Thread: Baby Tech Talk

Sleep!: http://www.babyslumber.com/happiestbaby.html

Originally Posted by nobueno

Great stuff so far. As far as the skiing, how early can you start them? By spring 2014 he'll be 18 months so I figured I'd try to get him a few warmer days on the slope. Sound realistic?

i first took my boy out earlier this year when he was about 20 months. basically just stood him up and let him straightline towards me as i skied backwards. catch him and start again. obviously want a real mellow slope. didn't really understand what was going on but seemed to dig it. we got out after 5 more days this year. usually i'd throw him in the kid pack (another must imo) for a few runs, go to the car, have a beer, and take him on the bunny hill for a couple runs. make sure it's a warm sunny day.

One of those swing things that rocks them to sleep. This can save your sanity at times.

All of our kids loved the "Johnny jump up" thing that is a seat on a spring that attaches to a door frame and allows them to jump and bounce around.

Get a good kid back pack carrier that lets you comfortably take them hiking. Kelty and Tough Traveller make good ones. REI sells them. Kids LOVE being in the outdoors.

If you don't already have one, get a decent pocket camera. Take lots of pictures and lots of video or everything. Even though it seems lame now, 20 years from now, you will love watching video and looking at pictures of your kids when they were tiny.

Originally Posted by nobueno

Great stuff so far. As far as the skiing, how early can you start them? By spring 2014 he'll be 18 months so I figured I'd try to get him a few warmer days on the slope. Sound realistic?

Wooley JR started at 10 mos. MS. Wooley III was just okayed for black diamonds at 3 but had maybe 100 on snow days by then. It varies. As I always responded to "my kid did this at (put age here)"--- "We're raising them, not racing them."

was mentioned but I will repeat. Breast pump and freeze in the little bags. Allowed me to have many great days in the mountains with my sons. Those days continue on. Enjoy your family.

As the new parent of a 6 week old, here's some shit we love...

Wipe warmer. The kid screams less at 2am, plus it seems to do a better job at getting poop off. Bet believe that thing is going next to my toilet when she's done with it.

BOB stroller. I was pushing her up the local trails 2 weeks in. Shocks are great and handled my wife at 39 weeks for mellow laps around the house.

Moby wrap. I leave my wife's nice one at home when she goes fishing with me and made one to take on the river out of 6 yards of discount fabric cut in half length ways. The Ergo is nice to, but as small as she is, a baggy pocket on a vest works.

Buy ZERO clothes. People live to buy you shit you don't need. We received a crap ton of outfits for our daughter that we took back for target credit, then bought the shut we needed. Realistically, your kid will wear the same 5-7 things.

Video monitor. If I had to come out of pocket, it might have never happened, but with the above mentioned credits it worked our. Couldn't imagine having to actually interact with her all the time.

Bath tubs. As soon as the cord beef jerky thing fell off, she started showering with one if us. A sick with a thumb hole cut into it is super grippy. It's a much quicker solution than getting the whole bath thing going.

Buy little to nothing new. Someone you know has everything you need. I still get trash bags of clothes from friends, most still with tags. Gear gets kicked down.

We are currently doing the cloth diaper thing and breast feeding, do the overall cost thus far has been realitively low. That will obviously change when she starts skiing.

Vibrating baby chair: babies love them, many models have an array of toys to keep little hands busy, and they really help getting baby to poop (which keeps them from crying).

Socks: lots of them, all the same color, because babies have an uncanny ability to loose socks, and if they are different then they'll be mismatched, and that gives Mommy something to get upset about.

yea we didn't plan on buying much, if anything, new. bunch of new moms in the neighborhood and grandma and grandpa are super-stoked so i'm sure they'll be buying too much for us as it is.

cloth diapering question - what kind are you using? we heard they don't work too well under 8lbs but they're pretty good over. diaper service worth it?

boob question - mrs bueno is worried about the baby not wanting to go back to nipple if we start to use bottles. she won't be working but i'm sure there will be sometime the baby needs food that she's not around. anyone have any problems w/ this?


Edit: ACheateaux - those are ridiculously cute pics. did the dog take to her right away? our two st bernards will be 1 1/2 when the baby comes. can't wait.

