A good friend of mine is pregnant, and she recently asked me what are some of our favorite newborn items that she should register for. It was extremely overwhelming when Jordan and I went to Target to register, and I remember scouring blogs to see what my friends were suggesting, so I thought I would make a post of my own, and hopefully this is helpful to you!
I am only including our top five, because I figure that will make it less complicated for you than if I were to include twenty things. Also, I recommend checking out Emily's list, because she has it organized by hierarchy of needs, which I think is helpful! I also liked Allison's list.
At $100, this is a pricy item, but we have used this a lot since R was born. The first week, this is what she slept in every night, and for the first month at least, she was in this most of the day when we weren't holding her. It's super easy to fold up and take with you, and we've taken this to Texas or over to a friend's house so she can go to sleep in the other room if we are going to be there late. It comes with a carrying bag, and we love it! It's recommended for use up to 6 months.
We actually didn't register for these, but someone got them for us as a shower gift, and we use them daily. These blankets are so soft and big and are perfect for covering for naps, laying on the floor for tummy time, or keeping in the diaper bag as a makeshift nursing cover or to cover her legs if she gets cold in the car seat. Plus, hello, the girl ones are so cute and have elephants on them!
Say what you will about spending hundreds of dollars on a mattress for your baby's crib, but I bought this for $44 on Amazon, and we have no complaints. A friend of mine loves to research stuff, and she said she spent a ton of time reading reviews and studies about mattresses, and she decided that a more expensive mattress wasn't necessarily better. She bought this one, so I did too! My parents also bought this mattress for the crib they set up at their house. Basically all the cool kids are doing it.
You don't have to get this exact rocker (obviously), but you are going to want some kind of portable seat that your newborn and baby can lie/sit in. We didn't actually have one of these until I saw this at a friend's house. I went and bought it the same day, and we use it daily with R. She was too small for it at first, but we love it now. She can hang out and watch me in the kitchen or sit by Jordan in his office, and we can easily move her from room to room. The downside to this one is that it doesn't fold up, so it's not super easy to take with you somewhere else because it takes up space in the car.
You can remove the toys that hang across the top, and the seat is battery operated to vibrate and play music. It can rock back and forth, but you have to nudge it with your foot. Or, the back legs come down so it just sits but won't rock. We have noticed that as R gets older, she prefers to sit up instead of just lie down like she would in the bassinet, so that's primarily used for sleeping or naps now. This rocker is great when she's awake.
A friend of mine who was pregnant registered for this, and I figured I would buy one for myself. We use it every single day! R loves her paci, but it falls out of her mouth a lot, and so we just clip this to her shirt and don't have to worry about it falling on the ground! It's also handy to clip to the top of the diaper bag, so we can easily find the pacifier. The clip goes well on everything and doesn't leave any creases or marks. The green that I bought is being discontinued, but they have a lot of other colors to choose from!
Honorable mention goes to the Boppy pillow, pacifiers, bottles (R likes the pink Dr Brown ones), and essentials like burp cloths, onesies, diapers (we like Pampers diapers and Pampers sensitive wipes), and car seat (we went with the Graco Click Connect 30, and we love it!)
I really hope this list gives you somewhere to start if you're pregnant and overwhelmed!
Moms, what were/are your favorite newborn/infant items?
Moms, what were/are your favorite newborn/infant items?
hey girl! doesn't look like your amazon links work, which makes me sad because i want to check these items out, lol.
a lot of people recommend the rock n play, did you all get that? i like the look of that bassinet instead!
and um.. nope, still not pregnant. haha. i'm not planning for a baby i don't have, promise.
Thanks! I think I fixed it... I don't know what I'm doing :)
I have nothing to add, but I will pin this for my mom friends! Thanks!
Yes to swaddle blankets and burp cloths! We actually used the Gerber cloth diapers as burp cloths, which were the most absorbent and easy to wash & bleach. Emily was a spitter, so we used them a lot.
Not exactly something to register for, but I recommend to all my future mom friends to sign up for Amazon Mom and then Amazon Prime. AM lets you have the benefits of Prime for a year for free. We did subscribe & save on diapers and wipes, which gave us a 20% discount on both and they were shipped automatically to our door every month. Saved me time and money! Now I use it to ship me running things like gels and Honey Stinger waffles :o)
THANK YOU. It's seriously so overwhelming to try to decide what to spend money on!
I always bookmark posts like this - it is so much better to get advice from real users that trying to decipher the number of stars on a website and hope for success. We actually registered for and received the same mattress, so I'm glad to hear that you like it. Hope it's a win for us, too!
I don't really have anything to add, except to suggest getting multiple sets of sheets and mattress pads for cribs, bassinets, and pack and plays. Accidents happen, and its not fun for a little to not have anything to sleep on!
As someone whose entire circle of friends are all having kids (and second kids) right now (while I keep saying, one more trip...one more trip!), I always give a pack of the Aden and Anais swaddle blankets. So I'm happy to see that at least one mom likes them. I think they are super cute, soft, and it's nice to know that they are versatile too.
I kind of want the A&A dream blanket for myself :)
The only one of those things that we used was the rocker but those other items sound like they would be really helpful!
So this isn't super applicable to me but I still love reading these kinds of posts. All I have to add is spending hundreds on your baby's mattress is really a thing? *smh*
All good advice (from my limited experience as a nanny)! The pacifer holder is one of those things most people don't think about, but I've had them for every kid I've nannied and people are always stopping me in stores to ask where to buy them. They are ingenious little things!
We have that bassinet and love it! Still haven't transitioned yet to her "big kid" crib yet or her own room. I have to get used to the idea still... :)
P.S. Sometime can you do a blogging tutorial on creating product collages? Just a suggestion. :) I wish I knew an easy way to make minimalist compilations of images on white backgrounds like this.
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