Even more baby
5 opinionated baby-item recommendations
Leo is almost 10 months old now and I’ve accumulated a bit more experience with different practical baby-related tasks. So it seems worth sharing some opinions so that others can bypass trial-and-error. This is basically a “stuff you should buy and use” listicle.
Buy a bottle-washing-sterilizing-drying machine. (Probably also buy formula-prep machines if you use formula.)
Most baby stuff isn’t good to put in the dishwasher, partly because it acquires an unpleasant smell and taste, partly because for newborns it might be insufficiently sterile (though I’m more skeptical about this part).
At first I was hand-washing bottles / baby items / pump parts in a dedicated wash basin with scentless soap and then using a sterilizer machine. But the washing part would take ~30 mins+ per day if I was pumping multiple times etc. Very annoying. But now I have this thing, the “Momcozy KleanPal Pro Baby Bottle Washer and Sterilizer”, which washes, sterilizes, and dries all-in-one. You should definitely get it if you use bottles or pumps or other baby items that need to be washed and sterilized in a dedicated way. Or you can get this similar product from Baby Brezza which I haven’t tried but have also heard good things about.
You should still buy this Palmolive fragrance-free dish soap since it’s great for ad-hoc cleaning of baby items and dishes without leaving a persistent synthetic smell.
I haven’t used baby formula but I’ve heard great things about formula-prep machines from others, like this one.
I’ve never met anyone who has regretted buying these items, and at least 8 families have raved about them to me.
The Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair is the best high chair you can buy. It’s pretty easy to clean compared to other brands, ergonomic, and adjustable for different heights and ages. Various others agree with me.
This ergonomic nursing pillow is probably the top baby product I have. Ignore anyone who dismisses nursing pillows if they haven’t tried this specific one, since I’ve found it so much more supportive and versatile than any others. Crucially, it’s quite comfortable to use while typing on a laptop so that your baby can nap by you while you work. Multiple reviews on the website cite the same use-case :D. Also consider using the weird hand muff thing it comes with to place behind your baby’s back to keep them in the correct side-lying position.
Baby carrier: I’ve tried 3, my favorite so far is the WildBird Aerial. This one also looks really nice but I haven’t tried it.
Finally, a more niche recommendation — if you have a baby who hates bottles but you still occasionally need to feed them milk from something other than a nipple, try straw cups. I found this cup pretty good. Also this one. I’d say starting around ~7 months you can teach a baby to drink from a straw or open cup. The open cup is messy of course. But worth trying if your baby hates bottles!
Bonus:
Read this recent article on breast milk storage from parenting author and economist Emily Oster. As I suspected before this was published, CDC guidelines on how to store breast milk are way too conservative. For example, current guidelines say that if a baby has started drinking from a bottle you must throw out all remaining milk after an hour. However, this isn’t substantiated by good evidence. Quoting from the cited study (preprint here):
Among surveyed parents, 46% discarded leftover milk daily, yet 84% reported they would keep milk longer if deemed safe. In microbiological testing, median bacterial burden in humanmilk increased from 4200 CFU/ml (range 300-350,000) pre-feeding to 24,600 CFU/ml (range 1900-29,004,400) post-feeding, but showed no significant further increase at 4 hours (p=0.82) or 8 hours (p=0.64) when stored at either 4°C or 20°C. Formula showed similar stability: median CFU/ml increased from 0 (range 0-10,700) to 11,700 (range 1900-630,000) post-feeding, with no significant change at 4 hours (p=0.91) or 8 hours (p=0.73) at either temperature. Significant bacterial growth occurred only after 24 hours at 20°C (p<0.001).
Bacterial burden in leftover infant milk remained stable below concerning thresholds for 8 hours when refrigerated and 4-8 hours at room temperature, challenging current guidelines that mandate immediate disposal. Evidence-based guideline revision could reduce financial burden and milk waste for families around the globe without compromising infant safety.