KidletNation

Unique toys, books, music, and clothing for babies, children and their parents.

Bouncy chairs, baby heels and the balance between style and function

September 16th, 2010 Posted in home, shopping, travel
Sep, 16 2010
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Click here to review or purchase the Baby Bjorn BabySitter Balance Bouncer.

As I’ve mentioned previously our little one has been growing at a furious pace. At 2 months he was out of most of his 0-3 clothes and well into the 3-6 comfortably. This growth has impacted not only his clothing, but other aspects of our day-to-day. In previous posts I’ve mentioned how much we love our BabySmart Cooshee changer as both a place for him to cosleep and a changing table. Well, at this point I wish BabySmart produced a larger sized Cooshee because I would be first in line. Junior fits in the current Cooshee at present, but I think he’ll soon outgrow it and for the time being getting our hands around him for transfers only reinforces the fact.

Bouncy Chairs. The Truth, The Fiction And The Alternatives.
Outside of the clothes and the changer I was very surprised to feel that we needed to change our bouncy chair. We started out of the gate with the Fisher-Price Rainforest Bouncer which according to Fisher Price’s site is intended for children up to 25 lbs. First, let me say that our son LOVES this thing. He sits in it, sleeps in it… it’s been our savior on several occasions… the cover comes off easily for washing. That said, there are two items that i think are worth mentioning. First, it takes 4 D batteries which initially seemed a bit much. My advice to anyone buying one of these is to make sure you have rechargeables so you’re not sending the batteries to landfill (I will note that the batteries seem to last a looooong time, so it’s not really a gripe, just a callout for the environment).

Next, the Rainforest Bouncer reclines quite significantly so he’s more laying than sitting upright. I’m sure this is by design and was great when he was smaller, but as he’s gaining head control it would be nice to have other settings so we could prop him up to a greater degree.

Rainforest Bouncer And Baby Heel Exposure
Here’s the one that surprised me. Our little guy is 15.5 lbs and loves to lie back and kick his legs. Unfortunately the location that holds the batteries on the Rainforest Bouncer doesn’t include a padded cover (see the beige element near the baby’s feet in any photo of the device). As baby kicks his or her legs her heels will strike the hard plastic case which honestly doesn’t appear to bother my son, but certainly bothers me. We’ve since added our own padding which resolved the issue, but it strikes me as a design oversight to have not addressed this out of the box. Additionally, given that his heels strike the box now, it won’t be long before it’s his Achilles and I can’t bear to watch that regardless how much it does or does not seem to bother him.

From Rainforest Bouncer To Baby Bjorn BabySitter Bouncer.
The other day I took the leap and ordered a Baby Bjorn BabySitter Balance Bouncer in hopes of addressing the issues listed above. The Bjorn BabySitter folds flat which will be great for travel, it has several settings to allow baby to rest at different angles, it includes a toy bar (so does the Rainforest Bouncer) for entertainment and it looks damn good. What it lacks is vibration, but I figure now that he’s got some bulk behind him my son will be able to produce his own bounce. The bouncer hasn’t arrived yet, but I’ll be sure to provide a review once it does and we’ve had some time to put it through his paces. If anyone out there has experience with the BabySitter please let me know.

Click here to review or purchase the Baby Bjorn BabySitter Balance Bouncer.

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Diaper rash where you don’t expect it… and a solution that worked for us

September 8th, 2010 Posted in health, shopping
Sep, 08 2010
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Click here to review or purchase Desitin diaper rash ointment.

So we all hear about diaper rash and how miserable it can be for a child to experience. We’ve taken great care over the past 2 months to make sure that our little one doesn’t experience it and at the first signs of redness have taken steps to stop it before it can start. Or so we thought.

The other night during a change we noticed slight redness on either side of his penis that seemed to be giving him pain, particularly when urinating. After a quick search a number of sites suggested that we could be dealing with essentially diaper rash in the folds around the base caused by urine and some small amount of poo. This seemed to agree with his recent pattern of wet (only) diapers followed by less frequent, but more substantial than previous blowouts of number 2 which covered more surface area than was typical.

Anyway, after a short discussion with the pharmacist we were recommended Desitin diaper rash ointment with a checkup to the family doctor if things didn’t clear up. Fortunately they have. What has also become clear is that we have a whole lot of learning ahead of us…

Click here to review or purchase Desitin diaper rash ointment.

