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When I announced my pregnancy, everybody and their mother (literally) started to tell me what I needed and didn’t need for the baby. I was getting opinions from people who haven’t had kids in 30 years, ones that didn’t even have an epidural because they didn’t offer them to everyone back then. I tried to research everything for myself before announcing my pregnancy. That way, I had a pretty good idea of what I actually wanted before I had to listen to everyone telling me that I didn’t know what I wanted or needed.
So, here is the stuff that I picked that I would buy over and over again if I was choosing to have more than one baby. These are in no particular order.
This carseat goes from birth until the baby is 30 pounds or 30 inches, whichever comes first. Now, I know that a lot of carseats are “forever” carseats that can be used the entire time a child needs to be in it. However, the Chicco Bravo is so much better than those because you can leave your sleeping baby in the carseat and take the whole thing into the store when you want to go shopping. You can take the carseat into the house with the baby in it in the winter so the carseat is always warm, or you can take it in and out of the house in the summer so the carseat isn’t too hot. Now that my daughter is too big for the infant seat, we have an “all in one” that I’ll talk about in a different post. It’s great for bigger babies, but I definitely don’t regret using the infant seat as long as we possibly could.
Now, onto the stroller part of the travel system. To me having a stroller was very important because I have a bad back and carrying a baby for long periods isn’t an option. My daughter is 10 months old and we have used the stroller basically nonstop since she was born. This particular stroller is great for tall parents like myself and my husband. The infant seat clicks right into it (make sure you have the cup holders on the stroller, that’s how the carseat clips on) and it has a nice big basket underneath that fits a backpack size diaper bag plus a mom purse. Chicco also makes tires for it that you can purchase from their website that are actually filled with air instead of the plastic ones it comes with. I don’t personally have those, but they seem like a great purchase if that’s something you’re looking for.
One addition to the stroller that I felt was essential was a stroller organizer. This is something that not everyone wants or needs, however, I use mine constantly. I always have a pack of face/hand wipes in it, it holds my huge iPhone, a drink or a baby bottle, plus there’s a huge pocket for a wallet or keys or whatever else you want to take with you. My sunglasses usually end up in there and so does the baby’s hat and her sunglasses so she doesn’t lose them when she takes them off.
2. Baby Monitor
Just like the stroller/carseat combo, I researched baby monitors until I couldn’t stand to look at them anymore. There are so many options for monitors like checking for baby’s breathing, white noise, lullabies, wifi, and so much more. I originally really wanted to buy the NanIt, however, between the price and not being able to just pick it up and take it whenever we travel because you have to purchase an additional mount to do that, we chose the Hello Baby monitor and I don’t regret it at all. The Hello Baby does NOT have wifi like a lot of the other monitors. However, we were concerned for privacy issues because if our wifi would get hacked then some random person would be able to see in our baby’s room. In addition, the monitors with Wifi require an iPhone app that will drain your phone battery, plus you can’t watch TikTok videos and your baby at the same time.
The Hello Baby monitor has it’s own screen to carry around with you, and the reach on it before it loses signal is actually really great. We take the monitor with us camping once a month and use it in the camper so we can sit by the fire when the baby is in bed. It’s as simple as unplugging from the house, plugging it back in in the camper, and that’s it. It also takes the same cord for both camera and the screen so you really only need to take 1 cable instead of 2 when traveling to make sure the screen stays charged.
The Hello Baby has several lullabies to choose from, however, you can’t turn them off on the screen so you get stuck listening to them if the baby is which is annoying. But, everything else about this monitor is great. Finally, you can connect multiple cameras to the same screen. We don’t have a need to do this, but the option is there if you have more than one child.
Bottles are a tough subject because babies can be very picky. We got lucky and only needed to try 2 brands before we found a winner. The first ones we tried were Nuby brand and our daughter HATED them. We tried the Phillips Avent like my sister uses and had ZERO issues. The link I have on here is the set that we got and we’re 10 months in and still going strong with them. The nipples that come on these bottles are perfect for newborns and at 10 months old they’re still perfect. I tried to switch our daughter to #2 nipples and the flow was too fast and she chokes. So we’ve used the same nipples her whole life so far. If you end up needing nipples, Target and Amazon sell them. But, there’s a good chance you won’t need to get anything extra for the set I have linked.
4. Burp Cloths
This was one of those touchy subjects with my mom because she said I didn’t need them, they were a waste of money, just use a rag, etc. However, since my daughter is my only child, and before she was born it was just me and my husband, we don’t have an overabundance of wash rags, dish cloths, etc. I was so thankful that I put burp cloths on my registry and got them before the baby came. I have 3 sets total, they have been washed once or twice a week (maybe more) since my daughter was born and they still look brand new. I don’t regret for one second getting these. We always have one in my stroller organizer, one in my purse, 2 on the couch, and 1 in each car. Seriously, they’re everywhere and we use them constantly.
