Baby Lust: The Next Five Favorites
This is the second installment of my column, Baby Lust, in which I feature all of my favorite baby gear - the things that make life with baby a bit easier! Here, five more of my top picks:
1. Graco Pack 'n Play: Okay, I always swore I would never use a play yard, because I thought it was an easy way to neglect your baby. But this is really a lifesaver. For Lola, I used it for occasional naps at Grandma's house when one of her cousins was using the crib, but now that she is an active, rambunctious toddler, this provides a safe place to park Eva, the baby, temporarily. I love the changing table insert, which is where I change all of Eva's diapers downstairs, safely away from her big sister. She gets some tummy time in there, and I plan on packing it up to take to my in-laws in Illinois this summer to use as a bed for one of the babies (not sure which one, yet, but probably Eva). My only complaint: it's quite ugly. Oh, well.
2. Frog Pod: Boon is another one of those hip companies that makes great-looking baby gear, and this product is just ingenious. It is a big green plastic frog that is actually a scoop you can use to whisk baby toys out of the bathtub. Since it drains, you can scoop up all the toys, rinse them under the tap, and then hang it on the wall in its base. So clever. I also love this big furry beanbag that the company makes. It arrives empty, but you use it to store all of your child's stuffed animals. When it's full, it's a cushy bean bag with little mesh windows so they can see their animals. Lola has it in pink.
3. Kiddopotamus bib and placemat: Kiddopotamus makes these cool, soft silicone bibs and placemats that are the best on the market. The bibs have huge crumb catchers and wash clean with soap and water, and they look cool. They have saved so many of Lola's outfits (not too mention saved me from having to clean up the floor so many times) and they give her a second chance at that elusive dropped bite. I don't know why anyone would use bibs without crumb catchers. The other great product is made of the same soft silicone, but it's a big placemat that suctions to any table surface, wiht its own crumb catcher. It's a great surface for baby to eat off of at restaurants. When Lola was eating just finger food, I would often give her Cheerios, cheese, cut-up grapes, etc to eat right off the placemat! I really consider these items to be absolute musts once your baby starts solids. I got mine at One Step Ahead.
4. Snack Trap: Okay, this is another one of the best inventions ever. It's a little snack cup with a lid that has little openings so that your baby can reach the snack, without it falling out. I LOVE this. It was one of the only things that kept Lola happy in the car. I would fill it with fruit, Cheerios, raisins, those Gerber fruit puffs or any other small snack imaginable and she would just munch away in the back of the car, without making a mess! They're availabe at Babies R Us and One Step Ahead (I swear I don't work for the company!).
5. Bottlelink: This is the only product on the list that I don't actually own yet. It's a plastic link chain designed to keep baby's bottle, pacifier, or sippy cup from falling out of the stroller. I plan to use it to keep Lola from tossing her sippy cup in the car and then asking for it immediately afterwards. I just ordered two, one for the car seat and one for the stroller. www.bottlelink.com.
1. Graco Pack 'n Play: Okay, I always swore I would never use a play yard, because I thought it was an easy way to neglect your baby. But this is really a lifesaver. For Lola, I used it for occasional naps at Grandma's house when one of her cousins was using the crib, but now that she is an active, rambunctious toddler, this provides a safe place to park Eva, the baby, temporarily. I love the changing table insert, which is where I change all of Eva's diapers downstairs, safely away from her big sister. She gets some tummy time in there, and I plan on packing it up to take to my in-laws in Illinois this summer to use as a bed for one of the babies (not sure which one, yet, but probably Eva). My only complaint: it's quite ugly. Oh, well.
2. Frog Pod: Boon is another one of those hip companies that makes great-looking baby gear, and this product is just ingenious. It is a big green plastic frog that is actually a scoop you can use to whisk baby toys out of the bathtub. Since it drains, you can scoop up all the toys, rinse them under the tap, and then hang it on the wall in its base. So clever. I also love this big furry beanbag that the company makes. It arrives empty, but you use it to store all of your child's stuffed animals. When it's full, it's a cushy bean bag with little mesh windows so they can see their animals. Lola has it in pink.
3. Kiddopotamus bib and placemat: Kiddopotamus makes these cool, soft silicone bibs and placemats that are the best on the market. The bibs have huge crumb catchers and wash clean with soap and water, and they look cool. They have saved so many of Lola's outfits (not too mention saved me from having to clean up the floor so many times) and they give her a second chance at that elusive dropped bite. I don't know why anyone would use bibs without crumb catchers. The other great product is made of the same soft silicone, but it's a big placemat that suctions to any table surface, wiht its own crumb catcher. It's a great surface for baby to eat off of at restaurants. When Lola was eating just finger food, I would often give her Cheerios, cheese, cut-up grapes, etc to eat right off the placemat! I really consider these items to be absolute musts once your baby starts solids. I got mine at One Step Ahead.
4. Snack Trap: Okay, this is another one of the best inventions ever. It's a little snack cup with a lid that has little openings so that your baby can reach the snack, without it falling out. I LOVE this. It was one of the only things that kept Lola happy in the car. I would fill it with fruit, Cheerios, raisins, those Gerber fruit puffs or any other small snack imaginable and she would just munch away in the back of the car, without making a mess! They're availabe at Babies R Us and One Step Ahead (I swear I don't work for the company!).
5. Bottlelink: This is the only product on the list that I don't actually own yet. It's a plastic link chain designed to keep baby's bottle, pacifier, or sippy cup from falling out of the stroller. I plan to use it to keep Lola from tossing her sippy cup in the car and then asking for it immediately afterwards. I just ordered two, one for the car seat and one for the stroller. www.bottlelink.com.
posted by The Beauty Insider @ 2:12 PM
1 Comments:
At July 7, 2008 7:36 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Bottlelink is AWESOME - it tops my list of favorite gear items for a baby. I use it on my stroller, high chair, car seat and jumpy toy. I'm done picking up bottles. Thanks for the tip!!
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