October babies due dates and bump colours

[Mommy's Angel]

Wow, lots going on already this morning. Nai, sounds like a "divine appointment" concerning the apartment. Have a lovely and safe move dear.

ZB, I read the instructions and the baby jogger DOES say it fits from birth to bigger. I'm wondering if there's an actual attatchment you buy separately that would allow you to clip baby in with an infant car seat. Check into it.

This was the issue I had, I finally went with a travel system to put on my registry, but I'm NOT happy. I figure though, she won't actually fit into an actual jogging stroller until she's 6 months or older so that will give me the opportunity to wait to buy and actual jogger until next spring. In the meantime, the travel system will do. I WAS going to go with a convertable car seat and get more for our money, BUT, because we get hard winters here, I figured it would be easier for us and Amelia if we could just click and go. Nothing like waking baby to pick her up in the middle of a freezing snow storm to transfer her. So, that's why I went with a travel system. They're ugly and compared with a lot of the nice sleek UK Prams and systems though as I've noticed.

As far as bf'ing, little stars is right in that you'll know more when you give birth. The hospital will lend you one while your in there and will teach you what to do. If this is something that will work for you, THEN is the time to buy one. The right one will depend on your agenda though. ALSO, keep in mind when it's time for baby to transfer to bottle feeding, there are new bottles out there that simulate the nipple. They look close to a real nipple. Also you want to keep in mind that you may not go with just ONE brand of a bottle as baby might take to different nipple systems as I've found out. It will also depend on if baby has Colic. If your baby has colic, you'll want a nice air flow system to help the baby. Dr. Browns are good as are Tommee Tippee's. They carry a colic system that aids in better flow for colicy babies which will be of great importance if you have one.

YES, what you have is "nesting". Go to it sweetie! :Happydance:

Congrats on the latest little baby girl announcement

 

[LittleStars]

ZB - The BabyJogger City Mini is so cute! I was contemplating buying the double version since the price is good in comparison to what I'm looking at, it's narrow and the way you fold it up blew my mind! The only thing that is holding me up on it and is pushing me towards the one I want is the tires. For me snow is a fact of life, completely unavoidable and I will need to walk DD to and from school in the stroller for 2 years at least! I found this info from the BabyJogger website under accessories: City Mini - Car Seat Adaptor (Multi Model)
The Baby Jogger Car Seat Adaptor allows you to turn your stroller into a travel system by providing a place to securely attach your car seat to the stroller until your baby can sit in the upright seat. It is designed to fit several popular car seats including those by Peg Perego, Britax, Maxi Cosi and most Graco and Evenflo car seat models.

*Car Seat Adaptor for double stroller holds one car seat and only one adaptor can be placed on the stroller.

As for breast feeding... Last time around I was told to toughen up my nipples before baby came. I cannot stress enough how wrong this info is!!!!! I have later learned that you are supposed to soften them as much as possible for the 1-2 months leading up to delivery. Lansinoh Lanolin is what the nurse I spoke with recommended, along with using each time after BFing and showering to stop nipples from cracking and bleeding into the milk supply. And as for having the switch tow bottles and all that stress. Here's a funny story. My DD had colic and spat up like crazy (dh used to say she was like a milk bag where someone cut a giant hole at the top and as soon as you would pick her up she would spew!) and we found that we were able to get away with a Playtex Ventaire Advanced intially which was so much cheaper than Dr.Browns and then we switched to Playtex drop ins to eliminate air consumption and that worked well too. Interestingly, the drop ins that something DD realized she could suck up without tipping and so we were able to give her drinks from a cup/straw at 5 months and she graduated to holding a cup by 7 months.. awesome!

Wow totally babbling today. And now there is this move... the landlady should have given you a headsup but I suppose she was thinking the income property would sound more appealing to a buyer if she could state that it was already occupied with longterm tennants. I think the move sounds like it will be great in the end. An extra room will be very welcome as soon as the baby starts to accumilate toys toys and more toys! You can use it as a playroom, a mancave, a momcave, an office etc! And as for being 28 weeks - that means you don't have to lift a finger.. yay! You might even be able to get away with not having to paint the nursery even. How is this not good? lol

Okay I'll shut up now. Less than 24 hours and I'll have attempt #3 at finding gender for the twins! Soooooooo excited!

 

[zb5]

Thanks ladies for the stroller advice! Yes, you can buy the attachment to hold the car seat, or you can just recline the seat all the way and put an infant in without the car seat. That's what I saw the lady doing on the street and had to ask her about it. MA, like you I thought maybe I could get away with just a convertible car seat and no infant seat. But it sounds like a lot of you ladies find the infant seats really handy. I'll have to think about it!

Good luck finding out genders tomorrow LittleStars!!

