Car Seats and other baby gear questions

[SarahBear]

Anyone else starting to research baby-gear? I'm starting a baby registry for my child who will not be conceived for at LEAST 3 months. This will be my second child, so I won't need too much on my registry. One item I will need is a car seat. Last time we got a convertible carseat, but this time around we'll need an infant car seat so that everyone will fit in the car. As I'm looking though, it seems that they ONLY sell infant car seats that are designed to pop in and out of the car. Are there any that are simply meant to stay firmly put in the car? Answer my question and feel free to ask your own baby gear questions!

 

[SarahBear]

Baby registries are a lot easier for a second child... Here's what I've got:

https://www.amazon.com/SleepSack-Fl...TF8&colid=23NISEA4BR4XK&coliid=I3OSO4TTKKY5NY

https://www.amazon.com/Teutonia-T-T...UTF8&colid=23NISEA4BR4XK&coliid=IOM0GXBU87U77

https://www.amazon.com/Geffen-Baby-...TF8&colid=23NISEA4BR4XK&coliid=I1W4HWMI9****4

https://www.amazon.com/Earths-Best-...TF8&colid=23NISEA4BR4XK&coliid=I25NT3UOWJUBW8

https://www.amazon.com/OsoCozy-Flan...UTF8&colid=23NISEA4BR4XK&coliid=IMJEUDMBXWLKZ

https://www.amazon.com/ERGObaby-Org...TF8&colid=23NISEA4BR4XK&coliid=I29MHZQZYPBX7R

https://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price...TF8&colid=23NISEA4BR4XK&coliid=I1JZMH4XK6P7GR

I'm not so sure I really need an Ergo carrier or a swaddle blanket sleep sack. I'll definitely need the car-seat and the rocker was amazing with my first child. I want a second one because my first child can still use her rocker as a rocking chair. I don't want her to feel like the baby is taking her things. Then there's the diapering gear. Our pre-folds from the newborn days are all worn out because they were second-hand to start with, so we could use some more of those. Then there's the disposables. We never did do straight cloth-diapering. Now we don't really do it at all!

Edit: Just discovered nursing tops! I added a bunch of those!

 

[ttc bubby no2]

Our carseats are probably a bit different here so I probably can't help but will your LO be big enough for the type that converts from forward facing to booster? We swapped DS1 into one of those at 2.5 as he outgrew the convertible baby seat which then freed it up for DS2 to use. He was still in the 5-point harness so I'm defiantly not suggesting a booster (they have to be 4 for one of those here and we still use the 5pt harness even though he is 5.5!)

As for the Ergo... this was my best baby purchase for #2! I loved using the Ergo, it was great for shopping and doing kindy (pre-school) drop offs. I used a wrap for the first few months until he was big enough for the ergo, it was also very much worth getting, though I did manage to get it cheaper secondhand.

 

[SarahBear]

She can rear-face in her convertible until she's 35 pounds. I'll have to check the height limit, but I suspect she'll be able to rear-face for quite some time. As for the ergo, I have a couple carriers already, but I was actually considering the ergo for Violet! The carriers we have now would work fine for the new baby, but I figure that if Violet is going to be 2.5 when the new baby comes, it might be nice to have a carrier that can work for an older toddler. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much longer after the baby comes we'd be carrying her like that. It probably isn't worth getting.

Edit: Although it's probably more comfortable than what we have, so maybe it IS worth getting!

 

[tverb84]

Speaking of car seats I never knew they expire. Last year or in 2012 I heard that children up to two years old should be sitting rear facing in their car seats for safety reasons.

 

[SarahBear]

She'll be at least 2 and a half by the time the second kid comes, but I'd like to keep her rear facing as long as I can. Same with the next kid

 

[ttc bubby no2]

I forgot about extended rear facing.. we managed to keep our 2nd RFing to about 16 months as he outgrew the seat. I know lots of people say that but he really did outgrow it as he is huge and over the 97th percentiles for weight and height. I'm lucky they actually brought out height based car seats here in 2011 as before that the limit was 12kg (26 pounds) for Aussie seats which was crap for those with big kids.

I also don't carry him much in the Ergo now due to his weight but it was awesome when he was younger. I have heard the Tula baby carriers are also great for older kids, they are similar to an Ergo.