Graco Nasal Clear Nasal Aspirator

A. Farrell "frederoni" (Houston, Tx) 

Works great, when you read the instructions!!

Our daughter was constantly getting a cold in the winter, so we were endlessly having to clear out her nose, which she hated. We would rinse out the bulb aspirator after each use, but when I got a whiff of the inside of that thing one day, I nearly puked!

One day I found this inexpensive option at Wal-Mart. The first few times, she was unsure, but once she saw how it made her feel, she truly doesn't mind it. I wasn't totally impressed at first because I just felt like it wasn't sucking enough. But when my husband read the directions, it tells you sometimes, if the mucus is thick, you need to suck in a little water in between suctions. When you do that, it works perfectly! As gross as it is, the water flushes out the loose boogers and they go straight to the clear cup.

We loove this gagdet, and I suggest all the people who complain about the suction try using the water!  

Aidan'sMom

Luvs it!!

My son cries when I use the bulb, and does fuss when I use this aspirator; however, he will stop fussing and coo when he feels the mucus coming out of his nose. I imagine it feels quite good to be able to breathe well! I use it everyday. I haven't seen this in the reviews I read, but it's necessary to use the saline drops with this just as you would the bulb. You wouldn't believe how much mucus comes out, and it makes me wonder how the poor babies feel that don't get there noses cleaned out everyday. I imagine it's uncomfortable as babies cannot breathe through their mouths :-( All in all, I highly recommend this product. 

Munchkin White Hot Inflatable Duck Tub

Kady "Kady" (Atlanta, Ga)

Best Tub Ever

This has been the best bath investment we made for our son! He began using this on the countertop in the bathroom at about 7 months. He's 14 months now and it's in the bathtub. The quaker on the duck's bill still wokrs and it has a handy suction cup so we stick it to the back of the tub wall when done. It drains nicely. We've taken several vacations and it deflates with ease. I don't know why the previous poster said it took them a half hour to blow up!? I've inflated this within a couple of minutes with no problem. Their issue may have been that they didn't read the directions regarding the valve. Many inflatable items have a closed valve so when you try and blow up the item, you have to pinch the stem at the same time. This allows a little flap in the valve to open and let air in. The purpose is to keep leaking of air from the valve stem over time to a minimum. My 72 year old mother in law blew this up at the beach with no problems once I showed her the valve trick! We highly recommend this tub as it is durable and fun! We just squeak the duck's bill and our son comes running for his bath!

C. Burns (NYC)

Perfect solution for shower stalls

We have 6-month-old twins in a typically small NYC apartment. They were quickly outgrowing the kitchen sink but we don't have a bathtub, just a 30"X30" shower stall.
This tub fits the bill perfectly (no pun intended). Most baby tubs are relatively enormous (and sized for a bath tub), but because this is inflatable it folds down into the storage stool with no problem, and because of the suction cup on the bottom it hangs dry on the wall of the shower stall. It's sturdy enough for a big baby, I can't see needing a plastic one for at least another year. The babies love it; they splash and can hang on to the sides or be supported by them. The bottom is just textured and padded enough they don't slip around. Excellent design and perfect size. Our babies actually have bath time now. It might just be the best $15 I've ever spent.
Other notes: I would recommend for babies who can sit up unassisted or very close to it. Having a handheld shower head helps a TON for the shower stall. For you twin parents out there, this isn't really big enough for both of them, so we bathe them one at a time. Travels very well - hello holidays. The beak squawks when you squeeze it, they don't seem to care about that (yet).
Overall it's a no-brainer product. Enjoy! 

KidCo Bath Storage Basket

Great Organizer

Carrie D. Friday "Carrie" (Palm Bay, Florida)  

I recently ordered this for our tub.

My daughter's bathroom is also the guest bathroom so when people come to stay with us, we have to dig all the tub toys out.

We originally had the Boon Frog toy thing that sticks to the way. It was horrible and didn't work at all. I was skeptical of ordering something after that experience.

This organizer is perfect. It keeps all the toys out of the tub. It has removable dividers which are perfect for organizing bath toys.

I noticed some people mentioned that you can't use it in the shower if you share the same bathroom. I disagree. We just push it all the way to the back and then the shower curtain will close easily.  I am very pleased. 

Shannon B Davis "Nepenthe" (Arlington, MA United States)

makes my bathroom clean and neat and keeps all toys in one place,  

This organizer is simply one of the best purchases I have ever made. It is simple and non-obtrusive, simply adjusting to fit over your bathtub, resting on the sides. If you do not have flat sides to your bath tub, this may not work for you. It has dividers, so you can create separators between, say, soap and shampoo, and toys. We use it to store the rubber duckies, shampoo, soap, and so forth. It also handily blocks access to the faucet and all the enticing knobs on that end of the tub.

