[Sam914]

How much did you stock up on baby toiletries in advance? And how much does your baby ACTUALLY use in the first year or so?!

I'm one of those people thats been buying clothes and things on sale for a while now if its a really good deal or has a monkey on it (i'm obsessed with monkeys). Well i decided a while ago i wasnt going to buy anymore clothes because i didnt want my baby only wearing neutral clothes for the first year of life, so instead i would buy toiletries and stuff... I figure since i'll need it eventually it doesnt hurt to buy a few things here or there and build up stock right? I just dont want to have a ton of stuff i'm not going to us kwim? I dont want to be buying a bottle of shampoo a week during my whole pregnancy thinking its good to be prepared then find out 30 bottles is going to last until they are 30 years old! I mean i know some babies dont even have hair for the first year so maybe i'm going overboard? Dh says we're set for like the next two years already! Sigh, i think i'm crazy!

Right now i have...

two bottles of lotion (btw HOW do you choose with all the different types of lotion out there?! Yikes). I probably wont get much lotion because my step daughter has very very sensitive skin and couldnt use it when she was a baby so ill wait and see with that one.

three bottles of shampoo

two bottles of body wash

and three desitin diaper rash creams

[NortheastWifey]

You're probably good for a while, but with shampoo and body wash - those are always things you can use for a long time if you have a lot. We're still on our first bottle and it's a combo body and hair wash. The nice thing is you can keep some things - like the diaper rash cream - in a baby bag and in the house wherever you change the baby. But you are probably good for now with three. And remember, people will probably get you some of this stuff if you have a shower, too.

You could also get powder and wipes. If you want to go crazy one something, wipes are it. You'll go through a boatload!

As far as how to choose stuff, I've just been trying different brands. I finally found a brand of wipes I LOVE - Earths Best. They're chlorine free and they're SUPER soft. And they unstick from one another well, too. But other than that it has been trial and error in terms of finding brands - and word of mouth from friends, too.

[Sam914]

Oh wipes! Good point idea! Actually the last time i got some stuff i was only going to get one bottle of something then BRU was having a sale where if you buy three things you get a pack of wipes free so i went for that, they seemed like the cheapest ones though not very "top quality".

Some people have also suggested getting diapers but idk, that seems like a bad idea to me since there are SO many different brands and types it seems impossible to know whats going to work for your baby and how many to get ahead of time right?

[KCMomma]

Hollie pretty much said what I was going to. You should be good on the toilieterries stuff. Paige had a bunch of hair and we still are using the same shampoo. As far as lotion and stuff - again we don't use very much but have found that we love the Aveeno brand!! Yes, definitely stock up on wipes!! You will go through a CRAZY amount!!! We buy ours at Sam's Club!!! Also, we found Pamper's Swaddlers to be the best diaper. Everyone is different, but that's my opinion...love them!! Also if you do get the Pamper's Swaddlers make sure you get the ones with the line than runs down the middle that changes colors when they are wet!! I LOVE that!!!!!

[~Andrea~]

I second getting wipes!!!

As far as toilettries, I have way more than we will probably use. I ended up with like 7 bottles of lotion! I do put the night time lotion on her every night, but I don't really use the other stuff.

As far as Desitin, my ped said it doesn't work very well. However, I have 3 tubes of it too! I put a tiny (and I mean tiny) dab on every night and so far no diaper rash! I think this one tube will last me a year at least!

[LuvMyToriBug]

I Ditto the wipes!!

Shampoo and Body Wash - I have only gone through 2 pretty decent sized bottles of 2 in 1 shampoo/body wash and Tori will be 1 in November. I have used different brands but made sure that they were all the nighttime calming solution. It may or may not work but I think it smells the best.

Lotion - I used lotion faithfully for the first 2-3 months, it helped with her peeling skin. now that she is older, I don't use it at all unless I notice her drying out a little.

Desitin - I ONLY use it if I notice her bum getting a little red, I mean the slightest little bit of red. I don't let it become a rash really. My pedi told me that it is NOT necessary to use it every day or anything. I don't know why Andrea's pedi said that it does not work because it has always gotten rid of any redness on Tori's hiny, but, who knows, I am definitely not a dr.

Diapers - I will tell you that I am ALMOST certain you will prefer the Swaddlers (as previously suggested by Gwen). If you start buying anything other than wipes, buy diapers!! I suggest buying a couple of packs of newborns as well. Many mommies don't think that they will need NB stuff (like myself) but I used NB diapers for a couple of months. I have tried Huggies also and I much prefer the Pampers Swaddlers, they only go up to size 2, I think, then I went to Pampers Cruisers, which I also like (just not as well as the Swaddlers, but Tori finally outgrew the Swaddlers).

