"Is this even made of real plastic!?" rolling thread of baby/children gear and complaining

so i'm not really complaining, b/c i love them, but is anyone else doing cloth diapers? we've been using them since j (my son) was 1 month old. he's now 9 months. i haven't looked back, they're awesome. we have a washer/dryer in our basement so washing them is no big deal. i feel like you have to do a lot of laundry with a baby anyways so its no sweat to add a couple loads every few days.

we've been using the standard cotton prefolds. the expensive all-in-ones don't really work that great imo, though they come in handy when you need a quick change on the go.

hurting otm wrt to bibs upthread. j will NOT take a spoon from us, he's a strong-willed little guy who insists on feeding himself, so it's beyond messy. a tiny cotton bib is worthless for him. we got the smock-like coverall bibs with short-sleeves, which are pretty good imo.

we have a compostable diaper service. something that didn't even exist 5 years ago.

jury is still out on what diaper method we are going to roll with - i dig the idea of cloth (and compostable is intrruiging) but i have a really really weak stomach wrt dook (i often barely make it through poop-scooping the yard without hurling) so idk.

marcos, we have done a combo of disposable and cloth, though we've used a lot more of the former since he's had a lil rash.

jjj, yr MPG may vary, but i was surprised at how little i care about doodoo now, circle of life mane

put the baby bjorn on ebay and get an ergo, thank me later

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Sunday, May 19, 2013 3:49 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

As will your child's groin!

― One bad call from barely losing to (Alex in SF), Monday, May 20, 2013 7:41 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also can i product-place the BOBA, god of baby carriers
ben is 6 months today and we have never used a stroller

xp yea i've realized that very little grosses me out when it's my own son. also the only gross BMs have been since we started solid foods. breastmilk BMs do not smell unpleasant -- it's been said it smells like buttermilk and that is not off the mark.

tbh though there have been a few crazy solid food BMs that made me gag a little. in any event you have to deal with shit whether it's cloth or disposables.

(apologies for TMI but none of this should phase any parent imo).

i have likened the smell of breastfed baby doodoo to movie theater popcorn butter with mustard

lol

Yes.

sometimes looks a lot like Dijon mustard, too

Really irritated that apparently the Candeloo or Tooli or whatever has an impossible to find in the US replacement battery and doesn't seem to be produced anymore at all (stupid OXO or Phillips or combination of both). Sigh. Strongly suspect that my son will not accept whatever replacement we find for a little while and will insist that he "needs his slug light".

Ugh, that reminds me of a imported-from-Europe-at-way-too-high-a-price talking Pingu stuffed animal that we bought for my daughter. Upon arrival, the package had a warning that read something like "6-month battery life. But it may last even longer if you don't play with it too much."

This thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFxr9KLFlzw

Those worthless little cloth bibs are supposed to be for teething drool. And accessorizing maybe.

It is now my life's goal to find an Ergo baby carrier on Craigslist. I've been *this close* to three, and every time something happens and I can't get it. The last one, the seller got her emails confused and sold it to someone else by mistake after promising it to me, and this one I was apparently "minutes" too late. (I'm particularly rankled there because it was the exact one we wanted, in the box, for half the price.)

Captain Ahab is me.

It is all m bison's fault because of this:

ben is 6 months today and we have never used a stroller

― YOU AIN'T ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS (m bison), Thursday, July 11, 2013 6:39 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Trying to find an appropriate stroller was stressing me out so I decided to take a wait and see approach about buying one and focus on getting a carrier instead.

Watch out for the cheap ones on Craigslist and eBay - tons of fakes out there. Also bugaboo strollers.

2 things:

1. The ergo is totally fucking worth it

2. My take on breastfed early period baby shit is that it smells like the generic cheese puffs that only come in huge tubs that you can buy at gas stations and hardware stores.

jesus christ ppl we used be left rot in our nappies and they trained the alsatian to follow them carrying us in their mouths and it never did us any harm sob cackle sob

BOBA is better than ergo imo
tula looks good for bigger kiddos

oh ha

also can i product-place the BOBA, god of baby carriers

― YOU AIN'T ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS (m bison), Thursday, July 11, 2013 1:39 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Why is it better?