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More recommendations for a baby nail trimmer

September 6th, 2010 Posted in health, shopping
Sep, 06 2010
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Click here to view the Zo-li Buzz B Nail Trimmer on Amazon

A short while back I wrote about how trimming my little guy’s finger nails completely freaks me out and I’m just waiting for the day when I mess up and pinch is finger. Anyway, I heard from the folks over at the Baby Products Mommy Blog who had posted recently about the Buzz B. While I was, and remain somewhat hesitant to admit I can’t pull off nail trimming they assure me that the Buzz B will get the job done without screaming, crying or parental guilt.

If I can find one for a reasonable price here in Canada I’ll go for it, otherwise it’s a run for the border to pick up a Zo-li Buzz B Nail Trimmer from Amazon… though I will be giving the Safety 1st Prograde Gentle Vibes Nail Filer a look given its slightly better rating and lower price.

Until then I’ll continue to tie stupid little mittens on his hands before we put him down to sleep.

Click here to view the Zo-li Buzz B Nail Trimmer on Amazon

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I am now a huge Will Ferrell fan

September 2nd, 2010 Posted in children's music
Sep, 02 2010
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Will Ferrell tweets his true feelings about Justin Bieber

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Baby Star Trek Onesies are going to happen… mark my words. Let the infant geekery begin.

August 27th, 2010 Posted in clothes, shopping
Aug, 27 2010
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So just the other day I was questioning the wisdom of some of the baby clothing we’ve received recently. Granted, Jr is only 7 weeks old and hasn’t formed strong opinions regarding wardrobe selection or style in general, but still… I’ll never be able to buy him a pony, so the pony branded gear needs to go.

Now, I may not be able to afford a star ship either, but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t have at least one of these Star Trek uniform onesies by the time Halloween comes around. Clicking the Star Trek onesie graphic below will take you to ThinkGeek where these can be purchased.

Star Trek Uniform Onesies

What I find particularly hilarious about these (excepting the gray one, I’m not interested in that one) is that they include a red shirt onesie. Moreover, if you click the shirt graphic above through to ThinkGeek you’ll see that (at least right now) they have stock for everything except red shirt size 18 month and red shirt size 12 months. For those of you not familiar with Star Trek, or who promptly leave the room when your significant other turns on TOS (the original series) the red shirt is some unknown officer (wearing a red shirt) unfortunate enough to be on the bridge when the captain decides to beam an away team down to an unknown planet. Rather than faking sickness he promptly beams down with them and is killed, never to be seen again.

Again… the only items sold out at present are red shirt onesies… which someone has purchased for a child somewhere. I’m going to assume that these purchases weren’t made by parents, but rather by apartment dwellers who share walls with newborns and want to make a statement without risking legal repercussions.

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Time for a baby gear garage sale… and he’s only 7 weeks old

August 25th, 2010 Posted in baby gifts, clothes, home, shopping, toys
Aug, 25 2010
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The rate of baby ‘stuff’ accumulation has been remarkable over the past couple of months. We made a conscious decision not to make major baby-related purchases prior to the birth. Call us superstitious… but with the exception of a crib and a car seat we didn’t buy much in advance. It’s a good thing we didn’t. Since Jr’s arrival we’ve accumulated a shocking number of things. Clothes, toys, burp cloths a bassinet, play mats, our beloved Cooshee and on and on it goes. Looking back we’re getting use of a remarkable number of these items, though there’s an almost equal number of items that are taking up space. Some of you may find the following helpful:

Stuffed Animals
Don’t buy these. Other people will at a rate that you’ll find quite shocking. There is one exception to this recommendation. Many of the stuffed toys you’ll receive will be… well… your typical stuffed animal while there are actually some pretty fun and interesting plush toy options available these days. As such I’m actually planning to purchase one (1) plush toy for Jr despite the herd already taking up space in our bedroom. Despite my well known penchant for UglyDolls I have my eye on a little beast from Monster Factory.

Clothes, in particular onesies
Again, you’ll get a ton of these from folks after the birth, and during the various baby showers that are bound to be scheduled. The number isn’t the issue, in fact you’ll want as many of these as you can get your hands on since your baby will be burping, peeing and pooing all over them with abandon. The issue is that they appear to size these things very optimistically. I suppose it could lead to more sales, but man… at 7 weeks Jr fits comfortably in 3 to 6 month onesies and can’t extend his legs when squeezed into 0 to 3 month outfits. Don’t believe the tags, ask people to buy reasonably rather than for cuteness and unless your kid’s a preemie make a point of returning your 0 to 3 in exchange for something that will fit.

