We have a few products that we loved during the first year. They make day to day life easier, faster and smoother and are very useful during an incredibly busy stage of life!
We will continue to add videos and written reviews of these items/products as we discover them. Hopefully you find it helpful!
Oversized chair for the nursery
Out of all the things we bought in preparation for babies, we value the purchase of an oversized chair for the nursery as one of the most helpful and most used things. The chair we bought from a local furniture store is smaller than a loveseat, but able to easily fit two adults and is comfortable. Over the past two years, this chair has been used consistently each day for baby feeds, snuggling, pumping, sleeping/napping, and everything in between. We still have it in the nursery for those “awake at 2 AM” moments that happen more often than preferred. We definitely recommend having something similar if it will fit into the babies’ room; it has been a lifesaver.
So far Dad’s favorite!!! The “Dad Shirt” from Lalabu Simply Babywearing
This is an awesome shirt for carrying your baby. It is made of a heavy spandex material and can hold an infant 7-15 pounds. The great thing about these shirts is how easy they are. No straps, clips, buckles or knots. Just slide the baby into the pouch and go about your day, all the while snuggling with your little one and freeing up your hands!
Mom has even taken to wearing the Dad Shirt because it is a little longer than the Soothe Shirt for Moms. Hers didn’t want to go over her postpartum bust…so size up if you plan on buying one for after the kids arrive. Or just insist Dad has to carry them around for you…
Here we are carrying all three in Lalabu Simply Babywearing shirts thanks to help from a friend. Going on walks around the neighborhood, with the dogs in tow, was so much easier this way when the girls were small. Because we had preemie babies, we used these shirts for several months before the girls outgrew them. We highly recommend them!
We highly recommend these shirts, they make life faster and easier. So much of our day is filled with clean up and preparing for the next part of the day. These shirts give you the time and hands to wash bottles, fold laundry or go for a walk. 🙂
These great shirts can be purchased at https://www.lalabu.com/. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for sales!
Teething Toys
As the girls start teething, we’ve discovered a few toys that they like a lot more than others. Every baby is different, and each one takes to a different thing most of the time. Now that all three are drooling and teething (at six months old), everyone seems to like several certain ones.
The banana or “Nuby Nananubs Banana Massaging Toothbrush”: the girls absolutely love it and quickly picked up how to hold it and chew all sides of it. We have 3 of them!
These teethers can also be put in the freezer for additional relief, although they don’t stay cold for very long once given to the kiddos. They are available at most stores (Walmart, Target, etc.) or on Amazon at: Banana Teether
The “RaZ-Berry” teether: this one mimics the look of a pacifier but is also a teether. I just ordered several more in different colors! This is the first toy that the girls will roll on their side and reach for, and put into their mouths without assistance (which they don’t do on their pacifiers very often yet!). The bumps on the “raspberry” help with fussiness and they can chew on it for a while.
Available at most stores or on Amazon at: RaZ-Berry Teether
Activity Time
Jumperoos – One of my favorite stages of development in the first year related to baby jumpers. Now some people say these are bad for kiddos to use, but that can be said for anything. We loved them and they were immensely useful in containing the girls once they started crawling. Not to mention…they LOVED playing in them.
One thing to keep an eye on- ensure your kiddo is not on their tiptoes the whole time. One of the reasons folks dislike jumpers is it can teach kiddos to walk on their toes instead of flat footed. We had a bit of this, but worked with each baby to jump flat footed and after a few times they were good to go.
Our favorite jumper of the three is the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo. It was by far the girls’ favorite one and used for hours over a couple of months. So much happiness and giggles!
We ended up purchasing three different jumper styles from other local parents. One activity center was not liked, and went back in rotation. We rotated the girls around the different styles to keep them interested. Watching them jump and laugh and smile is still one of my favorite baby moments.
Fisher Price Little Superstar Step ‘n Play Piano – In addition to jumpers, we found a piano activity center that remained popular by demand well past their first birthday. I really liked this one because one baby could be in the seat while the other two learned to pull themselves up on the outside of it, and eventually all three played on it regardless of sitting in the seat or not. Downside? It takes up a ton of space, especially if there are already three jumpers in the room!
