We have flown on a several occasions with our daughter without issue, but the last time we flew we found ourselves the last people on the plane with a team of flight attendants crowding around our car seat scheming to unloose it from the grips of the MD-80.

The trouble arises because air line seat belts require space above the buckle to unlatch it (as opposed to pushing the little orange button on an automobile seat). Once tightened underneath the car seat there is not enough room to pull the latch up…so you can’t get the car seat out (gasp!).

The trick, as passed along to us from a flight attendant mommy, is to turn the buckle upside-down before latching it. The latch will face the seat instead of the underside of the baby seat. This ensures that you have room to unlatch it and can get off the plane and get on with your day.

Alas, my daughter, only a few days before her 1st birthday, started day care. We have taken to calling it school since that feels more like something that bigger kids do.

Dropping her off on that fateful day was one of the hardest things of my life. I compare it to losing a loved one or breaking up after a long relationship. You cry a lot, your heart aches, you recall the fond memories, you find yourself not thinking about it…only to get that ache and cry some more. All the while your little one is crying too. In fact, she cried the whole day and wouldn’t eat.

Here we are almost two weeks into “school” and today was the first day that Julia seemed comfortable with it. She cried when I left her in the morning, but managed to have quite a bit of fun during the day. We thought it would take her at least 4 weeks to adjust, but there’s hope that next week will be much better.

We know we are doing the right thing. There are some people out there that think that you should give up your fulfilling career to stay at home with the baby and that day cares are horrible places. I’ll be honest, I think my daughter is better off at day care than at home with me. I love her to pieces, but she’ll actually learn faster and become more social this way. Sure there are drawbacks, but I think they are not significant enough to make me feel bad.

Here’s to tiny people growing up…even if they’re still tiny.

On the job note, if anyone out there is seeking an experienced Business Analyst (a.k.a Business Systems Analyst) in the Boston, MA area, please contact me by commenting this post. I am seeking full-time or contract position at companies working on Internet software or companies with complex business domains with heavy reliance on software…I really don’t want this post to become a resume

I also have many more SAHD/Parenting topics that I want to blog about, so keep coming back. Maybe these late night sessions will happen more often.

We had been using a Graco “Snugride” infant carrier since the baby was born. She’s now about 10 months old and has grown too long for her carrier. We liked the Snugride because it was convenient in the winter and when she was little. We bought a base for both cars and could plug her sear into either and be on our way. Needless to say, the convertible seats lose some of that convenience…and the process of picking out one to buy was a real bear. To spare you the suspense, we bought the Britax Roundabout for use in our 2006 Honda Civic.

Research Phase 1: Consumer Reports
Like any good American, I started with Consumer Reports to see which seats they tested and recommend. Their top rated seat is the Evenflo Titan. Their second place seat is the Britax Roundabout. The last place seat was the Britax Marathon, mainly due to it’s price and poor rear-facing, LATCH mounted performance. In the middle of the pack were a Combi, Costco and another Evenflo (the Triumph). The top 5 all scored about the same, although they each have their weaknesses.

Research Phase 2: Amazon Customer Reviews

The second thing I did was check out Amazon customer reviews on the top few seats. These were somewhat inconclusive since people have vastly different experiences. From what I could tell, people generally bought an Evenflo or a Britax. Most complaints about the Evenflo Titan were that it was difficult to access the harness release button in rear-facing mode.

Research Phase 3: Hands-on, Empirical Data

Armed with all my paper data, I headed off to Babies-r-us to actually look at these things and play around with them. Because many of the photos online were inadequate for really understanding how these seats were designed, I also brought along my camera. All of the photos I took are at the end of this posting.

First impressions were as expected; none of the seats really blew me away except for the Britax Marathon…the most expensive of the bunch (and lowest rated in CR).

The Evenflo Titan was sort of like a big helmet turned upside down. The real head-scratcher was the design of the base. It has an articulated portion that you flip open to create the lean-angle for rear-facing mode. It just seemed clunky.