Our bathtub would surely be a much messier place without it. I usually try to avoid buying too many baby products that I don't really need it, but this one - is a total must for a clean and organized bathroom. 

 

Dream On Me Baby Bath Seat, Blue

Mommyfor7

LOOK NO FURTHER!!!

I'm a mom of 7 children ages 6 months to 16 years. Needless to say I have tried many baby seats for the tub over the years. This one is great. I'm always worried when ordering online since you can't touch the item to see how well it is made. I have a very fat little one and there is plenty of room. ALL bath seats have a slippery seat but this one has a bigger front bar between the legs to try and help with the comfort issue. Worst case for a little boy wrap a hand towel around the bar for cushion. I have done that in the past. Overall I am very happy with my purchase and wanted to leave a post for mommys and daddys to know that this is a great buy. 

Nicole Gorley

Absolutely awesome!

I'm mother to a 7 month old who I've never bathed by myself before. I'm a pretty petite person (5 foot tall), so I was VERY nervous bathing my son. My husband bathes him and I help when I am not in the way LOL! I bought this seat because I remember when I was younger, my mom used them with my brother and sister, similar seats at least. I though, 'Hmm! This could solve my problem and make it a ton easier to bathe a squirmy, splashy, excitable kid!'. It did, too! He didn't seem too interested in the toys just yet, he wanted to splash more than anything. When we were done, I held him with one arm and rinsed him off and voila, done.

I was nervous though, before running the bath. I couldn't seem to get the suction cups to stick down at all, maybe one or two at a time, but not all 4. After I filled the tub I tried again, and it stuck really well - if it hadn't, I would be writing a very different review.

Mission accomplished, bath time conquered! Mom - 1 , son - 0. :) 

Mommy's Helper Toilet Seat Lid-Lok

H. M Rothfuss "mom of 2" (United States)

An end to toilet fishing.

I love this secure and easy to use toilet lock.

I used this lid lock with my toddler from 10 months until 3 years. The best thing about it, is that it works well, but does not have to be attached with adhesive, so it can be installed and removed easily for use or cleaning. I think that the previous reviewer must have had a strange potty, or more likely, just had it installed improperly. If used properly, it clamps onto the rim of the potty without being permanently attached. I found it was difficult to remove, and couldn't remove it just by pulling. It also doesn't rattle if it's installed on the front half of the toilet and NOT under the little buttons that keep the seat off of the rim. I have tried it on a variety of toilets. We were able to have a spare for travel, so every toilet was safe. I really can't understand what went wrong for the previous reviewer. I wish I could help her try to install it so it would work. There are two sizes of clamps to fit different sizes of toilet rims, I found I had to use one for our very old upstairs potty and the other for the more modern downstairs potty. You HAVE to clamp them tightly on the rim though, or it won't work, and would certainly rattle. Maybe that was the problem.

The base is a clamp that's adjustable to fit the rim of the toilet tightly. Then there's a swing-up/down latch that clamps over the lid and seat keeping both of them down. You have to lift two buttons at the same time as you lift the latch, I found I could easily do it with one hand while holding a newborn, but my toddler, who could easily defeat all of our cabinet, drawer, and door locks just couldn't do it. Because I did it one handed the trick wasn't obvious.

Well, I recommend this to all my friends, and will buy more for my new house. 

Cheryl Kleehammer

It works, thank goodness!

Every time I would turn my back my two-year-old twins would get into the toilet. It was disgusting, messy and made my life a complete hassle. I would have to stop cooking dinner, clean up the mess, bathe the kids and hope they'd stay out of the bathroom. There is no way to lock the door to our guest bathroom, and I was actually going to have to run out and purchase yet another child gate to keep the kids out of there.

I figured the price of this lock is cheaper than a new gate, so I bought one to see if it would work.

It works! It took all four spacers to make the lock fit our somewhat oddly shaped German toilet, but now that it's in the kids can't budge it a bit. The toilet is a large oval, so I had to put the lock directly in the front to keep the lid down tightly.

It's been a while now and they can't get around it, even if they pull on the lock or try to force the toilet lid up. It's gotten to the point where they don't even bother with the toilet anymore.

I'm buying another for our entry way 1/2 bath so I don't have to keep locking the door from the outside. I wish I'd known months ago that I could spend less than $8 for a solution to this problem! 

Burt's Bees Baby Bee Shampoo & Wash, 12-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2)

Hopels (East Coast) , said:

Great soap for sensitive babies.

Our son had dandruff after we tried using Johnsons & Johnsons for the first few washings. We then switched to the California Baby brand and while it fixed the flakes, our son smelled like a 35 year old European man ready for a night at the discotheque. We couldn't find the fragrance free so we went with the Burt's Bees brand. The smell is of mild honey comb and it doesn't upset his eyes or skin.

