A to Z Challenge: N is for Nursing Tanks (Things We Love)

N is for Nursing Tanks. They saved my life after W was born and are one of the things we (or I) love and probably couldn't do without! Before W was born, I purchased a cheap nursing bra and two nursing tanks at Target. They were affordable and I couldn't bring myself to spend a lot of money buying some of the more expensive brands I'd found on the internet. It was getting closer and closer to the due date and I knew I needed something because I planned to wear some black yoga pants and a nursing tank home from the birthing center.

I enjoy shopping at Target and when I found some nursing tanks on the rack, I figured they would be as good as any and they were only $16.99 each which was definitely better than some of the prices I'd found online for other brands. I ended up purchasing two Gilligan & O'Malley® Womens Full Sling Long Nursing Tanks. I got one in black and one in a heather gray.

They are full sling which worked fine for me when we were working on breastfeeding and worked even better when I was exclusively pumping. I am 5'8" and the length was great for me. I prefer longer shirts and these were long enough not to ride up. I ended up picking up one more gray one after W was born because I was wearing them every day. They were my uniform when I was home with my little guy -- convenient and comfortable!

I bought them in size medium when I normally wear shirts in smalls and mediums so the sizing was fine for me. They have also held up well through over 4 months of washing! They were easy to open and close and I love how covered my stomach was when pumping or nursing and wearing the tanks. I still sleep in them at night to give me a little support throughout the night and I think they will probably fit even with a pregnant belly so I plan to try them out next time I'm pregnant!

If you're looking for an affordable and comfortably nursing tank, I would definitely recommend these! There's no need to spend $30 or more when Target has these and you can get them in a variety of colors and styles!

Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this review and all opinions are my own. FormulaMom’s full disclosure can be found here.

Things We Love: Summer Infant SwaddleMe

As I mentioned before with our Fisher Price Seahorse we have a few items in our ever-growing collection of baby gear that are definitely things that belong at the top of our list. Another of these items are our Summer Infant SwaddleMe blankets.

While that is obviously not a picture of W using his SwaddleMe, it is a photo of the ones we have. I registered for a variety of them, but only received a two-pack of the small cotton blankets. I never ended up buying anymore before he was born and after he was born, we did well with the two we had until he started to get too big for them.

Although we practiced how to swaddle in our birthing class, when we got home from the birthing center (a mere 4 hours after W was born) figuring out how to swaddle was not something that was coming easily. Within a few hours, the SwaddleMe came to the rescue! It was so simple to lay him on top of the blanket and tuck his little legs in. The velcro tabs allowed us to get his arms in (no small task) and secured without the bottom half of the swaddle falling apart!

We had a two pack in the green and a monkey print so we were able to always have one to use when one was in the wash. These were lifesavers when trying to get W to sleep for the night and they continue to be part of his nightly routine. We did have to purchase one in the next size and it is still a bit too big to be as good of a fit as I would like at this point. Most nights he is able to get his arms out of it but he still sleeps through the night. I'm hoping he makes a natural transition to no swaddle but until then we will continue to swaddle him to get him to sleep!

We visited some friends the other night and W was ready for bed while we were still out. I hadn't brought the SwaddleMe with us so I had to attempt to swaddle him with a receiving blanket (that wasn't even square) and while I did it well enough to get him to sleep, I think I will always throw it into the diaper bag if we might be out in the evening!

To celebrate my dependence on the SwaddleMe, I'll share a little retro W. This is him at home, less than 24 hours old!

Things We Love: Fisher Price Seahorse

Today I'm starting a new segment I'd like to call "Things We Love." We have a lot of baby gear around the house right now and we use most of what we have out but there are a few things that have earned themselves and spot on my current list of must haves.

The first is our Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Soothe and Glow Seahorse. I'd read about the seahorse on a number of websites and my mom ended up buying it for W. When he was a newborn, I tried it a few times with him and he really could not have cared less about it. But over the past few months, the seahorse has become an essential part of the bedtime routine.

I do my best to put W down drowsy and not completely asleep. He uses a pacifier to go to sleep and is swaddled (another one of the things we love). I turn on the vibration in his Pack n Play and I also set his seahorse near his head and turn it on. Most of the time he is out within one round of music! He looks at the light for a bit until his eyes drift closed.

Although the music doesn't play for long (probably 5-7 minutes), it does play longer than the gloworm we have. Tonight I discovered something we had been wondering about. J had asked me if there was a way to turn the seahorse off after it has been turned on and the only suggestion I had was to open the back and turn off the power switch. Tonight I discovered that if you press the belly and hold it for a few seconds, the light and music fades out! This is a great discovery especially when W is out quickly and we don't need the music any longer.

One slight inconvenience comes when changing the batteries. Our first set of batteries lasted quite awhile although we weren't using it much the first month. The door on the battery compartment is screwed on so you need a little screwdriver every time you want to change the batteries. It also uses three AA batteries which bothers me a bit because it leaves an odd number of batteries in the package!

Besides that little issue, the seahorse is pretty perfect in my opinion. It has definitely come in handy in our house and I would recommend it!