Thursday Things: 10 Products We Regularly Used for Jack (6-9 Months)

As a follow up to our favorite baby products at 0-3 months and 3-6 months, this list details the products we found to be the most useful at 6-9 months.

We continue to love and use some products (like the cloth diapers, crib, bibs, burp cloths, iPhone Nursing app, books, BOB, Kelty diaper bag, our Angelcare baby monitor and sound machine) while Jack has outgrown other items (Fisher Price Rock 'N Play, play gym and Baby Bjorn). The following list includes new products we began using on a regular basis once Jack turned 6 months.

1. Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper – a gift that we introduced this around 5 months, but Jack didn't really love it until after 6 months.

2. Toys and Books – in general, Jack has become more interested in toys and he continues to love his books. Though his favorite thing is anything that he can put in his mouth {i.e. everything} and he has a special affinity for remote controls and cords.

3. Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair – at six months we started introducing food. His high chair has been the biggest help with this process. We are following the Baby Led Weaning approach, so he eats regular food, we just make sure it is soft and small enough for his hands. We love this high chair. We can easily move it from our breakfast area to our back porch dining area. We removed the pad that covers the chair because it gets too messy, especially with baby led weaning.

4. The Deuter Kid Comfort Carrier II – we actually have this on loan from my sister and brother-in-law. We love it though. It is great for hiking. The only negative is that the torso adjustments aren't quite long enough for Daniel's torso, so I get the pleasure of carrying our little man.

5. Recaro ProRide Carseat – at seven months, we went ahead and upgraded from the baby carrier to a full-blown carseat. We haven't looked back. We like the Recaro and are happy with our purchase, but we really wanted to buy the Diono Radian... maybe once we get a bigger car, we will swap.

6. Graco Pack 'N Play – we finally purchased a pack 'n play when we had friends visit in July. We let them use our nursery for their baby and put Jack in our room. Also, we knew we would need one for traveling, so we bit the bullet and went with the cheapest one that had the best reviews. It has worked great. We took it with us to Charlotte and Jack did fine. It folds up fairly small and I am sure we will use it the next time we travel.

7. Umbrella Stroller – just before Jack turned 9 months old, we made the decision to get a cheap umbrella stroller for our trip to Charlotte. Since we were staying in a downtown, urban area, I knew that trying to take our BOB stroller into cafes and shops might be a problem. The umbrella stroller served its purpose. The wheels were a bit of a hassle, they didn't always go the direction I wanted and the handles seemed a little low, but overall, definitely worth the $15 we spent. We still use our BOB revolution stroller a majority of the time.

8. Neat Solutions Waterproof Bib with pouch – this little food trough of a bib is definitely our favorite. It catches all of the food that would otherwise land in Jack's lap or the floor. We especially love it when eating out.

9. Footless pajamas – we love these for summer months and also Jack can wear them a little longer than the footie pajamas. He grows so fast that anything that will last a couple of extra months is a plus in our books.

10. Evenflo Johnny Jump Up Up – this swing hangs in a door frame has been a big hit. He likes that he can swing and try to walk. I like that I can keep him contained if I am trying to get something done.

Honorable Mention: Tinted Windows in our Subaru. With the extra hot summer, we are so glad we went ahead and had our windows tinted. This has helped tremendously on making the car less hot whenever we get inside. It also seems to cool down faster. A must for living in the south. Our next vehicle will have rear vents for the heat and air.

We are still trying to keep the toys and books from overrunning our house. I know that there will come a day when that is more of a challenge. Right now we are thankful that the stuff we do have is all pretty manageable. 

By choosing to use cloth diapers, continuing to nurse and deciding to do baby led weaning, we have been able to eliminate or reduce purchases that we might be making otherwise. I realize that these choices wouldn't work for everyone, but we are really happy with where we are at and it is working for us.

I would love to hear what your favorite baby products are.

Recaro: The Racecar-Inspired Convertible Car Seat

Once Jack turned 7 months old, we got in a hurry to find a replacement car seat for our infant carrier. For one thing we were no longer carrying Jack in the carrier {really since about 5 months, the carrier plus him have been too heavy to lug around}. For another, the friends whom we had borrowed the carrier from are having a baby at the end of July and we didn't want them to end up at the hospital without a car seat.

This post is actually written by my husband based on his research of convertible car seats -- it was originally an email written to a friend who was interested in his findings. It covers our top three choices and why we ended up going with the Recaro...

Convertible Car Seats... You've Got Questions, 

I've Got Unscientific Opinions

by Daniel Moore

So I did a lot of reading on safety during an accident; people's post-accident opinions of how their car seat did; ease and convenience of use; quality of materials; and most notably I spent several hours installing every single car seat model that USA Baby in Franklin, TN had in stock. That's when I discovered that a lot of car seats won't even fit in our year Forester {later research would show that this is known problem for Foresters}. Until I went to USA Baby, I had only researched car seats in general, not which ones would actually fit in our car.

