Here is a page of baby-related stuff I've figured out since starting motherhood. I hope it'll help my friends out when they have babies. I am NOT saying that I'm an expert or that my way is the only way; I'm just taking notes on what I've learned. And people have actually asked me for this kind of info.
We've used a lot of gifts in ways I wouldn't initially have thought of, so I'll mention some of that stuff.
* Cloth diapers: Many people, these days, think cloth diapers are only good as rags. Not true. Okay, they are good as rags, and they're good for changing pads. But using cloth diapers instead of disposable will save you a lot of money and help you tell more quickly and easily when your baby is wet or dirty.
* Prefolded diapers: These generally require less folding than regular diapers. However, the ones we have were too wide for our baby when he was a newborn; they forced his legs into a straddled position or were folded so much that it was hard to get a cover around them or a pin through them. We haven't tried all-in-one diapers, but if you can afford them I bet they're nice. And the prefolded diapers with covers have been good since our kid has been big enough for them.
* Diaper covers: First we used Dappi diaper covers. They work pretty well and are inexpensive (and can go in the dryer as well as the washer), but the Velcro comes loose on approximately 10-15% of them. I don't have time to fix them at this point in my life, so it's kind of frustrating. We got some Kushies covers to try, but they're pretty vinyly, so they don't breathe well. Lack of air flow leads to more diaper rash. So we got Niji covers--excellent for tall/thin babies--and they work great. Both the waterproof cotton and the breathable polyester covers are quite nice.
* Ointment: My mom knew it all along; A+D is the best. If you're using cloth diapers, Desitin may make a dried-up crust on them. It's not permanent, but it's annoying because you have to rewash the diapers. A+D will sometimes make greenish stains on the diapers, but they're going to be stained anyway--especially if you don't use bleach (which we don't, because we read that it destroys the fibers in diapers).
* Mattress pads: Initially, we were given a waterproof flannel sheet and a large (twin-sized?) mattress pad that had been cut in two. Neither fit all that well; the sheet was too small and the pieces of the bigger pad were too big. But now we have fitted waterproof mattress pads and still get use out of the other stuff; if your baby is a cosleeper, (s)he can use a large waterproof sheet in your bed (in fact, it's nice to have another one or two for backup). We fold one of the mattress pad halves at the end of our son's single bed and put cloth diapers and a washcloth on top of that for a diapering station. (The diapers go under him; the mattress pad hopefully prevents him from getting more stuff wet; the washcloth goes under his head in case he spits up.)
* Washcloths: Very useful. We've used them for wiping up spit, wiping our son's gums, catching milk that leaks at night, cleaning up after meals, etc. We have two kinds of washcloths: ordinary ones and small baby-specific ones. The ordinary ones are nice because they're bigger than the others and more absorbent, but they're also cheap ones and tend to have long tickly strings hanging off them. If we had a lot more of the little fancy ones, we might use them for wipes.
* Extras of things: Extras can often come in handy. Having two Snuglis, for instance, can mean having one that is adjusted for me and one that is adjusted for my husband. Having two carseats can mean having one in one vehicle and one in another--or having one for a carrier/extra place for the baby to sit.
* The Diaper Champ: While we were using disposable diapers, the Diaper Champ was perfect--everything you'd want in a diaper pail. Now that we're using cloth most of the time, it fills up too quickly--even though there's space left in the trash bag, more diapers will not go into the Diaper Champ, so we have to take the bag out & let it smell up the room till we have a load to wash. So maybe get something bigger if you want to be able to put a full washload of cloth diapers into it.
* Themes for babies' rooms/stuff: Our son's room is a mix of things, and I like it. It's not one-dimensional. It looks comfortable and interesting and real and lived-in.
* Clothes: When you get clothes you have to think about the season it will be when the baby wears them. People got us tons of clothes, but initially very few for the 3-6 months range, and almost all the 3-6 months things we had were very warm (and, in some cases, fuzzy). Since our son turned three months old in May and we live in a place where it gets hot in summer (June-September, officially), you can imagine how much total use we'll get out of the super-warm outfits. One or two would have been useful, but a dozen?
* Wipes: We accidentally washed and dried a disposable wipe and discovered that it came out clean, dry, and fluffy. Didn't come apart at all. We're thinking they'll be good for dusting monitors and TV screens. But we've also used some washable cloth wipes--good for less-solid messes.
* Grocery bags: We have been stockpiling plastic sacks (from Wal-Mart, Hy-Vee, etc.) for a long time, unable to use them for trash as quickly as we pile them up. But now we have a new use for them: they can go in diaper bags to hold dirty diapers and dirty clothes.
* The mall: Malls in general can be unpleasant when you take a baby to them. However, some malls--like Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville, Iowa and Mall of the Bluffs in Council Bluffs, Iowa--are much nicer. Coral Ridge has a family rest area complete with nursing room. The nursing room has a nice chair (a glider), a little table, electrical outlets, and a teddy bear wallpaper border. It also features a locking door and a window of glass blocks so you can kind of see outside without being able to define anything. Right outside the nursing area is a family area with plenty of space for sitting. There's also a big thing full of sand and toys. At the other end of the mall, there's a big play area with stuff to climb on. Mall of the Bluffs has a bigger nursing room with a sink and changing area (plus changing kit machine). The glider is nicer than the Coralville one, but there's no table, and there seems to be a wait to use the room quite a bit of the time.
* What would I take back if I could? Well, obviously, I wouldn't shut the tray from our baby's swing on his knee again, and I wouldn't hit his head on the top of the Jeep or let him slip sideways and fall against the side of his crib. But as far as conscious decisions go, I'd take a C-section as soon as they offered me one. That would have saved me a lot of really really nasty pain, I think; I might have made it through the surgery without a general anesthetic, and I probably would have been in better condition to take care of my son and myself in the hours and days following childbirth. People act like it's a big noble thing to labor as long as you possibly can, but I don't see what was noble about getting myself into a condition where I was poorly equipped to take care of my baby.
* People talk about a baby's first "solid" food being rice cereal mixed with formula or breast milk. I pictured Rice Crispies floating in lots of formula (and Bill thought of Rice Chex), but that's not what they mean by "rice cereal." There's special baby cereal. It's composed of little bits of flaky stuff. It comes in a box.
* Everyone told me to take slippers to wear in the hospital. Nobody told me my feet would swell to twice their normal size so that I could barely stuff them into the slippers.
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