The Evenflo Triumph looked about the same (overturned helmet) but had a big, solid base. The big problem with this seat is the harness tensioning mechanism. I tried it out in the store about 10-20 times…tightened, loosened, tightened, loosened…and I never had an “aha” moment. If it was this hard in the store, on the shelf with no child, imagine it in a year after it gets worn out and the kid is flailing. It seemed like a two-hand process no matter what and that was impractical for a car seat in rear-facing mode. The Triumph also features a double-strap for the shoulder portion of the harness. It seemed like people complained a lot about their babies arms getting caught between the layers when they were trying to load them in the seat…also not very practical.

The Britax Roundabout on display had a very “old school” look to it. Maybe it was the grey fabric or the mostly unadorned design. It could have been the contrast with the bright pink seat next to it. It didn’t seem as special as the price suggested. I did like that the base was a solid piece and the design seemed sturdy and simple. The harness was standard 5-point design and featured a push-button release on the front of the seat. The coolest feature by far was the little pieces of velcro that hold the harness straps out of the way for loading and unloading the bebe. Why on Earth don’t all baby seats have this? Can you patent the use of a piece of velcro or is it just too expensive?

The Britax Marathon was the outlier of the bunch. It had this BMW aura about it while the Evenflos exuded “Chevy” and the Roundabout “Toyota Corolla.” It stood tall and sported some really nice fabric. The harness had some nice little pads to prevent chaffing of the baby’s neck. The harness release was an aluminum bit that seemed more appropriate on a ski binding, but clearly meant business. The construction was similar to the Roundabout with a couple of departures; the seat-back was taller and the LATCH belts attached to metal bars screwed to the side of the seat.

The Big Decision:
I went home after the hands-on tests feeling no more assured of a clear winner in the bunch. I liked the quality and design of the Britax seats but the Titan was the Consumer Reports top-dog. The Triumph was easily dismissed for the hard-to-use harness system.

After mulling it over for a few days, re-reading the CR recommendations and hearing that our friends went with the Britax Marathon, we decided to go for it. We figured that this seat would be used for a long long time since our daughter is so little and the extra cost would be justified. We bought the seat at a local store called “The Right Start.”

Installation Attempt 1: Failure

Being a total geek, I was really excited to unbox and learn about our new Marathon seat. It comes wrapped in a plastic bag in a box with a map of London on it. We were immediately let down when we couldn’t find the user manual. We called the store the next day and they kindly informed us that Britax tucks the manual under the seat cover to keep it permanently attached to the seat…something Britax should consider making more obvious to the customer.

**It should be noted that we drive a 2006 Honda Civic sedan as our daily car. Every car has different seat geometry so don’t use my experience as the sole data point for you if you don’t have the same car.**

Since Consumer Reports gave this seat a very bad rating for using the LATCH attachments in rear-facing mode, our only option was to use the car sear belts. This is actually fine since, according to CR, the car seat belts are actually much better than LATCH if installed properly…which is a big if.

I first tried to install it in the center position. No matter what I did, the angle of the belts and the belt-path (in the seat) just weren’t right. I also found that getting the seat to the 45 degree angle mandated for rear-facing seats was proving difficult. I switched to the position behind the passenger seat and faced the same problem with the belt angle. To make matters worse, the seat belt attachments at the seat bottom in this car are located slightly under the seat bottom. This meant that it was very difficult, bordering on impossible, to remove all of the slack from the system since the seat bottom would flex upon impact. I just felt uncomfortable with the way it was going – especially considering how easy it was to get our infant seat properly installed.

I went back and exchanged the Marathon for the Roundabout. The sales person at the store assured me that her “Car Seat Technician” could get it installed properly. I assured her that if I couldn’t do it with my engineering degree and two hours of sweat and swearing that I had little faith that her technician could do it. She did offer advice on how to use the included tether strap to pretension the seat and maintain the 45 degree angle. This proved critical on attempt number 2.

