Although we’ve always been on the fence about using disposable diapers, we know we’re simply not organized enough to get on the cloth diaper bandwagon. To go along with our disposable diapering system, we chose the Dékor Diaper Pail.
We chose this over comparable brands because it seemed like an easy system to use – just step on the pedal and toss in the diaper – and it uses biodegradable diaper bags. The bag system is a tubular bag system that you tie off at each end, so it’s pretty easy to use.
Like advertised, the diaper bin does a great job keeping odors down… until you have to toss in another diaper. Since each diaper is not individually wrapped, which seemed wasteful to us, you can catch a whiff of the lovely warm mess inside.
As for the bin, it’s otherwise quite great. We change the bag about every 7-10 days, though not all our diapers go in that bin (we change diapers downstairs too) and Aiden doesn’t go through a huge number of diapers per day. I have never counted how many diapers fit in the pail, but it’s probably upwards of 40 diapers. You can really stuff them in there, though that’s just usually us being lazy about changing the bag.
The one downside I see to the product is that the latch to open the front to change the bag is not as child-proof as it could be. I can foresee Aiden figuring out how to undo the latch, which could expose the in-built bag cutting edge inside. This is a hypothetical though, but it’s something I’ve considered.
Purchased from Jack & Lola
When we first began sleep training, Aiden slept in his crib for the first time. He’d already learned to roll and, without me next to him, he started rolling all over the place. As a little guy, he kept getting his arms and legs stuck in the crib. We searched high and low for the Jolly Jumper crib bumpers, which were previously sold at Walmart, because they were breathable (which is better for SIDS).
Anyway, we couldn’t find them. So, we ended up doing an online order for the BreatableBaby bumpers from Toys R Us. They’re kind of fancy looking, which you pay for, but they did the job. I suppose it’s nice that they match our room decor.
My only beef with the bumper is that they slip down. Because they’re so thin, they end up going down below the crib mattress, so end up being not as high as you’d want them to be. We adjust them every night, but Aiden pushes against them and snaps them too. He’s still managed to wedge his leg quite badly once because he can get his legs above the lowered bumper. Still, it’s better than it was prior to having the bumpers.
Last weekend we went out to Ikea to purchase a new rug for Aiden’s bedroom. We’ve wanted one for a while, but it’s now an essential. We’re no longer able to change Aiden on his change table since he rolls the second he’s on his back and that makes it both complicated and dangerous to change him up there.
We’ve been changing Aiden on the floor. The rolling, however, means that his poor boy parts were probably getting quite cold on the floor when he did a flip mid-change.
We purchased the Lekplats play mat / carpet from Ikea, an inexpensive and fun carpet. It has a road that circles the landscape, which is in itself quite detailed. Later on he can take his toy cars around the city, even parking them in the parking spots. It should provide for a lot of fun!!
Our house is all hardwood and/or laminate. It can be kind of hard on the rump to sit on the floor and play with a baby all day. I imagine it’s not so nice for said baby, either. So, to soften things up, we decided to get a play mat. We looked at the skip*hop mat Jessica has but, after sleuthing online, decided that the many pieces would simply equal more areas for cat hair to get caught.
Thanks to a tip from another parent, we found out that Canadian Tire (and other mega retailers) have large 24″ reversible floor tiles – coloured on one side, grey on the other. They’re pretty inexpensive and have less pieces to fuss over / clean. Though not as aesthetically pleasing, we opted for the simple play mats.
I knew from my research that the mats may be a target for cats to scratch. Indeed, our male cat, Guinness, has thanked us profusely for providing him with such a generous scratching pad. He loves it to bits – quite literally.
At first, we had the grey side up and flipped to the colorful side when guests were over. Sadly, we didn’t always flip them back fast enough and now both sides show some considerable wear & tear. The colorful side is a bit softer and looks nicer in photos, so that’s the side we’re keeping ‘up’ for now. Guests will just need to live with the unpleasant cat gouges. Or we’ll get a carpet to roll out over it. Who knows.
I’m really glad we got the mats – and even more glad we opted for the cheap ones. I’d be quite pissed if we had the skip*hop and Guinness did the same damage!
When we brought Zayden home from the hospital, our ultimate goal was to have him sleeping in a crib in his own room. We were not committed to the idea of co-sleeping on any level. I was really uncomfortable with the idea of having Z sleep in the bed with us, but did see the advantages of having him in our room during those early days (and nights) when he needed to feed frequently. When a friend had offered us her Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper to use as a bassinet, we decided to try it out and set it up next to the bed ready for Zayden’s arrival. This style of bassinet has many advantages, but the disadvantages might not make it worth the money for most people.
Pros:
- It offers a safer way to co-sleep. Baby is within arm’s reach without being in bed with mom and dad. The safety of bed sharing with an infant is a heavily debated topic that I won’t go into, but if the idea makes you a bit nervous (that was the case for me), this may be a good compromise.
- Portability. We didn’t make use of this feature, but the co-sleeper can be packed up and used as a portable crib if you plan to travel with baby during the first few months of life.
- You can comfortably relax on the bed (or even take a nap yourself, as Justin liked to do) while practicing various sleep techniques like soother removal or putting baby to sleep drowsy but awake.
- If your baby wakes frequently at night for reasons other than hunger (as Zayden did when he had acid reflux), it allows you to comfort baby back to sleep while remaining relaxed and only semi-awake, so that you can fall asleep faster once baby is back asleep.
- It’s smaller than a crib, which can be comforting to baby who is used to the tight spaces of the womb. Some researchers suggest that babies sleep better in smaller beds, like bassinets, until they are a little bigger and the crib doesn’t seem like such a vast open space.
- If you are most comfortable nursing in bed, there is no need to get out of bed to feed the baby at night.
Cons:
- Set up can be frustrating. Even when you get the hang of it, it can still take awhile.
- Babies are noisy sleepers, and some people can’t sleep with baby in the room. It’s a lot of money to spend only to find out that you’re never going to use it.
- If you have a small master bedroom, you may not have enough space for the co-sleeper beside the bed.
- It can be awkward to get in and out of bed if you sleep on the side with the co-sleeper, which is made even more challenging if you’re the one who just gave birth to the baby.
- To be able to comfortably reach for the baby in the middle of the night, you need to temporarily relocate your bedside table.
- The co-sleeper mattress is not level with the bed mattress; there is a slight depression to keep baby from rolling and getting caught between the co-sleeper and the bed. Good for safety, but awkward for moving baby in and out of the bassinet when you are lying down yourself. It also means that you cannot nurse while lying down if the baby is in the co-sleeper.
- If you bottle feed or prefer to nurse somewhere outside of bed (I like the couch), having baby next to the bed in the middle of the night doesn’t make much difference.
Final Verdict: A co-sleeper is pretty expensive, so if this sort of set up appeals to you, I would look into borrowing one from a friend or getting it secondhand or hinting that it would make a great shower gift. I don’t think it has enough advantages over a traditional bassinet or Moses basket to justify the extra expense.
