, grapes, and oranges.  I usually have 1 can while I'm nursing in the afternoon and the rest of the day, I'll drink water.  I also keep a bag of nuts and dried fruit (from Costco) within arms reach for a handy snack that I could eat one-handed. 

3) I don't know what it's called, but it's this blanket-type thing that's about 2ft x 1ft and has a fuzzy side and a plastic side.  We use it for our late night diaper changes.  It was given to us by our friend Sara.  I guess it's the same thing as a changing mat, but this one has a dual function: the plastic side can be easily wiped off (Desmond likes to pee when you take his diaper off and his farts are sometimes sharts) while the fuzzy side can be used to soak up pee spots in the bed. 

4) Wipes warmer.  I know some people think they're a waste of money and they complain about the warmer drying out the wipes, but Desmond wiggles and fusses less when the wipes are warm.  It's especially nice when I'm doing changes in the middle of the night and Desmond is kind of groggy.  Before the warmer, Desmond would startle awake the second the cold wipes touched his poor bum.  I try to put myself in Desmond's socks: I would HATE cold wipes against my privates, especially after being woken up from a food coma. 

5) Gumdrop pacifier.  I was really hesitant to get Desmond a pacifier because I didn't want him to have any nipple confusion.  I already was struggling with breastfeeding, I didn't want to make it any worse for myself and for Desmond.  However, Desmond would scream bloody murder when we put him in the car seat.  On the short(ish) trips up to the U, he would scream the whole way and then automatically quiet down the second I took him out of the car and held him.  The whole crying-baby-in-moving-car scene is exactly the thing that made me never want to have kids when I was younger.  It makes me super nervous to be in the car with him; it gives me anxiety any time I know I have to go somewhere.  It's so bad, it's gotten to the point that I won't go anywhere unless I have to if Billy's not driving and I'm not sitting in the back seat next to Desmond.  So, I went to Lactation Station and told the lady who worked there of my carseat woes and she recommended the gumdrop pacifier.  This is not your run-of-the-mill pacifier.  The "regular" pacifiers have a sort of flattened nipple shape; the gumdrop has a sort of cylindrical, circular shape that helps babies not have any nipple confusion and that minimizes orthodontic problems.  Desmond does not like it, but accepts it if he's hankering for some sucking action.  We hardly use it; we whip it out only when he's inconsolable and he's not yet ready for a feeding and in the car. 

Get the gumdrop pacifier at Lactation Station here in Sugarhouse or at http://www.gumdroppacifier.com/

6) Fuzzibunz Diapers. These diapers are spectacular!  They cost a pretty penny (around 18 bucks a pop) but are so worth it.  To start our cloth diaper wardrobe,  we bought a bunch of the actual cloth diaper inserts to put in the covers (we bought 6 bummiez and thirsties covers).  For our baby shower, Julie, a dear friend of Billy's mom, was super generous and got us 6 Fuzzibunz diapers.  Once Desmond was born and she found out that he was a boy, she bought us 6 more diapers in different shades of blue!  The reason why we love Fuzzibunz is because they're all-in-one, meaning that you stick a fuzzy insert into the lining of the diaper and the baby wears it once and you put it in the pail.  We refer to the Fuzzibunz as Desmond's fancy pants diapers.  They're super soft inside, so I'm sure Desmond loves the feeling of the lining against his skin.  Finally, the poop rinses off the inside so easily!  These are by far our favorite diaper...

www.fuzzibunz.com

7) Toilet sprayer.  Totally makes it so easy to rinse off baby poops from cloth diapers.  We've had to get used to the pressure from the sprayer, but otherwise, we love it!

8)  Billy's not a big fan of it, but I love the sleeping gowns!  Trying to get Desmond into a footed sleeper:

 Trying to get this on in the middle of the night is a nightmare and takes so much time.

I so prefer the gown.  It's super easy to just pull up the "skirt," change his diaper, and then pull it down.  No buttons, snaps, or zippers to deal with.  Definitely a must for nighttime changes.

9) Finally, the book The Baby Book by William Sears has been an amazing resource.  A few nights ago, I was reading the chapter on fussy babies and one of the things it said to do was to grab your baby by the hips and swing him upside down, swinging him side to side, slowly, like a pendulum.  It definitely helped to quiet Desmond down, so we'll add it to our repertoire of wearing him and patting him on the back to help him mellow out.