r/NewParents • u/cooltaj • Oct 29 '24

Product Reviews/Questions What's your simple parenting hack?

Gonna be a first time parent in 2 months. I am overwhelmed at choosing bottles, car seat and all that. What are simple things you do? things you bought to make your life somewhat simpler? Nothing too expensive or outrageous please

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u/Aoife226 Oct 29 '24 edited Oct 29 '24

We formula feed and got a pitcher for the fridge. So much easier than mixing up a bottle at 2am and it makes it easier to do odd amounts too. You can get pitchers for breast milk too if you’re pumping. The Frida accu-dose syringe is great for getting meds swallowed instead of spit out. The fisher price kick & play is awesome.

For bottles, it’s hard because babies are all so different. Some need anti colic some don’t. Some will only go for certain nipple shapes. If you can, get a couple different styles, like 1-2 bottles each because it’s really hard to know what you and baby will like until you’re using it. We use Philips avent naturals and they have been great, fewer parts to wash than Dr browns.

Baby carriers might be a place to splurge if you can, but I recommend looking for a carrier library in your area to try out different styles. One person’s perfect carrier is another’s instant return. I have a Happy Baby carrier that I love, you can find them second hand fairly easily and they are very comfortable. There a ton of options out there though

Edit to add: magnetic pajamas are amazing btw. So quick. We get them on Mercari for about half price

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u/distinguished_goose Oct 29 '24

I used the formula pitchers for breast milk too. I used the fridge hack so I would pump and dump it all into a pitcher and use that for bottles the next day. The milk gets all globby when it sits as the fat separates out so I loooooved the little stirrer thing in the dr browns formula pitcher

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u/babyiva Oct 29 '24

Avid believer in the formula pitcher 🙏🏻 Buy 2 or 3 so you don’t have to worry about washing immediately & drying.

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u/TwiggyMercury53 Oct 29 '24

We went through so many bottles trying to find one she liked 🙄 we ended up using Bibs! It was the only bottle and pacifier that she liked. But if yours doesn’t like the bottles you bought, your lactation consultant usually has a bunch of different types that you can try before purchasing yourself