My thoughts on all the baby goods

I am in no way a baby expert when it comes to all the things, but babies are hard, and it is so nice to have any little bit of help along the way. I call this whole post a splurge because babies truly don’t need any of these things. Being in the position I am a blogger/influencer, I feel very fortunate to have worked with a lot of these companies that have been so kind to gift me product. I love being able to share my honest opinion and can promise you’ll be reading nothing but the actual truth.

Babies are expensive enough and I understand being in the position of wanting something that is pricy but also not knowing if you can take the hit of losing that money. Kyler and I were 20 and 21 when we had Laken and we didn’t have a whole lot of fancy things with her. To be honest the only thing we got for Laken that wasn’t passed down from family was her crib and rocking chair. We weren’t only not comfortable with spending the money on some of the things but we also couldn’t afford it. A few years later we are financially in a better place and can comfortably spend the money on these things. I share this because I don’t want anyone to feel less than for not being able to have all the fancy items. It’s not realistic. There are so many wonderful secondhand children’s stores our there that sell these items for a fraction of the actual price. It’s possible to get your hands on them without spending the $$, but for now, let’s get to it!

the nursery.

I know nobody asked for my opinion on this but I love being able to share this. In our home we’re tight on space. In a perfect world we’d have everything that is deemed essential in a nursery and the space for it.

With Laken we had family that had finished having kids and were holding onto literally everything to give. We had the perfect nursery set up for her and somehow found a way to cramm everything into her room. About six months in we realized that the Diaper Genie wasn’t worth it. It took up space and I hated spending $20 on the pack of refills! Our bathroom is literally a room away and we were going in there any way to wash our hands so we started using the bathroom trash instead. I take that out every other day anyway so it was nothing different for us. We had a changing table and we used that for a couple weeks and ended up using the floor more. Some people swear by changing tables and that’s okay, but it was taking up space on the dresser of what little space we had, and we always had blankets within arms reach in Laken’s room to lay her on.

If you look at Chloe’s room you’ll see that we don’t have either things. What we do have is a crib that converts into a toddler bed, and a rocking chair. Both items are the ones we had for Laken and loved.

sound machines and bassinets

I swear by sound machines. We have two that we really love that have been well loved. First is the Baby Shusher, this is $34 and the one we had with Laken was so loved that we ended up getting a new one for Chloe. This is the item I gift at baby showers (even if it’s not on their list) because it is seriously that good. The Shusher is loud ‘shhhhhh’ noise repeated over and over again. It’s very soothing and comes in incredibly helpful during car rides and if you’re pushing a stroller in a public place. The other sound machine we love is the Hatch Baby. This machine is $60 and can be controlled by your phone. We personally do the white noise on it for Chloe.

When we had our bassinet with Laken it was a generic one. It didn’t rock or move or look cool. It was from Pottery Barn and had giraffes quilted on the side haha. There was nothing special about it. We passed it along to a friend after Laken out-grew it and I didn’t think it was something we had to have for when Chloe came but I did consider it. With that being said, I did look into all the fancy bassinets.

The Snoo Smart Sleeper and the Halo were the two on my mind. Both over $100 and both with mixed reviews. I wanted to try the Snoo because it was new and exciting. The technology with the Snoo is figured by the movements from the baby. If the baby fusses and moves, so does the Snoo and it does it all on its own. The Snoo mimics the movements of a womb. The only down fall is that the Snoo costs $1,295. I’m not kidding haha. Thankfully renting is an option and renting is $118 per month. You can read more about it here if you’re interested! The Halo Bassinest was my second option and it doesn’t do any of the special things like the Snoo does, but it’s adjustable to your bed which was nice. The Bassinest is $190 and the only selling point on it for me was being able to adjust it haha. Since we did neither we ended up using our pack-n-play and something else the first few months that I’ll touch base on next.

the DockATot

I was super fortunate enough to work with DockATot with both girls. Had it not been for that opportunity, I honestly don’t know if I would’ve gone out on my own to purchase one. However, since I do have both sizes, and have seen how two entirely ages react to them, I can honestly say for us it is a must. I’ve never used the Snuggle Me Organic and I don’t personally know anyone that has one so I can’t speak on it.

