My Newborn Must Haves/Favorites

Man are newborns hard to take care of! As a first time mom, I had no idea what I'm doing (and frankly, I still have no idea what I'm doing). I had no clue why my daughter would cry when she did. Is she hungry? Tired? In pain? Gassy? BORED??? She is 2 months now (at least when this was originally written), so I've started to get better at this whole new mom thing, and with the help of a few products, things are going pretty smoothly! Here is my list of favorite newborn products that helped me get through these first two months.

Snuggle Me Organic

As my mother in law would call it, this is basically a cloud for my baby to snuggle in! As a newborn, she loved sleeping in this thing. It is designed to mimic the feeling of being hugged, so baby can feel safe and secure while nesting. I didn't even need to swaddle my daughter when I laid her in this, she already felt bundled up in it! If your baby has GERD or re-flux, I would use this with caution as sometimes it can prevent baby from turning their head whenever they need to spit up. You could also place baby at the very top to raise their head up. It is a bit of a splurge, with the organic version priced at $156 and the original priced at $128, so I purchased mine second hand. However, if you follow them on Instagram, they often have giveaways! They also give out a free snuggle me every month to one lucky subscriber on their website. All you need is your email to enter! They have also created a more affordable collection bare, for $88!

Muslin Swaddles

There are all kinds of brands out there for muslin swaddles. They're a soft, gauzy material that stretches enough to wrap around your little one. They aren't too thick, so you can adjust to whatever temperature your room is. For example, if its cold, feel free to bundle up two layers, if its warm or neutral, one layer will do the job! You could also use these as a nursing cover up, a blanket, a surface for baby to lay on when out and about, and even as a clean up rag! I've used this to wipe up my baby's spit up and to be honest, it works better than the burp rags I have!

Cheap Diapers (for newborn stage)

I did sooo much research on what diapers are best to use. I wanted something affordable with a good enough quality as we're always trying to cut back on the money we spend. I have come to find that newborns don't really poo/pee that much. Now, don't get me wrong, they do their business quite often, but not in a great volume, if that makes sense. So you don't really need an expensive diaper that can absorb/hold a ton, because newborns just don't pee a whole pound of liquid, you get me? Also, waiting for the whole diaper to be full and heavy may result in baby sitting in a squishy diaper for too long, which means DIAPER RASH! So a cheap diaper will do. I used Parent's Choice (this has a wet indicator too which is a plus!) and Luvs (no wet indicator, but you can kind of just look at the diaper and tell that its time to change).

Baby Bouncer

This isn't an essential, it's just nice to have. As cute babies can be, you won't want to be carrying them all the time when they're awake. During those times, a place to sit them down comes in handy. We bought this bouncer from Walmart. I like it because its taller than the usual bouncer, inexpensive, vibrates, plays sounds, and is hands free! It has a foot pedal so we can bounce her while we sit on the couch and watch a show or movie. I also like to bounce her while I do my homework. Another reason why I like this is that after baby has eaten and burped, I place her here so she can do her business. I nicknamed it the "potty bouncer" because the way baby is positioned helps her...push? The only thing I hate is that its huge. It's hard to move it from room to room as it takes two hands to lift (given how wide it is) and I have to carefully fit it through the doorway.

Baby Wrap

Modern, stylish, cozy, and portable. I love this wrap! I hate bulky items, and the traditional baby carrier just looks uncomfortable in my eyes. I've heard many good things about this style of wrap, so I gave it a try. There are all kinds of brands to choose from, and I purchased the Boba Wrap off amazon. It's a good affordable choice! Baby loves being in this, she falls asleep in it within minutes. It does take practice to learn how to wrap it around yourself, but the wrap comes with an instruction book with different types of wrapping styles for different ages of baby. If you're not good with instructions, don't worry because so am I. They have pictures for us!! You could also watch videos on how to wrap a baby wrap or how to "baby wear". I found this one by Lisa very helpful.

White Noise on Spotify

White noise really helps my baby go to sleep. I played white noise since we were in the hospital. Many people buy a white noise device to put in baby's nursery. We didn't buy a device because (1) we don't know what type of white noise baby would like, and (2) Spotify has so much white noise playlists to choose from. We have an extra old i-pad mini, so we use that as her white noise device and play Spotify. I think this is a good option if you have an extra device, or don't mind using your own phone to play white noise as baby sleeps. It's also good because you can experiment with hundreds of noises to find what works best for you and baby, rather than being stuck with 4 options of sounds that come with a white noise speaker. Here is the playlist I've made for my daughter. We've been using "pure brown noise" the most!

