Most Used/Vital Newborn Items- First Time Mom Edition! (Months 1-3)
I've been a mom now for 7 weeks today (as of 9/19/22). It's been a rollercoaster of learning and trial and error and forgiveness and grace lol. Luckily each day is a chance to try something new or tweak what you tried the day before. I wanted to write this quick post to share with other new moms or expecting moms what I've ACTUALLY used from allllll the stuff we bought/were given aka my most used/vital newborn items. It might help make things a little less stressful. I hope it does, anyways. This is a first time mom edition- obvs, so don't come at me lol.
I hope to do one of these each month but I am not putting any additional expectations on myself lol. Currently Maverick is sleeping in his baby wrap on my chest and there is no telling how long I will have to sit here and type before it's time to feed him again. Without further ado- Month 1! (Edited to add- I am now in month 3... lol clearly I was not able to do one of these posts per month as I could not even post the first one! I'll add a few more items or do another post for anything else I can think of that we use a lot now.) So, here is my list of most used/vital newborn items!
Items I Use Daily-
Diapers- We are loving Pampers swaddlers, honestly. They're really soft and work really well. Have tried Luvs and Huggies too, and they don't hold as much. They work fine for during the day but now that he's doing a little bit longer stretches at night, they're just not working as well.
Wipes- We've used Pampers and Waterwipes and love both! Have stuck with Water Wipes at this point.
Burp cloths- Burt's Bees burp cloths are super cute AND very absorbent which is a must for spitups lol. I've learned the bigger the better when it comes to burp cloths and these are my fave now.
Swaddles- The SwaddleMe is the main one we've used. It works well! I've heard great things about the Ollie wrap too. He's started being able to bust out of the SwaddleMe so we switched to a Halo sleep sack and he can get his hands out of there too. Oh well. Lol
Onesies with fold over hands (first 3 weeks) then normal onesies after.
Pacifier- We started with the Phillips Soothie which is what they gave him in the hospital for procedures. We also use a MAM if we're out and about as a backup paci. He will take it but it takes a second for him. I learned (from a dentist on TikTok lol) that the NUK Orthodontic pacis are the best for oral development so I got those too. We don't use the soothie at all anymore, but we do switch between the MAM and the NUK. He will take both but only if he's in the mood. He has a very strong tongue thrust reflex so most of the time he just spits pacis out.
Pack n play- this exact one is what we are using for his bed in our room. He slept in the bassinet portion of it for the first 2ish months before he was too long and we had to move him to the bigger but still elevated portion. It's working great and I love having the diaper changing part attached.
Sound machine- Get the Hatch. Seriously. I use the nightlight for nighttime diaper changes and feedings and we have the sound machine part set at the perfect volume for while he's sleeping. It's perfect.
Swing- He lovessssss swinging. This one has a mirror and spinning animals and music (he prefers the night time music setting) and he will sit in there and smile at himself and coo at the animals. It's so cute!
Boppy- I was given 2 of them and that worked really well. I kept one upstairs and one downstairs in both of the places I was most likely to breastfeed. I stopped using them for breastfeeding support after about 8-10 weeks (maybe earlier) and started just balling a blanket up under my elbow for support.
Nightlight- see sound machine
Glider rocking chair- this one is the one we have (I think- we got it from a consignment shop). Its great and pretty comfy.
A watch (I use Fitbit)- you live by the clock for the first few months. The Hatch sound machine has a clock so once we got that at about 2 months in, I stopped wearing my Fitbit.
Swaddle blankets- I love the thin muslin swaddle blankets from Target or Amazon like this.
Bathtub/towel/washcloth- This tub has been great since his very first bath. I prefer the thicker towels (he does too), and bamboo washcloths are SO. SOFT.
Baby Shampoo- The Dove baby hypoallergenic shampoo/wash has been fine if a teeny bit drying. I'm going to continue searching for the best one for him. We learned VERY early on that he is super sensitive to fragrance (full body rash) so we have essentially switched to fragrance free things for him and us. Tide free and clear laundry detergent (which we were already using for us- but we were using Dreft for him and that was a HUGE factor causing his whole body rashes), fragrance free body lotion for me and dad, etc.
Play mat- Lovevery "The Play Gym" was a gift and we use it very nearly every day. He practices tummy time on it, looks at the black and white cards, he rolled over for the first time on it, and he loves looking at/hitting the dangling toys. It's also made to last a long time and to grow developmentally with him as he grows. I love it.
Items I use weekly-ish:
Nail file- this electric one is great. I typically have to file his nails once a week.
So- those are mostly what I used all the time in the first 1-2 months. Lately I've added in reading to him (he LOVES the book Giraffes Can't Dance), and we still go on walks 3-4 times a week which I don't think I mentioned yet. He is SO FUN right now- smiling and babbling and blowing spit bubbles. He did his first real laugh recently and we all nearly died it was so cute. I'm going to go ahead and publish this or I might never get it up. Stay tuned for more updates!
Love,
JT