We have used the heck out of both sizes. Since we didn’t have a bassinet for Chloe we used the DockATot Deluxe+ in a raised Pack ‘n Play. We ran this by our pediatrician and he was okay with us using this method. She slept in there until she was about 3 months old and could roll over. This was just what we were comfortable with. Anyway, the DockATot Deluxe+ is recommended for babies 0-8 months. The price is $175 and totally worth it to us. My parents watch the girls a lot for me and anytime we travel we take the DockATot. It’s easy to transport and very easy to clean. We used it at the pool last summer for Chloe and it was soo nice to have relaxed and being able to relax.

The DockATot Grand is recommend for 9-36 months. We are officially into that size with both girls, but Laken uses hers every single day and I don’t think she’ll be wanting to give it up anytime soon. She takes it out for naps and plays with her dolls in it, and sometimes requests to sleep with it at night. The Grand is $275 which is on the pricy side but I would buy it again and again with how much use we’ve gotten out of ours.

support pillows and baby wearing

I don’t feel like my opinion is one to go off of when it comes to support pillows. I don’t mean the body pillow to sleep with while pregnant, because I think that is a must for comfort and I have that linked here for you if you’re interested. Wheat I’m talking about are the nursing pillows. We had the Boppy Pillow. It was $29 and basically ended up being an oversized neck pillow for my husband haha. I was sooo uncomfortable using it. I felt very constricted and felt so much better with the support of blanket or a pillow of my own. The pillow wasn’t as soft as I was hoping it would be and I felt like I had to constantly adjust myself to get in the right position when using it. By the end of a nursing session I was exhausted just from working on being comfortable.

With the right baby carrier, baby wearing is the most comfortable thing ever!!!! I have two that I really recommend. The Solly Baby wraps are a personal fav of mine. They are easy to adjust, breathable, and washable. They are $65 and come in so many cute colors/patterns. The other one we have loved is the Ergobaby Carrier. Kyler has expressed to me that he prefers the Ergobaby as opposed to the wrap because it fits his body better. He said that the Ergobaby allows for more support for him. I personally think the Ergobaby is very bulky on me but coming from a man that is twice my size, I could see it from his view.

Owlet Smart Sock & Monitors

We went through two baby monitors with Laken and one with Chloe. I personally feel like that with no matter what monitor it is, there will always be many negative reviews. The first one we had with Laken was a Motorola one. I don’t remember the name of it, but we had it for a few months and actually got rid of it because we could never get a good connection with it! We switched to the Lollipop HD Baby Monitor from Amazon and I loved that thing. It’s $149 and you’re able to control everything from your phone! It was so wonderful. My favorite thing about it was that any noise above a certain decimal would automatically send you a 10 second clip and a notification. I was also able to talk to Laken through the Lollipop app. I loved it being at work and being able to see her throughout the day. Unfortunately, the charging port on the camera broke from Laken pulling on the cord. It was user error on this.

With Chloe we right away went with the Owlet Smart Sock & Monitor. I wanted one so bad with Laken. Of course three years ago the Owlet was still a newer thing and I hadn’t heard enough about it to make me want to get it. Now I think some insurance companies actually cover the cost of getting an Owlet Smart Sock (not sure about the monitor). The Owlet Smart Sock is a little device you put on the baby’s foot when sleeping and it keeps track of the oxygen levels, sleeping patterns, and more. If the levels drop a very loud alarm will sound. Chloe is a face sleeper so it has been wonderful for us! Owlet sells the Monitor by itself and goes for $149 and the Smart Sock by itself for $299. I don’t have anything negative to say about the monitor.

high chair

So a high chair really isn’t like a serious thing to get all worked up over, but I figured I might as well share my thoughts on the topic. We didn’t have a high chair at all for Laken. Looking back I have no idea why haha. We got Chloe the Ikea high chair we love it. I can’t link it but it’s $20 and all white. It doesn’t stick out in our home and is so dang easy to clean. There are also a ton of little shops online that sell accessories to fit the Ikea high chair and they’re super cute! I guess for me I would rather spend the big bucks on other things than a high chair.

This post does contain affiliate links.

---

xx-Kendra