Funny how a few short months into parenthood, I've become an expert on baby stuff. Necessity I guess. Friends are always asking me what I recommend. So, here's a super easy list of things to start you on furnishing the nest for bambino. I've included links so you can check them out--and from experience, Amazon has great pricing compared to many other sites, I spend way too much time and money there! If you don't already have Amazon Mom, you should get it... it's 3 free months of Prime 2-day ship which WILL become your best friend when baby arrives because you won't have time to just 'run to the store'. If you want to build up more Prime months, keep shopping in the baby section at Amazon and you can earn up to a year. I earned the full-year in the first 9mo that baby came.
Miracle Blanket: This thing was priceless to us after our little Houdini started getting out of the swaddling blankets at age 2months. A friend came by and showed us how to swaddle our little man with the Miracle Blanket and the rest was history. I bought 2 within a week and he made it to 4.5mo with them. After that I passed them on. LOVE these.
GroEgg: A friend got us this and it is the coolest little product. The Gro-Egg Digital Room Thermometer
tells you with a color (red, yellow, orange, blue) what temperature your baby's room is, which is wonderful for the first months while you figure out how baby likes the room. Now every time I enter my baby boy's room I always look at the egg. Plus it's fun. Itzbeen: Another fun tool that turned priceless for us. The first few months are a total blur. There's breastfeeding, pumping, sleeping, diaper changes. How do you keep it all straight? Itzbeen Care Timer is the modern day notepad. Buttons for things like feeding, sleeping, diapers help frazzled new parents remember the last time they did something. I've handed this down to 2 other Moms since our little boy was born.
Aden and Anais Muslin Swaddling Blankets: A friend told us about these, and thank goodness they did. We have 8 of them. We used them to swaddle baby in the beginning but after he started breaking out, we used them as stroller blankets, a loose crib blanket in the summer. They're soft and breathable and wonderful. They retail for $44 so if you can find them cheaper, BONUS!! Aden & Anais Safari Friends Swaddle Wraps
Halo Sleep Sacks: Everything you read says no blankets in bed with baby. So we turned to Halo Sleepsacks. I personally love the velboa and fleece ones because they are so soft. The cotton ones are great for summer or when you just want a covering but not too warm. A&A also does sleep sacks which are great in the Single Layer for summer.
Gerber Side Snap Onesies/Tshirts: Priceless during the first few months. And with built in hand-mitts which was necessary because our little baby kept somehow ripping the separate ones off! We used Gerber Long Sleeve Onesies until 3-4mo. LOVE.
Hooded Towels: We love the Bebe au Lait towels which are super thick and larger than typical hooded towels including the Pottery Barn towels. Considering our kid grew pretty quickly, we bought these at about 10mo. Bebe au Lait Hooded Towels
Organic Crib Mattress: After reading about potentially toxic vapors from crib mattresses possibly contributing to SIDS, there was no doubt in our mind we wanted an organic mattress. They can be very expensive. But I found the Naturepedic Organic Crib Mattress
which is a great mattress, and is totally sealed and covered. For my Mom's house, where our son spends maybe one night every few months, we just got a basic mattress and while it's fine for infrequent use, honestly we are so happy with the Naturepedic, I would recommend it to anyone. It has a firmer side for infants and a softer side for toddlers. Our son is totally fine on the firmer side at 1 year.
Sleep Sheep: White noise was our friend when baby was small. It was one of the only things that could help calm him and put him to sleep. The Sleep Sheep On-the-Go
came with us everywhere. We velcro'd it to the car seat and it helped keep him quiet and asleep in busy restaurants or at friend's homes. Must have. White Noise Machine: Another friend turned us onto the Homedics SS-3000 Soundspa
. We had the Sleep Sheep already, but we needed a white noise machine to help drown out the noises of our wood floors and us walking around after baby went to bed. This thing is amazing. For $20, you get white noise AND lullaby tunes AND a projector for the ceiling when baby is older. Seriously, this is the best deal ever. We use it every night for our little one. We call it the Baby Crack Machine (BCM for short!).These are my top 10 products I recommend to every new mother. Obviously there's the basics like diapers, wipes, crib, dresser etc... but the above are products that were recommended to me that we couldn't have HAPPILY lived without.
Got top products you couldn't live without when your little ones were born? Please post below in comments to help another mother out!!
