Monday, January 25, 2016

Baby-Raising Products You Absolutely Don't Need

Why are they making raising a baby so hard?! Mothers have been raising babies since Genesis with not much more than a breast and a cloth to wrap around the babies' butts. Zoom up to my baby-raising years and I did have the luxury of a stroller, a carseat, and a handful of bottles. It's really not as hard as people make it seem.
Wait - let me take that back - it is hard. It's a lot of work to raise a baby (right.) A lot of sleepless nights, frustrated tears, juggling everything. But somehow, day after day, you find your own crazy routine and systems and you make it into the toddler years. Ta-da! And then you start over in a new crazy routine and system. And they are "hard" because there's a lot of pressure (from everywhere) to get this baby-raising thing right because we're talking about a person here. Its not like making the perfect soufflé. Its a BABY!
So yes, those are 2-3 hectic, stressful years. But adding more products doesn't really reduce all the craziness because then there will be all these gadgets to monitor. And isn't it one of the most frustrating things when a machine that is supposed to make things easier doesn't do what its supposed to do and makes your life even harder (urgh!!!!)
What's got me thinking of baby stuff now, when my youngest is on the brink of middle school? I saw this article "12 Parenting Products That Seem to Good to Be True." I read it out of curiosity - what's out there now that could've made raising my four babies so much easier? Let me be jealous. As it turned out, there is NOthing on this parenting products list that I would get. Not one. Why not?
  • Cost - $410 for a Keurig to make a bottle of formula? Please! Here's my baby tip - I never gave my baby's warm formula, always room temperature. Why? Because then I could make formula anytime, anywhere, quickly, without worrying about whether it was the perfect hot-ness.
  • Ridiculousness - baby sleep monitor built into the one-sie? I can't sleep with an electric blanket, but they suggest you put your infant into an electronic bodysuit to monitor her sleep? Only $199 by the way. Baby tip - walk into the baby's room and check on them. If you are that nervous, get one of those regular old sit-on-the-dresser monitors. You don't have to have baby wired up.
  • More-trouble-than-its-worth - full sleeve bib? Trust me, its easier to strip your child shirtless before a spaghetti dinner than try to get her out of a tomato sauce splashed full sleeve bib without getting sauce all over the place.
It's all too much. Yes, juggling baby and a bottle and a diaper and perhaps even another child - it can be hard. But, all these fancy, expensive gadgets aren't going to make it that much easier. You don't need a machine to give you baby's continuous temperature. Touch him. You don't need a remote controlled baby swing, that you turn off and on with your phone. Hold her. You don't need an alarm clock so that you can talk to your child from your room. Be with her. Baby's need love and attention. Give it.


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