Sleeveless Bibs for Baby Led Weaning

We've tried a lot of bibs and bib combinations for our voracious eater and have yet to find the perfect bib. It's summer, so sleeveless bibs are working just fine for now, though I expect to try some more sleeved bibs in the future! Here are the features I've found to be very desirable:
A pocket that baby can learn to scoop dropped food from

• Easy to rinse and quick to dry so the bib can be used for multiple meals before getting a good wash
• Dishwasher and/or washing machine safe
• Doesn't stain so it still looks cute after washing
• Enough coverage to protect the neck of baby's onesie and baby's pant legs as well so that we don't have to strip him down to his diaper each time
• Soft and comfortable, no hard awkward plastic that gets between baby and the high chair!

Oxo Tot Roll-Up Bib

I seriously love the silicone part of this bib. It rinses clean beautifully so I find that of all bibs, I can reuse this one the most before needing to toss it in the wash. Though its a structured bib with a pocket, its still soft enough to be comfortable for baby and not interface with leaning against the high chair's tray. The fabric part sometimes gets stained, but so far its always come out in the wash.

This is definitely my favourite bib thus far, unfortunately, I really only ever use it when baby is naked. Even tied tightly around the neck, food sneaks onto a onesie below. And no matter how you tie it, its just too small to protect the sides of a onesie and pants, even for my super skinny 15lbs 7 month old.

Goo-Goo Baby Perfect Pocket Bib

I have tried both the size large and size small with my skinny little man, and I would recommend skipping the small and going straight to the size large. It still fits pretty snuggly around his relatively small neck but it has extra coverage for his legs which I really like.

The pocket is good for catching crumbs, but not helpful for scooping food out to ensure it doesn't go to waste. No matter how hard I try, even scooping it out with a spoon, I find bits left when I unsnap it to clean. And wyatt definitely hasn't figured out how to save food from the pocket yet though he has with the Oxo Tot Roll-Up Bib.

Its very easy to rinse under water to reuse for the day before tossing in the wash, but doesn't dry as quickly as silicone does. In any case, I get at least 3-4 meals of use before I toss it in the laundry if I rinse it after every meal.

I've also been washing these in mesh bags in our regular laundry and they stay very nice, however stains seem to really set in. We have one with a white background and there are some orange spaghetti stains that just won't come out. (Though I fully admit I haven't perfected my wash routine to get rid of food stains!)

And baby's onesie? Still gets stained around the neck and sometimes on the hips, but not nearly as much as with the Oxo Tot bib.

Kushies Taffeta Waterproof Ribneck Bib

The best part of this bib is the neck. The white fabric has proven to be the best at protecting his onesie around the neck. The pocket, however, is pretty useless. It catches some pieces but its not nearly as wide as the other two. And because it doesn't have the brilliant snaps like the Goo-Goo baby one, it's a lot more difficult to empty of food bits after a meal. 

This bib is more difficult to rinse, so I find that I only get one or two uses out of it before tossing it in the wash. Also, because the neck is white, well, its no longer white.

The Verdict?

While I continue my search for the perfect bib, I'm alternating between stripping baby down to his diaper and double or triple bibbing him.

If I really care about what he's wearing, I used a three bib combo. Laugh, but it works: a Tommee Tippee Milk Feeding Bib, with the size Large Goo-Goo Baby Perfect Pocket Bib on top and left unsnapped to protect his pants, and finally the Oxo Tot Roll-Up Bib to catch food bits and make them easily scoop-able for small hands and for me to put them back on his tray.

The Summer Infant WrapSack

You may have seen my post on Newborn Swaddles, in which I compare all of the swaddles I tried on my newborn. Well, now that my son has outgrown all of our swaddles, I was able to go out and purchase any swaddle of my liking!

After quite a bit of research, I settled on the Summer Infant WrapSack. It's as easy to use as the SwaddleMe, but doesn't constrain his legs, and has a zipper for easy nighttime diaper changes (of course, at 9 weeks, we now finally rarely need to change his diaper at night!)

It's a bit wide, as we purchased the size Large which is designed for babies 14lbs+ and Wyatt is just under 11lbs. However, after a wash and a trip to the dryer, its actually not much wider than the HALO newborn swaddle we've been using up until now, and we're still able to tie him tightly enough in it for it to be safe. Here he is peacefully sleeping with one arm out.

Summer Infant WrapSack

We never really needed to constrain his legs, so I think we would have loved this swaddle in a size small when he was born, assuming that the size would fit as nicely as the SwaddleMe.

