Essential Baby Items

This may be no surprise to those of you who know me or who follow my blog, but my life lately has mainly consisted of taking care of my newborn baby, Tanner.  I. Love. It.  It has been so nice to chill at home with the little guy.  We have spent a lot of time bonding and getting to know each other.  But he also sleeps.  A lot.  Thankfully, this has given me some time to rejoin the blogging world. 

It has been really great catching up with all of my bloggy friends, and you know what?  The bloggy world has been busy.  Busy making babies it seems.  It’s pretty exciting to see how many new moms are out there and how many pregnant gals are about to become new moms.  This post is all about helping out those soon to be moms.

I was reflecting on what I do all day, and I realized every day has pretty much the same routine.  Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean it’s boring.  It’s amazing how entertaining it is to stare at a little sleeping baby.   Anyway, I have compiled a post full of items that I use every single day as a new mom.  Maybe this post will help a mom to be in preparing for her new baby… or it might spark some memories for those of you whose babies are no longer babies.

First things first.  One of my biggest jobs… diapers. 

I made the decision to go with cloth diapers.  I will write more on this later.  Trust me, I have a whole post written in my head about this.

I use cloth wipes too. It just makes sense to use cloth wipes if I’m going to use cloth diapers.

I have a changing pad on top of Tanner’s dresser.  At first I wasn’t going to get one.  I was like, “What do I need a changing pad for?  I can just change his diaper on the floor or on my bed.”  Man, I’m glad I didn’t listen to myself.  It is so nice not to have to get down on the floor all the time.  Plus, I’m sure you’ve heard the pee stories that come along with changing little boys.  It happens.  A lot. And I’m glad I don’t have to change my bed sheets every day or have to live with a ton of pee stains on my rug.

These are another must have.  Poor little Tanner had horrible gas in the beginning, and babies sometimes have a really hard time knowing how to deal with it.  It was painful for him, and these drops really help.

Ok, on to feeding essentials in my house.

I'm going to be going back to work in a few weeks so one of these have become essential:

It is a portable breast pump, and it works really well.  I started using it early to increase my supply.  Tanner wasn’t gaining enough weight because we were having trouble with the breastfeeding process.  The doctor said he was going to have to supplement formula if he didn’t gain weight.  I really didn’t want to use formula so I decided to rent a breast pump and bottle feed.  It worked so well, I got one of my own.  Tanner gained 7oz. in 2 days.  I know there is some controversy about this.  People say you shouldn’t introduce a bottle before 6 weeks because of nipple confusion, but it works for us. I now have an excellent milk supply, and I feel like going back to work will be that much easier.  Oh, and he never suffered from nipple confusion.  He will nurse or drink from a bottle, but he gets frustrated by nursing sometimes because the milk doesn’t always come fast enough.  Basically, he’s a little pig.

Needless to say, bottles and a bottle warmer are items I use on a daily basis as well.

Another must have essential: a bunch of receiving blankets.  Seriously, you need a lot of them.  I use them for swaddling, but I use them mostly as a burp rag and to wipe up spit up.  Oh the glamor of parenthood. 

The pacifier or binky is another hot commodity around here.  Sometimes he just likes to suck even if he’s not hungry.  I was convinced that I would not need one of these. Then one day he started sucking on his hand.  I know I will have take the binky away when he gets older, but taking away his hand would be considerably harder.  In fact, I think that taking away your child’s hand would be considered child abuse in most states.

   

This bouncy seat is Tanner’s absolute favorite.  He’s not big on the swing, but he loves to hang out in this thing.  He even likes to sleep in it from time to time.  Oh yeah, and he’s starting to notice toys, so that’s a fun bonus.

 

And now, one of my favorite things.  The inspiration of this post really.  The NoseFrida.  Seriously this thing is amazing.  Some people I’ve talked to have been a little grossed out by it, but it works SO GOOD.  Basically you stick it up your kid’s nose and suck on the other end to get the snot out.  Don’t worry, the possibility of sucking anything into your own mouth is nonexistent. One thing I’ve realized about being a mom is that it turns you into a crazy person that becomes obsessed with disgusting bodily fluids. 

  

Last but not least, a comfy chair and some entertainment during long feeding sessions.  I love that chair.  It was my mom’s and she used it when I was a baby.  Netflix comes in handy if you can pry your eyes away from your new little bundle of joy.  Happy Parenting.

What are some of your baby essentials?