I’m sitting here writing a baby must-have list for the first few months, only a day away from my little one turning ONE! I can’t even believe that’s possible. Like every parent says, it goes by way too fast. The days are long, very long sometimes, but wow, the year(s) sure do fly.
Looking back on this year, it seems as though every few months, our must-haves, the items we use all the time, seem to change. There are certain items we couldn’t be without in the first days, but come month four, we almost forgot about it. For the first three months, the items listed below are those items. Every parent is different and what people love using varies by family. For us, these things helped us so much.
I should also mention that we are more on the minimal side of things. Our approach was to be simple, do with less, and try to make do with what we have. If something wasn’t working, say like the swaddles or bassinet, we would try something new, but we wanted to give it a go first with more simple things.
Clothing
- swaddles – There are so many different ones to choose from. Order a bunch. And don’t return the many you’ll get from your shower. My son was born in September which is hot here so we wrapped him in swaddles a lot. Plus you can use them to clean up spit up, place baby to change them, keep them warm, the list is almost endless.
- zip pajamas – resist the urge to buy all the cute clothes with buttons. Anything with a zipper will be your best friend.
- Onesies – again since he was born in warm weather, we dressed him in a lot of onesies when we needed something.
Sleep
- Sleep sack – we used this one but then switched to these. They are so stretchy and when he was little we could pull them tight and get a good swaddle.
- White noise machines – This is close to the one we used. There are some fancy ones out there, but this simple one does the trick for us
- Bassinet – We went with a simple bassinet. There are some that rock the baby and do a bunch of things, but we wanted to start basic. If he had problems we would have adjusted, but at 3 months and 1 week he was sleeping through the night, so for us, a basic bassinet worked just fine. And if you’re curious how we got him sleeping so well, check out Taking Cara Babies
Play / hanging out
- Boppy – I loved the boppy for the first few months. He could lay in it while I moved about. It’s a great place to lay baby when you need free hands
- Love every – We subscribed to love every and it’s been one of the favorite things throughout this whole year. The playmat was a favorite for a long time. If you don’t want to do a subscription, I do highly recommend at least the mat.
- Baby Bjorn – He loved his Baby Bjorn at times, but not always. Mama loved it most times, it’s a great place to set them if you want to cook, shower, do anything and keep baby safe
Bath
- Lotus – this was the best for baths. So cozy, I would even love to lay in it. It was padded and kept him comfortable.
Miscellaneous
- Diaper cream – natural and almost immediately clear up any redness
- Stroller – I can only review the stroller we have, I haven’t tried others, but I love this one. The bassinet was great early on. It’s light and easy to maneuver. It is large though, so you will need space even when it’s packed.
- Carriers – We used two. I wrapped this around me when he was very young, but I felt like it didn’t offer enough support after a few months. This carrier is one we still use on occasion, and definitely used it a lot in the beginning. I’d stuff a little swaddle in the bottom so he could sit high enough.
- Nursing pillow – I didn’t nurse too long, but this was a lifesaver when I did. Offered so much support and helped ease my back pains.