Originally Posted by nobueno

yea we didn't plan on buying much, if anything, new. bunch of new moms in the neighborhood and grandma and grandpa are super-stoked so i'm sure they'll be buying too much for us as it is.

cloth diapering question - what kind are you using? we heard they don't work too well under 8lbs but they're pretty good over. diaper service worth it?

boob question - mrs bueno is worried about the baby not wanting to go back to nipple if we start to use bottles. she won't be working but i'm sure there will be sometime the baby needs food that she's not around. anyone have any problems w/ this?


Edit: ACheateaux - those are ridiculously cute pics. did the dog take to her right away? our two st bernards will be 1 1/2 when the baby comes. can't wait.

we don't have any issues going between bottle and boobie since our son is in daycare. i would definitely wait til they establish their latch before introducing the bottle. our guy was alittle frustrated with the slowness of the boob at first but got over it fast.

we sorta cloth at times, but i found them to be a pain when he was little since they are huge, but we were using all in ones.

instead of a bath tub, they sell these foam pillow things that you put on the bathtub. only like 10 bucks. we use that after our son grew out of his bathtub at 5 months since he couldn't sit up on his own.

Originally Posted by telemike

get a lot of beer

Lightweight.

Hard liquor takes the edge off much quicker.

Introduce the bottle early and often. I can only speak for us but I think she wouldn't have taken it anyway as she's a stubborn little thing. Ours just started taking it at 9 months and my wife finally has the freedom to leave her and do stuff on her own like not spending her lunch hour going to nurse her. In addition I can now calm a pissed off child which I couldn't do before and I can spend time with her which is sweet. It's made it a lot easier.

Something that saved us during our first few months was this timer called an itzbeen. It's nothing more complicated than a bunch of different timers on one gadget, but when you're trading off baby duties and haven't slept more than 3 hours a night for a few weeks it can really help. Oh and once the kid is a bit older and needs a sleep schedule read this. Once we started following that our little guy started sleeping 10-13 hours a night mostly straight through.

Originally Posted by nobueno

cloth diapering question - what kind are you using? we heard they don't work too well under 8lbs but they're pretty good over. diaper service worth it?

boob question - mrs bueno is worried about the baby not wanting to go back to nipple if we start to use bottles. she won't be working but i'm sure there will be sometime the baby needs food that she's not around. anyone have any problems w/ this?

We did cloth diapers from the day we got home from the hospital. I guess it you had a preemie they might be difficult. But they make pretty small covers and stuff. We got a shitload of the gerber cloth diapers from target and they sucked. We ended up just using them as general all purpose paper towel substitutes. I don't know the brand of diapers we use but we use alot of the rumper roos covers. I don't know if you ever get down to Denver but there is a store called the Giggling Green Bean on Tennyson which has free classes on the subject. Obviously they are trying to sell you a bunch of stuff but they go over all the options and you can ask questions etc. It was helpful to us. Snappies are the greatest invention in modern history. We wash our own. This is where the new washer and dryer would be useful. It isn't a big deal. a little more complicated but manageable. Its another load of laundry every day or so depending on how many diapers you buy. Never really considered a diaper service. I found the whole diaper situation to be the most overhyped part of being a parent. For the first 6-9 months it is pretty easy. Once they start eating solids things get a little shittier but you are pretty battle worn by then. I modified a kitchen sprayer to attach to the toilet for spraying out the shitty diapers, which is something you are supposed to do anyways with disposables.

Biggest negative is that all the clothes are sized for disposable wearing babies. Cloth diapers create huge asses so none of the pants fit. So my kid has been wearing mismatched outfits his entire life. 24m bottoms and 12-18m tops.

As far as the bottles go. We never had a problem with the kid switching back and forth. The Mrs will change her tune once she is the only one getting up to feed the little one and you are comfortably sleeping through the night. My wife and I alternated the night feedings. She did the 9pm and 3am, I did the midnight and 6am. So we each at least got the bare minimum of sleep.

Bunch of good advice already, we have a 10 month old, our first one.

We live out in the sticks, my wife buys 99% of our supplies from soap.com

One thing not mentioned yet is the Bumbo. This thing went everywhere with us for the first 6 months.

kids are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get... your edition will tell you exactly what/when they need, don't worry about the SCHEDULE unless the MD's tell you they MUST eat every 3hrs or something like that...

We used one set of cloth diapers with all 3 of our boys from day one. We did make a few adjustments to the group in order to get just the right ones but, by Mrs. Cruiser's calculations, we have saved several hundred dollars on disposable diapers over that time. Rump-a-rooz are the ones we finally settled on and have had good success with them. The pocket design is pretty nice compared to the pre-folds IMO but really it's about what works for you guys. The initial investment is a bit steep too, but they will pay for themselves very quickly. Believe it or not a quick interwebz search will yield a whole forum devoted to talk and trading of cloth diapers.

