As I've said, even with three children now, I still feel like a rookie. If I have gained some expertise, I feel I know what makes a great baby gift. I've also asked other parents what would top off and bottom out their lists of presents they've received for a new baby.
Many of the most useful gifts are also the most expensive. I'm not suggesting one person give a double stroller or bouncy seat. But friends or family members could ante up for on one big gift or a gift certificate. You can put about as many miles on a good stroller as a good car. We're still using the one we were given six years ago for my first daughter. It folds easily, has several seating positions and the handle can switch from either side so the baby is never facing the sun.
As for the bouncy seat, I don't know where babies spent their first four months before these things were invented. Wade can lean back in his little seat and be next to me while I unload the dishwasher or bathe his big sisters. It's also a great place for him to sit when he's learning to eat with a spoon. Some bouncy seats have music, lights and toys. I think the only necessary option is that little vibrating motion. Then fussy babies don't have to fall asleep on the washing machine.
With our most recent baby, I found the Moses basket invaluable for all the times he was awake but I couldn't hold him - moving from the bathroom to bedtime reading or from the swing set to the kitchen. He would lie there and watch everything from his comfortable little bed. And the three times we've gone out of town, the basket was easier to take along than the fold-up playpen.
Another new gift we got with our third child was a mobile with the brand name of Tiny Love. The colorful little animals that hang down make Wade laugh and it plays Bach, Beethoven and Mozart for 15 minutes with the push of a button. My two girls were trying to fall asleep in the dark ages when I had to wind up their mobile every three minutes.
For smaller items, consider board books. Babies can look at the pictures in their car seat when they are just a few weeks old. By three months old, they love to chew on them and will focus and listen intently when parents read to them. One of ours, with color photographs of babies, has been a favorite for all three children.
I love pajamas with feet because information on sudden infant death syndrome advises to leave babies uncovered once they start pulling the blankets over their faces. For the very beginning, many parents said they loved the sleep sacks that close with elastic or a short drawstring. Changing diapers in the night is less disruptive to a sleepy baby then messing with snaps or zippers.
A gift we'd never gotten until now was a bag with three disposable cameras. If we didn't have a camera in Wade's room, the bathroom and the living room at all times, we probably wouldn't have taken as many newborn shots of him as we did with our first and second babies. Picture frames force you to get organized and preserve a few significant shots.
I also have three quilts that have seen me through three babies. They are thick and soft enough to put on the floor and big enough for the baby to roll over either way and not roll off. One is called an activity mat and has a sewn telephone, valentine, flower and dog that the baby can pull and chew on.
Now, here are a few things I haven't found useful. Some people still swear by Diaper Genies, but I know people who threw theirs out after a few months. To me, it's just a little gross having dirty diapers in your baby's room for days at a time even if they are encased in special sausage-like plastic bags. I think it's easier and much cheaper to throw the diapers one at a time in a plastic grocery bag then dump that in the kitchen garbage or straight into the outside garbage.
I've found only one friend who used the wipes warmer that was given to her. She said it kept her baby from crying during the middle-of-the-night diaper changes. Most people think you can warm a wipe in your hand a few seconds.
Slings are a debatable gift. Many people love them and say they keep their babies snuggled happily against their chest from the grocery store to baseball games and throughout housecleaning. And then there's the camp (including me) that couldn't get them to work without the baby crying, face pressed against us. Leave the tag on in case it needs to be returned.
Gifts also are nice for the mother, especially if she's had a second or third baby. Instead of another outfit, how about a gift certificate for a manicure or offer to baby-sit. I've heard of baby showers when the guests give not gifts but fill a calendar with one- and two-hour segments when they can baby-sit so Mom can sleep, get some exercise or go out to dinner with Dad.
A nice group present would be a massage gift certificate or an electric breast pump. I shouldn't put those two even in the same sentence because one is so pampering and one is so not. But they both offer great results and may not be something a mom will splurge on by herself.
Then there are fun gifts. One mom said a favorite gift was a piggy bank that a friend bought from a craft store, then painted the baby's name and birthdate on it. Anything with a child's name on it, from an embroidered pillow to a custom-ordered wooden puzzle or train, will be a hit. Many catalogs offer free name painting or monogramming.
Someone gave Wade a 2-foot-long stuffed inchworm that rattles and chimes. It has become the toy I hand him most often because it's easy for him to grasp and big enough that it doesn't just roll off his tummy.
My third time around I've also been pleased to get a few new plastic and wooden rattles. I'm all for hand-me-downs, but it's nice to let a baby put his own tooth marks in a new rattle. My aunt has sent each of my children a teething ring and reminded me to convert it to a Christmas ornament after it has completed its duty. Olivia and Charlotte's teething rings, now garnished with ribbon, hang on the tree and will be joined by Wade's sooner than I can imagine.
Finally, old baby bonnets, dolls, trains, books, Bibles, spoons or cups are great to pass to a new baby in the family. We're so hormonal when the babies are born, give us something with a little sentiment attached and we melt like butter.
- You can reach Katherine Snow Smith by e-mail at snowsmith@verizon.net or write Rookie Mom, St. Petersburg Times, PO Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.
Healthy snacks?
I am tired of the "healthy pizzas your kids will love" with faces with olive eyes, a mushroom nose and broccoli hair. Please tell me what healthy foods your kids will eat. I may publish them. You can e-mail at snowsmith@verizon.net or write Rookie Mom, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.
