Baby clothes

How many is too many? How much is enough? Part of the confusion stems from the inconsistency of naming.

	The onesie is a staple. People say you can't have too many onesies but I disagree. I feel we did have too many in the 0-3m and 3m size. They're so cute, everyone wants to buy them for you, but we didn't end up using all of them because we had too many.
	Maybe I would have been crazier about the bodysuit if my son had been born at the beginning of winter, but I didn't ever use these. For sure I would rank the importance of this garment higher than a long-sleeved shirt. The snaps at the bottom are essential to prevent it from riding up.
	For us the footed PJ is the MOST ESSENTIAL. The current guidelines for infant sleep are that there should be no blankets, so to keep the baby warm, you need a one-piece thing like this. The variety comes into play with the thickness of the fabric. They can zip up or zip down (where the zipper head resides near the child's neck or foot. They also come in a all-snap variety. I think it's personal preference, I like the snaps but my husband likes the zippers. You can also get ones that have like built-in mittens for the hands.
	For the 0-3 months, we used the Kimono Top, Footed Pants & Hat Set to increase the versatility of the large number of onesies. In fact, more kimono tops would have been good. With our son's hernia, we don't put him in pants often. The waistband puts pressure on the bulging area and he screams bloody murder when it causes him pain.
	A romper is fun and sleeveless. We have one with a hood that is really useful for protecting the baby's head from getting sunburned when I am wearing him in a carrier and out for walks. We say it's like he's a bro and showing off his muscled arms.
	Another quirk of our baby is that he was born needing access to his hands. Therefore swaddles were pointless. Swaddle blankets can be used for other things but the new trend in velcro swaddles, halo sleep sacks and love to dream zipper swaddles just would not have worked for us. Luckily, I had only one in each size.

Here's a breakdown of how many of each thing we had. I say had because the smaller sizes have already been sent along to my younger sister. The truth about sizing is that you know it's time to size up when you see the back bulge coming out of the neck of the onesie. Also, if it is challenging to snap. For us, we cloth diaper. The drawback to cloth diapering is that they can be bulky, so we have sized up to 6 month clothing for daytime when baby is in cloth, but we can still use the 3-6 month size at night when he is wearing disposable diapers.

I took a catalog of how many of each type of item in each size range we had (in blue) so that I could say what I would recommend and then compared that with three sources (in red) that make recommendations. Some categories we had more than 10, but it made the graph look funny so if we had more than 10, like we did for onesies, I just didn't show it. One unexpected thing that I love is putting socks on my baby. His daytime uniform is a short-sleeved onesie and socks. Maybe if my baby had been born in winter, he would have needed more footie PJs and jackets/coats.

I'm trying to send these items to my sister because I started worrying about having enough clothes around Jan 14 (week 32) and I didn't have my baby shower until a month later, and I think that was too late for me to feel prepared.

Cloth diapering

How to get started? How many cloth diapers do you need? What are some laundry issues that you may encounter? What type of fabric is used in cloth diapers? How soon should I be getting all this stuff?

For tiny baby, we've been cloth diapering since 3 weeks old. We used 28 flour sack towels (FSTs) with 2 polyester/polyurethane laminate PUL covers and 2 snappi fasteners. I loved this as a supplement to the 8 all-in-one BumGenius size 1 we had. It was possible to do laundry every other day. 

double FST with Snappi in kite fold

Thirsties Cover (Size 2, 9-36 months, 18-40 lbs)

The FSTs were folded in a newborn kite fold. What I would do is fold them in half lengthwise fresh out of the drier then let them sit overnight. The next day I would do the folding into a diaper shape. I have a nice basket to hold them until needed. FSTs are a way to diaper using flats.

Bummis Super Whisper Wrap Cover (size small, 8-15 lbs)

We had a set of 4 newborn all-in-ones from bumgenius, but I have already passed those along to my sister. We never used them because we didn't start cloth diapers until our baby was 3 weeks old, he grew fast, and his inguinal hernia when it bulges actually needs a lot of room. Maybe they would have been more useful for a girl.

BumGenius AIOs in Size 1

What I have not used yet are Fitted Sloomb Overnight Bamboo Fleece aka OBFs (Sustainablebabyish) are made from 70% viscose from bamboo / 30% organic cotton.

AI2 - all in two. I don't think I have any of these. They are a cover and an insert that snaps into place.

Soaker - the absorbent part of an AI2, fitted, or AIO diaper.  Lays in or snaps in. For AIOs, the soaker is sewn into the diaper iself.

Insert - the absorbent part of a pocket diaper.  The same thing as a soaker but is inserted into the pocket.

Doubler - used on top of or in addition to a soaker/insert when baby is older/a heavy wetter/at night. Meant to provide extra absorbancy. Thinner and smaller than an insert. Sometimes called "newborn inserts".

Booster - same thing as a doubler, not related to staying dry or wicking, meant to boost the absorbency.

Liner - usually single-layer pieces of fabric laid in a diaper to either create a stay-dry feeling or to make disposing of poop easier or to protect the diaper when using diaper cream. Can be disposable or reusable.

https://www.momadvice.com/post/cloth_diapers

https://mamanloupsden.com/2015/12/16/how-to-cloth-diaper-your-newborn-with-flour-sack-towels/

FSTs from Amazon we bought 30 more!

Cloth diaper sprayer

Toilet funnel, clips, grabber

How often you should clean your washing machine — and how to do it https://www.today.com/series/how-often-should-you/how-clean-washing-machine-t20131 

Washing machine cleaner

Dec 27 - bought new dryer (week 29)

Jan 27 - washed new CDs (week 34)

Feb 4 - washed UCLA used CDs (week 35)

Feb 24 - washed CDs from Mykel (week 38)

Feb 25 - washed CDs from Christiana

You will also get a lot of use from two Pail liners that you can alternate. They can be washed with the diapers (turned inside out) and then I line dry the bag and PUL covers, while the flats (FSTs) I dry in the dryer.

How to properly fit cloth diapers YouTube tutorial.

Postpartum Part 12: food

Since Albert was born I have been so hungry all the time. I have written about my postpartum diet in another post.

I found a breastfeeding meal plan here. Sent dear husband to the store with a grocery list and he came back $300 later with all the items I requested. I don't know if I will have the energy to make all the things, but I am willing to try. 

Since Albert was born, it has been difficult to find the time, energy and attention to really get meals planned, prepped and served. It's important to have a clean kitchen because that's where we wash all the bottles and give the baby a bath.