Hold up on these:
Soothers. Bibs. Bottles. Breastpump. Don’t put these on your registry because you aren’t sure yet how your baby will be and whether you need to invest in these. Some babies, like mine, simply do not take to soothers at all and you’ll have wasted money. Bibs are also an item I had pre purchased in the dozens that just sit there since I don’t see an overabundance of drool or up chuck. Maybe when we starts teething or eating more solids, but by then the newborn soother size will be too small. Bottles will only be needed if you use formula or pump breastmilk into bottles for combination feed. You won’t know until after baby is born and my bottles are simply collecting dust.
This leads into the most expensive item on my list of un necessities – the breastpump. I have the Avent mechanical pump but I hear the Medela is best. Whatever the case, I used mine 2 times and it was a colossal pain in the ass each time. Assembling, cleaning, and sitting there while it suctions out a milliliter per hour was just too much for me. The noise is excessively annoying and it made me feel like a cow might while getting milked in the barn. Not for me, but then again there are many women who swear by it. Even if they are exclusively breastfeeding, some friends of mine have found it useful because of an overproduction of milk that makes for sore breasts. So they use the pump to alleviate the pain. I just manually take some out with my hands like they did in the old country as I’m not really over producing to the point of pain, and am feeding on demand.
The Guidebooks aren’t my favourite, and are not always right. They will usually make you feel like you’re an incompetent tool. You know best for your babe, so assuming most people still have the cognitive capacity, use your own common sense and judgement rather than solely relying on what the book says.
A couple examples of what did not work with us include letting baby cry-it-out. If my baby needs to be held, I will immediately hold him. Babe just came out of a warm cozy womb and you suggest ignoring his need for warmth? No. You can’t spoil a newborn. Also, putting your child to sleep half awake but not sleeping. Why? And No. It didn’t work, he would just wake up fully. I fed to full sleeping, moved baby into crib and he slept no problem for 4-6 hrs, which is apparently damn good for a newborn breastfed baby. I believe in feed-on-demand method. Path of least resistance. However its important to note that they say formula babies sleep longer because their food is fattier and they get more from the bottle, thereby filling them up to capacity so they don’t wake from hunger. There is a good point if you want to formula feed. Makes sense.
In the ‘Completely Useless or Unnecessary’ Category, lies the electric booger Remover. Maybe we’re doing it wrong but this contraption simply doesn’t remove boogers from baby. Do like me and just pick his nose with your pinky finger, or if you need to be all overly hygienic about it, a q tip with 100% Pure Argan oil on the tip. A warm bath helps expel them naturally too.
Next and last on the useless list, baby specific towels with hood. They’re cute to look at but that’s pretty much it. I found the small triangle towel tedious and annoying to use after bath time. I use a regular towel that is softer, bigger and does the trick just fine. Or a hooded bathrobe, those are cute and stay on baby.