Your must haves for a newborn that is!
If our match meeting goes well and and everything goes smoothly from here on out, this is going to be happening quickly and we don’t have a lot of time to get ready which means I don’t have a lot of time to do research.
We have a crib and doing day care, I already have a swing, bouncy seat, etc. But what else am I going to need ladies, especially for a newborn? I don’t usually get them until they’re a couple months old and I’m not bathing them or doing around the clock care. Also a good carrier that would work for 5’1 me and 6’J? I know y’all will have some fantastic suggestions.
Oh, and suggestions for infant carseat also, please! We will definitely need to get 2 bases.
Ready, Set, Go!!!!
OurGreatestDesire 
I love the boba wrap baby carrier! It helps a lot in the beginning when getting stuff done around the house or even errand runs.
I would also recommend a rock and play or baby swing. A bouncy seat might be too big in the beginning for them and has limited movement (most of them just vibrate).
And lots and lots of burp clothes and swaddles!! You won’t believe how many you can go through in a day!
Thank you! Luckily I have a ton of burp cloths already (although, no thick ones) from doing daycare but I don’t have any swaddles.
Realized you have a swing already so scratch the rock and play!
Bottles, but only one of each brand until you know what brand baby will like the most. Sterilizing and cleaning equipment.
Clothing in a few different sizes so you have something when Baby comes home. We used onesies and sleepers the most when he was little, no need for anything fancy. We also used halo wraps because I cannot for the life of me learn how to swaddle a baby for more then 5 minutes with a swaddle blanket.
We have a few baby carriers but have never found one that both Mr. MPB and I like. In fact Mr. MPB doesn’t like any of the ones we have.
As I think of more stuff I’ll let you know. Also, I wrote a post about what actually used when we first were with Baby, I’ll try to go back and read it for helpful suggestions.
Thank you so much!!!
Swaddleme brand makes these cheat Velcro swaddles that are so good. Lots of new moms think their babies don’t like a swaddle because they kick out of cloth ones but everytime they use these and make them tight the babies love them and are calm and happy!
We used these! Makes swaddling so easy!
Picked up a couple of these yesterday! 🙂
You don’t need much more than that for the first few months. They eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. If you’re planning on nursing…get a few “hands-free” pump bras for when you’re ready to start pumping and it’s worth the money to get really good nursing bras.
Have on hand bibs (easier for spit ups and drool), Diaper ointment, Tylenol, first aid supplies, nasal aspirator.
Make sure you have plenty of snacks because newborns need you all the time and often Mommies forget to eat and drink. Have a good water bottle and keep easy to eat snacks around.
Good Luck!!!!
Sorry! What a geek! I should pay attention to who I’m answering…
I don’t believe you’ll be nursing, so scratch that and I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings in any way!!! I haven’t had my coffee yet, does that count as an excuse?
No worries! I do know some adoptive moms try to bring on lactation but I’m hoping to get in for my breast reduction adapt so I can be well on my way to recovery by the time baby is born.
Obviously I follow your blog but I will be eagerly following this post to eat up all these suggestions!
I would never ever ever ever ever trade my Britax travel system (car seat/stroller). It’s the easiest stroller to fold down EVER! Worth every penny.
Also wish I had gotten a nice drying rack/mat for all those bottles! I have a Tula carrier which is awesome but when she was a newborn I used a moby/boba wrap.
Ohhh, I’m definitely going to have to get the drying rack…a couple of people have suggested that now. I definitely have some research to do on travel systems. I think there’s been at least 3 different ones suggested now. 🙂
We loved the graco snugride click connect. We bought a second base and a graco stroller. Loved every thing! The moby wrap worked best with both boys and feels really light. DH and I could both wear it in comfort.
Thank you!!!
A wipes warmer. My son screamed his head off every time a cold wipe got near him! Once we got the warmer diaper changes went a lot better.
I love the grass drying rack for all the bottles. I don’t know the brand but it looks like a square spot of grass and has little twigs and flowers you stick in it that hold nipples and bottle parts really well.
Awesome, thank you! I do actually have a warmer from the year I had all little babies for daycare. 😀
My kids hated and still hate any kind of sleep sac. So muslin blankets were a plenty in our house.
