Pretty soon, my sweet little newborn won’t be a newborn anymore. Yowzers. Where did the time go?
When I was registering for baby goodies, I was super nervous. I was afraid I’d register for the “wrong kind” of diaper bag, or would pick out bath towels that wouldn’t “work” as well as another brand. Yeah, because that makes sense. It was intimidating, but now looking back over the last few months I feel like I gained a lot of perspective about what we like and will keep that in mind when the next kiddo rolls around.
Here’s a list of the top 5 baby items that I couldn’t live without. I’m not being paid for this post, BTDubs. I think any of these items would be great gifts for an expecting mother. Everyone loves baby shower gifts!
1. Baby Carrier
I just about cried this morning when I realized my husband left for work with my Maya Wrap in the car. I need to get another one so I can keep one at home and one in the car. They’re a little pricey, but you can shop around and find all sorts of ring slings on Etsy. Personally, I love my Maya Wrap and will probably buy another one in the future. Definitely worth the cost!
I’ve also got a Moby Wrap, which I also love for different reasons. Same thing with my Baby Bjorn. And our Ergo. Yeah. I’m addicted to baby wearing, which is strange because I didn’t plan it like that. My baby just loves to be held all the time. I find my Ergo the easiest to breastfeed in, but my Maya Wrap the best for just quickly getting the Clutterbaby in and out of so I use it multiple times a day throughout the house or for quick errands. I like my Moby Wrap for walks (or my Maya Wrap . . . I guess it’s my favorite). Long story short, some sort of baby carrier has become an ESSENTIAL part of my life. Logan has reflux and being carried upright really helps, and he’s also colicky and the closeness and movement calms him down.
2. Baby Swing
3. White Noise Machine(s)
This First Years sound machine has been a Godsend. My baby can’t sleep without white noise, and we put batteries in this puppy and take it EVERYWHERE. I also have a white noise app on my iPhone that I use when I can’t carry around this bad boy. We keep a hair dryer next to his changing table for emergency white noise in there. Seriously, we couldn’t function without one of these. Please don’t tell me what a crappy parent I am for not trying to do any sleep training or anything. We’ve tried a lot of different things, and (for now) my baby needs to be rocked/nursed/’white noised’ to sleep. It’s what works for us.
4. Nursing Tanks
This Bravado Nursing Tank Top is by far my favorite, but again they’re pricey so I only have one. Another one for Christmas would be fantastic, friends! I’m nursing on demand, and my baby is very demanding! :) For the first 7 weeks, he honest-to-goodness wanted to nurse every 45 minutes (from start to start). If he nursed for 35-40 minutes in those early days, I had a 5 minute break. It was a long 7 weeks! The convenience of nursing tanks saved me from nearly 2 months constantly fussing with other shirts to get him to the boob!
5. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
I read every page of this on my iPhone (Kindle App) while breastfeeding my newborn. SO much good information and it completely changed my view of nursing, which I really needed in those early days of CONSTANT feeding. I also had problems with oversupply, which was just aggravating his reflux even more. This helped me correct our issues and now he’s a (mostly) happy nurser.
That’s it! Notice I didn’t have a lot of extra stuff like toys, baby bathtubs, and wipe warmers? We received all of those and appreciate every gift, but they’re all things we feel like we could manage without for the first few months. These things have really helped our transition as new parents. Obviously there are some other essentials like clothes and diapers (oh, and about a bajillion swaddle blankets which would be #6).
Are you a parent? What kind of things do you feel like were some of the best baby items for your newborn? Leave us a comment and let us know!