Never wasted a penny on formula either. Babies can be very cheap when they're little...

a sprayer to attach to the toilet for spraying out the shitty diapers, which is something you are supposed to do anyways with disposables.

If you're doing cloth diapers (and I highly recommend them) the sprayer is a must. We went a year or so without one until my wife finally said enough. Makes a world of difference since scraping shit off of a diaper was a low point of parenting.

The oldest gets a disposable for night time since we found the cloth diapers can leak through. And if we're going out of town we just switch to disposable. Cruiser is right though, the initial outlay is pretty steep. But not buying $15 in diapers ever week goes a long way.

One other thing. When they're really young feel free to drag them everywhere. At first when they're not eating they're usually sleeping so taking them to friends, restaurant, whatever is way easier. Once they're older and have a defined sleep pattern that starts at 7.30 pm it's infinitely harder to get out.

Our oldest is now 2 and a half and we bought him this bike. It's a push trike that will convert into a two wheeler.

http://www.amazon.com/Wishbone-Desig.../dp/B001OC4842

He rides the shit out of it. Highly recommended.

Originally Posted by nobueno

Great stuff so far. As far as the skiing, how early can you start them? By spring 2014 he'll be 18 months so I figured I'd try to get him a few warmer days on the slope. Sound realistic?

No. Get him out there before he has enough leg strength or coordination and you'l have a kid who hates skiing. Be patient; this is for him, in theory, not you. Three is a reasonable target age, conceivably 2+ if he's developmentally advanced. Yeah, people do it earlier, but it's a crapshoot.

Specifically on travel, which is relevant or you wouldn't belong to TGR: 1) Pay attention to the car seat. Not all made equally, not about price as much as design and safety. Google to find the ones that are crap. Consumer Reports ain't bad either for this. 2) Get a Pack n Play. It's definitive for travel, friends houses or a mountain hotel. Keeps them in a safe enclosed space for playing, inside or out, they can also nap and sleep in it. 3) There's an inexpensive and light fold up metal undercarriage that you hook a baby car seat directly onto, instant stroller. Can't recall its name, but can be found at Babies R Us. Weirdly rugged, popular, works, and great for air travel; smaller, lighter than a real stroller + car seat. 4) Baby Bjorns are a great way to kill your back if you wear them a lot once the kid is over 3-4 months. A backpack-style frame is better for you then, also allows actual extended walking/hiking, and not as hot. 5) Check out how easily strollers collapse, and look closely at the wheels. Those are the two biggest issues IMO. Your kid doesn't need something made to look like a $5,000 mountain bike, maybe his parent does. 6) Definitely go for cloth diapers, realize what a giant PITA they actually are if you ever leave the house, decide they make great car polishers, and drive to your local big box paper diaper store. Thereafter feel defensive, but sane.

Specifically on breast feeding, he'll be OK with a bottle once in a while if he's already accustomed to the breast. But if you start bottles too early, he'll reject the breast as too much effort; his buccinator muscles won't develop enough to handle the real deal. Some of this is about patience; young infants tend to reduce sucking or just doze off at the breast when they're only about half full, so someone will have to keep them going, or they'll be awake in 45 minutes for another sip. At 3 am that's a PITA. With a bottle, they'll get more faster, which you like and they learn to like, but it'll reduce their interest in the breast. The other side of it is that as long as your wife uses a pump, you can freeze the milk for at least 6 months. But women start to decline in milk volume if they go for more than 16-24 hours without nursing or using a pump, so keep that in mind.

^ ummm, if it is a boy he probably will NEVER "reduce their interest in the breast"...

Graco makes that frame stroller, but depending on the community you live in (not sure how CO works in this regard) you may have to upgrade to the Bugaboo to be cool.

Yea the car seat and crib we just got the ones w/ the highest safety rating. the car seat we picked comes w/ a stroller that will be good enough for out and about mall trips, dinner etc. but we're registered for a b.o.b. for trails etc that are right outside our door. thanks for all the info beyond. i was kind of wondering about leg strength, coordination, bone development etc. i just want a feeler for when others started theirs.

This thread is full of some quality info. Thanks fellas. My life changes May 29 or so. I'm scared shitless.

