Monday, April 23, 2012

Gear

via Rikshaw Design

I haven't done that many gear posts of late, mainly because I've been feeling a bit daunted by All.The.Things!

Yes, in terms of essentials, a baby probably doesn't need all that much to begin with, and certainly not as much as the baby gear industry would suggest.

But when I began to do research (thinking: I'm going to be a zen, minimalist, pragmatic mother, unswayed by the baby industrial complex), I realized my list of just-the-basics was fairly extensive.

Forget the Etsy mobiles! You can't even take the baby home without an infant car seat that doubles as a NASA experiment. Then there are video baby monitors. You probably don't need one, but they'd sure give a neurotic first time parent (who, me?) peace of mind that all is okay with baby (without the need to open the door and wake said baby up.)

An organic mattress is also edging up my list. Read one paragraph about off-gassing, and you will find yourself justifying the purchase of an object that costs far more than it should (but who can put a price on their baby's safety, right?) Plus there's the thought of clothing a creature that grows by several inches a month. You can certainly buy cheapie Carter's onesies, but from what I've been reading you go through several a day just to keep the little person clean. So you need, what, 49? Unless you want to do laundry 8 times a day.

People have also told me that in the city you really need two strollers, and several other baby wearing contraptions just to get from a to b. I guess this is because you want a flimsy little one for the subway, and a more substantial one for trips to the grocery store over jagged sidewalks and pothole-riddled roads. The baby-wearing is for the places you can't take either super-engineered contraption.

In my quest to be pragmatic (and have some funds to save for things like, oh, college), I've sort of gotten over my obsession with precious baby wares (or at least put in on hold til we've tackled the things we do need.)

But it's still nice to look at the fun stuff, and these little things by Rikshaw Design are soooo much more my style than the rest of these "required" space age gizmos. Le Sigh.

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