I have collected some tidbits from various emails to new parents who had asked for any and all advice. I’ve put them together with cheesy titles like those online articles that keep us reading but don’t really teach much. Hopefully this will be more helpful than the real thing?

Get Used To Used
Lots of baby items in very good shape end up in consignment shops, CraigsList, garage sales, even Freecycle. Before you buy yourself the swing, Jumparoo, or Bumbo seat you didn’t get at the baby shower, consider a used one for a fraction the price of new. (Just be very careful with used car seats and cribs.) I don’t think I’d ever set foot in a consignment shop before having Siena, but now I’m a regular. These are good resources for offloading your equipment when you’re done with it, too!

All You Need Is…Love?
Yes, it does help to gear up for Baby, but really all you need when you first come home from the hospital is a place for Baby to sleep. They most likely will send you home with diapers, wipes, a little shirt, a hat, baby shampoo, a pacifier if you want it, swaddling smarts, and either formula samples or a working grasp of breastfeeding! (Remind yourself of that if you start to have nightmares that Baby comes early and you don’t have bags packed or a perfect nursery!!)

Whistle While You Wipe
Whistling, making a funny noise, or narrating in a singsongy voice work wonders at making unpleasant experiences, such as wiping baby’s face, more fun. And if Baby’s having more fun, you are too!

Master The Middle
Dressing a wriggly, wailing newborn (or toddler…) can be tedious enough, but it’s even more frustrating when you have to unsnap and re-snap the onesie because you didn’t get them lined up right the first time. Once I started snapping the middle snap first, things got much faster because I did it correctly the first time!

Hierarchy of Fasteners
When choosing baby clothes: snaps beat buttons, zippers beat snaps!

Can You Hear Me Now?
We registered for a baby monitor, because we “knew” everybody needs a baby monitor. But we didn’t just get the cheapest baby monitor – HawkInWinter researched the kind 1) with the least static, 2) that operates on a special frequency so we wouldn’t pick up our neighbors’ baby monitors (and vice versa) and 3) that wouldn’t interfere with cordless phones or wireless internet.

And we never use our baby monitor.

We live in a one story house, and if she’s crying we can hear her. If she’s just making cooing noises at 3 am, we don’t particularly WANT to hear her. So that was sort of a waste.

What we LOVE though, is a handed down video monitor.

Apart from the adorable-ness factor of spying on her when she doesn’t know we’re watching, it’s been quite revealing about her sleep habits. I had THOUGHT she napped for about 40 minutes in the mornings. I discovered that once she quieted down from her disappointment over being left in her crib, she played silently for about 40 minutes (walking back and forth in her crib, lying down and waving at herself, paging through a board book…) then fussed when she was bored. Previously I was going in to get her after a minute or two of complaining, thinking she was done sleeping (when in reality she was done entertaining herself, but hadn’t slept). Now that I can see she hasn’t had a wink of sleep, sometimes I see she’s actually laying down and fussing, barely moving, close to falling asleep. Even if she hasn’t laid down yet, I’ve learned that if I wait her out, she will fall asleep for about an hour.

The same thing is true at the end of a nap. If she’s still laying down but complaining, there’s a chance she’ll go back to sleep another ten minutes or more before complaining again. If she’s standing up crying, I may as well go get her.

3 Strikes, You’re Out
I have learned not to follow the weight suggestions on packs of diapers.  If Baby’s diaper has had three blow-outs or leaks in a day, move to the next size up.  Siena is barely 21 pounds but is in size 5, which supposedly starts at 28 pounds.  I’m needing less stain remover since the switch.

Speaking of Stain Remover…

Not all onesies need to be saved. Chances are you have newborn and 3 month onesies coming out your ears. If you’re changing a particularly disgusting onesie and just can’t bring yourself to lift it over your newborn’s precious face (rolling first can help if it’s not too bad) don’t be afraid to declare it a disposable onesie. Simply – but carefully of course –  pull it away from Baby’s body, cut it off, and toss it in the diaper pail.

For those clothes you do want to salvage, I suggest collecting the pre-treated stained clothes in one of those zipping mesh laundry bags meant for washing pantyhose. Once I figured out this method, I simply checked the contents of the bag before choosing some to go in the dryer and others to spray and wash again. It was so frustrating to pull slightly-lighter-stained clothes out of the dryer, realizing I’d just set the stain. Baby clothes are so tiny that there can be a few dozen in each load. I didn’t always take the time to check each tiny item for stains between the washer and dryer, and you probably won’t either.

We All Need a Little Spooning

Every now and then, borrow Baby’s bowl and spoon and slowly feed yourself some ice cream nonfat organic yogurt. There’s just something very satisfying and comforting about that soft teensy spoon! Parents of infants can use all the indulgent little moments they can get, and for me that often included a tiny spoon.

Who else has some tips to share? Come back Friday for the Toddler Edition!