My Newborn Essentials

Today I have my repeat gestational diabetes test and 6 week follow up--keep positive thoughts for me that everything looks good and I pass. I'm not looking forward to fasting, drinking a super sugar drink and then getting my blood drawn for 2 hours. I'll be so glad when this whole thing is over.

In the meantime, I know a lot of mamas have shared their baby essentials for different stages and those posts totally helped me when I was putting together my registry and trying to figure out what I needed. So I thought I'd round up a list of things that I couldn't do without!

Sleep swaddle--

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Specifically this one. Ella sleeps so well in this swaddle and helped us from the very beginning. It was a late night Amazon Prime, one-day delivery order during a particularly sleepless night and has been a saving grace for us since!

Changing Pad Cover Liners

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 I got a cute changing pad cover for our changing pad that matched our decor. What I didn't think of was what happens when baby inevitably craps all over it. So we got these washable ones to put over the changing pad cover--so it's a cover for the cover lol. They've worked out really well and we've gotten a ton of use out of them. Sometimes several in one day because....shit happens.

Sound Machines...specifically these two (one for travel and one for home)

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 White noise is your friend when you have a newborn...it's good for calming baby, getting a baby to sleep, and continue to sleep through the night. I got the Dohm and it's just not loud enough. After taking a newborn sleep class, this Homedics one was recommended by the teacher because it stays on (and also has a timer if you want to use it), and it gets LOUD which is actually helpful for baby. The travel one is only $10 and is surprisingly good for being so inexpensive. Perfect for on the go!

Rock and Play with the auto rocking--

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This has also been an essential for her sleep (and in the beginning we used it during the day, too). All of my mom friends told me to get this for baby and I'm glad that we did.

Burp Cloths--

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We have about 10 of these around various rooms in our house (maybe more)--and the best ones? Cloth diapers. You can order them in a 10 pack for pretty cheap (like half of what's marketed as "burp cloths") and they are super absorbent. The burt's bee's ones are good as well, but about double the price. Ella didn't spit up until about 4 weeks but when she does, wow! It's nice to have a burp cloth around haha

Ergobaby 360 carrier (with an infant insert)--

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This is suuuuuper helpful for when you have a fussy baby who just wants to be held and your arms and back are giving way. And, 9 times out of 10 it leads to an instant baby sleep. It is actually very easy on the back and helps you free up hands to do things while baby naps on you...or just sits and is calm.

Infant Optics video monitor--

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We didn't use this until we started attempting naps with Ella, but it's been great since then! You can rotate the camera from the remote, you can talk to baby through the remote, and the video/audio is really clear. Plus, the price point is pretty great for a video monitor.

OXO wipe container--

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I didn't get a wipe warmer because I was told it wasn't necessary, and really, after the first week, baby pretty much got used to them. The container keeps wipes wet, and also has a heavy insert to make it easier to pull wipes out with one hand without the whole package coming out.


Baby bath tub--

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This one has been super easy to put into the sink, fill up, and drain. We used the sling initially before we could submerge her (before the cord fell off) and it worked great too. Ella sits comfortably in here and is now enjoying her baths which is a big win for her, and for our eardrums :)

Slow flow nipples--

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I had some slow flow nipples from other bottles, but they weren't slow enough of a flow for how little Ella was when we started giving her bottles (2 weeks). These have been great, and come in separate packages, so you can put one in a diaper bag and not have to worry about it being "contaminated."

There are still a ton of other things that I use, but these have proven to be super helpful and used almost daily if not daily.