Surprisingly Useful Baby Products

I found trying to buy baby products before I'd had a baby is tough – I had no idea how things would work or how I was going to use them - so recommendations from friends were vital.  In addition to all the ‘essentials’ like car seat capsules, nappies and buggies etc there are a few other small and inexpensive items which I’ve found surprisingly useful…

1) Book of Nursery Rhymes

Well I don’t know about you, but it’s a long time since anyone read me nursery rhymes and my repertoire didn’t extend much beyond ‘Humpty Dumpty’.  Luckily baby’s granny picked up a book of old nursery rhymes (100 Nursery Rhymes – a Ladybird book) at a second-hand book fair and it now gets used daily as baby goes down for a sleep.  Admittedly some of the rhymes are rather odd and creepy - ‘Heeper-Peeper, chimney sweeper, Had a wife and couldn’t keep her, Had another, didn’t love her, Up the chimney he did shove her!’ but they are also quite rhythmic and soothing!  Not a bad investment for 50 cents!

2) Merino Booties with Elastic

We received so many beautiful knitted booties, tiny socks and cute shoes as gifts for baby.  Only problem is, most of them stay on for a grand total of 30 seconds.  For someone who doesn’t walk yet, the Pixie has surprisingly active little feet and manages to wriggle out of most of her footwear in no time.  The only booties little Houdini can’t boot off are the merino ones with elastic around the top.   They've been great over winter.

3) Snuggle Suits

There is something of an art to swaddling as I soon discovered.  While it looked relatively straightforward when the midwife demonstrated it (and my partner managed to pick it up in no time), it was a skill that I never quite managed to master!  Baby also never took to being swaddled with her hands by her sides, and would spend a good half-hour (or five minutes if I had swaddled her!) fighting her way out.  Luckily, a friend introduced me to the Love to Swaddle snuggle suits from Baby City - where the only skill required is to zip them up!  Brilliant.  Baby liked it as well, as she could sleep with her hands up (her natural sleeping position) and still get her hands in her mouth. 

4) Inflatable Baby Bath

While she has now grown out of it, the inflatable baby bath was perfect for bathing the Pixie for the first three months.  The hand basin was just a bit small and the bath was just a bit too big when she was a newborn – so the inflatable bath when it arrived was perfect.  Plus, because its inflatable, its easy to store and no doubt we’ll be able to bring it out in summer as a little paddling pool.  Plus, best of all it came free (apart from postage) – thanks Nappies Direct http://www.nappiesdirect.co.nz

5) Feeding Pillow

I didn’t even know these things existed until I was given one as a gift.  The U shaped pillow was great when I was struggling to get to grips with breast-feeding – putting baby at just the right height to feed instead of struggling with pillows and cushions.  It also allowed for different types of holds.