Baby Essentials You Didn’t Think You’d Need!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links from various sites, including Amazon. As a member of the Amazon associates program, we earn a small amount from qualifying purchases when you use our referral link. This does not add any additional cost to you and helps with the expenses of keeping in Life and Littles up and running.
Baby number two is on HER way and I can not believe it! Between working full time and chasing after a toddler the time has absolutely flown by! After finding out we were having a GIRL my immediate instinct was to start shopping (have you seen how cute baby girl clothes are?!) but my husband gently reminded me that first we should go through what we used for our son to see what baby essentials we already have and can reuse.
I will admit, this walk down memory lane was not without tears! I can not believe how long ago 19 months seems and seeing the outfit that we brought our son home in and all of the tiny newborn clothes was very emotional. Going through the boxes also reminded me of all of the lessons we learned those first few months as parents. When I saw we learned a lot during our first year as parents…I mean we learned A LOT! I compiled this list of baby essentials for the first year, that we didn’t think we would need, to hopefully help save you time, energy and sanity during the first year with your little one.
Baby Booties
My son was born at the end of November in Michigan, which means it was cold! Whether we were staying in the house or taking him out and about, I was worried about keeping him warm. Something my mom drilled into me my entire life was “if your feet are warm, you will stay warm” so if E wasn’t wearing pajamas or a onesie with feet I made sure that he had socks on. But let me tell you, baby socks are the WORST! I felt like for the first three weeks, if I wasn’t nursing I was putting socks back on my son’s feet. They slip, they slide, they fall off, and they get lost. One of our friends came to visit and brought a pair of fleece baby booties and they were a game changer! They’re soft, they’re warm, and they DONT FALL OFF! The elastic band helps secure the booties and the button makes sure that even when baby kicks or rolls over they don’t come off. I’m not kidding when I say I threw all of his socks in a storage box and he wore booties every day from then on out.
Changing Pad Liners
There is soo much laundry to be done when there is a newborn in the house. Between diaper blowouts and spit-up we were going through 3 or 4 outfits a day, on top of bedding and blankets. Our son had a magical knack (like a lot of babies) of peeing as soon we began changing his diaper, which meant washing our changing pad cover almost daily. That was until Katie suggested I try Munchkin waterproof changing pad liners. These liners provide extra protection for the changing pad and help protect against messy diaper changes. These saved us so much time changing the changing pad cover and doing laundry and are definite essential with a newborn.
Play Mat
Did I mention how much dirty laundry newborns create?! Even though we have carpeted floors we still always laid E on a blanket when he was laying on the floor or doing tummy time, and without fail, he would spit up on the blanket. This meant we were going through at least a blanket a day. My Mom has hardwood floors and decided to invest in a foldable foam play mat for tummy and playtime at her house, and I fell in love. This mat is soft and comfortable to lay on/play on, it folds up easily when it’s not being used, and the waterproof foam is easy to wipe clean of any spit-up which is essential during your baby's first year. This mat folds up small enough to be stored easily but is also big enough for two to three babies to play at a time which came in handy during playdates. We still use this mat as the base for E’s play area to help keep the floors clean and provide a softer surface for any falls.
Butt Spray
Diaper rash is inevitable for any newborn and there are tons of suggested remedies out there. I know that we had originally registered for Boudreaux’s Butt Paste because of the amazing reviews that we had heard, but during one of our baby showers, my friend Andi gifted me the Boogie Bottoms Diaper Rash Spray. If you’ve ever applied diaper rash cream, the spray is a game changer! The Boudreaux’s is a thick cream that works really well, but you end up with cream all over your hands and under your nails and end up having an extra mess to clean up after each diaper change. The spray is incredibly easy and a baby essential to have on hand - just aim and shoot. No mess!
Wipe Dispenser
Speaking of diaper changes, anything that can make this process easier is a win for me! I did not initially register for a wipe dispenser because wipes come in their own container, why pay for another container to put them in? Any parent who has tried to pull one wipe out of a package and ended up with ten wipes knows my pain! This is so frustrating, especially when you’re trying to make sure the baby doesn’t roll off the changing table or pee on you lol. Katie recommended the perfect pull baby wipe dispenser and it has made diaper changes so much easier. This isn’t something that you’d normally think of as an essential for baby’s first year, but it is something that we still use every day and we will be ordering a second one for diaper changes in my daughter’s room.
High Chair Splash Mat
You may have begun to notice a theme here. Most of the items on this list are things that make life slightly less messy or make the messes easier to clean up. The high chair splash mat is not any different. When our son was six months old he started eating solids, and while this was a really fun transition it made meal times 10x messier! Babies love to explore their food and in the first few weeks (or let’s be honest, months) most of their food ends up on the floor. We have carpet in our dining area o this made cleaning up after each meal a big chore! Katie suggested I order a splash mat to place under E’s high chair and it took clean up from 10-15 minutes to 1-2 minutes. It’s easy to fold up and carry outside to shake out or throw in the washing machine for the super messy meals. This also doubles as a great mat for sensory activities!
Silicone Sanitizing Bag
Whether you choose to breastfeed or formula feed there are a lot of bottles and/or pump parts that end up needing to be washed. When we were creating our registry I didn’t think I would need a sanitizing bag, we have a dishwasher so I thought it would be redundant. I underestimated just how often newborns eat, how many bottle parts/pumping parts I would need, and how much time I would have to load and unload the dishwasher. The sink was filling up quickly and I was running out of parts. One day when I was fed up with waiting on the dishwasher to finish sanitizing parts I ran to Target and grabbed a silicone sanitizing bag and it was a game changer. Clean and sanitized parts in 5-6 minutes vs. an hour in the dishwasher made life so much easier and removed an added stress from feeding our little man.
Formula Mixing Pitcher
Since we’re talking about feeding, if you’re planning on formula feeding you should absolutely invest in a formula mixing pitcher. Katie swears by this product! This pitcher allows you to easily mix, store and dispense baby formula all in one container. You can mix up to 24 oz at a time, which depending on babies’ age can make 3, 4, or 5 bottles. Having the formula pre-mixed and ready to pour saves so much time and makes the middle of the night or the early morning feedings less stressful! Plus, it's a great way to make sure the formula is blended well without having to shake the bottle for 10 minutes.
These products helped save us time, energy and most importantly sanity during the first few months with our newborns, and we hope that they can help you too! Have you used any of these products? Are there any baby essentials we missed? Comment and let us know!