Installation Attempt 2: Success!

The Roundabout installation went much better since I could use the LATCH attachment without worry. I tried the center position and the car seat belts – neither successfully. The seat is installed in the position behind the passenger seat using the LATCH attachments and the tether belt (Swedish method?). The seat comes with a short belt that is wrapped around the front seat rail to create an anchor point. The tether strap is then attached to that and tensioned. It pulls the seat back of the baby seat toward the floor of the car. This accomplished three aims as far as I can tell: 1 – the seat back can actually get to 45 degrees…which would otherwise be impossible given the angle of the Civic’s back seat bottom. 2 – most of the slack is removed from the system because the springs in the car seat bottom are compressed. 3 – in the event of an accident the baby seat will not rebound upward toward the rear seat back of the car. The major drawback to this tether setup is that you cannot move the front seat back as far as you could without it. This makes the front passenger seat basically useless. See not-so-great photo of tether:

Conclusion:

We like this seat a lot. The only concern we have is that it only got a “very good” safety rating for forward-facing as compared to the Marathon’s “excellent” rating. We do need to get a second seat for our other car (2004 Subaru Legacy Wagon) when I return to work so that we can swap drop-off and pick-up duties easily. Maybe we’ll try the Marathon again and see how it goes. For now we’ll enjoy our Roundabout – we know Julia loves it.

Photos of Baby Seats at Store:

Evenflo Titan

Evenflo Triumph

Britax Roundabout

Britax Marathon

We got some “disposable” spoons and bowls and began using those instead. I place quotes around the word disposable because we’ve had these bowls and spoons for about 6 months and have yet to throw one away. We are using the stuff made by The First Years called “Take and Toss.” The bowls have lids and the spoons come in many colors (which is fun for the parents more than the baby). My goal is to not do any baby dishes until she goes to bed at night. This way it’s more of a batch job and feels more efficient…and your feeding time goes much more smoothly. The lids for the bowls are great because you can take them on the go and put the lid on the keep the dirty bowl from messing up your diaper bag. We also use these to transport our plain yogurt for use in our homemade baby yogurt (see earlier posting).

We recently picked up some of the “Take and Toss” sippy cups from the same company. So far we like those as well for the same reasons.

Photo of our spoon and bowl cache:

We have been using the Pampers Sensitive wipes from the very beginning. They are super super soft. They almost feel like a flat cotton ball. The BJ’s “Ultra Soft” wipes, however, are not ultra soft. They are about as soft as a typical wipe as far as I can tell. They are thin relative to the Pampers wipe and quite a bit more rough on the skin. The only data point that I can share is that our daughter was crying every time she got a good wipe down with the BJ’s wipes – which she never really did with the Pampers Sensitive. I also don’t quite remember the price difference, but it was not nearly as dramatic as the price of diapers…so it was not all that advantageous to switch in the first place. Now we’re stuck with 6 packages of wipes that the baby hates…maybe I can sell them on Craigslist.

(sorry – no photos to share this time)

Because we want to avoid getting her hooked on sweet foods, we decided that we should not feed her any more YoBaby. As an alternative we create our own baby yogurt by mixing some baby-food fruit (like pureed peaches or pears) with plain, whole milk yogurt (also Stonyfield Farm). She still eats it up readily and it has a lot less sugar.

In an attempt to find an alternative to our non-performant Pampers diaper we first looked to the cheap, store-brand alternative. We conducted a multi-day competition with the BJ’s brand diapers up against the Pampers Baby Dry diapers. Much to our delight, the BJ’s diapers turned out to be a much better diaper. Now we will not only have to do less laundry and bed-changing, we will also save boatloads of money. The clear winner: BJ’s!

