{favorite things: baby stuff}

Over the past eight months, (yes…my baby is already eight months old now) I have learned that there are a lot of baby products out there.  I’ve also learned what works best for him and for us as a family.  Here are some of our favorites…

Desitin

I’m pretty sure my mom used this when I was a baby.  Desitin has been around for years.  I received several diaper rash creams from my baby showers and have tried all of them, but none even compare to Desitin in my opinion.  I love the way it smells (is that weird?), and I also love how easily the cream spreads on my babe’s little tush.  I’d say that I apply Desitin at least every other time I change Jackson’s diaper and (knock on wood) he’s never had a diaper rash.  Another plus?  There are coupons for Desitin available all the time!

Doesn’t he look so guilty?  I wonder what he’s thinking!

MAM pacifiers

My little one started out using the 0+ version of these cute little binkies (as we refer to them in our house).  Looking back at that size now, they seem so itty bitty.  Where did the time go?!  Now little man is using his big boy binks as we had to switch to the 6+ month version at around 4 months.  I guess his mouth is big?  We knew it was time to switch because the baby binks just kept popping right out of his mouth.

Oh so little!  There’s the 0+ MAM pacifier.

And here’s my rock star using the 6+ month version!

Gentle Giraffe

The Gentle Giraffe by Cloud B is a soothing sound machine with four sounds.  While I realize that the thing that really helps Jackson fall asleep is the sound coming from the giraffe, I like to think that he loves just having the giraffe near him to do some cuddling.  Nine times out of ten when Jackson falls asleep he is either near or holding onto a leg or arm of his giraffe.  We actually have two giraffes, a large one in his crib and a smaller travel giraffe that spends most of his days in the car.  The only negative I have to report about Gentle Giraffe is that there are only two timer settings: 23 minutes and 45 minutes.  Our giraffe is always set at 45 minutes.  I wish that it could just continuously play (especially during naptime).  We are to the point now that he pretty much sleeps through the night, but I feel like if the giraffe would continuously play during naps it would help Jackson to sleep a little bit longer.  Oh, and the battery life on both of them is awesome!  We’ve replaced the travel one twice and the crib giraffe only once so far.  

Aden + Anais Burp Cloths

I absolutely love these burp cloths!  Not only are they super cute, but they are very absorbent too.  They double as a bib if needed by snapping two small snaps together around baby’s neck and are curved to fit perfectly over your shoulder as well.  For the first few months we could always count on Jackson to spit up just a little bit, especially after a feeding.  These burp cloths were always the first that I would grab out of the burp cloth drawer because they were my favorite.  We have four of them and they were purchased at Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby.

Some of my other favs (I’ll talk more about these in a future post):

• Johnson & Johnson bath products (all of them!)
• Gerber baby foods (I tried the homemade route and FAILED)
• The First Years Bottle Warmer
• Medela Breast Pump

What about you…what are your absolute favorite baby items?  Did any of mine make your list?