All Things Food Time!
When it comes to feeding time, bibs are a must. As the girls grow, they discover it is fun to pull off their sisters’ bibs, or their own, right in the middle of a meal. To remedy this, we found the Aden by Aden muslin bibs have snaps, and the girls can’t pull them off. Did I mention they are soft, cute, and come in a variety of styles and a three pack!? You can find them here.
Another multiple family necessity is the Triplet Feeding Table (real title is the Kid’s 4 Piece Activity Table and Chair Set). This table is sold in a few places, but we found that Wayfair (here!) had the best option of shipping to Alaska. The table boasts three forward-facing seats in a variety of colors, is light weight, and can be adjusted in height between 19″ and 27″. The seats easily pop out for cleaning and fits kids up to 30 pounds (at at year we are only at 20 so we will use it a while longer!). It not only decreased feeding times, but is also a great spot to put the kiddos when you need free hands for a moment. As the girls get older, we will start doing arts and crafts and other non-food related things here too. This table is a game changer!!
Sleepy Time
Sleep Sacks – We are a sleep sack family…with the help of sleep sacks, the girls (mostly) slept through the night the first eight months home from the NICU. This greatly resulted from several different sleep sacks. Halo sleep sacks (available on Amazon) are incredible at stopping preemie babies from startling throughout the night. As the girls grew, we matured out of them and let their arms free, using arm free ones from J.C. Penney’s (here!) that are a bit cheaper than the Halo brand. They have some pretty cute patterns and colors for babies. For those cold winter nights, we used the Carters micro fleece sleeping bags to keep the girls nice and toasty while letting them wiggle their arms as much as they wanted. Unfortunately these only go up to about a year in size, or we would still be using them. Lighter weight muslin ones are great as they continue to grow.
Wyze Cams – These cameras are AMAZING. In addition to being very well priced ($25.00 each on Amazon), using multiple cameras at the same time is not only easy, but extremely helpful when trying to quickly ascertain which baby is fussing in the dark. The quality is fantastic in both the light and the dark, and you can record or time-lapse as well to track sleep habits or funny interactions between the kiddos. We replayed the 7.2 earthquake we had last winter and it was pretty cool (and somewhat creepy too) to see. They also attach to the wall by magnet, or you can purchase ones that swivel. We have both and have adjusted them several times as the girls have grown.
Getting Out and About!
Portable Playpen – Another recent and very useful purchase is a portable playpen off of Amazon. This 8 panel, fold up playpen is easy to haul, pretty lightweight, and keeps the kids contained whether you are out in the yard, at the park, or in your living room. The model we purchased is available here. One can take them solo to the park and push a stroller with all three and this laid across the top. It fits great in the trunk with the stroller as well.
For you triplet parents…make sure to order the 8-panel one, not the 6-panel. It provides more room for the kiddos to play, especially when there are three of them!
Lightweight stroller – One thing we’ve learned post children is how many strollers you collect over the first year! We have at least five now, with all intended for different purposes. The double stroller fits our Chico infant car seats, with the third kiddo getting clipped to the handle when going somewhere solo.
The Zoe XL3 Triple Stroller is another game changer. Not only is it extremely lightweight, but it easily folds up into the trunk or at the gate before boarding an airplane. It continues to be heavier to push as the girls grow, but overall is very useful.
Our biggest complaint on the Zoe is the wheels. They are definitely intended only for smooth surfaces (like pavement), and do not work well on rock pathways or dirt. Hopefully this will be remedied with an update wheel type at some point!
You can find the triple stroller here. The company also resells returned ones for much cheaper, and there are often big sales too!
If you are an outdoorsy family like we are, the double Chariots are where it’s at for all things outdoor. Not only are they very easy to push, but they have a rain cover, a mesh bug cover, and lots of storage. We have two of them since they sadly do not make a triple one (yet!!).
The Chariots also have ski and bike attachments that are easy to use and two wheel options!
And much much more!
The Douglets 