Burp cloths and swaddling blankets
We got a lot of these. We need a lot of these. You will need a lot of these too. If someone offers, take them cause you’ll need them.

Diapers and wipes
If they’re not on the boob taking milk in, they’re preparing to expel it from all orifices in quantities that will blow your mind. Again… you’ll never have enough. Stash piles of them everywhere… in your diaper bag, the stroller, your car, every room in the house. One of the best tips I got shortly after Jr arrived was that when preparing to change, lay him on the new diaper before you take the old one off. Further, when you undo the first diaper, use the front of the diaper itself to perform the initial poo wipe to trap the bulk of the solid matter in the old diaper. Then use wipes to get the rest while cautiously guarding against pee in the face. Once wiped, roll up the wipes and the old diaper and throw them in the garbage (one can in every major change room) then quickly do up the new diaper which is already positioned under his butt, which by this time is probably read to fill it. Placement of diaper #2 and use of #1 for wiping are both key. Thank me later.

Anyway, a few tips to guide accumulation where it will be needed and avoid it where it won’t. Good luck!

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Those dodgy warranties are your friend when you have a baby in the house

August 24th, 2010 Posted in home, shopping
Aug, 24 2010
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I’ve always made a point of NOT purchasing those extended warranties offered at electronics and furniture stores over the hears. I figured that a) I’m not a huge klutz, making it unlikely that I’ll fall on the couch while carrying fists full of freshly sharpened knives, lit matches and lantern oil. To date that practice has borne fruit as I have yet to break or greatly damage any of my purchases until much later in their lives when replacement is more desirable than repair.

When Jr was just around the corner my wife and I decided that we needed to replace the small condo-sized couch in the living room as well as the queen sized bed in the extra bedroom since we’d have more use for that room as a place to hang out with the baby vs. keeping it cramped with the bed waiting for the rare overnight visitor. For some reason when we purchased the couch(es) and they asked me whether we wanted the extended warranty I paused, as did my wife and we said yes for the first time. The entire drive home I felt like a sucker.

Fast forward to yesterday when Jr shot a remarkably strong and well directed stream of urine over the half removed diaper, over my outstretched arm and ALL OVER the new couch. Apparently I can see the future… and I’ve never been so happy to get suckered into a purchase. My recommendation to anyone planning a large furniture purchase as well as the introduction of a new family member is to assume that anything and everything that will be leaving your little one’s body will at some point find its way onto the furniture despite your best efforts. Further, there is a reasonably good chance that between their flailing and your panic and stumbling, said bodily products will to some extent get ground into the fabric beyond your abilities to remove them.

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White noise and your sanity. Why I would recommend a Squeezebox to anyone with a baby

August 24th, 2010 Posted in children's music, shopping
Aug, 24 2010
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In case you’re not interested in the Squeezebox review and just want to know what calming music works for us with our baby I’ll outline it first and save you some time. That said, I can’t say enough how great its been having boundless music options throughout our house immediately at our fingertips without having to keep our computers running.

Our calming sound preferences and one very specific CD:
Calming Wave Sounds
Sounds of Chirping Crickets
Steady Rainstorm Sounds
Peaceful Babbling Brook Sounds
Deep Forest Comparsa – A personal favorite

Now, on to my review of our use of the Squeezebox Duet to maintain sanity as new parents
Consider this product review number two, though I didn’t actually buy this in response to having our son. We’ve had our Logitech Squeezebox Duet for almost two years now and we’ve loved it with a few exceptions (poor firmware upgrades) but man, I really appreciate it now. Why? The selection it brings, and the fact that most of it is available at any time.

Logitech Squeezebox Duet is good white noise and nature sounds solution to calm your babyRadio’s good, but you’re restricted to the few channels it picks up and what is playing at the time you want to listen. Internet radio’s great, but having to fire up the laptop to manage music is also a pain. The squeezebox is great because a) it is aware of all the digital music we have b) it has access to thousands of Internet radio stations across the world and across all conceivable genres and c) there are whole sets of channels dedicated to calming noises perfect for bedtime.

