Baby Essentials

My friend recently asked me what essentials are needed for a baby,  and what is really useful to receive as a present, to give to her soon-to-arrive nephew and it got me thinking, now that I have an idea of what is actually useful and what works, and I thought I would share that with you.  

The Baby Factory also has a suggested list, check it out here although I haven't focused on everything listed, more the sort of thing you could give a friend expecting.

Motherhood is a funny thing.  There is just SO much to learn, adapt to and take in, in such a short time, that it's hard to work out what things you are using, or what is useful, in amongst the hundreds of nappies that you are constantly changing (well, that's certainly how it seemed back in those early days!!), and the lack of sleep, together with this little bundle screaming for you, or looking at you and trying to communicate with you.  You kind of go onto auto-pilot, even though it's new territory!  No wonder we get mummy brain!

Before Emily arrived, I'd go through her things and get so excited about when I could use this or that, or dress her in this and see her in that, but in reality there are some things which are much more useful than others and some things I thought I'd use, but didn't.  

The most useful things we found are:

• Face cloths - for a morning 'mini-bath', these are fantastic and for the evening bath, but also for general spills
• Bibs - those with Velcro fasteners are best as the press-studs can be a bit fiddly, and I find if the fastener is on the side of the neck rather than the back of the neck, so much the better
• Disposable change table mats (who even knew these were an item?!) - lifesaving!
• Nappy rubbish bags - a good stash of supermarket bags would also do
• Nappies of course - LOTS!  We used disposables  in the early days, but now use the old fashioned cloth nappies
• Baby wipes - LOTS!  Those which don't have a fragrance are good
• Baby toiletries - we love the Johnson and Johnson baby bedtime items (the purple brand), with a lovely lavender smell which is meant to help baby sleep.  It certainly agrees with Emily and we include a little bedtime massage before her final feed of the night
• Onesies / baby-grows / all-in-ones - so easy to dress baby in, and get her out of too.  Essential for swift midnight nappy changes
• Bodysuit vests (long sleeved, short legs) - I find these have really come in handy to wear under baby-grows, and even with leggings and a short sleeved body suit over the top, so that the vest is seen on the arms.  A nice additional layer for baby
• Cloth nappies / burping cloths - really useful to throw over your shoulder as there are lots of spills with a little baby.  I also use them on Emily's playgym mat and on the floor when she has tummy time to save having the scrub everything, carpet included
• White noise CD - I didn't initially use this when Emily was tiny as she slept very well as a little baby, as little babies tend to, but at around 10 or so weeks her sleep changed and I thought I better try it.  I used to use my cell phone on radio static but had it up too loud and a friend reminded me she had actually given me a white noise CD for my baby shower!  So we use that instead.  It's hard to know if it actually does work, as there have been times I forgotten to switch it on, or put it on repeat and Emily still sleeps well without it.  I just use it to keep things consistent. This is the CD I have and I just pop it on repeat.

Things that look good but aren't all that practical:

• Any clothes with buttons / press-studs at the back of the neck - really awkward to do up, especially when baby is tiny and can't hold their heads up or is very upset or wriggly!
• Booties!  I hate to say it but they come off quite easily; you don't want to tie the ties too tight in case you squeeze baby's foot too much; and the little ribbons that you have to tie are really hard to do up when baby is kicking her feet and wriggling!  But they look so cute.... Maybe I will frame some as a piece of art?

I had also aimed to get dinners in the freezer but our oven broke right before Emily arrived, in fact on the day I went into labour the oven technician came round to look at it (!!), so unfortunately didn't get to doing that, but if I have pregnant friends in the future, I will give them a few frozen homemade dinners.  You are so tired, but hungry in those early weeks, this would really come in handy.

But aside from all the goodies and things, what you really need in those early days is time with your new baby and your husband to bond.  Don't worry about the housework, the washing or anything else.  Just let it be. These days and moments are far too precious to let that stuff interfere with your beautiful little bundle.