Baby Gear: The Nursery

As a first-time mom (and a surprise one at that), I had no clue what to look for in baby gear. I was that person at the baby shower who, after each gift was opened, whispered to the woman sitting next to me, "What is that for?" I made the first-time mom mistake of checking out the "registry checklist" of a major baby department store, and got completely overwhelmed. 

Finally, someone saved me, and recommended I pick up a copy of Baby Bargains (I am not receiving any kickbacks, monetary or otherwise, for mentioning this book — or any other brands or products — on this blog). This book reviews tons of baby products, and makes recommendations based on usefulness, safety, and price. 

So, I'll start with the nursery. We were very lucky that a friend of a friend is into bidding on foreclosed storage units. They won one that contained two sets of furniture. Our mutual friend purchased one of the sets, which included a tall dresser, a long bureau, a night stand, and a toy chest/bench. All are solid wood, very durable. A lot of the furniture sold in baby stores uses fiberboard or particleboard, which is cheaper and less durable. The stuff that is solid wood is very expensive. If you're not concerned about your nursery furniture matching exactly, pick out storage pieces in regular furniture stores, rather than baby stores. 

Speaking of that long dresser, we placed a changing pad on top of it (placing a piece of nonskid rubber kitchen liner underneath to keep it in place), rather than spend the money on a changing table. We keep a JJ Cole diaper caddy stocked next to the pad, and keep extra diapers and wipes in the baby's closet. 

For his crib, we chose the DaVinci Emily 4-in-1 Convertible Crib in Honey Oak (which is a pretty darn close match to the finish of the rest of the nursery furniture). The crib will convert to a toddler bed, a day bed, and (if we purchase the conversion kit) a full-size bed. Any crib on the market meets federal safety standards, so take into consideration what the crib is constructed from, the finish, the aesthetics (is the hardware visible?), and whether it converts or not. 

The mattress in the crib is a Sealy Soybean Foam mattress. Crib mattresses will either be made with inner coils or with foam. You want to look for a firm mattress. Foam mattresses are lighter than coil, which makes middle-of-the-night sheet changes easier. 

Gliders are by no means mandatory, but I knew that I wanted to give breastfeeding a try, so I wanted a glider. I checked out Craigslist, and someone in my area was selling a gently used Dutailier (a very highly rated brand). While I wish the glider also had an ottoman, I really like having the glider. 

I wasn't planning on registering for a bedding set, knowing that it's strongly recommended to not use the coverlet and the bumpers that come with them. But, my mom wanted to buy the COMPLETE crib (crib, mattress and bedding), so I registered for Trend Lab's Giggles Green and Brown Modern Dots and Stripes. I love the green, yellow and brown color combination.

D did a lot of research on child development, and read that infants prefer to look at starkly-contrasting color patterns, and pictures of faces. So, we registered for the Wimmer-Ferguson Infant Stim Mobile. So far, BabyL loves laying in his crib and looking at it, giving me enough time to brush my teeth and use the bathroom. 

Seeing as we live in a relatively small two-bedroom apartment, I didn't think we needed the fanciest monitor on the market. I chose the Sony Babycall, a sound-only monitor, with one receiver (though it is available with two). I like that it has an out-of-range indicator, the receivers run on battery power or an AC adapter, and it has 27 channels, so there's less chance of accidentally listening in on someone else's baby. 

One last thing that was recommended to us is a Homedics SoundSpa Lullabye White Noise Machine. It has three sounds and three songs to choose from: heartbeat, rainforest, ocean, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Rock-a-bye Baby, and Brahm's Lullabye. It also has a projector and includes three disks of images that will project onto the wall. You can set the timer to shut the machine off in 15, 30, or 45 minutes.