I linked Dreft Stage 1 even though I am currently using draft Stage 2, but since this is a newborn post I wanted to make sure to at least mention them both. Dreft is the #1 recommended soap for babies because it’s gentle on the skin, gets stains out, and whatever else they claim. But let me tell you, all of that is 100% true. My daughter had a serious spitting up issue for basically the first 7–8 months of her life. We have washed her burp cloths and clothes sooooo many times. To this day, there isn’t anything I’ve washed that the stain didn’t come out. She is strictly formula fed, so if you don’t know, it smells and looks awful. The Dreft has saved us over and over again. I can’t say enough good things about it. Seriously, just get it.
You’re probably thinking, that’s one expensive binky! I mean, that’s what I thought when I ordered the first one (and the second one too). But seriously, worth every penny. My daughter was binky obsessed until about 6 months old. These are great because they are small so the babies can hold them between their arms or hands while sucking on them and it makes them harder to lose and they don’t get dropped as easily. I tried getting an off brand one to save money and my daughter wouldn’t touch it. She would only take her Wub. We now have the deer and a pink elephant Wub and they travel everywhere with us. She isn’t as crazy about binkies now, but it is still her favorite toy to hold and play with. Regular binkies aren’t nearly as awesome as these, trust me.
When I was picking stuff out for my daughters room I came across this deer that matched all of her sheets, blankets, etc so I just had to buy it. Babies aren’t allowed to sleep with blankets, or anything else in their cribs, but this little toy has been the perfect thing that my daughter holds every time she lays down for a nap or to go to sleep. She cradles it between her arms and she goes right to sleep. There were a few nights that she kept waking up every 2 hours and we couldn’t figure out why. Then we realized I took her little deer to wash it and never gave it back. We gave it back to her and she has slept every night since. There are many of these to choose from, I just don’t recommend the ones with bells in them. That kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion.
8. Crib bumpers
I know this is a super hot topic because of SIDS. But, I am convinced I would have ended up in the ER more than once for a broken arm from my infant. She LOVED to put her arm through the slats on her crib, and then bend her arm in some weird way and get it stuck. She would then scream bloody murder because her arm was bent at an angle it shouldn’t go to and she couldn’t get it unstuck because she was only a few weeks old (she started sleeping in her own room in her crib at 2 weeks old). Or, her other favorite thing to do was sleep with her head pushed into the slats and she’d wake up with a huge red line down her head from sleeping against the slats. I bought the linked crib bumpers because they tie flat to the sides of the crib and they’re soft. I know you aren’t supposed to use them and blah blah, but, I decided as a parent I’d rather her have crib bumpers than a broken arm or an indent in her head every morning when she woke up. That was my choice as a parent and I don’t regret it one bit. These saved us from many bloody murder infant screams.
9. Cosleeper
Cosleeping is another hot topic just like the crib bumpers are. I am not a fan of cosleeping, but I am a fan of actual sleeping. For the first 2 weeks of my daughters life, she slept in a pack n play in our room. If you have a baby already, you know that newborns wake up pretty much every 2 hours (sometimes more than that). So, if we couldn’t get her to relax in her pack n play, or she woke up scared, or just wanted to be near us, we put the cosleeper between our pillow on our bed. It has a little light on it that you can push on and off to check on her. It has sides that she can’t roll out of it so it keeps her in one spot, and its completely washable if you have any accidents. We didn’t use this as a cosleeper for very long because we learned that she slept much better in her crib in her own room, but once we stopped using it as a cosleeper, we used it in our camper for her to sleep in since we took her camping for the first time when she was 6 weeks old. We also used it to change her diapers in while camping so if she would make a mess it was easy to clean up instead of getting pee or poop on our bedsheets.
10. Baby Bathtub
My mom told me that I needed a good bathtub and not one of those cheap ones, and she was absolutely right (even though I’ll never admit that to her). This bathtub is the one we still use today and it’s perfect. Our house doesn’t have a bathtub, we only have a shower. That makes it very difficult to bath any child let alone a newborn. This bathtub has the little hammock they can lay in (we put the tub in our sink). As they get older you can take the hammock out and use the seat. Once they get older again you can take the seat out and they can just sit in the baby bathtub. We used the hammock part as long as possible and then some. It made bath time really easy. My daughter was sitting up on her own and I was still milking the hammock because I loved it that much.
Helpful hint, make sure to take out the pink seat to wash underneath it, the soap builds up and it gets yucky under there.
Like anything, making recommendations for things, especially baby things, is difficult because everyone has their own style and needs. These are just some of the things that I highly recommend based on personal experience. I’m sure if I ask my sister, she would probably have an entirely different list. But, this can give you a good idea of where to start looking when shopping for baby stuff. Another helpful hint, don’t let anyone tell you what you do and don’t need. Only you know what’s best for your baby 🙂
Originally published at http://theblogofkaliann.wordpress.com on April 14, 2021.