My brother is having his first baby and like all new parents, he and his wife are completely baffled by what baby gear they really need. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the products they’re going to absolutely need in the first few months of their daughter’s life.
One of the products that literally SAVED us the first few weeks of Anya’s life was the Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Cradle Swing ($120). I don’t even recall if we registered for it but we received it at our shower and it was definitely the best unexpected gift. The compact size of the box is deceptive as it doesn’t exactly have the smallest footprint. Additionally, the colors of the seat were a bit garish for us (we’re mid-century modern folks). But we discovered that none of that mattered once we started using it on a daily basis.
One thing you may hear about in the beginning as a new parent is how important it is to get baby on a schedule. Whether you plan to follow that philosophy or not, for the first weeks of your child’s life, you have no choice in the matter. Baby doesn’t know the difference between night and day and if you want to sleep a solid 4+ hours at night, too bad because your baby thinks it’s time to party as much as you want him to be more awake during the day. After the adrenaline wears off, you’re going to crash hard and you need some rest so what do you do with the kid who not only wants to be held but wants to be rocked?
in our case, we had the Cradle Swing so we put Anya in there at those wee hours in the morning when we thought we were going to die of exhaustion. We kept ours in the living room so we’d crash on the couch while the swing rocked and rocked and rocked and often put her to sleep. Then during the day, we’d use it when we needed a break or when we wanted to prepare or eat a meal. When she was awake, she loved to look up and watch the aquarium mobile and I’m sure the nature sounds lulled her as well.
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