Another question that's been asked a lot. I guess I know what people actually mean, "where is the baby going to sleep?" But it sounds like they are wondering what room we store it in. Baby will probably spend most of it's first six month or so attached to one of us, either being carried, in a baby sling, on our lap, or laying next to us.
It won't have its own room for a while. It doesn't really need it's own room and I think even the flawed American Pediatrics Association, or whatever it's called, recommends baby sleep in your room for the first year. Hopefully this will mean baby (and parents for that matter) will be content to sleep in bed with us. I might get a co-sleeper bassinet that attaches to the side of the bed, just in case the bed feels too small or I can't sleep that close to the baby. But I so don't want to buy anything.
I hear stories of people spending thousands of dollars before the birth on baby stuff, and I just wonder what they bought. What on earth do you need? I'm convinced it's corporations making parents feel they need to buy all this junk. Junk you will only use for the first one, maybe two years at most. Some of it you'll only use for a couple months, and some of it you will stare at and never use and wonder why you ever bought it.
Luckily I'm having a baby in the summer. I'm pretty sure it will go without much clothes the first three months of it's life. We have a window air-conditioner, but that's it, and it still gets quite hot in the bedroom at night some days. Also, I refuse to turn the air-conditioner on unless it's really, really hot. I prefer the windows to be open anyway. So if I feel mostly OK with windows and fans, I skip the AC. This means baby will be hot too, and will probably be naked most days of the summer, with maybe some light sleep wear. We can worry more about clothes when baby is mobile and it starts getting cold.
We will need a good car seat, that is one thing I won't skimp on. One thing I don't quite get is when people carry the baby inside, still strapped to a clunky car seat. Maybe it feels easier this way, but it looks way harder, you go from carrying one infant to carrying one infant encased in plastic and fabric. Wouldn't it be easier to have it in a sling strapped to your chest? Same with these HUGE strollers I see. It seems like the smaller the infant, the bigger the stroller. Again, one tiny infant verses one tiny infant in a huge stroller you have to push and navigate around. I can see using a stroller when baby is older, maybe when baby is content to sit and watch the world and is becoming too big to carry comfortably for longer periods, but until then, I hope to not be caught dead pushing a plastic monstrosity on wheels. And I hope to leave the car seat in the car as much as possible.
I've also heard from other parents that a high chair is often not used more than it is used. It sits in the corner of the kitchen gathering dust. Might as well skip that purchase and keep baby on my lap for a while, then move onto chair. I also absolutely hate baby food. I see no point to it. There is no reason baby can't eat the food you are eating most of the time. I also hate the dreaded sippy cup! Is it wrong that I would much rather deal with many, many, spills in the beginning than to deal with a sippy cup and then many, many, spills later in life? I also hope to introduce spoon and fork use early on. I think spoon feeding baby food into babies' mouths will only delay their progress to eating well on their own.
I could be crazy, but usually young kids want to be independent, might as well let them be. I think toddlerhood is a good time to have them start having chores to do. They probably won't realize it's chores, but they can pick up their toys and other things like that. I will probably have to wipe the entire table myself after having them help wipe up, but at least they are doing something. Too often I see an eager child wanting to help with the dishes and parents just say no because they think it will take too long or they will break things. That's not the point. Try having them do nothing for years and then suddenly when they are teenagers demanding that they do things; it won't work.
So I'm kind of in the mindset that less is more. Baby does not need an entire room dedicated to their nursery. How long are you really going to be spending in just one room anyway?
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