I just opened my MacBook after months and months of letting it collect dust. Spare time to browse the internet? What is that? The tabs from my last browsing session are still up and include: “Snuggle Me Lounger”, “Wabbanub Platypus”, “Ollie Swaddle”, and “Grain Bowls with Eggs Recipe” (one of the first postpartum meals I made). I’ve been asked what are my die hard baby essentials – the things I would recommend hand over heart and get for my next baby. My Amazon registry was HUGE. There are things that I thought I’d possibly need, things that I added after having her that I truly needed, and things that I didn’t need and returned.
Everyone says it, but it’s true. Every baby is different. Some of the things that worked for other babies completely did not work for mine.
Sleep
Sleep was very tricky for us. Chloé loved skin to skin so much that she did not want to stop until she was too big to fit comfortably on me at night. I tried so hard to get her off of me and into her bassinet – which kinda sorta worked for a while for naps.
Ollie Swaddle – when we swaddled her, she broke out of it so easily. This swaddle is so expensive but the super strong Velcro kept her arms in.
Love to Dream Swaddle Up – We used this swaddle the most since she loved having her hands up and in her mouth. Since she has her mouth all over the little hand parts, they got a little cheesy (but I couldn’t stop sniffing them, weird).
Marpac Dohm – I’ve actually had this way before I even thought about having a baby. My dogs would bark at every noise they heard at night so I got this to drown out outside sound. Since it works so well, we have two – one for our room and one for her room. When we traveled to Vegas, we used the Rohm and it worked well.
Blackout Pleated Paper Shade – Though I do not want my baby to only be able to sleep in optimal sleep conditions (because she’s at daycare and we want her to be able to sleep while we’re out and about), having a dark room is still pretty important for when she does sleep there. I already have blackout curtains from Restoration Hardware Baby but the sun peeks annoyingly around the edges. To create an even darker room, I stuck these paper curtains on & they help darken the room even more. Since I already spent a fortune on the curtains, the price of these is a bonus.
Diapering
Diaper Genie – there are a lot of mixed and poor reviews for this diaper pail, but it works for us. In the beginning, there are so many poopy diaper changes and a lot happening in the middle of the night. Instead of balling up the diaper to throw into the outside trash later, we just used the Diaper Genie. I don’t think you need anything more expensive and if you can get it used (I know – sounds gross but is actually not), even better.
Keekaroo Peanut Changer – since we don’t have a dedicated changing table, we put this changing pad on top of her dresser. It doesn’t require sheets and messes wipe right off. Easy.
Baby Bum Brush – A paddle-like brush to apply diaper cream on a baby’s butt or diaper seems unnecessary. But, we tried to do without and ended up wasting a lot of diaper ointment. Instead of squeezing from a tube (we went through 1 tube of A+D a week) into the diaper and rubbing the diaper to spread it out, we now use the brush to get just enough to cover the necessary parts of the diaper.
A+D Diaper Ointment – We’ve been using the same two tubs (one for upstairs, one for downstairs) for months now. There are a lot of brands we tried – Mustela, Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, fancier brands. This one works well for us (but she’s also never had a diaper rash).
Gathre Micro+ Mat – I don’t want to share the number of Gathre mats I have. Let’s just say I have enough. Their Micro+ mats are really great for changing on the couch (our downstairs diaper changing area), in the car, on the go.
Wet Wipes / Pampers Pure Wipes – These wipes are moist and large enough to deal with bad blowouts without wasting a bunch of them. I’ve tried Huggies, Honest, Seventh Generation, Kandoo, and these two wipes worked a lot better for us than all of those brands.
OXO Tot Perfect Pull Wipes Dispenser – I knew I didn’t want a wipe warmer since the wipes don’t stay warm long enough to touch your baby’s butt and you end up spoiling your baby with warm wipes if you get the wipe to them fast enough. Since we use Wet Wipes and those don’t have the plastic pop top, the wipes dispenser is really great for keeping wipes from drying out.
