The good, the bad, and the ugly - part 3 ... "change time"

   I finally got some time to continue my "Baby needs" series. I already mentioned Bathtime and clothing in my previous posts, so now is the time to talk about change time. Why is change time so significant? Because you'll be changing your baby's diapers for the next 2 to 3+ years. That's right, you better get used to it. 

   First, let's talk about how baby's toilet routines change from birth to potty training. At birth most babies will wet their diapers very little. The way that a nurse explained it to me is that on the first day they will have one wet diaper, on the second day -two, third day -three, up to fourth day (or the day your milk comes in) when they will start having significantly more wet diapers. At first, the baby will not pee a large amount, but by three months you can expect a very wet diaper, especially after nap time or night-time sleep. As to poop (yes, when you have a baby you can use the word "poop" in casual manner ...)

The good, the bad, and the ugly ... part 2 - Bath time

   Last time I wrote about baby clothing and all the inns and outs of it. Today I would like to get to baby gear. By baby gear, I mean the equipment used every day with the exclusion of big ticket items. I will write about big ticket items (like cribs, car seats, and strollers) another time. So what are some of the equipment that I want to mention. I will divide them into "Bath", "change time", "play time", "out and about". So here it goes:

Money-Wise Mondays - shopping for used baby gear.

   Having a new baby doesn't have to break the bank. The trick is to know what items to purchase brand new and high quality and what items can be acquired used. A lot of people are hesitant to purchase anything used for their precious children in fear that it won't be "nice" enough. But for the most part, babies and little kids don't wear out many of the items that they use. Because of that, many big ticket items can be acquired used for fraction of the original cost. The trick is knowing where to shop for these items, how to shop for them and which items you should buy new.

The good, the bad, and the ugly .... part 1 - baby clothes.

   When you are pregnant with your baby, especially when it's your first baby, it's really easy to get sucked into buying a million products that offer to "make your life easier" or "give you more time" or "make your baby smarter, more independent, better sleeper ...." I was there too. What I have learned over the years that babies need very little, and all these "things" just end up clogging up your house and making life harder for you. I am not even mentioning the money I have spent on useless things that were supposed to make my life easier. So what is really needed  for the baby in the first few months? Here is a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly.The Good are the items that I found absolutely necessary or very, very helpful in the first few months (I will tackle toddler items in a later post). The Bad are the items that I really made without or that they didn't make any difference. The Ugly are the things that are really a waste of my money, or that I found useless, or were downright dangerous.