Bottles and soothers (if you do soothers eventually). Just buy one of each until you figure out what your baby likes.
Butt cream and corn starch. And washes for bath time – I went Aveeno unscented to start and ended up switching to Aveeno Eczema. Anyways, don’t buy this in bulk either. It may change. L
We used Moby/Kangaroo wraps at home for the first two months. The Viking is 6’1 and 275 and they still worked for him and I. Then we went to a Baby Bjorn with an infant insert and it was still fine for both of us but I carried babies a lot more then he did simply bc they were with me more. It was a hand me down which was awesome but if I was spending the money I like the Tula’s.
Diono Radian RXT. For both of them now. Love them. Kids love them. For a stroller I have a City Select and used Britax car seats. The system was great. Just having a singleton tho, I love he BOB’s line of strollers. Also works with Britax (adapters are $20).
Cradle. With wheels. I wanted them near me for the first while and bassinets don’t come for two. So a bassinet maybe? I couldn’t have them sleep away from me especially in the beginning so a bassinet/cradle was great and I could wheel them wherever I was in the house.
Thank you for all this great info! I definitely want to do a bassinet also, at least for the first few months.
For a newborn I love a moby wrap. Not a fan of a ringsling like others but people love that too. As Charlie has gotten older Lenny Lamb has been my favorite carrier, both Mei Tai and SSC. I highly recommend the Chicco Keyfit travel system-the stroller collapses with one button and into the car it goes, and then we also got Charlie the Diono Radian XT convertible carseat for when she grew out of her infant seat. Do you have a Pack n Play? Charlie slept in her PNP after she grew out of her bassinet but was still in our room. Also white noise machine FOR SURE. OMG that thing has saved our lives. And stock up on swaddle blankets and flannel blankets, which I doubled as burp cloths because actual burp cloths are basically useless unless you buy them extra wide which is harder to find.
Oh and I should mention I like Lenny’s over Tula’s because of how soft they are. They’re all wrap conversions, so they started with a wrap and sewed it into a carrier-so not a scrap of canvas or anything that’s not lovey and soft is touching you or that baby.
Yes, because of daycare I have several pack and plays but not are super nice or new. I’m wondering if I should forgo a bassinet and do one of the fancier pack and plays that have the bassinet with it.
Probably worth saving on. We also got a mattress for the bassinet part which they tell you not to do, but Charlie couldn’t sleep on it otherwise.
The best carrier I have found is the Lillebaby. I have the airflow, but the Embossed is amazing. No infant insert is needed. Nora hated all wraps and I wanted something that would grow with her. The wraps were always challenging if Nora was fussy. Too much of a process. The best part is they are more reasonably priced than the Tulas and you can start your baby in them at 7lbs without an insert. I don’t have to worry about her overheating either in the airflow if Tony wears her. The sell them at Bed, Bath & Beyond (Buy Buy Baby) so you can even use a 20% off coupon. I like this better than my moby wrap, Ergo, and Boba carrier.
We also couldn’t live without the rock ‘n play, the Boppy Lounger (not the original one), and a LOUD noise maker because of the dogs. I actually use a CD player with a vacuum CD. Our noise maker we got from Babies R Us was too quiet.
Thank you! We sleep with a fan on so that will be our white noise. I Used to love falling asleep to my vacuuming at bedtime. 😀
Also, you could just use the pack ‘n play with the raised part. You wouldn’t even need the attached bassinet. We got a fancy one and Nora grew out of the bassinet attachment in a month! And she’s not big at all. She’s 11wks and weights 10lbs11oz, so I think you could save your money there.
One last comment- I promise! I’m praying for you, for all of this, and I look forward to the day that sweet little one is in your arms! Xo
I just realized I forgot to comment on this last one! Thank you so much…I love all the advice and you can comment any time as many times as you want. 🙂 xoxo
Love our graco click connect car seat and bases. It can go from stroller to car seat and back. After that we bought 2 graco forever car seats. They go on sale online all the time so we got them for about 50% off.
We love our ergo carrier and happy wrap (they are lighter weight than other wraps).
Other must have is a kick mat play mat thing for baby. Our little girl loved hers for about the first 6 months of life.