I think I can just make my own.

it was just a better fit for us. bobas feel like really rad baby backpacks.

BTW all involved in baby-wearing, there is a sub-community of people who pay like $500 for like a boatload of fabric to be used as wraps and they collect dozens of them and willing go into poverty to finance them and they frighten me.

I'm not trying to make a statement. I just want to ride public transit without blocking the aisles or taking up four accessible seats with a stroller.

Some thoughts on strollers in cities/on public transit

(1) In the early months of the baby's life, you're going to be taking the baby on public transit a LOT less than you probably imagine you will now, unless you have some reason to be doing it all the time, e.g. you have to drop the baby off at a relative's or daycare.

(2) For the first several months of the baby's life, you need either a stroller with a bassinet or a stroller that fully reclines. I mean assuming you're going to use one -- you could get by without it. The stroller is really just as much for ease of carrying other crap you need in addition to the baby.

The problem is that fully-reclining/bassinet strollers are almost never also lightweight and/or easy to collapse. So there just isn't a great "subway stroller" that I know of that can also be used with newborns, although maybe someone has solved this problem. BTW, imo it's not worth the extra money to buy a stroller bassinet unless you're also planning to have the baby sleep in it. Some models I think just come with a bassinet (UppaBaby Vista?). A stroller that fully reclines (sometimes with an "insert") is just as good, baby won't know the difference.

(3) For these reasons, I think relying more on the carrier for public transit is a good strategy

(4) When the baby gets older, it really is worth getting a second "umbrella" stroller -- one of those cheaper, super lightweight strollers, for purposes of subways/buses and easy collapse into the trunk of a car or taxi. I was irrationally angry at the idea of needing TWO strollers, but it makes perfect sense to me now.

(5) One other thing to consider with strollers in cities -- you have to pull them over curbs and stairs a lot. One of our strollers has these brakes on the back of the rear wheels that get in the way when you try to do this, and it's really annoying. I mean we make do with it anyway, but something to consider. The other stroller has nice large rear wheels that make pulling up/down stairs and over curbs easy.

Signed, someone who put way too much thought into strollers.

ban strollers

I appreciate these thoughts.

We don't have a car, so if we go anywhere with the baby, it will be on public transit or walking. It is possible we won't be going out at all as much as I think we will, since the kid is due in late December and we live in Chicago.

The need for the fully reclining/bassinet stroller is what's getting me, because they are expensive and you don't need them for that long. There are the whole "travel system" strollers, but it is useless for us to have a car seat that has to be installed with a base that you leave in a car (which is all travel systems that I have seen) because... no car! We've settled on this car seat - http://www.combiusa.com/Products/Item.aspx?Item=12%20%20%20%20 - since it has no base* but there is no accompanying stroller base for it. It does work with some "universal" stroller wheels, but those are poorly rated for use anywhere but the smooth tile floors of malls, rendering them fairly useless for the icey snowy sidewalk terrain of Chicago. IT IS VERY ANNOYING.

*It is supposed to be relatively easy to install, too, but the video supposedly demonstrating this showed a very petite woman installing it in the back of a minivan that she was actually able to stand up in, and not a fat woman or 6 ft man trying to install it in the back of a car share Prius so we'll see how that turns out.

We used an infant carseat and a $20 used snap-and-go a good amount, but the problem with this is that you have to then buy a different carseat when they get bigger (which she did very quickly). I think it only works with the infant-style carseats that have accompanying bases, and not the kind you're getting.

But yeah, I would say particularly given the Chicago winter, you're probably not going out a ton in the first few months, and when you do you'll probably want to stay close. We really didn't take K outside the neighborhood very often until she was at least six months. It's just not that enjoyable tbh -- you're tired all the time and the baby's needs are constant and it's kind of nervewracking.

I can't even imagine regularly dealing with ice and snow with a stroller -- maybe there are models with wheels more designed to handle them.