The other thing that I went through alot of is Playtex Drop Ins bottle liners. You may plan to breastfeed, but if you don't or it does not work out....and....you plan to use Playtex Drop Ins, then you will go through a ton of liners.

[samspain]

Wipes!!
I have a 500ml bottle of body/hair wash and its less than half gone in 5.5 months!, I never bought anything else, just almond oil, and 500ml of that is about 2/3 gone. Nappy cream is a bust as shes never needed it.

You might think about baby washing clothes detergent if you see offers.

[Sam914]

Excellent advice ladies! I was actually thinking of doing Swaddlers since thats what they always use on TLC, haha

[xanada101]

I got TONS of body wash, lotion, and shampoo from my showers. Kerrigan is 3 months old and I have not even made it through one bottle.

I would stock up on: diapers (I also like pampers swaddlers better) I only used 2 packages of NB, a few packages of size 1, and we're already in size 2. My thought is don't too nuts buying the smallers sizes. Wipes and breast pads are also good to stock up on. If your baby has a reaction to anything, you can always exchange the unopened packages.

[SassyMama]

Definitely stock up on wipes! You'd be amazed at how fast you go through them..

With diapers, I definitely recommend the Swaddlers but I don't recommend buying a lot because you don't know what size baby'll be. Siera was a preemie so she went through the NB ones for awhile but my cousin was a butterball at birth and fit straight into the size 1's.

With shampoos and lotions - we're on maybe our second bottle (it's not even a big bottle) of shampoo & body wash. And we're still on our first (big) bottle of lotion AND I rub her down every night before bed.

Desitin works with us for diaper rashes. I keep one tube in the house and one in her diaper bag. When Siera was in the NICU, they used Balmex. I guess to each their own.

[downunderchick]

i say wipes too ( see a trend here...) they are so handy not just for bubbas bottom either. I say with nappies maybe buy a couple of different ones and see what you like when babies born. You can always buy more of the brand you really liked. Worth getting some breast pads too. you may not go through many at all. I seem to go through loads, maybe Bellas eating them, i dont know. With shampoo, even if the baby does have hair, you wont need an awful lot each time you use it, the one weve got, you really only need a few drops.

[NortheastWifey]

You may want to get a bottle of infant gas drops (Mylecon or whatever you like). You may not need it but if you do you'll be glad you spent the money in advance. Amelia had painful gas when she was a few weeks old and we had to go through a night without the gas medicine and I wished I had bought some in advance.

[Lo_and_Behold]

Add me to the Wipes Stockpile Fan Club
We used Pampers Sensitive for months because I didn't want to take the chance on something irritating her bum, but now we use Target's Up & Up brand & they're just as good IMO.

I'm in full agreement about the Swaddlers. I almost cried when Allie finally grew out of the size 2's & we had to switch. She now wears the Cruisers or Huggies Pure & Natural's but nothing beats Swaddlers. I'm not a fan of the smaller size Huggies...they just seem so rough in comparison. We decided on those even before she was born & that's what the hospital used as well.

In place of diaper rash cream (we use Aveeno btw), we used Vaseline for the first 3 months at the recommendation of the hospital. They said to put it on the actual diaper at every change. She never got a rash (until she started teething).

You may want to try different soaps & stuff to find out what you like best. At first, I used the Johnson's disposable bath wipes & they're really nice, but as she got bigger, I found that one wasn't enough...and they only come in pkgs of 14 (I think) so I stopped using them. Now she'll use either Johnson's foaming body wash (which doubles as a shampoo...I don't see any need for a separate shampoo unless the baby develops cradle cap) or Johnson's night time calming stuff. I didn't use the night time stuff on her for a long time b/c baby's sense of smell is very sensitive & even though something smells good to us, it may be overwhelming for them. Not to mention their skin could have a reaction.

That's my ... hope it helps!

[~Andrea~]

I don't know why my ped said Desitin doesn't work either because I have had no problems with it.

I also used Pampers swaddlers. I did find though, that the Swaddlers size 1 are too big, so I had to switch to Huggies Little Snugglers size 1 in the meantime. I can't wait until Lilyana can fit into the Swaddlers size 1 again though!

I know you want to buy tons of stuff now, but you will get a lot of this if you have a shower. You can always return it, but it can be such a hassle! Maybe you could just take the money you would spend on baby and put it away until after the shower, or after you know the gender. Then you can go on a guilt free shopping trip! This is what I did. I think I spend $600 in one day! It was a blast!