Pregnancy and Babywearing in Winter with the M Coat

After trying on multiple coat extensions for pregnancy and babywearing, I opted to purchase the M Coat. I actually loved the panels, and will likely get one in the future, however with the jackets I currently own I didn't find that the panels looked good or fit well. For pregnancy, the panels look best with a mid-length jacket, and my winter jackets are either too long or too short.

In pregnancy, I found the M Coat to look a bit bulky on my small frame, but it was comfortable and kept me very warm. Except for my legs which were used to being covered by a knee length winter jacket.

For babywearing, I absolutely love it. The jacket is nice so I have no problems wearing it as my primary jacket, which means I can just pack the panel in my diaper bag with a carrier and I'm ready to take baby for a walk no matter where I go.

Going for a walk in -10C with our 10lbs 8 week old son

In the above picture, our son is wearing a light cotton sleeper inside the Boba Wrap, and I've zipped up my fiance's sweatshirt around us before finally putting the jacket on. And we were way too warm, the sweater was too much! Below, you can see the full jacket on another day. Underneath I'm wearing our son with the Lillebaby Complete Original. He's wearing a fleece sleeper and we don't have another layer on top of us and we are cozy warm.

Walking in -5C with our 10 week old

Likes

• Fits well without the panel, no one would know that its made for babywearing
• Pockets hold a lot which is useful when wearing your baby
• The panel fits the jacket perfectly, no messing with the positioning of a panel that wasn't made for your jacket
• The panel is perfectly designed to shield your baby's head from the wind
• The panel can easily be folded down for nicer days or for an older baby so he can look around
• Machine washable

Dislikes

• Sleeves are made very short; I always need to wear mitts with this jacket
• Pockets don't allow you to just put your hands in them as the opening is on top, not on the side
• Pockets are bulky in pregnancy and add width where you don't need extra width!
• The length is too short for cold winter days, and as baby grows his legs will become too long to fit under the jacket
• The panel is a fixed width and can only be tightened in one spot, which is fine for babywearing, but for pregnancy makes it quite big when you're in that awkward in-between stage where your current jackets don't fit but you aren't showing significantly; both coat extensions offer a way to make the width smaller
• The jacket and panel can't be cinched at the bottom, so babies legs can get a bit chilly in colder weather. That's why wearing a big sweater on top of both of us works really well

Would I buy it again? Absolutely. However, I was able to find a used jacket in new condition at half price. At full price, I'd consider getting myself a warmer, long length, Canada Goose jacket with a Kokoala panel if I'm pregnant again in winter. Yes, its a splurge, but these jackets are extremely warm and you get the extra length.

Coat Extensions for Pregnancy and Babywearing

Living in a cold climate like Ottawa makes having a means of staying warm while pregnant, and also for winter babywearing a necessity if you enjoy walking. Given that we have a dog and that I'll be commuting to work by walking and public transportation for the next few months, I sought out a solution for this early on.

Extension Panels

An extension panel is a panel that zips into your existing jacket and adapts for two modes: pregnancy, allowing for your larger belly, and babywearing, which provides extra space for you to wear your baby using a wrap or carrier under your jacket. An additional benefit of getting a panel instead of a dedicated maternity or babywearing jacket is that your partner can use it as well, so long as you have the right adapter for their jacket.

There are quite a few options out there, including custom options made on Etsy, however, I chose to select from two Canadian companies available for purchase in Ottawa so that I could try them on before deciding. These two companies are Kokoala and MakeMyBellyFit, both with excellent and responsive customer service.

Just like different jackets fit and look better on certain body types, I found that extension panels are the same way. They look better with certain jackets depending on your height and the length of your jackets.

When I tried these on, I was in my second trimester at 24-25 weeks and my jackets just barely don't zip up anymore, so the panel is necessary but provides more space than I need at this point.

I'm 5'4, and I found that for both of the panels, I got the best look and fit with jackets that hit a mid-point on the thigh. With a long jacket, the panels fall a bit short, and with a very short jacket, they fit a bit too high.

Kokoala

The first option I considered is the Kokoala. In Ottawa, I was able to try this on at both Baby enRoute and Milkface, but they are available in many Canadian cities. 

Kokoala Deluxe Zip-In Jacket Extension

The Kokoala extension has more of a traditional jacket finish, almost resembling Canada Goose jackets, with the shell made of 100% waterproof nylon. Different zippers are attached using velcro, which I prefer because it means that no matter the zipper you use, the width of the panel remains the same. If you purchase it directly from Kokoala on their website, you can purchase this panel with any one zip to start. If you have a non-standard jacket you plan to use the panel with most of the time, this can be an advantage, as you save yourself $15 given that the cost of the adapter includes one zipper of your choice instead of having to buy both the panel and an adapter.