I think the City Mini is supposed to be pretty good in crappy conditions. It's got three wheels like a jogging stroller but has a smaller profile. This one - http://www.babyjogger.com/city_miniGT_sngl_dtl.aspx

There are ten bazillion people pushing strollers around our neighborhood so I know people get the job done. I should stop a few and ask them for advice.

saw so many asshole stroller pushers this summer in European cities that my kids now even mutter "ban strollers" when we see them. don't use them as weapons to get yourself ahead! what's worse is when they have their five year old in the stroller because when they hit you, you get bruised. assholes. and strollers on public trans are horrible. and people use the fuckers to load their groceries or whatever and carry their kid and then they can't keep track of the stroller as it rolls around the bus.

BAN STROLLERS

oh yeah, I remember the city mini had the coolest folding system -- you just grab this handle with one hand and pull up and the thing collapses in your hand.

FWIW we got this thing called the Mamas and Papas Sola, because it was on super sale at Babies R Us. It lays flat, the seat is pretty big (which worked out well for our large baby), the storage underneath is ok, and it has great wheels. The wheels are probably the best feature. It's not really ideal for collapsing though (folds to kind of an awkward shape to carry), and we never wind up taking it on the subway or in a car.

we didn't use a stroller at all until month 5, and only started to regularly use one at month 6. we used the ergo and moby carriers. ergo for outdoors, moby wrap for indoors. moby was too much trouble to use anywhere except around the house. we also used the classic over-the-shoulder ring sling but not that much until months 3 or 4.

we felt like most of the 0-6 month strollers were too pricey to validate their very temporary period of use. plus a 0-6 month baby is light enough that the carriers are more than sufficient.

not my 0-6 month old baby, especially when you're 5'9" and your wife is 5'2"

oh fwiw we have the beco gemini carrier, but the ergo seems better to me - something sort of "stiff" and flak-jacket like about the beco.

ergo is wonderful, J is almost 12 months now and we still use it. the only thing i don't like about it is that it would be nice for J to face outwards sometimes. facing inwards is great for naps but he really wants to see the world and gets fussy facing inwards when he's not tired.

also, i do feel like you could get by with only one stroller -- perhaps a more sturdy umbrella stroller that is strong enough to be useful but light and collapsible enough for traveling, subway, airports, etc. we have a hand-me-down maclaren umbrella and a hand-me-down jogger stroller. tbh i feel like the jogger is far too heavy and bulky. sure it's nice for uneven surfaces or dirt paths. but we rarely find ourselves walking with a stroller in those situations -- J would more likely be with us in a carrier or backpack or something in the woods. 90% of the time i use the maclaren umbrella. only downside is that J naps a little better in the jogger.

Our neighborhood is a notorious yuppie hell hole so I spend a full quarter of the time I'm out on public sidewalks being furious at clueless (or just self-absorbed) assholes with strollers so I'm very invested in not being like that.

Worst I've ever seen was the yuppie dad with a triple stroller who took up the entire accessible area at the front of the bus and blocked the aisle, so people were crammed into the first four feet by the doors, and then let his three children loose to literally run up and down the aisles while he smiled and made conversation with the people whose way he was blocking.

I was out running the other day and yelled at two people, both with double-wide strollers, side by side blocking the entire sidewalk. I had to jump through a raised flower bed to get around them and yelled, 'YOU'RE BLOCKING THE WHOLE FUCKING SIDEWALK". They just told me to have a nice day.

I'm guessing we'll look into a jogging stroller eventually. Not really for using everyday, but for actual jogging.

Jogging with a stroller seems like a pretty obnoxious thing to do on a sidewalk too

I hate people who are idiotic with their strollers too, but good luck to all of you once you are the sleep-deprived people pushing them around.

My time jogging on the sidewalk would be brief, the majority of my runs are on a lakefront path.

all this stroller hate is lame, imo. that triple stroller guy on the bus sounds totally fine to me. tons of people take up accessible areas on a bus, and when a person with a disability comes on, they move. maybe some of y'all should try bringing three toddlers on a bus with a fucking stroller and try not to get into peoples' way?

like this just seems like frustration at people with multiple kids taking up space because they have multiple kids and thus multiple strollers

No no no this guy on the bus was not just taking up space, which happens all the time w/ strollers on the bus and is part of city living. He was blocking the aisle, prohibiting people from boarding or alighting the bus without having to climb over his gear, and letting his small children run around a crowded, moving city bus with no thought to their safety or the safety or comfort of other passengers. I mean, does that seriously seem acceptable behavior? To treat a public conveyance like your own personal fun times chariot?