Ironically some of my choices were fairly low on consumer reports rankings, but consumer reports places some emphasis on safety and a lot of emphasis on ease of installation {and some would say they place some emphasis on which companies have paid them advertising dollars}. I really don’t care how hard it is to install, as long as it can be done safely. I do care about how safe, how easy to use and how long lasting a seat is.

I looked at convertible car seats from ~$125 up to $290. The cheapest ones are just plastic shells with a thin layer of cloth. The higher prices generally get you nicer materials, cooler design features, and in some cases better safety ratings {those that go “above and beyond” the minimum federal standards that all car seats have to meet}.

Keep in mind all these opinions are formed with me never having had to put a child in any of these seats.

If driver legroom was no object, and I had a sufficiently large vehicle {which a Subaru is certainly not} my preferences, in order, would be:

1. Diono Radian RXT 
2. Recaro ProRide  
3. Britax.... whichever you prefer, the outer shell is the same size for all the Roundabout, Marathon, Advocate, Boulevard, etc. {they have multiple models, all very similar}. The more expensive ones have better side impact protection and each model has different materials.

Cheree looked at all 3 and came up with the same exact prioritized list of choices, though for different reasons than me.

The Radian RXT pros:

• Narrow width -- great for 3 across seating {or for us 2 adults and 1 car seat, or 2 car seats and a dog, etc}.
• Folds up for easy transport/storage {good for airline travel}
• Nice materials
• Really, really sturdy and well built. It weighs ~26LBS, which is about double what some of the cheapest car seats weigh {this overbuilt thing is a biggie for me}.
• Outstanding ratings in terms of safety
• Low sides make it easy to get kids in and out. I believe the sides are adjustable for width as well.
• Long life (8 years as a car seat, 10 years as a booster)
• Industry leading rear facing weight rating {45LBS}, though junior running out of leg room may be a problem at some point for rear facing.

The Radian RXT cons:

• HUGE front to rear dimension when rear facing {no hope of being able to put it in the Forester behind the driver or passenger seat}
• Most expensive {$290, but for something that keeps my kid safe that I have to use and tolerate for nearly a decade, I’m not concerned with saving $100}, plus it lasts 8-10 yrs instead of the typical 6.
• Hard to find to look at in person {closest store to us was in Franklin, TN} although it can be found at Amazon, and I think Amazon even offers free returns and free shipping on it.
• Did not appear to be easily adjustable for recline angle {it is a bit complicated though, so I may have missed how to do this}

Recaro ProRide pros:

• Recaro makes high-end racecar seats, which certainly lends them some credibility in terms of knowing how to design a seat to keep the occupants safe in a crash.
• Good safety ratings
• Reasonable front-to-back dimensions, similar to the Chico KeyFit infant carrier that we had on loan.
• Pretty good materials
• At least 2 different settings for the amount of recline
• The base is fairly tall – this is good in terms of safety {getting kid’s heads higher} and the child's outward visibility.

Recaro ProRide cons:

• No cup holder {hope we don't regret this}
• The base is fairly tall – this could be an issue in getting the kid into smaller/shorter cars without hitting their {or your own} head on the door frame
• Hard to find to look at in person {closest store to us was in Franklin, TN} although it can be found at Amazon, and I think Amazon even offers free returns and free shipping on it.

Britax pros:

• Popular and easy to find at “regular” stores (Wal-Mart, Target, etc)
• Similar fit to the Recaro, or KeyFit.
• At least 2 different settings for the amount of recline
• Plenty of “we totaled the car but the kids are OK and so now we’re going to buy another Britax for them” stories. {This could just be b/c they are so popular, much more so than the Recaro or Diono Radian}.
• Reasonably nice materials

Britax cons:

• A bit wide
• To me the “wings” {side impact protection for the child’s head} were either non-existent or not as nice on the Recaro and Radian. Their top model {I believe it’s called Britax Advocate} has these funky rubber-plastic pads on the outside of the shell, which may make it safer, but looks like a complete afterthought in terms of design, maybe even a bit gimmicky.
• Looking at all the models together, aside from additional side impact protection, I’m not sure what the $270 model gets you that the $170 doesn’t get you. 

We seriously considered getting a larger vehicle than the Forester just so the Radian would fit, but in the end we don't want to deal with purchasing a new vehicle right now, so we are going to "settle" for the Recaro ProRide.

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Update:

by Cheree

We have had the Recaro for a few weeks now. Jack has adjusted really well to it. I think he really enjoys being higher up and able to see. The first time he rode in it, he would not lean his head back because he was so busy looking around.

It is a little awkward to get him in and out of the car since the car seat sits so high. Our smaller Forester SUV doesn't help with this. Within two years we will probably graduate to some kind of larger SUV. Once he is forward facing it should be easier to get him in and out.

We really wanted to get the Radian, but since we could only squeeze it in the middle of our Forester, we didn't think it would be a great solution since 1) Sophie rides in the back seat too and 2) it would mean that both front seats would be unable to recline or scoot back at all, which would be a problem for Daniel.