Brand Loyalty

As a stay-at-home mom I am usually conflicted on whether to save money OR remain loyal to the brands we love? For years I have been using the same products day in and day out. Although I could probably save money using other products or generic brands - but I'm not and probably never will.

Here's a list of the brands we love:

Diapers: Pampers for Girls and Huggies for Boys
When Sophia was born I started using Pampers Swaddlers because I received a huge box at my baby shower. Then when she got bigger we switched to Pampers Cruisers. With Pampers we rarely ever had a leaky diaper except the rare times when she would have a "blowout" (in which case no diaper would have worked). So Pampers work well and we love them.

However, when Thomas was born...we started using Swaddlers (brand loyalty) and found that the free Huggies from the hospital were better! Yes, I denied it at first and kept trying to use the Pampers. But when you have a newborn (remember when you first brought them home how scary and fragile they seemed) the umbilical cord cutout was a lifesaver plus they just seemed to fit better and were more stretchy. So Thomas wears Huggies Supreme and we love those. Now to be fair, we have never tried Huggies for Sophia in the bigger sizes.

Baby Wipes
For wipes we use Pampers Sensitive wipes. I'm not a big fan of fragrances and these are very mild and since my husband has sensitive skin...I just assumed my kids would too.

Baby Lotion and Bath Wash
A friend of mine suggested we use AVEENO Baby Products when my daughter was born. She even sent me a gift basket with all their products. Now I grew up with Johnson & Johnson baby products but read something online about their products containing possible carcinogens! The thought of using products on my children that could potentially cause cancer was unthinkable. So we stuck with AVEENO - more specifically the Calming Comfort baby wash and lotion. We also use AVEENO sunblock for baby (and adults).

The funny thing about parenting is that once you find something that works - you don't dare change in fear that your child will change too. The "Calming" lotion did exactly what it was supposed to do - calm baby - so we've been using it every night before bed for 19 months, 1 week and 3 days. I don't know what would happen if we skipped a night but I'm not about to find out!

Baby Medicine
As a former employee of a major pharmaceutical company I find it very hard to use generic drugs even though as a scientist I know the active ingredients are the same. So for medicine we use the major brands like Children's and Infants' Tylenol, Children's Motrin, Infants' Mylicon, Little Noses Saline Spray/Drops and Little Tummies Gripe Water. We actually never used the Gripe Water until Thomas was born. It has been a lifesaver when nothing else worked to calm him.

Formula and Bottles
Both of my children are exclusively breastfed. Well obviously Thomas is still nursing but I am planning on nursing him for a year (or at least six months). Sophia was switched to formula right before her 1st birthday. We used Enfamil NextStep because we received a free sample in the mail. It worked so like all my products - we stuck with it. She is still getting one 4 oz bottle before bed but we are trying to wean her in the next few days or weeks completely.

We did use bottles occasionally with both children. When you're nursing, it does get kinda tricky when you first introduce the bottle. Some "experts" refer to it as nipple confusion. I think it's probably "flow" confusion. Afterall, I'm a mom therefore expert, right? So we tried five different brands of baby bottles - Gerber Nuk, The First Years Soothie, Philips Avent, Adiri and Dr. Brown's. Luckily Dr. Brown's worked!!! I can't tell you how excited I was to be able to finally pump some milk and leave the house knowing the baby would take the bottle. As for the pump - I have Medela's Swing breast pump.

Pacifiers and Sippy Cups
Sophia got her first Soothie pacifier in the NICU when she was extubated and she liked it. Otherwise I'm not sure I would have been a "paci" mom. Once she outgrew the Soothie pacifier we switched to Gerber Nuk pacifiers. They are the #1 selling pacifier brand in the USA and have been around for ages. However, with Thomas we tried to use the Gerber NUK ones but he actually prefers the Soothie ones. Eventually he'll graduate to the Gerber ones.

We use Playtex sippy cups - the Sipster and the Insulator. We tried other brands but these are by far the best and truly leak-proof. There was another brand that we tried and Sophia quickly learned how to take the lid off!

Baby Food
We used both Earth's Best Organic baby food and Gerber baby food. Sophia also loves to eat Gerber Graduates Veggie Puffs and Yogurt Melts.

Mom Food
Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke - thought I'd throw that in

Onesies
We absolutely love Carter's onesies! Well we love Carter's period. Pajamas. Pants. Socks. Bibs. Towels. It's actually a good thing for us that the closest Carter's store is 17 miles away!

Laundry
Oh my gosh laundry, where do I start? In the beginning like all new moms I used Dreft. I really didn't love it and I didn't hate it either. But once I switched from Cheer to Cheer Free & Gentle for Dan and I, it didn't make sense to buy Dreft anymore. So I use Cheer Free & Gentle on all our clothes and Bounce Free dryer sheets. I still haven't found a stain remover that I love so please send your success stories to me.

That's it for now. If have a product that you think I would love - send me an email. I'll try anything once unless it interferes with our sleep routine!