I also don't think I'm being outrageous to not want to block the sidewalk or push people into the bushes or take up more space than is necessary in an urban environment where physical space is at a premium. But I guess when I'm a tired parent I'll turn into some kind of entitled monster who forgets that pat of urban living is sharing space with other people and then you can all tell me that you told me so.

good luck

According to you, I am not going to leave my apartment for the first three months so it seems like a moot point anyway.

i try to give other parents a lot of leeway in terms of their behavior because i know that parenting is hard, but also there are assholes who become parents but are still assholes

It just sounds like you guys are saying that having a child excuses you from basic human courtesy, which is pretty much the point of my complaint.

n/a otm

an asshole with a stroller is worse than an ordinary asshole because when a stroller comes pushing toward you, you don't wanna just hardbody it the way you might some pushy person on the street, because "oh a baby" but then you try to get out of the way and you hit other people doing so and the smug asshole grins as s/he works through the crowd like royalty, fuck that

we had a bigass stroller with #1, thanks grandma. when out in the city we left the stroller behind, just used ergo. with #2 we had an umbrella stroller but rarely used it, and with #3, only used slings & ergo.

signed Euler Ban Strollers

A coworker has just informed me that she has a bigass stroller with an infant seat ("probably too big for you but I'll bring it over anyway") to give us, so that will at least take care of the "What if we want to wheel our infant around? Then what?" issue.

We can keep it out on the back deck.

sarah was going to email you to offer to let you borrow our ergo, dunno if she got around to it, but you can borrow it if you want. it's not the newest model though; i think the newer ones have a better infant insert. the infant insert was the hardest thing to figure out.

Imagining putting it on the baby like a pope hat...

Okay! That might be very useful so we can see if it's right for us or whatever.

Another stroller anecdote: Jeff and I were walking home from a bar and some people had a jogging stroller locked up outside of their house and a dude walking his dog let the dog pee all over it. :((((((

A risk you take with apt living.

That guy with the dog was a terrible person, though.

Of course having a child does not excuse from common courtesy, it's just that (1) strollers by their very nature take up a lot of space (and in my experience a lot of people seem to find the mere fact of a stroller's existence somehow discourteous), and (2) they contain these little kicking screaming things that need to nap and eat all the time, and sometimes it's easy to forget that you're blocking the sidewalk when you're desperately rifling for the cracker or apple slice that will quiet your hungry kid.

Caring an inordinate amount about the 10 seconds you are delayed by having to walk around a stroller is also kind of assholish.

IMO, it's pretty easy to tell the difference between someone that is trying the best they can given their circumstances and an entitled asshole that is oblivious to everything around them.

otm

BTW all involved in baby-wearing, there is a sub-community of people who pay like $500 for like a boatload of fabric to be used as wraps and they collect dozens of them and willing go into poverty to finance them and they frighten me.

PMSL, That's me, apart from the going into poverty. Not sure I've paid $500 either, most I've paid is £180. But I do have a large stash - it's a hobby that I get to indulge in every day while I still have a child that needs carrying about.

I've never used a buggy with Molly but I do have a shopping trolley for when we go out for the day and need to take loads of stuff with us. Taking a buggy on London buses is a nightmare, as is going into small shops, and I love the cuddles. It's also much easier to carry a wrap/carrier around while walking along with a toddler than it is to push a buggy and chase after an escaping one!

Yeah, I'm not sure what I couldn't accomplish just with a carrier and a backpack for baby things. I'm used to carrying a lot of things. If I need a giant rolling baby car then I'm taking too much stuff out.

Plus vicky posts like a million UNGODLY cute photos of her daughter being carried everywhere, I'd join instagram all over again just for that.

Yeah, I'm not sure what I couldn't accomplish just with a carrier and a backpack for baby things. I'm used to carrying a lot of things. If I need a giant rolling baby car then I'm taking too much stuff out.

