Top Baby Gear

[4archsmate]

We are due in February and will be moving aboard and hopefully cruising the Caribbean next year. Baby will be about 6 months old when we move aboard and we will of course sail with her before then. For those of you who have babies under the age of 2 aboard, what are your essential baby items. Although lots of great advice can come from parents of all ages, the safety requirements for babies in general are different now and that is why I really only want responses from newer parents.

I have seen and loved windtraveler's site and am looking for other opinions as well.

Thanks!

[skipmac]

#1 Netting on the lifelines.

#2 Padded, secure area (or two) for baby to hand out when at sea. We rigged the forepeak like a big crib for below and padding around the cockpit well for above decks.

[annsni]

From my experience with cruising with 4 babies:

* Lifeline netting is nice but not a requirement. We used it with our first two kids but then the second two were on a new boat and we didn't bother with the netting and we were fine.

* Well fitting life jacket and a harness. We had a rule that the kids were harnessed whenever in the cockpit and it was great for peace of mind. They could fall overboard but never hit the water.

* Inflatable bathtub which doubled as a little pool. This was great because it took so little room.

* A secure place to sleep. When baby is not mobile, this was pretty easy but once baby got mobile, it was tougher. I know some people use a pack and play on board to have a secure place to put the baby.

* Small bins to rotate toys. We had shoebox sized boxes and would rotate them so that the toys were still pretty interesting for a long time.

* Diapers - lots of them. We did cloth diapers and it worked really well but not everyone is up for them.

* A seat top high chair like this: Fisher-Price SpaceSaver High Chair - Tan Lattice - Fisher-Price - Babies "R" Us They also have space saver ones too.

* A good umbrella stroller

If I can think of more, I'll post more but these are things we found to be great with the kids.

[Matt sachs]

Good thread. Today is our due date.

[4archsmate]

Thank you --very helpful. Congratulaitons Matt!

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by 4archsmate

the safety requirements for babies in general are different now and that is why I really only want responses from newer parents.
Thanks!

Just curious, what's different now?

[Matt sachs]

World, meet Sloane Everly......She was born at home October 7th. She was 8 pounds 10 oz. 22 inches. Mommy and baby are doing great. Daddy is a basket case.

[annsni]

She is gorgeous!! Congratulations!!! Embrace that basket case status because you will hold it for the rest of your life.

[4archsmate]

Congratulations! What a beauty and I love the name!

[Matt sachs]

Thank you. I know this isn't boating related, but its a chance to brag a little. Shes 6 days old and already loves the camera!

[ontherocks83]

Matt Congratulations!!! We are expecting our second in April.

4archs, conratulations to you as well! When they are little it is easier to prop them up against some padding, but once they learn to crawl and walk it is very difficult to keep them in a "safe" place. If you can block off 1 berth and pad the walls as a play room it will be very helpful. To be honest we typically would only bring our son out when we had an extra set of hands so there could always be one person on baby duty. Baby's especially new borns will adapt to their environment rather well. So if all they really know is the boat and its motion that is where they will feel the most comfortable

[annsni]

Originally Posted by Matt sachs

Thank you. I know this isn't boating related, but its a chance to brag a little. Shes 6 days old and already loves the camera!

That was the BEST.PICTURE.EVER!!!!!

[Matt sachs]

I know, right? Then she did this....

[annsni]

Well, there you go Dad! That's what she thinks about all this camera stuff!!!!

You should have actually said that it went in the other order - sticking out her tongue then laughing about it!

[maytrix]

Love the pictures!

Going to follow this thread intently as my wife is also due in February and we will be cruising in a few years, but will be doing a charter sometime next summer (aka as soon as we're ready for it!).