As parents of six children, all being raised by us in our own household, I think we have learned a bit of wisdom in a few areas. We have gone through the gamut of products from diapers, carseats and strollers to walkers, conversion seats and more diapers, to boosters, potty training and pull-ups, to computers and educational software. Having had six in a matter of seven years, we are pretty fresh with ideas dealing with infancy through early school years. We’ll have to wait a bit to review driver’s ed. and choosing colleges.
We have done some product reviews so far on the website, but we’d like to set product reviews apart and label them such so they are easier to index. We’ll try to categorize them by age when possible:
newborns (0-1 month), infants (2-6 months), babies (6-18 months), toddlers (18-24 months), cruisers (24-30 months), etc.
The first thing that comes to mind is perhaps one of the most critical things during the first year or so is medicated cream for diaper rash treatment. We have used everything from standard brands such as A&D Ointment to more basic approaches as Vaseline to alternative remedies such as Udder Cream. In our experience, nothing works like Xttrium Laboratories DRC (Diaper Rash Creme). It must have something to do with the Zinc-oxide (yes, the same thing lifeguards put on their lips and noses to prevent and treat sunburn), but it does the trick like nothing we know. It is not always available on the drugstore or supermarket shelves, so you may try ordering directly from the factory at the link above.
Note, we have not had great success with online ordering. On more than one occasion we have placed online orders, and they look like they go through, but we never get the shipment, and when we place a follow up call they did not have record of the transaction (although I always print out my web order invoice). So you wind up losing a couple of weeks waiting then order by phone. Nowadays I just order by phone. The people there are nice, much fewer phone snafu’s. Latest batch came within 7 days of ordering. Aside from the slight difficulty getting the product, the creme itself is outstanding and worth the effort of jumping the hurdles to get it. We keep a tube at each diaper station around the house (currently have two in diapers and one in pull-ups), one in the travel-diaper bag, and one or two to spare in stock.
Hope this review helps other parents. We lucked out by coming across some samples and a coupon at a baby fair when we lived in Miami back at the turn of the century. It was also easier to get locally there.
Regards,
Dave from Charlotte
