I could not be a parent without the internet, I’m pretty damn sure.  All of my favorite products have come from the internet, and the rest were researched heavily online. Plus, hi, the mama boards.

Anyway, here is a roundup of Baby Stuff that makes me thank the Internet gods all the damn time.

1) Babywearing. My wraps, now, but earlier, my pouches. I would be just another person with a Bjorn had I not found thebabywearer.com and all of it’s less expensive (um, usually, I’m looking at you, Storchenweige) and way more comfortable than the Available at Target options.  My Storch, for costing as much as it did, is my desert-island purchase, as in it’s the one piece of baby stuff I could not live without. Period.

2) Our carseats. Everyone has their own parenting bugaboo, and mine is carseats. I got a Britax Decathlon when Ingrid was born, with money from my grandmother earmarked for such a purchase, and love it. We used the baby bucket less than a dozen times, and only once as an infant carrier. I had my IUD checked with Ingrid sitting on my belly, even, it was so not a big deal*.  When I started at work, I TRIED a well-rated seat (the Uptown) but it just didn’t work for us, my Britax threshold had been set, and I returned it and ordered Dave a Marathon. Technically, I could get these at Target, but we saved well over a hundred dollars by ordering online, before factoring in the tax-free savings.

3) Babylegs!  It actually took me a while to get on the babylegs love train, but  as winter set in, I did.  We have three pair, now, and are used primarily as a long-johns-esque layer, but on that warm day last week, I used them as tights.  Her daycare providers love them, because it keeps her warm but doesn’t add another diaper changing layer. I can see using them a lot more as it gets warmer this spring, under the handful of dresses she has.

4) Baby shoes… I have two pais of Robeez knockoffs from an ebay store, QQshoes, and they have been great. I also just picked up a pair of Isabooties from a swap board, and they are a little big but have a touch more traction for when she ends up on her feet. And when she starts walking, the girl is so getting a pair of Pedoodles, at least the orange runners, or maybe flower power, but maybe also the Ruby Janes.  But that’s a ways off, since she is still Just Sitting.

5) Breastfeeding supplies.  Mostly, my pump. I got a screaming deal on an Ameda Purely Yours, and ended up having to get the larger horns, and the manual attachment, but it was still light years less expensive than a Pump in Style, and as powerful and well rated. Actually, Lansinoh now co-brands the same pump, and sells it at Target and WalMart for about 150, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a pump.

6) Nosefrida! My newest score.  Yes, it’s a snot sucker from sweden that is operated with your mouth. But no! It’s not gross at ALL! Well, not as gross as the bulb is, anyway, when you’re in the business of blowing someone ELSE’S nose, it’s going to have a certain level of gross. But, the bulb is hard to navigate, can’t be cleaned, has to be squeezed and squeezed and squeezed, whereas the nosefrida? You don’t have to keep plunging, or even get it IN their nose…. the filter means you don’t end up with a mouthful of boog, and it comes apart to be cleaned. Since you control the suction, you can get just about everything in one pass. As I referred to it earlier — it’s the Nose Dyson. Yes, I bought a 20 dollar swedish snot sucker. But I would’ve paid TWICE that if they’d done a demo in the hospital. Seriously, it ROCKS.

7) Cloth diapers. We’re not CD’ing anymore as with Ingrid in daycare it would take a long time to get a load together (uh, for the wash) but we used them about 85% of the time until she was almost 9 months old. I actually kind of miss it, and can’t bring myself to sell her current stash like I did her newborn stash, but um, anyway, the CDs worked well for us while we used them. Could not have found any of my supplies locally.

8) Our stroller. While we haven’t used it as much as I expected (see, #1) we do use it, and it’s a fabulous stroller. We used it almost daily over the summer, and only once or twice this winter. I’ve never used it inside anywhere, preferring to wear her instead, but it’s a great outdoor stroller, so I’m glad we have it.

9) Information. The aforementioned babywearer website, kellymom.com for breastfeeding info, askdrsears.com or drgreene.com are my quick references, and for car seat safety, carseatsite.com.

10) All of my friends in the internet, who have shared their experiences, their time, their story, their thoughts with lil’ old me and Ingrid. Can’t imagine it without the internet. Truly can’t.

*I’m actually really, really, viscerally bothered by bucket carseats now, in a way that I never could have seen coming.  The concept of never-touching-your-baby as ‘convenient’ is so backasswards, I just don’t get it. I hate going to Target and seeing babies in buckets, crying, and their parents like "WHAT COULD BE WRONG!" and not moving to pick up the baby. Or, if they DO, then they’re hauling around the baby AND the bucket, and that is sooo not convenient. I still wear Ingrid in stores a lot, but I feel like my impact of showing the alternative is wearing down as she gets bigger.  Also, now? Graco is making a swing that you can clip the carseat into. So, car, grocery cart, stroller, and swing… GREAT. And, as a disclaimer, I’m sure that there are good reasons that people use bucket seats, that maybe I never had to deal with, and it’s not individual parents that I react to, but this general thought that since the advent of the bucket seat, you are SUPPOSED to make sure your kid is in a 5-pt harness at all times, that a sling or wrap is less safe, or you’re ‘spoiling’ the baby, or it’s not NATURAL to want to hold your baby close. It bothers Dave, too… one of his coworkers brought in her same-aged baby and just left him in the bucket in the hall while she ran around the building doing stuff. It freaked him out, because our way of doing things is just so…. not like that. But, it’s what Everyone Does! Way to go, Graco Marketing! Sigh.