― Jeff, Thursday, September 5, 2013 7:34 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Certainly can be done without a stroller, but sounds easier than it is. Particularly if, like me, you have a small frame and a large baby. After about 6 months old I found it physically straining to go long distances with K in the carrier -- not only because of her weight but because of her long shape, which made her awkward to carry, and once she was a few months over a year those dangling, flailing legs would have required me to wear a jock strap (I learned this the hard way).

Plus if you use a backpack that means it becomes somewhat awkward to get the stuff you need while the baby is in the carrier (bottles, wipes, food etc.). Easier of course if you are going somewhere as a couple and one can carry the bag while the other takes the baby.

Also depends on napping habits -- some babies will nap in the carrier but not the stroller, some vice versa.

And then of course there are other conveniences to the stroller, e.g. you can take the baby grocery shopping with you and stick the groceries in the underbin or hang them on the handles.

YESSSSSSSSS I got a black Ergo sport with infant insert on Craigslist for $60. *fist pump*

Now that I have been a parent for six months, I have opinions about baby gear so here are two things that I didn't think I would care about but have found to be really useful.

1. Quality baby towels/washcloths. Specifically Aden & Anais terry towels and muslin washcloths but there are probably other good ones out there. We got a shit ton of these cruddy little microfiber washcloths and super cruddy microfiber towels as baby gifts and they sucked so bad. They are small and rough and about as useful for bathing and drying a baby as the cheap-ass paper towels I keep buying and then swearing I'll never buy again but totally buy again because they are so cheap. Anyway finally one day I was like fuck it, I'm buying a fancy towel and washcloth set and I did and our lives are all better for it.

2. This wipes dispenser - http://www.oxo.com/p-1157-perfect-pull-wipes-dispenser.aspx. It makes something that I do 5,000,000 (estimated) times/day just a little bit easier plus now we can be agnostic about wipe brands and just get whatever is cheapest at the time instead of being beholden to a particular type of plastic box.

Anyone have a kid-friendly iPad case to recommend? I see lots that make the iPad easier to carry and provide extra protection but they seem like they'd add a ton of extra bulk.

"Little Me" clothing wears out after like 2 wears, fyi.

NA I recall Jeff sending me a lot of links to iPad cases so I will see if I can find them.

OK thanks. The problem isn't really finding options, it's figuring out which one is the best option.

He had opinions to go with the links.

Never mind his opinions were about babies, not kids E's age.

2. This wipes dispenser - http://www.oxo.com/p-1157-perfect-pull-wipes-dispenser.aspx. It makes something that I do 5,000,000 (estimated) times/day just a little bit easier plus now we can be agnostic about wipe brands and just get whatever is cheapest at the time instead of being beholden to a particular type of plastic box.

!! I'm going to buy one of these ASAP!

I have a huge zip-lock refill bag of baby wipes from Aldi but no box to put them in and the ones I've had did a bad job dispensing and/or let the wipes dry out, so this is awesome. Thanks, Oxo! And Thanks, Carl!

Excellent! It's a fine product. And it doesn't read as BABYBABYBABY.

How, how are those Aldi wipes?

How, how
Tell me how

Don't know about aldi wipes, but Costco own brand ones are amazing! So tough, can sustain multiple wipes without disintegrating or spreading crap everywhere, and not too wet or too dry

Are those the Kirkland ones? I bought them from diapers.com and yes, they are good.

Aldi ones are fine. I dunno. They're all the same to me.

That OXO wipes dispenser looks alright, but we've been using this thing, which we just keep refilling and it does the job. The OXO is nicer looking for sure. If only it would beep intermittently until I closed the lid, like my car does when I leave the headlights on...

Also: Hi! I've been reading and infrequently commenting on ILM and ILE for several years, but just recently (9 months ago) became a parent and today I discovered ILP.

Hello! Our babies are about the same age (ours is 8.5 months).

hey now i've got a place to complain about this seat

http://www.buydrugsfromus.com/m/images_us/arm-hammer-by-munchkin-3-in-1-potty-se.jpg

this seat is prone to leaking because of that green handle in the front, my three year old hates it because unless he's, um, "pointing down", it'll leak out the front and onto the floor and he makes the saddest damn face at me. so we just replaced it with the baby bjorn, which is thus far pretty great.

oh yeah, that seat is by munchkin and it's pretty popular i guess.