They changed something about the formula because the last few bottles we have purchased on Amazon have had a much thinner consistency when compared what we used to get. Still works well, we just go through more since it seems like it has been watered down. 

 

OwlGirl "Owl Girl" (Utah, USA) , said:

My favorite Soap, Not Just For Babies

Burt's Bees Baby Bee Shampoo and Wash because has a delicious scent. I am a 27 year old with super sensitive skin. I grew up using bar soap, but now prefer liquid soaps, and I've tried just about everything. This is the mildest, best smelling soap I've used. I'm thrilled that the scent doesn't bother me. My skin feels better (I think my former brand of liquid soap had ingredients that were slightly irritating to me, but I am not about to switch back to them and find out. I did a google search about possibly irritating ingredients in soaps and sodium lauryl sulfate is one of them that I am now avoiding.

I recommend this to anyone (baby or adult) with sensitive skin, and I would use the fragrance free version if you're not sure about trying the scented version, although the ingredients look pretty mild: orange oil, anise oil, vanilla oil, etc. This is more cost effective than California Baby, which I also like, but I prefer this scent. I even mixed a little of Burt's Baby Bee wash into the remainder of my California Baby wash.

I also used this as a shampoo, and it left my hair feeling clean and soft.

Itzbeen Baby Care Timer

Must have - they should issue these in hospitals when you give birth,

Stacey Tipton "mlinguist@aol.com" (Anchorage, AK)  

This timer system is beyond helpful - it becomes your BRAIN when you have a newborn, as the hours, feedings and diaper changes become a total blur during this amazing yet totally sleep deprived time of your life. While it would be nice to have a few more features like total ounces drank, whether the diaper was a wet one or a doodie, and tracking of daily totals for everything - that'd be more of a infantcare PDA, and is a bit beyond the scope of this little device. All it aims to be is a timer that will keep track of the key stats in your baby's life, consequently making your life way easier. I wake up in middle of the night and the baby is grunting, for example. I click the backlight button and see that in fact the baby has only been asleep for an hour, and had a diaper and bottle right before that. Then I just go back to sleep. On the other hand, he beguns grunting and making noises and I see the Itzbeen says it's been 2 hours 30 minutes since his last bottle or diaper, and I know it's time to get up and feed him.

It's also great for team caregiving, as my husband can hand me the Itzbeen after doing his morning shift, and I automatically know when the last change and bottle were. We use the wildcard button to track bottle expirations too.

Thumbs up for the developers of this cool gadget - I hope to see an "Itzbeen II" w/ some advanced features in time for my next baby - although keeping it simple does help keep it easy and quick to use, especially in the fog of a 1am, 3am, and 5am feeding schedule! (my son never got the memo that full term babies are only supposed to eat every 3 or 4 hours :) 

spinyfern (Chicago, IL)

I got this product before our baby was born as a way to help my husband be involved with the care of our newborn--I figured that keeping track of things like diapering and feeding schedules would help him feel more integral to the life of the new baby since I would be breastfeeding and doing the lion's share of the feeding work. But it turned out to be more than just a good idea to have when my labor and delivery took 3 days in the hospital and produced one beautiful but tired infant. Our daughter took a couple of weeks to come out of her daze (3 days of being squeezed by contractions would stun anyone!), and in the meantime we had to wake her for feedings, which we juggled with a pumping schedule to help my milk supply come in and build up. This turned out to be an invaluable gadget during those first chaotic weeks. As a bonus, since it arrived two weeks before we delivered, we also used it to time my contractions at home.

Pros:
-The four seperate timers are great. We managed to track our daughter's feedings, my breast pumping, her sleep cycles, and other miscellaneous events all at once. The option of being able to set an alarm (silent with flashing light or beeping with flashing light) for each of the timers was an extra bonus.
-The nightlight feature is fantastic. Even now when we're not using the timers that often I use the nightlight several times a night to check on our daughter without turning the lights on or disturbing my sleeping husband. When we were using the timers the seperate backlight feature was also critical since we could check the display without making it too bright.
-It's small and fits in the palm of your hand or clips onto your clothing. So it goes everywhere and I even slip it into the diaper bag when we're going out of town or even just headed out and about and I need to keep track of something.
-It did accomplish what I wanted it to: my husband was able to be very involved with our daughter's life in the first few weeks. Plus it helped me out that he could keep track of things that needed to be done when I was completely zoned out and sleep deprived.

Cons:
-There really aren't any. Some people complain that it should have more features, like keeping track of wet/dirty diapers or other feeding details. But that's really only something that you do for a short time, and adding features like that would detract from the simplicity of the device.

This is a great product. It had it's heaviest use in the first few weeks of my daughter's life, but we continue to use it and find ways to make it useful for all of us.