Following on from my previous posts of favourite baby products from 0-3 months and 3-6 months, read on for my picks for 6-12 months.
The pen
Yay, Sam’s started crawling! Uh oh… Sam’s started crawling. Time to invest in a safe place for him to hang out when I need to prepare his food or go to the toilet. We were lucky enough to get a hand-me-down, and even though it’s more like a big cot than a grand play pen, it’s enough to keep him occupied and safe for those inevitable moments.
Nappies in the next size up
At some point, if you’re lucky, your kid stops pooing at night. And the generally accepted rule then is, if it’s wee, let it be. Because even if you’re still feeding at night, trying to change a nappy can be a big disruption that results in more crying and more awake time. Enter nappies of the next size up… to hold in the entirety of the night time pee.
Small spoons
I thought we had a lot of small spoons in our lives. Turns out, even with the additional plastic baby spoons we bought we constantly ran out of small spoons. One spoon for the yogurt, one for the fruit jar, one for the vegetable jar, one for the peanut butter… and the list goes on… three times a day! Let’s just say the dishwasher runs more often now!
Hand blender
No thank you, I did not need one of those fancy gadgets that purees vegetables and meat (and probably even shoes if you want) to prepare food for Sam. I’d just mash that up myself… or use the blender. But then I discovered the hand blender, a previously unused item (for me, anyway) that hung out in a drawer in our kitchen. So much easier, so much quicker and so much less mess!
Wine stopper
This is one for me. I like drinking red wine, but when you’re breastfeeding, you tend to stick to one or two glasses rather than an entire bottle. So we bought a special wine stopper that sucks the air out of the bottle… keeping it good for weeks and eliminating that well I may as well just finish the bottle mentality.
Night light
With Sam moving into his own room there was a whole new lighting configuration that had to be worked out for minimum light and maximum stealth for night wakes/feeds. Enter the humble night light, which ensures that I could get to Sam and back without turning on any lights, waking him up or stubbing my toe!
Baby carrier
I know I was late to the party, but I only got into my baby carrier when Sam was 9-10 months old. And then I wished I’d got into it earlier! Now that he’s out of the car seat you can remove from the car, it’s far easier for a quick trip into a shop than fumbling with the stroller.
Onesies
I know plenty of people keep onesies for when their babies are very small, but I embraced them. Footed onesies for overnight… and you know what… there’s absolutely no reason to change him in the morning. He can just wear that… well all day unless he spits up on it! The only reason I had to start changing him in the mornings is when he started proper crawling and pulling to stand, because then he needed his bare feet for traction!
Balls
The humble ball is, for whatever reason, a fantastic entertainer for kids in this age range. We had some super light ones that he could easily pick up from an early age and doing this amused him no end. To this day he still loves chasing the little plastic balls around.
Ice block tray
At first Sam ate very little. A couple of spoons on a good day. He couldn’t even get through a jar of baby food before the recommended opening time had passed. Whereas mushed up food frozen in the size of large ice blocks was perfect! Later I could mix and match – 1 block carbs, 1 block protein, 1 block vegetables and so on until we reach the perfect amount and meal combination.
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