Background

As I mentioned in my last posting “The Great Diaper Dilemma of ’06“, we have been having some disappointments with our trusted brand, Pampers. As a reminder, the main issue was leakage of pee pee (which is daddy-speak for urine) out of the back of the diaper during long naps and overnight. Although completely annoyed by the idea of having to find a better diaper, I was up to the challenge.

We conveniently received a $3.00 off coupon from our local wholesale club BJ’sfor their store-brand (read: generic) diapers. They also back up their little waste-containment modules with a money-back guarantee if they don’t perform as well or better than your current brand. This was a no-brainer…especially since it mentioned some special stretchy feature that sounded like what the Pampers Swaddlers had (our tried and true diaper). The next day daddy and baby made a special trip to BJ’s to pick up a box of diapers.

The Faceoff:
The first thing I did when we got home from the store was open up the box of BJ’s diapers to inspect their design and construction. I made the following observations (also refer to the photos below):

1. They are about the same size as the Pampers (we used size 3 for this test).
2. The construction of the leg-wrapping part is quite similar (although the Pampers may have a slightly stronger elastic).
3. The thickness of the absorption zone is about the same. The only major difference observed is that the BJ’s diapers seemed to be a little crispy/hard on the absorption zone. This is easily eliminated by crinkling it up a bit before putting it on the baby.
4. The absorbazone(TM) on the BJ’s diaper is much longer (about 2.5 inches in the back) – it extends almost to the elastic waist band…exactly where the Pamper’s failed.
5. The BJ’s diaper is quite minimalistic with respect to graphics. They even have generic little characters (a car or jellybean with wheels? and some shapes with smiley faces). That means no Sesame Street characters nor their associated licensing fees.

For about 5 days and nights the BJ’s diapers were used for naps and nighttime. There were no leakages of any kind, even under heavy load(tee hee). By my estimates, a single BJ’s diaper can hold about a gallon* of pee pee and a 1/2 cubic foot* of poop. There was one instance when the diaper weighed about 10 pounds* after it was removed from a long nights slumber. *I’m completely making these numbers up – they are meant to convey a sentiment, not calibrate your measuring devices.

At one point during the test period, I figured I’d better use up the old Pampers that we have so I put one of those on for a nap…big mistake. After the nap I had to change her clothes, dip her in the tub and change the sheet on her crib. I only made that mistake once.

Conclusion:

From here on our we’re BJ’s diaper people. Not only are these high-performance little buggers, they also cost a heck of a lot less (at BJ’s – approx. unit price per 100 diapers Pampers: $17, BJ’s $13).

If you happen to be interested in the BJ’s diapers, they are actually made by Tyco Healthcare. There is information about the diapers on their website.

UPDATE 7/7/2006: In the spirit of full disclosure, we have had a couple of leaks with our beloved BJ’s diaper since this posting was published. I attribute them to user-error though. You must be very careful to ensure that the flaps are fully unfolded and wrapped around the hips before you velcro the tabs onto them…otherwise it leaves an area of weakness for pee to sneak by…

Photos:

We asked ourselves "is she producing more output now?" – no. "Are we not putting the diapers on correctly?" – no. "Is it because we can't buy Pampers Swaddlers in her size now?" – YES! Alas we can no longer buy the Swaddlers design diaper anymore because Julia has outgrown them. Maybe they have them in size 2 or 3 at some other store, but our wholesale club only carries up to the "1-2" size which is just too small now. We have been buying the size 2 "Pampers Dry Baby" which is kinda funny cause these diapers let us down on that very claim.

Now the question is "what to do, what to do?" We have been putting her in the next size up for night time, but that let us down last night. We could seek out over-sized Swaddlers diapers somewhere, but that seems extreme. We could try other brands, but it feels so wrong. Why? Why can't these diapers just work? Don't we have enough to worry about without having to revamp the waste-containment protocol? If anyone out there has suggestions or similar experiences to share, let er rip.

