Preparing for a new baby is stressful, especially when you start the baby registry process because the plethora of baby products on the market today is a bit ridiculous. Marketing execs for baby product manufacturers must have a fun job. Those ladies and gents get paid to creatively promote some of the most absurd and unnecessarily expensive products known to man, like baby knee pads. Go look them up, they’re a real thing.
Today I’m going to share with you guys a few of my favorite baby products that I’ve come to love over the past several weeks because of how practical they are. These items get everyday use in our house, and several of them I didn’t register for, because I didn’t think I would need them.
Baby Brezza Formula Pro
The Baby Brezza Formula Pro is one of those items that I swore I would never get. It’s expensive, takes up valuable space, and has one function… just one. No multitasking here. Well let me tell y’all this thing is mine and Trevor’s new best friend. It’s amazing. If you’re not familiar with the Baby Brezza it’s basically a Keurig for baby bottles.
Torin can be a bit…moody, when he’s hungry in the middle of the night. 😊 Sometimes the 3.5 minutes it takes to walk downstairs, take bottle out of fridge, pop the bottle in the warmer, and walk back upstairs is just too long. Don’t judge.
Basically the way it works, is you fill up the tank with distilled water, and the top barrel with a formula of your choice (it works with most formulas and has different settings based on the consistency of your powder), and it mixes the two together at a perfect temp of 98.6 degrees. In under 20 seconds you have a perfectly mixed, non-clumpy bottle. It’s beautiful. We keep a small basket of bottles by the machine in Torin’s nursery, so we are always prepared for nighttime feedings.
The machine will make 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 oz bottles and the bottle holder adjusts up and down based on the height of your bottle. It can be a little tricky to clean, but luckily, it reminds you every third bottle to clean the mixing funnel so you don’t forget.
At 179.99 it’s not cheap, but it’s a great item to use registry completion coupons and other discounts on, so you can get it a little cheaper.
Evenflo Balance Bottles
If you’ve been keeping up with my other posts then you know that we’ve been bottle feeding Torin pretty much since day one. He gets a mix of expressed breastmilk and formula every day so it’s important for us to have lots of bottles (he goes through about 8 a day) that don’t break the bank. I truly think we’ve tried almost every baby bottle on the market (my next post is a review of all the bottles we’ve used.)
While there are a few that he’s liked, such as the Munchkin Latch and the Playtex Vent-Air, the best we’ve tried so far are the Evenflo Balance Bottles. At 13.49 for a pack of 6, they are a steal and they truly are the best bottle we’ve tried. Torin has absolutely no dribbles or leaks with these bottles and they’re vented so they help his colic. Both the Latch and the Playtex bottles have removable venting pieces in the bottom that have to be cleaned after every use and these don’t. The venting is all in the nipple which means less parts to wash. 😊
I also like that the measurements are actually embossed on the bottle instead of just a decal because they’ll hold up better after multiple washings.
Fisher Price Rock and Play Sleeper
This is an item that I was pretty convinced I didn’t need, but I registered for at the last minute, because I thought I didn’t have enough stuff on my registry for people to choose from. I am sooo glad I added it. It’s become Torin’s favorite hangout spot when he’s downstairs with us. It’s also his number one nap spot- He can sleep in it for hours.
Here he is, just chillin’ and watching the Gigglebellies.
I like it because of how light and portable it is. I can carry it from one room to the next, so I can keep him in sight when I’m working. It also collapses with the push of a button so you can easily fit it in the car for overnight trips.
This is the one we have and it’s a great buy at $79.99. It also plays music and has several settings for how fast it rocks. It really is amazing.
IKEA Tutig babycare mat
These multipurpose cloths are really great. I picked one up last year when we went to IKEA and loved it so much I had my sister go back and get me 2 more. They are waterproof, changing mats that are big, so they can cover lots of space. I love them because of the size, but they’re also very thin, so they don’t take up much space. I keep one in all of our changing stations around the house, so we can change little man anywhere.
They are only $6.99 at IKEA but if you don’t live close to a store, you can buy them through Amazon Here. They’re more expensive through Amazon, but still worth it.
Infant Optics DXR-8 Baby Monitor
I didn’t really do much research on baby monitors before Torin was born. I would sometimes look at them at work when I was working out on the sales floor, but that was about it. I registered for a Motorola one that seemed to be ok, but other than knowing that it had a video monitor I didn’t know much about it. We ended up getting the Infant Optics DXR-8 as a gift from Trevor’s mom and dad, and it is so much better than the Motorola. Trevor’s dad had compared the one I wanted to the Infant Optics and told us it was better, so I trusted his judgement.
The monitor has a 360 degree camera that can be moved with the rechargeable video monitor receiver, which is seriously cool. The coolest part though (to me at least) is that you can talk through the camera to your baby. If I’m downstairs, and Torin starts to get fussy in his room, all I have to do is talk to him through the video receiver and he calms down. It’s so amazing. It also has IR night vision, an interchangeable lens, a thermometer that shows temperature on the screen at all times, and up to 8 hours of battery life in video mode.
The DXR-8 can be found here and is only $165.99, which makes it pretty comparable to its competitors.
So, that’s it- my top baby items I couldn’t live without!
Making A Maven 