Essential Baby Items — Recommendations from a Mom of Two

October 5, 2021
Baby Items

Written by: Caroline Ludwig

I recently recorded an episode of the Craft Parenting Podcast where Hillary and I talk all about pregnancy (keep a lookout for part one of that conversation coming October 8!).

Hillary asked some questions about registries and what items I recommended. I looked around our house to see what things we used on a regular basis. As it turns out, our kids use a LOT of stuff and our house is pretty full. Here’s my two cents on the essential items that you need for your new baby.

Newborn babies don’t need a lot of things: a safe place to sleep, a safe way to travel, diapers, and some onesies. Everything else people say you NEED is subjective. Every mom-baby pair is different so even if something worked great with your first kid your second kid could hate it. Use this as a guide when planning your registry or what to buy friends, but get what brands work best for you and your baby journey.

Baby Items That We Couldn’t Live Without

  1. A Travel System (pumpkin seat, car seat, and stroller bundle) – You can buy these separately, but if you get them in a bundle it’s usually a little cheaper and you know that they’ll all fit together. You can buy extra bases so if it only comes with one and you need two you can buy another base.
  1. Bedside Bassinet – Both of our kids only used it for about three months before they wanted to move into their cribs. It gives you peace of mind since your little burrito is within reach, but they’re in their own space to sleep. There are co-sleepers that attach to the side of your bed just be cognizant of where pillows and blankets are in relation to your child.
  1. Swaddle Sacks – These are swaddles with velcro and/or zippers that cocoon the kid. It’s way easier than trying to use a swaddle blanket which I still haven’t mastered. Lilly used these until she was almost a year old and LOVED them. As the sizes get bigger they get looser and more like wearable blankets than swaddles. Elliot tolerated it and preferred to have his arms moving about freely. Once your child is able to roll don’t swaddle their arms so they can roll freely from back to front. Also, baby burritos are ADORABLE all swaddled up.
  1. Boppy Nursing Pillow – You can get different covers for it that are easy to clean so it’s very customizable. It’s great for breastfeeding and helps with bottle feeding as well. There are different types of nursing pillows out there and they all have pros and cons, but overall, I prefer the Boppy. 
  1. Changing Table – Usually this goes in the baby’s room. If you have a large house having a second mini changing station can be helpful. Since we don’t have to go up a full flight of stairs to get to the changing station from the kids’ main play space, one changing station is fine for us. We lived in my mom’s house for a weekend and I about died having to go up a full flight of stairs for every change to throw away diapers. You can do it, but it was rough.
  1. Diaper Pail – Whatever works for you, there is a wide variety available now. We have an Ubbi where we can use our own garbage bags so we don’t have to worry about bag inserts. It does smell when you open the lid, but it dissipates quickly and isn’t an issue until the kid starts eating food.
  1. Baby Swing – This was how we got Lilly to nap sometimes and how I was able to shower. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but a way to rock the kid that isn’t attached to you is a nice little break.
  1. Baby Bouncer – This was how we got Elliot to nap. He wasn’t as big of a fan of the swing, Lilly liked them both, but preferred the swing. Again, you don’t have to go fancy, ours just vibrates and plays music. You can find ones that actually bounce the baby but they can only use these for a few months so don’t spend too much money on it. Once your child is able to roll they have to be heavily supervised in a swing or bouncer and our kids didn’t like them anymore.
  1. Activity Mat – This ends up being your baby’s safe place to play and some grow with them. We have a Fisher-Price kick piano that it seems like all of our friends have too. Lilly still enjoys playing with the piano and the songs will get stuck in your head ALL THE TIME.
  1. Size 1 Diapers – Unless if both of your families are known for small kids you probably won’t end up using newborn diapers very long. Lilly didn’t use any newborn and Elliot did for about two weeks. If your diaper packs are unopened you can usually exchange them for another size, just remember what store you originally bought them from.
  1. 0-3 Month And Larger Clothes – Both of our kids were in newborn clothes for less than a month. If you want to get cute outfits that you know they’re going to wear get 6 months or bigger so they’ll have a little more time in them. Both of our kids are on the high range of percentiles so I might have a skewed view on this. For reference, Lilly just turned two years old and just hit three feet tall and is in 3-4T clothes. Elliot is seven months old and in 12-month clothes. 

Baby Items that We Used a Lot

  1. Dr. Brown’s Bottles – A nutritionist we talked to during our labor and delivery classes and the NICU both recommended Dr. Brown’s. You don’t have to use the colic-reducers in the bottles unless your kid has colic, otherwise, it’s just another thing to clean.
  1. Silicone Bibs – When the kid starts eating they’re so much easier to clean than the fabric ones. They do like to chew on them and can sometimes dump the liquid contents without warning, but no matter what, kids are messy.
  1. Bottle Warmer – We got Dr. Brown’s steamer/warmer and did not like it, old-fashioned fill with water ones have worked best for us.
  1. White Noise Machine – Our kids can sleep without it, but it makes it so we don’t have to tiptoe around the house when they’re sleeping in their rooms.
  1. High Chair – Our kids didn’t use them until they could sit up on their own with support at around 4 or 5 months old. They would sit in it while we would eat dinner so we could all be on the same level. Now Lilly’s high chair is converted to the booster that fits on our kitchen chair and Elliot is using my mom’s high chair.
  1. Bath Tub Insert – When giving the newborns baths we would put the bathtub insert on the counter with some towels and do sponge baths. When Elliot got big enough to sort of handle himself we started doing group baths with him on one side in the insert and Lilly on the other side splashing around. Now that both kids can sit up they just use a foam tub mat to not slip and slide while in the tub.
  1. Variety of Toys – I can’t say what your kid will or won’t like. The toys that Lilly loved Elliot is indifferent about and vice versa. Every kid is different but if you present them with a wide range of toys they can figure out what they like. The less stuff with batteries the better. You’ll be less likely to wake up the house when you bump into some blocks than when the toy radio bumps into the tractor that doesn’t have an off switch.

I hope this helps you plan out your baby registry or know what to buy for a baby shower. I’ll update this if I think of more things and with links to products that I use as I find them online.

Want more tips on how to prepare for a baby? Then read our previous blog post here.

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