I’m not sure what products they’ve introduced in the past couple years, so I can’t comment on what the best buy is out there but we remain happy with our duet. We purchased a second receiver for another room in the house as well. One recommendation that I do have if you can find a location selling lone receivers (Amazon offers them here) is not to buy the full receiver and remote combination if you’re an iphone or android smartphone user. Both of these devices offer pretty solid Squeezebox remote apps for a fraction of the price of the full remote hardware. If you don’t have one of these phones then by all means get the remote.

Anyway, as I said… if the day calls for NPR we can listen to NPR. If it calls for a certain podcast we can access that podcast at our leisure… and if the evening is fully of baby cries we can pull up the white noise channels and choose from crickets, bubbling brooks, thunder and many other calming, repeating tracks to soothe junior to sleep. Sure they cost a couple bucks, but man… my sleep is worth it.

There’s a pretty good review of the Squeezebox Duet here.

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Kids are big business and I’m on the wrong end.

August 19th, 2010 Posted in health, shopping
Aug, 19 2010
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No surprises there right? Given the accumulation of ‘stuff’ since your baby’s arrival, some clearly beneficial and some of very questionable value, you know someone’s making money. Think about how many baby stores there are in your neighbourhood and the wisdom of jumping in starts to get cloudy.

In our neighbourhood… actually on a single street in our neighbourhood there are no fewer than six baby-focused shops all competing for my misspent earnings.

So maybe its not the commodity baby shops if you’re jumping

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First of Many Product Reviews From a New Dad Who Doesn’t Know What He’s Doing.

August 17th, 2010 Posted in shopping
Aug, 17 2010
2 Comments »

Lime Green BabySmart Cooshee Changer

Click here to view the Cooshee BabySmart Changer on Amazon

So as I said, we recently welcomed a new addition to our family and I, like many new fathers was blissfully unaware of what I was in for. They say to treasure sleep before your baby arrives. They say it. And they mean it. I didn’t heed the warnings, at least not to the extent that I should have, and now I’ve joined the masses of parents doling out that bit of advice to the next crop that will ignore it.

Here’s another one. Get ready to spend way more money than you’d ever anticipated. Shocker.

Now for some real advice to the Dads out there that want to feel like they know what they’re talking about. It feels like every day someone is suggesting a product that we don’t have, or in all too many cases a slight variant of a product that we already do have. Fortunately we live in an apartment which provides a forcing factor in terms of what we can and cannot hoard so in many cases I’ve been able to avoid purchasing what seemed like a completely unnecessary item. That said, every so often there comes an item that in truth, will make your life as a new parent MUCH easier. The first such item on our list was the Cooshee BabySmart Changer.

This thing is awesome. It’s light… made of foam so you can carry it under your arm no problem. It’s easy to clean so if (when) something gets on it you can quickly wipe it down, or soap and rinse it in the tub. Based on our son’s reaction its pretty comfortable as he falls asleep on it with no issue. Best of all its simple. I can’t believe I’m writing a product review about a baby changer.

If you clicked the link above you’ll notice that while the different colors are the same size they vary widely in price. When we were researching the Cooshee Changer we found that some parents had issues with the Cooshee staining, and some colors were worse than others. Hence the price differences with the cheapest likely being the worst and hardest to sell. According to the forums I read when researching, the lime green BabySmart Cooshee Changer is the one to get, which we did, and thus far there is no indication of staining. Yes it’s more expensive, but ‘staining’ sounds gross and there’s nothing worse than spending money on something you’re not going to use. For more feedback you can check out reviews on Amazon here and you’ll see that where there are negative reviews they tend to be about the staining, not whether the product works. Get the lime green one!

Anyway, that’s my recommendation for this evening (ugh, I guess its actually morning). The BabySmart Cooshee Changer in lime green. Why? Comfortable. Simple. Light. Wipeable. Easy. Not gross.

Oh, one more thing. I tried to find one of these things in Canada and came up blank. What I ended up doing was buying it from Amazon.com and having it shipped to an address in the US where I picked it up. If you get a note from the recipient telling you that a MASSIVE box arrived don’t panic. They shipped it in a box the size of a dining room table surface but the actual Cooshee box inside will fit easily in any trunk or back seat.

Click here to view the Cooshee BabySmart Changer on Amazon

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