Feeding
If you choose to breastfeed (no judgment if you don’t!), these are the recs for you. Since we just now started supplementing with formula, I don’t have formula recs yet.
Spectra S2 – I got this pump through my insurance and it works well for me. Since I didn’t do much research on how to use it before having Chloé, I fumbled my way through it. It’s nice and effective but not cordless. If you are to get one pump though, get a Spectra (S1 if you can).
Willow Pump – Make sure you established being able to breastfeed and pump before you get this. It’s not imperative to have the first few months. I didn’t really start using mine until a couple weeks before I had to go back to work. This completely saved my breastfeeding efforts. I have a job that doesn’t allow me enough time to get away to pump. Since I’m in a cube with low walls, plugging in my Spectra and pumping at my desk would be a smidgeon too awkward (though I do this when I have to work weekends). With the Willow, I pump at my desk, in big and small meetings, while walking around the office, while napping in our meditation room, while driving, and at the movie theater. The convenience is amazing.
Papablic Steam Sterilizer – Maybe it’s overkill to sterilize pump parts and bottles every day but we still do it. This one is nice and roomy.
Kiinde Storage Bags – When I use the Spectra, I like pumping into Kiinde bags. They don’t store as flat in the freezer so they take up a bit of room. But, they’re so sturdy that I’ve never had one leak on me.
Transport
Chloé hates the car seat. It’s probably the thing she hates the most in the world because it prevents her from doing her most loved activity – “barnacling” to us. Our generous friends gave us their Uppababy Vista to use and we couldn’t use it for the first 5 months! Because we still wanted to go places, we ended up wearing her (which she LOVED).
Solly Wrap – I love this wrap so much that we went and modeled for them. This was my most used wrap the first few months. I like that I could keep her more protected from other people and germs than other soft wraps. It seems daunting to use but is actually pretty easy to wrap. Though we moved onto other carriers, I did use it recently for the airport/airplane part of our Vegas trip.
Sakura Bloom Scout – I moved onto the Scout after seeing it on Instagram. It’s such a beautiful carrier and doesn’t scream BABY! It’s pretty pricey though and I got a bit of cognitive dissonance right after buying it. Since I ended up using it a lot, the use justifies the cost.
Ergobaby 360 Cool Mesh – This is our carrier of choice recently since the other two carriers don’t allow for Chloé to face out. I have yet to try back carry though. The Ergobaby and Scout both allow for that configuration. I used this one while walking around Vegas for hours and hours. After 8 hours of carrying her, I did get slightly sore (but that’s expected).
Other
Fridababy Bitty Bundle – I use A LOT of things from this bundle. The NoseFrida and nail clippers are CLUTCH. I’ve tried the Pidgeon scissors (like the Piyo Piyo ones) and the electric nail file. The FridaBaby nail clippers are by far the best ones. The little window lets me clip her nails very very short (I mostly try to do it when she’s awake and let her watch vs doing it while she’s asleep). Bring the nail clippers with you to the hospital because their nails are surprisingly long when they come out!
BabyBjorn Bouncer – My baby didn’t take to this right away. But, once I got her to tolerate and eventually like being in it, it was so handy. It bought me 15-20 hands free minutes so that I could cook or shower.
Little Unicorn Bibs – We were graciously gifted these bibs from a friend. I liked them so much that I wanted to get more. Then, another friend gifted us a $100 gift card and I went crazy buying these bibs. Chloé started teething early and drools so much. These bibs were the ones who soaked up the most drool and we *only* have to change out her bibs twice in a day versus the 3-4 times with other bib brands.
That’s pretty much it! I didn’t include recommendations on crib mattress (my brother & sister-in-law generously gifted us a Newton Baby one that is pretty great but we’ve only tried the one), diaper brands, crib sheets, quilts, bottles, clothing, diaper bag (we use backpacks), bath and lotion products. Those really vary from baby to baby. I also don’t have a recommendation on baby monitor since we’re still trying to figure out if the ones (yes, plural) we have are good enough.
