The only three baby items you'll ever need...

I entered an online competition the other day and one of the requirements was to say what you couldn't live without during the baby stage. It got me thinking about what essentials you really do need when you have a baby. When you are preparing for your first, it's so exciting to go out and shop for baby goods. Cot. Change table. Pram. Bath. Swing. Rocker. I could go on. There's so many things you can buy for your baby and of course you're convinced that each of these things are essential to have for your baby (or so everyone tells you anyway *sigh*) We've been there and done that. We didn't go as far as to get the matching sheets/curtains/mobile/wallpaper but we did buy a lot of 'stuff'!

So, after having three kids and now having to find places for all the items we bought and didn't need, I've come up with a list of the only three baby items you'll ever need (bearing in mind that a carseat is non optional ;))

Boobs. Yep. Not only do they provide food for your baby (and the best kind of food for your baby, I might add), they also provide a source of comfort for your baby, a means of calming them, a way of getting them to sleep and a beautiful bonding experience for both you and your baby. And the benefits even continue as they grow older, I've used them to calm tantrums, to settle a tired child, to heal bumps and bruises, to rehydrate a sick child and to cool a fever. The list goes on! The best thing about boobs though is that they are free (find out how much formula costs here)

Sling. It has to be a decent one though. I love the Hug-a-Bub or a simple wrap type of carrier from birth to 6 months. It holds my baby securely against me and is so comfortable for me as well. I wouldn't be anywhere without my sling. Two of my kids have hated the pram (and by the time I got to #3 I'd given up entirely on the pram!) There's also no time to try and settle #3 in his own bed, it's much easier and less stress if I settle him in the sling. And of course there are so many awesome benefits of holding your baby close.

Cloth Nappies. I've developed a bit of a cloth nappy hoarding habit lately. We didn't always use cloth nappies though. Up until Jacob was 12 months old we used disposables but after hearing from friends about how awesome modern cloth nappies were we were hooked. Now I'm just astounded at how much money families are likely to spend on disposables I love modern cloth nappies (and probably have far too many of them!) but seriously, you don't even need those. A heap of terry towel nappies and some covers, some flannels for wipes and you're set! Easy. And cheap. Of course, we also combine our cloth nappying with Elimination Communication which makes it even cheaper but I don't make the assumption that EC will be everyone's cup of tea ;)

As for the rest of our well-intended baby items, I can tell you what has happened to them...


The cot: Currently used as a storage space for other unused junk. Gideon sleeps in bed with us. Preferably on our chest.

The change table: Sits unused in our room (although I have to admit it is useful for storing baby stuff under!) We generally change Gideon on the floor downstairs - too much effort walking up those stairs!

The bath and stand: Sits unused in our (unused) shower. Gideon has his bath with the other kids (when we get around to actually giving him a bath that is!) or in the shower with us.

The pram: Sits unused in our garage. It was in the boot of the car until we decided it was just taking up space!

Play arch: Currently stored in the cot. It's pointless getting it out anyway because the baby doesn't get a chance to use it due to the older kids playing with it (what is it with older kids suddenly wanting to play with baby toys again?!)


I'm sure I could think of many other things we have bought and haven't used too!

What's something you've bought for your baby and haven't used?

Muesli making Monday

We love homemade muesli in this house and go through it quite quickly. So Mondays in our house have officially been declared 'muesli making Mondays' and we make a fresh batch of muesli to last us the week. After making it for so many months, I have had lots of time to perfect our recipe! Our basic recipe is this:

MUESLI

Ingredients

4 cups rolled Oats
2 cups processed Bran
1 cup Oat Bran
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1./2 cup flaked almonds
1/2 cup pumpkin kernels
1/2 sunflower seeds
90g butter
90g honey

Method

Combine dry ingredients.
Melt butter and honey, add to dry ingredients and mix well.
Spread on a tray and cook in oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
Stir muesli and cook for a further 15 minutes or until nicely browned.

We all like different dried fruit with our muesli so I store it plain in a container. Then we all add the fruit we want each morning. I have a cupboard full of dried fruit (some of it dried by us in our dehydrator)

My favourite way to have it though is with dried apples and homemade yoghurt - yum!

How do you do your muesli?

