Today I Learned that TIL is an acronym for Today I Learned

TIL:

1.  Bumper Pads are no longer considered safe.  The idea behind them is that it protects your baby from smashing their head into the edges of the crib.  The concern is that they could end up smoshed up against the bumper pad and have their little face pressed into the material, i.e. not be able to breathe.  While they are cute, make sense as far as avoiding bruises, and were recommended to me by several good parents, I have taken mine back to the store.


2. Cribs are expensive and should be.  After looking at several stores, I registered for a crib from Baby's R Us.  My very kind parents bought it for us and it arrived two days ago.  This crib, like most nowadays, converts into a toddler bed.  It also has 3 drawers and the changing table attached.  It looked like a great way to cover a lot of bases.  Then we opened the box.  Several pieces of wood were broken, not like scratched and dinged, but snapped in half.  Full on busted.  After sitting in a pile of styrofoam and crib parts for about 20 minutes, I called the store to see what we could do.  The store offered to send us a new one to replace the one we had just completely unwrapped, but after seeing that it was broken already, it made us leary to put our kid in it.  I was really bummed.  It was NOT cheap (400 clams), but it was cheap (if you know what I mean).  After doing a lot of research, we discovered a store called USA Baby (I highly recommend it if you have one in your area) which looks a lot more like a furniture store, not an all-in-one store.  We purchased a Baby's Dream crib today that is made of solid wood(no particle board) and got a good deal because it was the floor model, but these cribs run from $400-$1200.  I was really discouraged after working with our first crib, but now feel excited that we purchased something safe, pretty, and of good quality.

A link to the Baby's Dream furniture:     http://www.babysdream.com/


3.  My doctor will not stop me if I go into labor any time after 34 weeks.  A full term baby is considered any kiddo who has cooked for 36 weeks, but even if I go into labor two weeks before then, it is all systems go.  At 34 weeks, the baby usually does just fine, it is just crazy to think that 34 weeks is only 2 weeks away.


4. Ear thermometers are not okay for babies.  Their little ear canals are so fresh and delicate, that it dangerous to put anything in there.  So I am logging on to my Target registry to remove the one that says "Infant safe" that I registered for.  Up the pooper is the only way to get an accurate temp.  So rectal  thermometer it is.