• waterproof pads — in multiples for the changing table and smaller ones for carrying with you (you won’t believe how much poop and pee can come out of a tiny baby, and at the most inopportune times). Also lots of burp cloths (cloth diapers).
• changing table — not essential, but it will save your back; if you get a Pack ‘N Play to use for a bassinet, get one that also has a changing table accessory
• Pack-n-play — Julia slept in the Pack ‘N Play for the first 2 months, then moved to her crib. I would get it rather than one of the co-sleepers that attaches to your bed b/c it’s more versatile.
• swaddling blankets (rectangular work best, rather than the small square ones) and “Swaddle Me” wrap made by Kiddopotamus (Refer to “The Happiest Baby on the Block” book/DVD, which I think I recommended to you before to learn the benefits of swaddling. It was a lifesaver for us, and the combo of blanket plus Swaddle Me really made her sleep longer.) Dad Note: the "Swaddle Me" thing all by itself is useless – babies can squirm out of that in seconds. Like mom said above, first wrap the peanut in a blanket then use the Swaddle Me for added security (beats using duct tape).
• white noise machine (again, refer to HBotB — we got sick of using the radio on static, which was never static-y enough) Dad Note: we bought the Marpac Marsona and use the "waterfall" setting…yes, it costs $80
• shirts that snap down the front — They will probably have these in the hospital. Early on, they’re easier to use than onesies because you don’t have to put anything over the baby’s head.
• infant bath tub with hammock — The hammock insert is very helpful when the baby is really little and can’t sit up. Also for bathing, we now use Cetaphil (or rather the generic version) rather than Johnson’s baby wash b/c Julia was getting some eczema. The Johnson’s stuff has fragrance, which can be irritating. We also use the Cetaphil moisturizer.
• swing — A neighbor lent us a Fisher Price portable swing, and Julia has spent lots of time in it. She even slept in it some at night when she was really little (and wouldn’t go to sleep any other way), and it was great to put her in while I took a shower. A full-size model isn’t necessary.
• If you’re going to buy a breast pump, I recommend the Medela Pump in Style Advanced. It’s one of the most expensive, but it works really well. If you’re planning to go back to work and keep nursing, I would definitely buy one, but you can also rent one from the hospital or from some maternity shops. Also for nursing, I found the Medela bras to be the best, and I used the washable nursing pads rather than the disposable ones, which are rather expensive.
• Continuing on the nursing theme, a Boppy pillow is great. It’s also good for propping the baby up before she can sit on her own.
• diaper pail — we have a Diaper Dekor, which works fine, but I don’t really think it’s even necessary. Dad Note: we recently stopped putting poopy diapers in this diaper pail. It usually made her room smell like a cess pool and prevented me from using my keen olfactory sense to determine if a diaper change was needed upon her waking. Now all poopy diapers are taken out of her room for disposal. We started doing this around 7 months of age.
• Pampers vs. Huggies — We have found that Pampers fit Julia much better than Huggies (i.e. the Huggies leaked), but we’ve heard that babies with fatter[sic] legs fit into Huggies better. You’ll just have to see what works for you and your little one. For the wipes, we like the Pampers Sensitive ones (softer than Huggies). Dad Note: we have several friends who use whatever generic diaper is carried by their local wholesale club (BJ's, Sam's, Costco). This is a great approach if you are the adventurous type. We knew the Pampers Swaddlers worked and didn't want to gamble at all to save money.
• bottles — We’ve found the regular old, no-gimmick bottles (e.g. Babies-r-us brand) work fine. They’re much cheaper than all the ones that are supposed to reduce the swallowing of air, and they have fewer parts to clean. A lot of other people swear by Dr. Brown’s bottles, but I’d try the basic ones first. Dad Note: nipples come in different flow rates (slow, medium, and fast) – we used the slow ones for a while then it seemed she wanted the milk to come faster so we upped the speed. If you are using the cheap bottles (and you should) then the nipples are cheap too, so buy some of each flow rate.