The way it adjusts is using two adjustable pulls to tighten the jacket below and above the belly. It looks stunning on their website with the right jackets. Unfortunately for me, those pulls only line up with my belly when used with my long jacket. With my short jackets, the pull which should have been under my belly lined up with my belly button, and the pull that should have been over my belly was over my chest. This meant I had to tighten them a bit less. With my long jacket, it lined up really well by positioning the velcro zipper at the correct height and then folding over the top inside. My long jacket used the same adapter as my short jacket because of the velcro, which means another potential $15 saved.

With my long TNA Parka, the panel lines up very nicely because of the velcro

This video shows how you can adjust the zipper using velcro for different jacket types. Here are pictures showing the bottom of the jacket with the panel velcro'ed in just above where the zipper starts, to help it sit at the right height.

Panel lined up using velcro on a longer jacket

Close up view

On their website, they currently only allow you to purchase a deluxe winter option or a spring option, which led me to prefer the MakeMyBellyFit, which has an optional fleece you can zip in. However, via email Kokoala assured me that a new option will be available in the next couple of weeks that has a removable warmth layer, which I prefer as it means the same panel can be used at any time of year.

MakeMyBellyFit BellyFit Panel

This second option, the MakeMyBellyFit BellyFit Panel, is also created by a Quebec company. I was able to try it on at Queen Mother Maternity in Ottawa, but is also available at these retailers in Canada. Baby enRoute usually carries it, but hasn't received new stock yet.

MakeMyBellyFit BellyFit Panel

MakeMyBellyFit's width is adjusted using snaps that line up all along the way, which allow you to adjust any section of the panel to a smaller width. However, I haven't put on much weight around my chest, so it fits a bit big over and under my belly. This is because the snaps still provide a bit of additional space in areas you don't require it, as you can see in the pictures. I should mention that the same is true for the Kokoala panel, they both add in extra fabric in areas you may not have grown.

This panel always comes with a 5VS zipper, which is the default zipper used on most sport winter jackets. My fiancé's jacket has this zipper, but only my Arc'teryx jacket uses it. The long TNA jacket uses this type of zipper as well, but it requires a zipper adapter to get the panel to sit at the right height, unlike the Kokoala with which you can just reposition the same zipper using velcro. The zipper adapters zip onto the panel, which I personally find to look cleaner, however, it means that on some jackets the panel becomes a bit wider as you're adding on the width of the adapter. An advantage of this zipper method is that you can leave the adapters on your various jackets, and zip out just the panel when you switch between jackets.

Zip Adapters

This panel definitely fits me better, though not perfectly -- I think after this experience I've come to accept that in pregnancy, there is no such thing as a perfect fitting jacket given that your body is constantly changing! Here are pictures with two of my jackets. I wasn't able to try it with my other jackets as no store in Ottawa carries the MakeMyBellyFit zipper adapters I require for them.

MakeMyBellyFit with Arc'teryx Atom

No adapter required, notice the extra width at top even with snaps closed

Aritzia's TNA Parka with MakeMyBellyFit, using long 5VS adapter

Which option?

When evaluating, it pays to to ask for a salesperson that has experience with these panels, especially the Kokoala. When I first tried it on, I didn't think it could work for me at all, however, an experienced salesperson at Baby enRoute was able to show me how to adjust the zipper to make it sit just right with my belly which makes all of the difference. 

In the end, the MakeMyBellyFit panel fits with most of my jackets best, but both options are really good candidates. I think to decide between them you need to factor in which jackets you plan to wear the panel with most often.

Kokoala is best if you plan to use it with a single jacket / zip style a season, as removing and putting zippers on and off is more time consuming given that you really want to take the time to line up the zipper at the right height. The panel itself has a really nice jacket finish and a clean look which I prefer to the MakeMyBellyFit, so its no surprise that it's a best seller in the stores that I visited.

The MakeMyBellyfit is a better choice for you if you plan to use multiple jackets regularly which all require different zippers, as these can stay on each of the jackets and you can just zip in the panel.

You might also decide that this isn't necessary at all. I have quite a few friends that walked around with open jackets while they were pregnant, maybe using a belt to keep the jacket somewhat closed. For babywearing, I've heard from experienced moms that simply keeping your jacket open and using blankets to keep your baby warm can work surprisingly well.