I'm a Baby-Stroller Shopper, and I want to ask anything...

[fredr123]

Our first kid was colicky, cried all the time and didn't sleep very well no matter how she laid down. She grew out of it. Now she's a night owl that will sleep in about as late as you will let her.

Our second kid - our first son - was a great sleeper. He would sleep no matter how you laid him down. Pretty much as soon as his little bucket head hit the crib mattress he was out like a light. Unfortunately, he's an early riser. It wouldn't be uncommon for him to get up, have breakfast, play, poop his pants a couple times, and be ready for his first nap of the day before his big sister got up in the morning.

Our third kid was a great sleeper from the word go except that he would only sleep on his stomach. So far, no SIDS. Now he sleeps just as well on his back so we mix it up a bit each night. He's learned to rise with the sun, just like his brother, so that kind of stinks.

We never really used either an audio or video baby monitor for any of our kids. All have survived thus far. The constant choking and whining sounds made our sleep worse than it already was. It was easier to just go without it. With our first kid, though, I admit to waking up in the middle of the night and checking on her way more than her two brothers. Her first couple nights home I was probably checking up on her every 20 minutes or so. Funny how parenting paranoia kind of wears off as you have more kids.

[Bunk]

Mrs. Bunk and I are also expecting a baby (funny enough - one day apart on the due date from Mrs. Table). This is a very helpful thread.

[Bunk]

We're looking at this bad boy:

The Baby Jogger City Mini GT - that's right, a Gran Turismo. I'm a big fan of any stroller that has GT in its name. I wonder if I can get it turbo-charged.

[Locke]

You are the turbocharger...

[Bigtime]

My plan is to have both Bunk and Table 5 enter their two newborns into gladiatorial combat to get my kids hand-me-downs. We'll drink beers and watch (and never tell the moms of it).

[Jagger]

I haven't read the whole thread but as someone with VAST experience with baby strollers (I have five kids!) I feel somewhat qualified to answer this one.

By far the best stroller that we have owned, and we've owned quite a few, is the BOB stroller. We have both the single and the double stroller and both are fantastic. We do a ton of walking with our kids and this is easily the most robust maneuverable stroller that we've had.

http://www.bobgear.com/

Good luck and congrats.
It's the best thing I ever did having kids, don't let anyone tell you anything different.

[4X4]

Congratulations to the non-video monitor people who choose not to indulge in awesome technology. I am willing to bet that each of you went upstairs in the evening or went to the baby's room in the night after something made you want to check on the child a whole bunch of times. Congratulations to the people with video monitors that didn't have to do that and risk upsetting the kid by opening their door.

Hey, it's a luxury. I'm not going to lie. But it's such a useful luxury it's like sending a text message instead of writing a letter and putting it in the mailbox. You know immediately, and you don't have to walk anywhere to find out. And I don't care how lazy that sounds, because sleep is a very, very precious commodity around a new parents household. And minimizing little scraps about "it's your turn to go check" is probably another side affect that I didn't even notice we were avoiding.

And it's not really boring to watch your kid on the monitor. You're not going sit there and watch for minutes and hours, but when you see her doing the spin-o-rama in bed to position herself completely opposite of how you put her down, it's pretty cute. My daughter is a morning person. She sits in her crib and fools around for a good hour before she gets cranky and demands that someone let her out. It's kinda funny to glance at the monitor and see her playing with her toys at 7am. And it's also nice to know that she doesn't wake up and cry immediately. I don't know why I'm happy that I know that, but I am.

But go ahead and forego the video monitor like these other hippies and enjoy blissful ignorance, if that's your style. I guess that makes me a helicopter parent.

[You Need a Thneed]

Anyone looking for a barely used Baby Bjorn, we've got one. Barely used because our kids didn't like them/grew out of it so fast, not because they don't work.

It was great for carrying around the kids and still having two free arms.

We never used a baby monitor of any kind, but we are also in a small place, and could hear crying no matter where we were in the house. Also, both kids slept in our room (sometimes in our bed) for the first 3-6 months of their life.