Apple TV & iBooks

The first 0-6 months are by far the most crucial in your child's developing language skills. Reading to them as infants will do miraculous things to their intelligence. But, reading to them while holding them is hard. Enter iBooks & Apple TV. Open an iBook, stream it to your HDTV so you can read while holding/bouncing/rocking, etc. You need this. I got it recently for my 2.5yo's story time, and discovered how much I love it for my 6 week old.

/fan-boy apology. But ^that^ set-up rocks.

There are 1000's of free children's eBooks available online. Not all format well to iBooks code, but are readable. And at 2am your voice will be more soothing than anything and you won't be sitting there trying to remember lyrics to a song or be wondering what the hell to talk about. I personally find singing to be tiring. Reading can go on much longer, especially if I don't have to hold the book. And for infants, it doesn't even have to be children's book. Just read to them.

And get a helmet with beer holders and straws. Your hands are full now. My 6 week old and my daughter are/were the same: They demand being held in their favorite position only. I can't change their position, I can't hold them with one hand without them fussing. It's like clock work. "Hey, your hand is 2 inches out-of-place so I'm going to cry now. I don't care if your left bicep is going to explode." YMMV, and hopefully it does.

Originally Posted by paulster2626

My life changes May 29 or so. I'm scared shitless.

Hear you, but you'll be surprised that 1) you'll figure stuff out, even when you don't, infants are weirdly resilient to our screw ups, 2) You'll get used to operating with sleep deprivation, and he/she will be sleeping 6 hours sooner than you think, and 2) it's not the end-of-all-life like non-parents assume. Really fun, actually. Until they want the car keys...

Under the different strokes category, not sure I agree about the ebooks and TV. TV is heavy in blue/green wavelengths that have been shown to actually stimulate brain wake center, one reason some think for all our insomnia. Maybe not the greatest constant exposure first thing in life. Or maybe no big deal. Mainly worry about producing a toddler that's already wanting a cell phone/iPad/Kindle instead of playing with blocks...

I found boring monologues work. They just like a parental voice. One night it was all about what skis I liked, delivered in a constant soothing low voice. Worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by gaijin

And get a helmet with beer holders and straws. Your hands are full now. My 6 week old and my daughter are/were the same: They demand being held in their favorite position only. I can't change their position, I can't hold them with one hand without them fussing. It's like clock work. "Hey, your hand is 2 inches out-of-place so I'm going to cry now. I don't care if your left bicep is going to explode." YMMV, and hopefully it does.

With my kids I could never friggin sit down. Position would change almost nil, but all 3 of them would scream their head off if I dared sit down while holding them.

Cloth diapers - I think cloth diapers make sense if you're going to have multiple kids, and maybe if you plan to sell them on the used market when you're done with them. If I was only going to have one kid I wouldn't screw around with them. I'm a fan of the type that don't require a cover - just a nice, easy, all in one solution. Make sure you have some disposables hanging around, though, for travel and other special circumstances (we eventually switched to disposables at the first hint of a diaper rash on my kids - they just do a better job of keeping butts dry). Toilet sprayer is very nice - just make sure you manage that water pressure... What's worse than scraping shit off diapers? Scraping shit off the bathroom walls.

A good stroller is really key - something that is well made and rolls nicely makes stroller outings a lot of more enjoyable.

Skiing - I put both of mine on skis at around 2 years. Nothing really happened with either until 3, and neither took to it much until 4.

Toy management starts now. If it's broken, defaced, or disfigured - pitch it. If two toys are 90% the same thing - give one away. Decide how much of your living space you can tolerate having dominated by toys and make that happen.

The chariot stollers are a bit spendy but totally worth IMO, teh bike/stroller/jogger/ski capability is awesome, we use ours a ton in all kinds of weather and you can even gate check it at the airport.

Second the recliner rocker = awesome.

The baby bjorn is nice but we really like the ergo carrier better. Super portable and comfy

Wife loved the boppy

Post partum massage for the wife

We started Samantha skiing at 1 1/2, just skiing between Kathryn and I. This year at 2 she killed it, skis the greeens with a crew of other 2 yrs olds, have to help her onto the lift is all. We used the big hoola hoop to help her learn, make your own out of 3/4 pex and a connector. Diameter is a bit of trial and error for your height 10 bucks of supplies at home depot. Avoid the edgie wedgie, harness, etc all just breed bad habits

Congrats!