• New Native Baby sling — Check it out at www.newnativebaby.com. We used this a ton when Julia was younger (she slept in it for two hours at a holiday party), and she still fits into it now. This particular one doesn’t have any complicated buckles or anything. The only drawback is that mom and dad might need different sizes (we bought one for each of us). We also have a Baby Bjorn, which is better for walking outside, but the sling is great for at home. If you get a Bjorn, I would recommend the “Active” one. We have the regular, which doesn’t have the lumbar support, and your back really gets sore pretty quickly. Dad Note: I wont wear the fricken baby Bjorn – it kills my back.
• stroller — I would get one of the frames that the infant car seat snaps into. It’s much less bulky than a full stroller (good for the city), and when the baby gets old enough to sit up rather than recline, you can replace it with an umbrella stroller. Dad Note: we got one of those Cadillac travel system strollers and the thing is just huge and heavy (even though it's called the "MetroLite"). I wish we got one of those snap in frames.
• pacifiers and clip — Some babies don’t like pacifiers, but Julia loves them, and they have been essential for us (again, refer to HBotB). We like the Avent ones. A clip is great because you won’t have to keep switching pacifiers when they fall on the floor. Dad Note: some of the books and P.O.O.P's out there are against pacifiers because one kid in a million stills uses it when they're in high school. There was a recent study that showed that pacifiers actually lower the risk of SIDS when used for sleeping…and the make a cranky baby happy.
• crib — All the bedding sets are really cute, but they come with a lot of stuff you don’t need. All you really need is a mattress pad and sheet (and a spare of each) in case of accidents. We are using a bumper pad now, but at least for the first 6 months you’re not supposed to b/c of SIDS. Dad Note: but I totally love the crib skirt, ornamental wall hangings and curtain! They like totally make the nursery.
• lots of bibs — the ones that have rubberized backings or are otherwise waterproof (Carter’s makes some nice ones that are waterproof but have fabric on both sides.) Dad Note: spring for the all-cotton waterproof Carter's bibs – the rubber backed ones feel cold against the skin and are generally just weird feeling.
• some kind of easy storage for clothes — we bought a dresser for Julia, but if you don’t have much space, you could just use baskets under the changing table (if you get one)
• new parent books — You will inevitably reach a point when you just stop reading the books and do what seems to work best for you, but the two I found to be the most useful (in addition to HBotB) were “What to Expect the First Year” and “The Nursing Mother’s Companion.”
• formula — You may not need it at all in the beginning if nursing goes well, but it’s good to have some liquid formula on hand just in case. We used Similac because that’s what Julia got in the hospital, but now that I’ve stopped nursing we’re using Enfamil Lipil, which she seems to like better and which smells (and looks) better than Similac.

Stuff you'll want/need later on (after a couple of months):

• Bumbo baby chair — This is awesome (check it out online). We got ours at 4 months, but Julia could have used it earlier. We still put her in it on the table while we’re eating.
• booster seat that attaches to a chair (Fisher Price or Safety 1st) — We got this instead of a full-size high chair. Cheaper and much more convenient because it takes up less space and can go with you to restaurants/friends’ houses, etc. Dad Note: get the Safety 1st version – it's half the price and the quality if decent.
• backpack — We use this a lot now, but maybe a front carrier is better for the city. Dad Note: see my posting on this topic.
• Exersaucer — We held off getting one of these for a while, but finally gave in, and we’ve found it’s very useful. Julia will play in it while we do stuff in the kitchen. We got the Baby Einstein one, but there are lots of different models. It takes up space, but you’ll find that having somewhere to “park” the baby is essential.
• modular foam play mat — If you have hardwood floors and a little extra space, this is essential. You'll need somewhere for the baby to learn how to play on the floor without risk of cracking their noggin on the floor. We bought ours through Soft-n-safe Floors because they had a huge selection and decent prices (www.softnsafe.com – site not working as of this posting).