 

[Mommy's Angel]

Zb, one issue I didn't think of that one of the mommies mentioned on my "graduates" board said the last thing you want to do is wake a sleeping baby to pick them up and bring them in the house. With the infant seats, you just click them out and transfer. I thought about it and it made sense as did the issue with running from the car TO the house in a snowstorm. It's easier for Doug and I to just take her out quickly and we can even cover the car seat and run. Makes more sense for us as we get a TON of snow here.

littlestars, thanks for the info about softening the nipples. can you elaborate on that a bit more? I know we're NOT supposed to stimulate our nipples because we could go into preterm labor. with the Lansinoh, is it just like rubbing lotion onto the nipple or is there an actual method?

 

[DMG83]

we're not supposed to stimulate our nipples!? what do you mean!? as in DH shouldn't be touching them when we dtd!? don't tell me I have to get my bat out on him!!

 

[zb5]

we're not supposed to stimulate our nipples!? what do you mean!? as in DH shouldn't be touching them when we dtd!? don't tell me I have to get my bat out on him!!

Good question!

 

[Mommy's Angel]

No, you you shouldn't have your nipples stimulated too often. It can cause preterm labor. Stimulating nipples causes Oxytocin to release. The hormonal changes during late pregnancy help the uterus become progressively more sensitive to oxytocin, which causes the gradual increase in Braxton-Hicks contractions. Nipple stimulation can have very strong effects, similar to the overuse of Pitocin. So while you CAN still stimulate your nipples during intimacy, most Dr.'s don't recommend it.

 

[DMG83]

hmmm right DH is banned.. lol xx

 

[LittleStars]

With the lanolin, you just rub it on to keep them soft. No stimulating! lol

As for the infant car seats versus just going straight to a convertible.. I hated the infant seats personally.. they get heavy FAST!!! They are nice to just pop on the stroller and back into the car but that being said and done I had one that would go up to 22lbs (which is on the low -side nowadays with ones going up to 30 and even 35lbs!!) My daughter hit the weight and height limits by 9 months or so and I was sick of carrying it around by 6 months (I'm not a wimp by any stretch of the imagination). At 9 months DD was not old enough to go in a Stage 2 seat so we bought a convertible and used it rear facing initially. This time around I'd be happy to just use a convertible straight from day 1 but DH wants the infant seat. The only reason I agreed to it was because then I can bring in one baby, leave in the seat inside the front door and go get the other baby and also because chances are when I got to places like Walmart alone I'll have to put one baby in the car seat at the top of the cart and the other in the car seat in the main part. As for waking a sleeping baby.. I hate to say it but I kinda used to like to wake my DD because often I was feeling lonely and wanted some company. Is that bad? lol Besides, when they want to sleep they will sleep regardless of what you do to them.. I can definitely remember walking around holding in my arms my DD who was dead asleep at age 1 while carrying a bag of mulch with one of those arms and trying so hard to get her to wake so she could walk while I finished shopping at the garden centre. Anyway, that's my two cents.

So I had my ultrasound today.. the tech told me she would only tell me the genders if she was 100%... despite the babies still being transverse, though one of them had flipped to the other side of me, she was able to see they are both girls!!!! We're going to have a house full of estrogen! Poor DH. Now time to get that nursery ready!

Also time to start thinking of girl names.. oh my.. we just about exhausted all possibilities when we had DD.. How in the world are we going to name another 2 girls??

 

[x-TyMa-x]

Congrats on 2 little ladies hun xx

 

[Mommy's Angel]

Congrats on the Littlestars...I think Daddy will need a male dog in the house for company.

I'm Thinking once spring rolls around next year, I'll have a convertable. I was dead set against an infant carrier and THE ONLY reason for me to add the stroller combo to the registry was because it was quick and easy for winter. Come spring when I'll be out walking more, I'll have a new jogging stroller and what "I think" will be a convertable car seat.

Right now we're thinking about buying a minivan. ((SIGH)) We still owe a small bit on the small suv we have, but there is NO ROOM in the trunk for a stroller and we have two small dogs that travel with us along with the baby. We like to travel and will need the room. So we're thinking about buying the minivan and selling the suv. I'd take it to see if they'd give us what we owe on the thing, BUT I highly doubt they'd do it, so it's a big decision to make whether we'll actually buy the minivan now and sell the suv to get the money back OR just wait until next spring when it's paid off. What to do, what to do. :duh:

 

[shelleney]

Congratulations of your two little ladies littlestars!
xx

 

[enniejennie]

Congrats littlestars!!!

 

[zb5]

Congrats Littlestars! That's a lot of girls!! I have 3 girl cats... DH loves doting on his girl kitties. I'm sure your DH will love it even if he feels left out sometimes.

Well, I think for now my plan is to go with the City Mini stroller and a convertible car seat. Then if I decide I want an infant seat once the baby's born, I can buy it and the adapter thing to put on the stroller. I will end up using the convertible seat later anyways, so no harm done. It would be nice to get away without an infant seat, but we'll see how it goes. I think I need to accept that I can't make every decision right now, in a way we will have to just jump in and see how it goes and what works for us.

