The Secret Language of Baby Gear

Here are a few things we have learned after our first baby.

1. Buy a Madela pump. It will be more expensive but it is worth every cent. We had a Lansinoh brand pump and it broke. It also wasn't nearly as good as the Madela. The Madela does the job quicker, less painfully, and is much more portable. (We have the backpack model that you can plug in, put batteries in, or use in a car.)

2. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby is an essential book to read. Read it, learn it, follow it, and profit from it.

3. Lansinoh nipple cream is crack for breastfeeding mothers. Buy it, use it, love it.

4. Sleep is underrated.

5. Diapers with an indicator strip are worth the money. We find them everywhere in Japan but had a hard time finding them in the States.

6. Everyone will give you a copy of Goodnight Moon. We have at least 4.

7. You quit looking at your house as a place to live and start looking at it as a death-trap. Too many cords, too many sharp corners, and not enough soft spaces.

8. We are using Dr. Brown's bottles and yes they are a pain in the ass and yes our baby does not have colic. Don't know if they are worth the trouble but they say they prevent colic.

9. Miracle Blanket. Go find it and buy it. As soon as we got it our swaddling got much better and she started sleeping much longer. Don't use the ones with velcro. The sound wakes the baby.

10. Get a changing table. We love ours.

11. Buy Soothie pacifiers. Alana wouldn't take other pacifiers but as soon as we got a Soothie near her she went to town.

12. Aimee Gown makes some great breastfeeding gowns. Kyung has two and lives in them. She uses them around the house, as pajamas, and every once in a while out on the street.

13. Watch out for Thrush. Alana got it and we used Gentian Violet and whoa baby does it ever turn your baby purple. We took pictures.

14. Buy a Stim-Mobile. Our baby started responding to it as soon as she was born. She loves it. Use black and white for the first 3 months and then change to color.