Baby Stuff

[Nords]

A lawyer's guide to fatherhood - Yahoo! News

They're guilty little bastards!

 

[Peaceful_Warrior]

Congrats! I highly recommend FreeCycle. Between that and some grandparents, we've paid very little to raise our son.

I highly recommend cloth diapers... specifically the "Mother's Ease One-Size Fits All" ... because well, they really mean it! We haven't bought another diaper since we got them.

Also, look into "Elimination Communication" and you can save even more money by not having to wash diapers much. Right now we do laundry for our 5-month old about once per week or so. It also gives us a LOT of freedoms and makes our lives significantly easier than traditional diapering methods.

If you decide to practice Attachment Parenting and co-sleeping, you can minimize a ton of additional costs such as crib / stroller.

If you breastfeed, then you won't need a glider to feed the baby nor formula costs.

A baby doesn't have to cost a lot... people just get caught up in the frenzy. Parents want to give their child the world, but early in life the only thing a child really needs is sleep, food, and tons of love and attention.

I also highly recommend the book "Unconditional Parenting" -- in my opinion, it's a must-read for any parent.

DW and I are expecting our first in November! Woo-hoo!

We have been looking into baby furniture and it just seems like there is a ton of stuff that we need to purchase:

1. Stroller + Car seat. We are thinking about buying one of the lighter travel systems. $250.
2. Crib. One of our friends has offered to give us their 6-yr. old crib but apparently the consensus is that newer cribs are safer, so we're looking at cribs. $300, plus $100 for the mattress.
3. Portable pack-n-play crib that we can use at grandparents house when they are watching. $100.
4. Glider chair for sitting in while feeding the baby. $400.
5. Changing Table with storage that matches the crib. $150.

So it looks like we'll be spending about $1500 on getting setup for the baby, which didn't seem too bad. Any thoughts on any of these items?

I've been reading websites about these different items till my eyes started bleeding and there seems to be so many choices!

Thanks.

 

[tryan]

The baby's room we had could have been a shrine for the second coming ... rehabbed the walls, new carpet, bought solid cherry furniture (sleigh crib). Now a few short years later the room needs to be updated for the now first grader. The crib is collasped an in the attic; peg-perigo stroller collecting dust . No plans for re-use ... paid too much to give it away. Maybe my sons will use for thier kids ?? That's a long time store this stuff.

Point being, keep it simple ... this "stuff" has a very limited, short, life. Then it's junk.