MA, we were also talking about getting a new car (or two!). But with all the other stuff going on and expenses, I think we are going to try to make it work as long as possible with our current cars. A Mini Cooper and a small Mazda sedan (looks like a Honda Civic). I think we are going to have to go to the store and try out every single car seat to find the smallest one! But that is another reason I want a smaller stroller...

 

[Mommy's Angel]

Congrats Littlestars! That's a lot of girls!! I have 3 girl cats... DH loves doting on his girl kitties. I'm sure your DH will love it even if he feels left out sometimes.

Well, I think for now my plan is to go with the City Mini stroller and a convertible car seat. Then if I decide I want an infant seat once the baby's born, I can buy it and the adapter thing to put on the stroller. I will end up using the convertible seat later anyways, so no harm done. It would be nice to get away without an infant seat, but we'll see how it goes. I think I need to accept that I can't make every decision right now, in a way we will have to just jump in and see how it goes and what works for us.

MA, we were also talking about getting a new car (or two!). But with all the other stuff going on and expenses, I think we are going to try to make it work as long as possible with our current cars. A Mini Cooper and a small Mazda sedan (looks like a Honda Civic). I think we are going to have to go to the store and try out every single car seat to find the smallest one! But that is another reason I want a smaller stroller...

So far the only one I've found that's small, safe and has excellent ratings was the Combi Coccoro Convertable. I've heard some REALLY good things about it and seen some nice ratings. It comes in more colors I think you can go to the Manufactuerers site and see where they're sold. BRU has limited colors and I think I only saw one in our local store.

WOW! I thought we didn't have a whole lot of room. At least you don't have a porche or you'd be putting baby in the trunk. My cousin has a Mazda too and I don't see why it wouldn't fit a carseat nicely. I HAVE heard that Britax, while good have a tough time with smaller vehicles so be sure to try them before you buy them!

Now a question that just popped into my mind. The hospital deems you have a carseat before you leave. I guess a question I have is I know a lot of women bring they're infant car seat in so hospital staff see's the baby's in a car seat. How would that work with a convertible if it's not transportable like an infant car seat is? Would they come down to see the car? Maybe someone can elaborate on that one.

 

[babyhopes2323]

congrats little stars !

 

[LittleStars]

DH and I had the SUV/Minivan discussion already and we decided that we will be keeping the Honda Civic unless our intended car seats do not fit.

I did A LOT of research and this is what I found out: Sunshine Kids Radian 65/Premiere/XT is the narrowest convertible on the market https://www.skjp.com/en-CA/products/97556/Car_Seats and the Baby Trend (EZ) Flex-Loc infant car seat is also another extremely narrow seat https://www.babytrend.com/car_seats/.
ETA: The Combi one was not on the list, does appear to be narrow too, not available in Canada and not a steel alloy frame but much nicer price!

For boosters seats for those of you with other children the Clek Ozzi is apparently the narrowest one available. DH and I have a deadline of figuring out the carseat situation by the end of this month to confirm we do not need to sell our car/trade-in. FX!

As for trips, camping etc... we are considering a roof rack so we can stow a lot of stuff on top! Worst case scenario we'd consider getting a small trailer and tow behind. We are so looking forward to being car payment-free next summer for once. We were months away last time with the previous car until I had a car accident and some guy rammed beinto a city bus. Car was totaled and we had to buy a new car. Boo!

 

[zb5]

Good car seat advice ladies! I am more worried about front to back space than side to side space for now. I am hoping we won't have to move the front passenger seat all the way forward to fit the car seat in the back. I need some leg room! Um... we'll see how that goes.

On the Combi website they show a picture of 3 carseats next to each other in the back seat. I wonder what car they use for that picture?

Being car payment free is really nice. I figure in a few years we can get a new car. Maybe when we start trying to figure out how to fit TWO car seats in the back of the Mini Cooper.

 

[LittleStars]

ZB - my understanding is that the infant car seats that go up to the higher weight limits are more intrusive on the seating positions of the front seats. We moved DD to a front facing car seat by the time she was 11 months as she was just sooooooooo long and couldn't sit in a rear facing seat anymore. She met 2/3 requirements needed for front facing (weight/height/age) which I believe was the criteria at least where I live. They are now recommending that they stay rear facing until 2 years of age and while I understand the intentions behind such statements when you have a child who is freakishly tall for her age it's hard to follow through. So happy that isn't a law yet, at least where I live. I have no idea what California's/USA's rules are though.

 

[zb5]

I think in the US the law is 1 year, but I know they do recommend keeping them rear facing longer. I understand it's safer, but on the other hand I feel bad for the poor kids left staring at the back seat instead of looking where they're going!

DH is now getting all excited about this and wants to go try out car seats today.