Must haves for your baby

Well I thought I’d throw in my 2 cents (why is it 2 cents, anyway?) on what’s nice to have during your first few weeks (and beyond) with your little bundle of joy.  And also what we registered for and love.

Let’s start with sleeping.  Caden LOVES to be swaddled.  Well I don’t know if he loves it but it sure does help him sleep, so I love it.  As soon as I swaddle him, his eyes get droopy.  We have 3 different swaddles that we’ve used and all are very different.

SwaddleMe – We love this swaddle.  I think it is really easy to use but unfortunately Caden is too long for it now.  And they don’t seem to make one (that I’ve seen) for babies more than 14lbs.  Sad.  {correction!  They do make larger ones and I bought two from Amazon!}  But he’s never gotten his arms out!

– — –

Miracle Blanket – I didn’t love this one at first because the SwaddleMe was so awesome but as he’s outgrown (or when he had a diaper leak/spit-up) the SwaddleMe, we started to use this and like it more.  He hasn’t gotten out of this one either, but you definitely have to wrap them in there tight.  The only thing that is slightly annoying is you have to lift your baby up twice to wrap the fabric around so if they’re almost asleep that might wake them up.  But again, I am really glad we have it.

– — –

Woombie – I looooove the Woombie!  It’s great because it has two zippers so you can unzip from the bottom.  You definitely want to use snap up onesies with this otherwise you’ll have to unzip the whole thing to get to the zipper on his onesie.  Then you have to finagle him back in which is kind of difficult in the middle of the night.  This looks like a similar version to the Woombie at half the cost but I haven’t tried it out.

– — –

BabyBjorn Travel Crib Light 2 – I love this travel crib for a few reasons.  It is only 11 pounds (bazinga!) compared to the typical Pack-N-Play which is about 29lbs.  It is also the EASIEST thing to set up and take down.  Watch this video.  I think depending on how you look at it, it has two negatives.  It is twice the price of its competitors but for us it is worth it because we travel a lot and it’s so light and compact.  The other negative is having to bend down to get your baby in and out.  The other Pack-N-Plays have the higher bassinet for the infant stage and the slightly lower level for when they’re a tiny bit older.  That definitely would have been nice during the first couple weeks when we wanted him in our room.  He’ll be making the transition to his crib soon and my back with definitely be thanking me!  We used the Fisher Price Rock-N-Play for the first two weeks because my friend lent it to me and I wanted to have him within arms reach.  But I wanted him to get used to sleeping in a crib like setting so we switched to the Bjorn.

– — –

BabyBjorn Baby Carrier – I LOVE this carrier and so does Caden.  Whenever he is inconsolable or I have to get some things done around the house I plop him in this.  It’s really easy to put your baby in and get him out by yourself.  I haven’t tried any other carriers to compare this to but I would definitely recommend it.

– — –

Baby Jogger City Select – Ahhh One of my FAVORITE baby items.  I am SO glad I went with this stroller.  It is definitely pricey but you can tell it is such great quality and will be around for a long time.  One of the main reasons I chose this was because it is one of the best strollers for 2 kids and we want to have our kids close in age so it will be so worth it.  I mean check out all of the configurations it can do!  It comes with the one seat which is pictured in the second picture.  When I first decided I wanted this stroller it did not support Britax car seats, however as of late January, BabyJogger came out with the connector piece.  So now I can finally use our Britax B-safe car seat!  I had heard rumors that they were coming out with it and definitely gambled when registering for the B-safe and City Select when I didn’t know 100% if they’d ever be compatible.  That was a major stressor (probably the biggest) for me when choosing which baby items I wanted.  I didn’t use the stroller or our B-safe until I knew the piece had come out.  My friend Marcie let me borrow her car seat for about a month til the piece came out.  Thanks M!  Check out this demonstration video to see all of the perks!

– — –

Britax B-Safe – Another baby item I am so pleased with!  Caden fits so well into this car seat.  When he was in the other car seat he cried constantly.  I’m not sure if he didn’t fit into it well or if it was just him adjusting to riding in a car seat/ the car.  He could just be older/more used to car rides now but he hasn’t cried once in this car seat.  I chose the Kiwi fabric and I love it!  I figured it would be good for boys or girls (hopefully there will be a little girl down the line!).

– — –

A must have accessory for the car seat (during the winter months) is the JJ Cole Car Seat cover.  This is another item I’m borrowing from Marcie.  Isn’t she awesome!?  This is great for keeping those inquiring hands off of your healthy newborn!  So many people made comments to me like “I’m sure there’s a baby in there!”  and I would just smile and say, “Yep!”.  I had actually registered for the JJ Cole Bumdle Me but I was told it is not safe to use with the car seat while in the car.  I didn’t want to keep taking it off/putting it back on every time I got the car seat in/out of the car.

– — –

But when it comes to nursing, my favorite accessory is the BrestFriend.  I chose the Fireworks pattern (pictured above) and I love it.  It kind of looks more brown in the picture but it’s much greyer in person.  I have the Boppy as well but I find it’s much harder to use.  However, I noticed on Boppy’s webpage that they have the “new boppy” which is almost exactly like the BrestFriend.

– — –

When I need to get a few things done around the house, the bouncy seat is amazing!  We have the Fisher-Price My Little Snugabunny Bouncer Seat.  It has three different settings: music, nature sounds and vibration.  I really only use the vibration setting.  The other two are a bit obnoxious.  :)  Caden has just gotten to the point where he loves to stare up at the birds.  I’ll occasionally hear him laughing/cooing and I look over and he’s looking up at them.  So cute.

– — –

Yet another item I’m borrowing from Marcie is her swing.  This isn’t the exact swing but it’s very similar.  Caden is very content to sit in there while we’re eating dinner or while I’m cleaning.

– — –

I asked Brandon what his favorite baby item is and this is what he said.  The paci.  Haha.  Instant mute button.  Not really.  Caden is so cute when he has a paci in his mouth.  He makes the sucking sound like the baby does on the Simpsons.  :)

source

– — –

Brandon’s second favorite is the Boppy.  He actually uses it a lot with Caden.  He’ll put it around his waist when sitting on the couch and let Caden sleep in his arms/against his body or let Caden lay propped up in it while on the couch next to him.  I don’t really like it so much for nursing.  I feel like Caden falls into me because it’s rounded.  The BrestFriend is more flat so he’s not constantly falling.

Welp, that’s it for my favorites (I think).  I probably forgot something.  And I’m sure as Caden gets older we’ll have new favorites and must haves.

What are your baby must haves?