For someone who is very rarely ill, the last couple weeks have been a nightmare.  First, I caught a cold (which Charlie also battled for a couple days) that knocked me out for an entire weekend.  Then, I got what I suspect is a case of food poisoning the following weekend.  And this last weekend?  Hives.  HIVES!  My doctor actually suspects that I’ve developed a sudden allergy to the Fenugreek I’ve been taking for breastmilk supply and has ordered me to stop taking it for 48 hours to see if that’s the issue.  It pains me to stop taking it, even though I’m constantly itching and I’ve been giving serious consideration to weening Charlie at the six month mark (more on that next week), but my doc assures me that if the allergy is not caused by the fenugreek and I go back to taking it, the breastmilk supply will get back up to its old levels.  Right now, my arms, chest, neck, face, and bellybutton are begging me to stay off the ‘greek, so I’m avoiding it for the immediate future.

Looking at all of my bottles of fenugreek just sitting on a table, I started thinking about all of the little things we’ve picked up along the way for Charlie that we never thought we’d need, as well as all the things we thought were essential that turned out to be fairly useless.  And viola, my idea for this week’s post!  Below, I present to you my top items that I never thought I’d need but have been lifesavers, as well as the items that I thought we could never live without and proved to be fairly useless.

1.  More than one breast pump – If you are a working mom, trekking a pump back and forth to work every day is a chore.  But no one told me that eventually my baby would go to sleep at 8 pm every night and I’d need to pump before I went to bed to prevent engorgement in the early morning!  So now I have my Aveda Purely Yours at the office all the time and I’ve just continued to rent a Medela from the hospital where Charlie was born to use at home.  This is an expensive option, though.  Another idea is to just keep a single, cheaper pump at home for the late night session.  I also have my Medela hand pump for travel.  It’s a lot of gear, but it’s all been used many many times.

2.  An exersaucer – We have friends who call this item “the circle of neglect,” in a joking manner of course since they own one themselves.  I admit that even though I put one on our registry I didn’t know if I’d use it because it really did just seem like a place to put a kid when you wanted to be able to walk out of the room for a second.  And, of course, I was never going to do that.  (Chuckle.)  Now, I totally use it when I want to be able to run into the next room for a second, but mainly I just enjoy watching Charlie master each toy on the circle.  I’ve watched him go from barely being able to grip most of the toys to being able to spin himself from one toy to the next and manipulate each item like a champ.  His development has surely benefited from “the circle of neglect” and I will never doubt its powers again.

3.  More burp clothes than you could ever think you would need – Don’t get me wrong, I knew we needed burp clothes.  I just didn’t know we’d need so many.  We now own three different types of burp clothes, but I must say that the best burp clothes of the bunch are actually indian prefold diapers.  Seriously.  We have a stack of these things and they get used constantly.  Babies spit up, they spit out food, they drool…oh lord do they drool…the prefolds absorb everything and wash easily.  This same rule applies to pacifiers.  Buy many of them.  Trust me on this.

4.  Formula – I thought I’d be a full-time breastfeeder with perfect supply.  There’s no shame in supplementing, or deciding not to breastfeed at all, but formula was just not something that was on my radar.  Some folks say buy the generic because it’s all the same anyway so why spend all that money.  Others vote for the organic brands.  The anti organic folks will tell you that the natural components of the formula are made from genetically engineered produce.  There are so many choices!  In the end, we went for Earth’s Best organic because we are cooler with genetically engineered than chemically treated.  It’s not cheap, but Babies R Us has fairly regular specials for this brand so we stock up when they do.

5.  Kids music – I’m a music snob and in some circumstances a little indie rock does tend to quiet Charlie down, but that kid just can’t get enough of “The Wheels on the Bus.”  He really likes being sung to, so I have found myself looking up kids music on Rhapsody in order to re-learn the lyrics to some of the old standards and also learn some new ones.  Other favorites in my distinguished repertoire are “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” “Old MacDonald,” and “You Are My Sunshine.”

And now for the things I thought I couldn’t live without…

1.  A crib – at the very least, I could have lived without the crib for the first few months.  Charlie sleeps next to our bed in an Arm’s Reach and will probably be there for at least another month.  After that, he could have easily slept in a pack’n'play until he reached toddlerhood.  But considering that our crib is an Ikea Gulliver, it’s not like we had to make a huge investment.  I swear that some day he will sleep in his own room.

2. A baby food “maker” – I always knew that I’d make my own baby food purees for Charlie, so I researched the all-in-one jobbies that steam and puree the food for you.  But we live in a small city house, with a small city kitchen, so another appliance would just take up our already non-existent counter space that is already occupied by a perfectly serviceable food processor.  It’s just as easy to steam the food and transfer it to the KitchenAid.

3. A breastfeeding support pillow – The lactation consultant cautioned me against using my breastfeeding pillow in the early weeks, saying that I should get the proper position and hold down pat first.  But once I got it, I never ended up using the pillow at all.  I tried using it a couple times but it just felt awkward.

4.  Wipes warmer and reusable wipes – I love our cloth diapers, but I’ll stick with disposables for the wipes.  The cloth wipes are messy, must stay wet, and have very specific washing instructions.  I’ve got the cloth diaper washing down to a science, now, so no wrenches in the works please.

5.  Nursing clothes – The nursing fashion tops that I’ve found have been less than flattering and not any more convenient than some of my regular tops that have necklines that lend themselves to breastfeeding.  There is one caveat to this item: nursing tank tops.  I wear those every single day, as they provide great coverage.  I just wear one under my regular shirt.

What were your greatest and worst baby-related purchases?