More than anything else, make the sleeping arrangements so that all of you get the most sleep, no matter what it is. If having the newborn sleep in another room isn't working, don't continue to try to make it work, if you find that something else is working better. For a long time, I was trying to get our then 1.5 year old daughter to sleep in her crib. Letting her cry herself to sleep simply did not work. I would sit beside her on the floor for sometimes an hour while she feel asleep, then try to sneak out - sometimes successfully. When we realized that that wasn't working, we moved the crib mattress onto the floor beside our bed, and that worked great for the time we needed to do it. Our second kid, a boy, was totally different, he'd cry himself to sleep within 5 minutes with only a few exceptions. Much of the time there wasn't even crying involved.

As for strollers, we had a baby system, with the carrier that would snap into the car base, and then into the stroller. That worked great until the kids outgrew the carrier, which was probably at 6 months for our second. After that, we got a two in one which we used both rear and front facing for both kids, and when my second kid outgrew the baby carrier, we bought a new forward facing seat for our first to use. Then when a buckle broke on the two in one, (which was about the time that our first was ready to move into a booster), we got a booster, and moved our youngest into the forward facing one.

We had the baby system large stroller, which we gave away, when our second came along and another friend gave us a double stroller, and we also have an umbrella stroller, which is great to just have in the car and takes up very little room.

[tete]

Originally Posted by Titan

A pretty adamant condemnation of the Baby Bjorn above. I would have to disagree. We used one for both kids and they are fine. You don't want a newborn front facing obviously but when they are ready they loved it. We also had the "step up" one where there was more support. I find it hard to believe it is as bad as stated above.

Originally Posted by fotze

Ya, not sure if this is one of those Jenny McCarthy things that grows a life of its own on forums.

Googling this issue shows a few rebuttles to this saying its a myth (probably from a bjorn competitor).

Not sure if this is true but:

Hip dysplasia is a congenital condition which occurs from the malformation of the hip joint.

Bjorns really aren't that comfortable as well - poor lumbar support and the center of gravity sits very far off. The gist of the issue about the hips is that baby's legs aren't supposed to hang straight down for long periods of time like they do in a Bjorn - it pulls them out of normal alignment, away from their hip sockets. A more comfortable position for babies is to have a carrier that covers well over the bum and pushes the legs to a more "seated" position (knees at same level as hips). Again, front facing carriers can't do this and instead they dangle. As well, front facing carriers place a babies spine out of their natural position, arching them forwards instead of curving inwards. If it's only 10 minutes, sure, it's not a huge deal, but if you're wearing a Bjorn for a few hours a day, it's not the greatest thing. There's just such better carriers out there, for not much more money.

As for travel, we're off to France for 2 1/2 weeks next week, our daughter's first overseas trip. I'm still a bit nervous about the flight as she's turned into the wiggliest child known to man (almost 8 months old) but I"m sure it'll be fine. We're currently on our third trip to Winnipeg since she was born and will do one more trip out here plus a trip to BC all before the beginning of October. She'll be a very well travelled child before she turns one year old. Might as well take advantage of travel while we can!

[Ryan Coke]

Good points about sleep arrangements. There are not really as many hard 'rights' and 'wrongs' as some people may tell you. Some people believe in the 'family bed', others have the infant in their own room from day 1. We are more of a hybrid belief, more in line with what Thneed talks about. Our first daughter was a great baby and sleeper, but I wonder if we tried to force her into a crib in her own room as religiously as some friends if we would have been having problems like them.

Having said that, be very careful about having an infant in bed with you. I have read some tragic stories where babies were accidentally killed when an overtired parent (very common) ends up rolling over and suffocating them.

The other last thing with things like travelling, sleep patterns, and kids behaviours----remember kids are different. Some will travel better, some will tolerate sleep pattern changes better, some go to sleep easier, later, earlier, whatever. They have unique personalities and behaviours, so don't let anyone tell you how it is because that is what worked for their kids. Listen, try it, but there are no real rules.

[RedMileDJ]

My wife and I have had a "schedule" of sorts for our little guy now, since we brought him home (he spent the first few weeks in the hospital, since he was born a bit early).

As long as we get our son into bed between 7:30 and 8:30, he sleeps right until 7am. No bull. Right through the night. Has been like this since he was 3 months old.

Yes, for the first 3 months we had to take turns getting up and feeding...but as soon as we hit that 3 month mark...it was like magic.

Routine, schedule and sticking to it will be a life saver for you. I guarantee it. Best advice we ever got from friends that are parents.

[Flash Walken]

This thread is everything I don't want out of life.