As nature intended

We were at the Melbourne Zoo today with the kids and were lucky enough to see a baby elephant having a breastfeed from it's Mother. It was so beautiful to watch the Mother and baby elephant gently touch trunks as the baby breastfed. It reminded me just how lucky I have been to have experienced such a beautiful bonding experience with all three of my kids by breastfeeding them. And it's clear that this is how nature intended things to be - breastfeeding is nature's way of guaranteeing we fall in love with our children!

First tooth

At just three months of age, Gideon has got his first tooth (well, two actually since he decided to pop out another tooth since this photo was taken) He'd been a bit unsettled lately but we'd put it down to normal baby behaviour. Turns out the he was actually teething! These first two teeth came too soon for our amber teething necklace to have any effect (it only just arrived in the post last week!) The other two kids were early teethers (4.5 and 4 months) but 3 months is a little too early for my liking! Good-bye gummy smiles!

Farm Story Bag

I recently saw a felt bag and farm animal set on Etsy and thought it was a great idea. So I set myself a challenge to make one myself. This is the end result! This bag was made specifically as a birthday present for my friend's one year old. The bag is big enough to fit a book inside and the animals are all perfect sizes for little hands. The book 'The Big Red Barn' fits perfectly with the bag. I'm very proud of myself as I made all the patterns myself.

Jungle Safari

I always like having a craft activity for the kids to do at parties. I find that often having a structured activity can help a quiet child feel more at ease at a party (I'm thinking specifically of my own children here who often become overwhelmed at parties where there are lots of people). Alternatively, it can help a child who has lots of energy focus and calm down.

Esme's birthday party this year had a jungle theme so our craft activity was to make some binoculars to take on our jungle safari. Here's how we made them:

What you will need:

Toilet rolls
Masking tape
String
Cellophane
Textras, glitter, sequins, etc for decorating

How to make it:

Get the kids to decorate two toilet rolls.

Cut out two circles of cellophane approximately the same size as the holes of the toilet rolls. Use masking tape to stick on the ends of the toilet rolls.

Use masking tape to stick the toilet rolls together.

Cut a piece of strong big enough to hang around the kid's neck. Use masking tape to stick on each side of the toilet roll.

One of the party games was to go on a 'safari' and find animals hidden outside (I had some cheap plastic animals that I purchased off ebay). The kids were able to use the binoculars they had made to help 'find' the animals.

Jacob was so intent on using his binoculars to spot animals that the other kids had already found most of them before he got to them!

All of the kids had lots of fun making their binoculars and then getting to find the animals.

Elimination Communication and the new baby

I've written before about using elimination communication with Esme and how I thought it helped her to toilet train earlier. For those that don't know what Elimination Communication is, it's basically reading your baby's cues and helping them to get rid of their waste somewhere else apart from a nappy. We love it because it means less nappies to clean, is better for our baby's skin and, believe it or not, a great bonding experience! I love that I am able to read my baby's cues and know instinctively when they need to eliminate. Check out this website if you want more information.

We embarked on our EC adventures again when Gideon was born but we hadn't been overly successful until now. I've found it a bit more difficult EC'ing with a boy than a girl at this early age - simply because positioning to catch wees for a boys requires a bit more effort and coordination. We use a potty to catch waste and hold Gideon over it in the traditional EC hold. He wasn't particularly happy to be held in this position in the early days so instead I have been leaving his nappy off and watching him to learn what 'cues' he is giving for needing to eliminate.

The other day I decided to try him again over the potty as I hadn't tried for a while. So straight after a feed when he was happy I took his nappy off and held him over the potty. Instant success this time! I can't tell you how excited I was to get that first catch (ahhh, the joys of motherhood!) I think that first catch was actually the hardest. We're been having quite a bit of success since that time too and it's so lovely not having to clean those nappies!

I don't profess to being a purist when it comes to Elimination Communication. In an ideal world I'd love to practice EC full-time but it just isn't practical for us at the moment. I'm usually in and out of the car with all three kids across the day or busy with the older two and I don't always have the time to watch Gideon for his 'cues'. But I love that just by doing it part-time I'm learning to understand my baby a little better and minimising our environmental impact!

I'll be back later to write about 'cues' that Gideon gives when he needs to eliminate and the best times to practice Elimination Communication.