Things I can't live without # 7

This post probably should be entitled 'Things I can probably live without but don't want to...' as there are a few things that are downright luxury items. But there is one new item I have discovered and I cannot believe I didn't find it before now.

Milkies Milk-saver

How has nobody told me about this?! I stumbled across it online as I was looking for advice on breastfeeding. If I had had this product when Bebe was born I would have rarely had to express and may have had an easier time trying to get her on a bottle! If you have read my blog before you will know that I was very slack and didn't keep up the bottle feeds from early on which meant that my baby girl was very reluctant to take anything but the boob (for those interested today we had a break through and she guzzled 100ml of formula from a sippy cup - hurrah!).

Basically if, like me, you leak from the other breast when you breast feed this product is invaluable. I have always leaked quite a bit when I feed and have thrown out litres of precious breast milk in breast pads. Even now, 6 months down the line I now save about 40ml during her first morning feed which I can then use on her cereal (I am no longer trying to get her to take expressed milk but going on to formula). If you are using this from the start you would probably want to express a bit at the end of feeds so you get some of the good hind milk also as this only really collects foremilk. You can also attach a milk saver bag to it so it really can collect as much as you can deliver!

Genius.

Sheepskin stroller liner 

We use this in the stroller and in the car seat if going on a long drive (one of our car seats is lush but the other one needs this as it is a bit sparse in the luxury stakes). It is cool in summer and warm in winter and Bebe loves it. What's not to love?

Grass Counter top drying rack

File this under 'things I can probably live without etc...' It is rather handy though for sippy cups/bottles, dummies etc as you can keep it nice and clean and the items are ever lying in their own water as they dry. You can also put the whole thing in the dish washer to keep it sparkly. I also looks rather ace on the counter top. I can pretend I am mega healthy and growing my own wheat grass...

Merino Kids Go-Go bag

This is totally lush and was given to me by my oldest and dearest friend Lizzie. We started to use it when Bebe was about 5 months old and it is so handy and lovely. It has holes front and back so you can keep baby in it while puting in and out of car seat/stroller which is really handy when you are out and about and baby is sleeping (for instance when you take her to the Leonard Cohen Concert at Hanging Rock and she hangs out until she falls asleep in this and then goes into the car and into bed without waking up - precious!)

Food Holder

A few companies make this (we don't have this exact one) but they are all pretty good I think. Bebe is a self-feeder (we are following the 'Baby-led Weaning' book which is working really well for us) so she doesn't need her veggies in this but on a hot day she loves a block of ice or a frozen block of homemade stewed pear. Yum!

That is enough for today methinks.. I am going to write about the sippy-cup weaning thing next so if anyone has anything to add to the discussion then please do!

x Ali

Things I have bought that turned out to be crap.

A 'Jane' inflatable bath

This turned out to be not so good for bathing (the inserts for a small bub are held on with velcro that come apart as soon as you add water and a child, two things fairly essential to the process) but is now used as a place for Bebe to sit and play surrounded by all her toys. I have taken to calling it "The Bucket" because it sounds like we live on a hillbilly farm with our baby sleeping in a box. It may be good for older babies 6m+?

A Travel Playgym

I bought this second hand on Ebay as what I thought would be a handy play gym that could fit in the suitcase. Turns out when you open it up the overhangy-arm thing (I am sure that is the technical name for it) slowly falls down, usually on baby's face. It has now gone to the Salvos where no doubt someone will pay £2 for the pleasure of working that out again. Maybe I should have just thrown it out. Oops..

Note #1: this isn't the exact one - this one may be better but I think the principal is the same and will probably fall over like the one we bought.

Note #2: we borrowed a play gym from a friend in London and when we went to the states it actually came apart and fit easily in the suitcase without taking much room up at all. As we were there for a month hiring wasn't so cost effective. As it turns out it was the same mat as Epony-Ray used on Kath and Kim which made it even more awesome. Maybe I'll get Bebe's ears pierced to match...

Every breast pad I've ever bought that wasn't Johnson & Johnson.

I don't usually like to advertise some big conglomerate company but all the other brands leak, itch and usually come in individual wrappers which is both annoying and seems wasteful. Oh, and I did try the reusable, wash yourself ones and they were the most hopeless of all and leaked everywhere and were bulky which sort of defeated the purpose.

Baby nail clippers

Ok, so this one is probably ME being crap but - a small bit of plastic behind the cutting bit is no where near enough protection to make me use this to cut Bebe's nails. I can't imagine a time when I will feel sure that she is not going to fidget and I will cut off a finger tip. Maybe when she turns 16 and can go get a manicure herself? Doing it while she is asleep has been suggested but I have gone with biting them off as she feeds and then filing them down with a soft nail file.

MAYBE NOT CRAP:
As I was looking for nail clippers online I found this product the Baby Light & Clip:

It looks quite good - anyone used one?

What have you bought that was a waste of money or pretty crapola? I love hearing of a good fail purchase!

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