Edit: Congratulations to you and MMF

[GGG]

My 2 cents. The first year of raising a child is easy(you dont realize this until you have a second child and the toddler is 5 times the work of a newborn), you can do everything you can do now, if they would let you in a bar with a baby bjorn you could do that to. Dont let other peoples expectations of how someone should parent affect you. Parent how you want to. You dont have to become a hermit, a few diapers and some formula and you are ready to go anywhere.

For travel do as much as you an in the next year as you can pretty much do what you want. Once they hit about 15 months you have to start keeping them entertained so it is more work to do the things you want to do. Children under two fly free or discounted

In the schedule debate dont be rigid, the crazy people who leave friends houses because their kid has to sleep have restricted their own schedules. Instead teach your kids to sleep anywhere, put them in a closet and continue on.

The best baby carrier is the ergo baby carrier, not because of any forward rear facing debate but because you can comfortably carry a 30lb kid in it. I still carry my two year old on day hikes in the thing. Way more comfortable than the framed carriers and much better than a stoller once your child is out of the bucket seat.

And whatever you do dont try to be perfect. Society, moms groups, message boards etc are a destructive cocktail of judgement, gossip, and junk science. People burn themselves out trying o achieve some ideal when doing what you want works just as well.

As for strollers decide jogger or no jogger and 1 kid or 2 kid. So jogger is Bob or phil and ted. For two kids, not a jogger the city select wins hands down. Check to make sure the stroller fits in your trunk before you buy it and that the car seat fits in your car.

[Grimbl420]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Congratulations to the non-video monitor people who choose not to indulge in awesome technology. I am willing to bet that each of you went upstairs in the evening or went to the baby's room in the night after something made you want to check on the child a whole bunch of times. Congratulations to the people with video monitors that didn't have to do that and risk upsetting the kid by opening their door.

But go ahead and forego the video monitor like these other hippies and enjoy blissful ignorance, if that's your style. I guess that makes me a helicopter parent.

You may have forgotten that babies cry when something is wrong, or when they want to get up, and I doubt that having a video monitor changes that fact. Like i said before, if your so paranoid that you have to check on your baby every time they make a noise in the night, then sure go ahead and spend your money on a video monitor for the peace of mind.

I guess you might as well get them used to big brother at an early age.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

This thread is everything I don't want out of life.

Edit: Congratulations to you and MMF

I'm already showing.

[GGG]

My thought on video monitors is that you don't need them. After 2 or 3 weeks you figure out what each cry means. Perhaps the people with video monitors instead of adapting to the sound adapt to what the video is showing them. Rarely did I ever peak into the room to see what was happening outside of the first month or so and with the second child you just went by sounds.

My other piece of advice is don't make it quiet for your baby to go to sleep. Make sure there is noise around. If you teach them they need absolute silence to go to sleep then that is what they will need. If there is always noise around then they learn that. Living in the belt line you should be okay as the ambient noise should be good sleep training.

[KTrain]

That's probably the best advice.

No one here knows squat about you, your wife or your unborn child so any advice should be taken as an option to try if something you try doesn't work. A lot of parenting is trial and error regardless of all the advice you receive.

And you'll have years of people offering parenting advice to look forward to so you might as well get used to that too.

[Sliver]

GGG your advice is terrible. I can't believe you think what worked for your kid can be applied to all kids.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Sliver

GGG your advice is terrible. I can't believe you think what worked for your kid can be applied to all kids.

What part of my advice ranks as "terrible"? Other than the sarcastic comment of put the baby in the closet. (really meaning put him in a bassinet or bedroom and let them sleep there)

I don't believe that my advice will work for all kids. I even state that in my post where I repeatedly state not to try to live up to societies expectations of you as a parent and to do what you think is right.

In fact I think parenting adivice from anyone should be taken with a grain of salt. However when asked I will give my advice.

But I do think I have a somewhat differing view then many first time parents who become hermits when their child is born. Now some do this by choice and enjoy that decision and some feel trapped by the child.

I did re-read my posts and they do come off a little bit athoritative (maybe arrogent) but that is not my intent.

[Table 5]

I appreciate all the advice here, so no worries about coming of authoritative.

In the end it's probably all for naught though, since I'm pretty sure my kid will be a special unique snowflake who will do no wrong. That's why I'm naming it Jaydin Jaxon Theloneous Makayla Turbonova.