Older Baby/Toddler Favorites
Our daughter is officially ONE! When people tell you, “It happens fast,” believe them. Those first 3 months felt like an eternity, but once we found our footing and began to adjust to our new way of life, time now feels like it’s stuck on fast forward.
On the Go
While Brooks’s infant car seat is usable until she’s 32 pounds and 32 inches tall, we purchased her long term car seat early for more comfortability and to have a car seat in each car. This one accommodates children of all sizes — newborns to booster seat age and can rotate 360 degrees for easy in and out. The rotating feature was the selling point for us after hearing our friends rave about it, and it makes this completely worth it.
Sleeping
Sleep sacks are cozy little zip on blankets for babies that reduce the risk of them getting tangled in a blanket. Added bonus: they’re super cozy! Kyte is the most well-known brand when it comes to the super soft bamboo variety, but Quince has a great dupe that’s $20 cheaper.
Sleep sacks also come in a variety of weights measured by TOG (Thermal Overall Grade). Since we live in a hot to moderate area of the country, we typically go for an all season weight of 1.0 so we can use the same one year round. I would recommend have 2 to rotate between. Ours have held up exceptionally well, and once they hit the medium size, they can stay in it for quite a while.
Brooks started cruising around the house while holding onto walls and furniture around the 9 month mark, and that’s when we switched to these pajamas.
These ultra soft modal pajamas from Target are so stretchy that you get a LOT of extra wear time out of them. For perspective, Brooks is closing in on 15 months and is still comfortably wearing both the 6-9 month and 12 month sizes.
Feeding
These silicone bibs are comfortable, easy to clean, and very effective at catching food dropped by little fingers. Brooks loves checking the pocket frequently for any treasures throughout each meal! We throw these in the diaper bag for restaurants, because they’re simple to wipe down and roll up compactly. They’re also dishwasher safe on the top rack! We have one from Mushie (thicker, a little less flexible) and one from LouLou Lollipop (thinner, more flexible.) I would recommend having just 2-3 since they’re easy to clean, and you’re likely doing dishes often anyway.
In our experience you do not need a high end high chair, and I recommend avoiding one with fabric at all costs. Babies are very messy eaters, and there’s enough laundry to be done without the addition of fabric high chair covers. We opted for the $20 IKEA high chair (with footrest, sold separately), and put some of our high chair savings toward a Catchy.
What is a Catchy? An overpriced piece of plastic foam board that attaches to the legs of a high chair. It’s simple to wipe down, saves your floors from huge messes, allows you to save perfectly good food for later, and keeps your dog from eating your child’s discards. You’re welcome! You will not regret it! Splat mats are a popular alternative, but they don’t contain messes nearly as well.
Once Brooks grew too tall to keep the Catchy on the high chair, we took it off and realized it had been, unbeknownst to us, preventing us from tripping on the wide chair legs. After almost toppling Brooks out of the IKEA high chair one too many times, we switched to this portable booster seat that sits on a normal dining chair, where her little feet rest on the dining chair’s seat. We opted not to use the tray, so she can eat from the table like the rest of us.
You could take this with you to restaurants, but since we received this and another portable high chair as gifts, this remains a permanent fixture in our kitchen.
This portable high chair attaches directly to the table, so it allows your child to sit close enough to the table to feed themselves — something that makes traditional high chairs at restaurants a little tricky when kids are younger. This has gotten a TON of use, because we take it to restaurants, grandparents’ houses, friends’ houses, etc.
These sectioned silicone plates with suction cups have been fantastic. They come in packs of 3 in a variety of colors for less than $20, they’re dishwasher safe, they stay in place nicely (until your kid figures out how suction cups work — that happened for us around 14 months), and the lips between each section are low enough for her to easily reach food with her little pincer grip.
I recommend the set with lids, because it saves you from dirtying up other containers or wasting food when your child inevitably decides mid-meal they’re no longer hungry and then are suddenly starving as soon as dinner is over.
We have just 3 plates for Brooks, and it’s plenty since we run the dishwasher daily.
Honorable Mentions
Straw cups - The reason this didn’t get it’s own section is because I’m not over the moon about a particular one. If it has a straw and handles, we’re good! (FYI, One of my best friends is a speech therapist who recommends straw cups over sippy cups.) We have several we love, including these with handles while they’re learning to hold cups and drink from straws, these larger ones for growing hands, and this insulated one for on the go. These are cheap and work well, but the straws are hard to clean and these start to leak after a while.
Silicone placemats - come in a two pack and are great for home and restaurants.
Silicone spoons - short while they’re learning, longer once they get older
Silicone snack cup - just one is plenty!
Playing
Once Brooks started crawling, this play pen became a mainstay in our living room. The one pictured is the one we have, and while I love the zippered opening and pull up rings, ours isn’t easily collapsible. The play pen linked looks VERY similar, but it comes with a cushioned playmat and is easily collapsible. If I could have a do-over, I’d get the linked one instead.
This has been a hit since Brooks was 6 months old. It has 2 musical settings, 5 buttons that say colors and play instrument noises, and each page has a movable element. While I can sing you every song by heart at this point, it’s not an overly annoying toy and one that I am definitely keeping on the radar for future gifts for friends.
This has entertained Brooks for HOURS since she turned 1. It has a side to practice numbers and counting, a piano on top (the most used portion of the toy), movable beads that activate different weather sounds, a phone that has a ringer button, a side with cogs and gears, and a sorting side with 4 different shapes. Another great parent and kid approved toy!
These pull back cars are made with padded fabric that velcros to a plastic platform with wheels. Since babies put most everything in their mouths, I love that you can easily remove the wheels and throw these in the washing machine every so often. They roll surprisingly far, and they’re fun to send flying down the hallway for a baby to chase!
These pipes are under $10, make fun noises as they stretch, and can all be linked together. This ultra simple toy was a stand out this Christmas, and both adults and kids have a fun time mindlessly playing with these. Highly recommend!
These are easy-to-handle blocks for little fingers, and they’re genuninely fun to build alongside your child. (Are you sensing a theme here?) We’ve made houses for Little People toys, animals to chase Brooks around the house with, etc. You can’t go wrong with a bag of blocks!
This genius little toy is an intuitive music player for toddlers. You squeeze an ear to turn it on and then place a character on top to play music. Brooks uses this for hours everyday, and it holds a pretty decent charge. Accompanying Tonie characters are great recommendations for friends and family (if they ask for gift ideas), because they take up little room and keep this toy exciting, making the price tag totally worth it.
Health & Baby Care
Once Brooks got older, using the manual Nose Frida became more and more challenging. Our friends told us about this electric version, and we never looked back. It works extremely well and is much quicker (and less gross) for parents to handle. I cannot overstate how much we love this tool over the manual version for a congested toddler!
Tips for Toddlers Things
Less is more — This is true for feeding items and toys alike. Brooks is still interested in toys she was playing with at 3 months old, but she’s equally as interested in cardboard boxes, leaves, sticks, etc. You don’t need a ton of toys to keep your child stimulated. Exceptions to the “less is more” rule include pacifiers (if your child uses them), bed sheets, and straw cups.
Rotate Toys — If you do find yourself with a lot of toys, especially after a birthday or the holidays, pack up some of the more familiar toys and put them somewhere easily accessible but hidden away. After a month or so, pull out the old toys and pack up the other bunch. You’ll create some exciting fun without spending any extra!