MAM Pacifiers / Avent Soother

If you don't want to introduce pacifiers because you're afraid of a bad habit forming, you can skip this one. But, my baby loves her MAM pacifiers and it soothes her so well. My baby started using the pacifier regularly for sleeping by the time she was 4 weeks. I also give it to her when she's fussy. Some people call it a "mute button", and it really is! When she's been fed, her diaper is clean, she's got all her gas out and she's still fussing, I assume she's tired and give her the pacifier She sucks and soothes herself to sleep! Sometimes I hold her and rock her to sleep, but once I put her down she would wake back up and we have to go through the whole process again. So I prefer to swaddle her, play white noise, lay her down in her cradle and give her the pacifier. Within minutes she's asleep :) I recommend the glow in the dark ones because babies will spit that pacifier out randomly, even though they still want to suck on it. It gets annoying, but I guess they're just not used to keeping it in their mouth. Anyways, when they do spit it out and its dark and late and you're tired and delirious, you'll be scrambling blindly to find that pacifier in their crib while your baby starts to scream. If it glows in the dark, you'll see it immediately and can prevent baby from waking up the neighbors in time! I've also started to introduce my baby to the Avent Soothie, as I personally prefer these (they're easier to clean and they're so soft). She sometimes takes it, sometimes struggles to suck on it because she is used to the MAM pacifier. But these two are the only ones she would take.

Breast Pump and Haakaa Pump

I've had a breastfeeding journey for the past two months. I struggled to get a good latch at first. Heck, I even wanted to quit after the first few days! After seeing a lactation consultant, I learned how to get a better latch, but even then I still struggled. I ended up pumping for a while and bottle fed my baby expressed breast milk. I use the Spectra S2 which I got for free through insurance. It's the only one I've tried but I like it! It has a night light for late night pumping, adjustable speed and strength, and a timer to time how long you've been pumping. Don't forget to wear a breast pump bra so you can be pump your milk hands free! This is the one I ordered. I stopped bottle feeding because baby started getting frequent spit ups and a lot of gas, so I picked up breastfeeding again. I switched to a manual pump then. I would nurse on one side, and use the haakaa on the other. It works wonders! For me, I typically collect about 1-2 oz of letdown on one side while baby nurses on the other. I've been able to start a freezer stash because of this pump! Highly recommend!

Nursing Pillow

Since we're on the topic of breastfeeding, that leads me to talk about nursing pillows. If you want to nurse hands free, I recommend having baby lay on a nursing pillow. I got the bare naked boppy pillow and positioner. This one doesn't come with a cover so you'd have to purchase that separately. I think baby is a lot more comfortable eating on this thing than being held by my awkward arms anyway :D The only con for me about this is that it's too difficult to use the haakaa pump with it as it leaves little room for the pump.

Bath Sponge

We started off with the Summer Infant Deluxe Baby Bather. It's not bad, but I got tired of having to hold onto baby the entire bath time because she would just slide down the chair. Newborns can be so squirmy... I heard of this Bath Sponge also by Summer Infant. I prefer this because baby can lay down flat in the tub with the sponge underneath her, without me needing to hold her down. It seems more comfortable, and it keeps baby warm because her back is on a surface soaked with warm water. It's also easier to move her around for when I need to wash her back or something. Plus, its only $7!! When I'm done I just squeeze the water out and leave it somewhere to dry.

Pacifier Clips

If you're using pacifiers/soother/binkies or whatever you like to call them, clipping them down to baby's attire is so helpful for when they randomly spit them out or when they fall out of their mouths. I have a cat, so if a pacifier were to fall on the ground, I'd find cat hair stuck to it *gross*. These clips come so in handy! I use it when walking around from room to room or when we're out and about. I don't recommend it for sleeping though, strangle hazard. They're easy to make and you can learn how to make them from this video. You can also purchase them off etsy or amazon!

Changing Pad

It could be unnecessary, but it was necessary for me, especially in the first month when I was still learning to master the art of diaper changing. The reason why I NEEDED this was because when I would grab a new diaper (and baby is laying there with a naked butt), she would decide to let free MORE pee/poo. It would get all over the changing pad, her, whatever is nearby, and she'd just swim in it. Sorry, gross information. But imagine if I were to change her on the bed, our carpeted floor, etc. That would be a disaster! I'd rather dirty a changing pad than anything else in my home.

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This entry was written when my daughter was a newborn. Now she is three years old and I still agree with what I've written in the past. My top favorites are definitely the haakaa pump, the boba wrap, and the breast pump bra. I felt it would be waste not to post this entry given how much I wrote, so I decided to post it even if it's three years late, hehe.