I can't believe we officially have a 6 week old.
Time is truly flying by.
Today I wanted to put together a list of our most used items from the first month.
These are in no particular order, but have gotten a lot of use of the last month. I would say these are all definitely newborn essentials. Read on for why these made our top 10 (really 14 because I couldn't stop at 10) list.
This has definitely been one of our most used items. We honestly use this every single day. When we first brought Elle home from the hospital this is where she napped 80% of the time. (The other 20% was on one of us.) Now that we are more consistent with naps I would say she takes 1-2 of her naps in the DocATot per day. This is also a great safe place to set Elle down if I need to pee or make a coffee.
We went with the DocATot over the
Snuggle Me Organic because I felt like she would fit in the DocATot longer. I've honestly heard good things about both.
I chose the Halo because it has a drop down side making it easy to get your baby in and out for feedings in the middle of the night. I've heard this is HUGE for moms that have a c-section. I went with the basic model, but they have others with motion and sound features. I've heard mixed reviews on using bassinets with these features, so I decided it against them.
If you decide to go with the HALO I have to encourage you to get the newborn insert as well. We didn't have it and the first night Elle slept horrible. The bassinet was so big and she was so tiny. My friend told me about the insert and said I could borrow hers. This was a total game changer. It makes the bassinet so much smaller and kind of "hugs" the baby making them more comfortable. I cannot recommend this extra piece enough. I would have 100% bought it for myself if my friend needed hers back.
This sound machine is amazing. We started by just using the nightlight feature in her nursery for middle of the night changes and were using our portable one in our room. Our portable one died after about 2 weeks so we decided to move the Hatch into our room and I'm so glad we did. It has a bunch of different sound and color options which I love! It has programable features that you will use as your child gets older.
This is definitely a pricier item, but I think it's totally worth it. We are able to weigh Elle each night before bath time to see if she's lost, gained or maintained weight. This is especially great if you are breastfeeding because you have no idea how much milk your baby is getting. Elle has extremely bad reflux so it's nice to know that she is still gaining weight and we don't have anything to worry about really. (Other than the fact that she is extremely uncomfortable.) Again, this is definitely a splurge item, but totally worth it if it's in your budget.
One of the things Elle actually enjoys is tummy time! (I'm very thankful for that.)
We started doing tummy time the day after we got home from the hospital. Yes, I'm that mom. lol
This mat is so soft and plush which makes it perfect for tummy time in our living room since we have tile and a thin rug. It's also really easy to throw in the wash when she spits up or if Ramsey walks all over it.
It comes in a couple different prints and is reversible as well.
Since there's 2 pieces in this bundle I will break down each piece.
Let's start with the Dream Sock. This is such a great baby item in my opinion. I know there are a lot of mixed thoughts/reviews on these types of products, but for me it's a no brainer. It really helps to give me peace of mind when Elle is sleeping at night. This one monitors heart rate, o2 levels, movement, temperature in the room and humidity. I really feel like if I didn't have this I would hardly get any sleep wondering if she was breathing, etc. It also tracks the entire sleep session and lets you know how long your baby slept and how long they were awake. It also tracks light sleep vs. deep sleep. The only downside here is that you can't pinpoint times. I wish you could see they slept from 3am-6am, but it only shows you a graph with start time and end time of the total sleep session.
Like I said I know it's not for everyone, but it's definitely been a key item for us.
The second part of this duo is the cam. Overall the camera is pretty good. It has great picture quality and I like that it works hand in hand with the sock. If you follow me on insta you know that I find there to be a couple downfalls to the camera. The biggest issue is that you can only access the camera on your phone. Because of this there are a few additional issues. The first is that anyone monitoring your baby would have to download the app. J and I have no problem with that, but we don't want our parents to have to download the app if they are babysitting at night. (For that reason we have already invested in another camera that has a monitor.) The second issue is that if you want to view the camera feed at all times this KILLS your phone battery. Since Elle has started napping in her bassinet I have to charge my phone at least 2-3 times a day. I usually just leave it plugged into the charger while she is napping. And the third issue is that if you want to continually view the feed you can't use any other apps. It will send notifications for sound and motion, but it only does it every so often. I think ours is set to every 5 minutes so Elle could be screaming for 5 minutes before I get the notification if I don't have the feed up to see it.
These aren't end of the world problems, but I definitely would recommend getting a second camera that has a monitor or just getting a different camera all together.
I also wanted to note that the Owlet app has other great features to help you with your babies sleep which is really nice.
And one more thing. This is FSA/HSA approved.
This is a must have item! Especially if you live in a warmer climate. We are able to easily clip this onto her stroller when we go on walks to keep her nice and cool. It has 3 different speeds and an LED light. I've also clipped this onto her carseat to keep her cool in the car since my car doesn't have vents in the back.
Another tip is to bring this to the hospital. You can clip it to your bed while you are in labor to give you a nice breeze while you're pushing.
I know the easy way to sterilize things is just a big pot of boiling water. That being said, I HATE waiting for things to dry. That is why I LOVE this item so much. It sterilizes and dries all the items in either 30, 45 or 60 minutes. (You choose how long you want it to run.) I usually just do the 30 minute option and everything comes out clean, dry, and ready to use. This is definitely not a need to have, but a nice to have. I also do not recommend this if you are someone that doesn't like a lot of kitchen gadgets as this will definitely sit out on your counter. I will say we use ours at least twice a day though.
I originally bought this when I was pregnant because I would wake-up in the middle of the night to pee and didn't want to wake J by turning on all the lights. However, it has been so helpful for nighttime feeding sessions since Elle arrived. I love that is has a dimmer. I usually leave it on the dimmest setting to wake her up and then turn it up while feeding. This allows J to stay asleep until it's time to change her and swaddle her. (He's the swaddle master in this house.)
We really like this baby tub.This one can be used in the sink or bathtub. We don't have a large enough sink so we just use ours in the bathtub. I honestly searched high and low for the best infant tub because so many had mixed reviews. I'm glad we went with this one and it was SUPER affordable.
We have this wipe dispenser in Elle's nursery and at our changing table downstairs. (Highly recommend setting up a changing station downstairs if you have a 2 story house and your nursery is on the second floor. No one wants to run up and down the stairs every time you have to change your babies diaper.)
This makes grabbing one wipe super easy. I do want to call out that it's not a wipe warmer. I personally didn't want a warmer for a few reasons. The first is a lot of people say they actually dry your wipes out. The second reason is you don't want your baby getting used to warm wipes because you won't have that luxury on the go and they will not be a happy camper.
Do yourself a favor and add this to your registry ASAP!
I've always had a fear about cutting a baby's nails. Probably because my mom loves to tell the story of how she cut my thumbnail super short when I was a baby and it bled and bled and bled.
This thing eliminates that and it's so easy to use. It just gently grinds their little claws. We honestly do it while she is sleeping. It even comes with a light because they recommend doing it while the baby sleeps. It also comes with a few different pads to use as your baby gets older.
So there you have our top items from month one. I could honestly add so many items to this list, but we will save those for another day.
I plan to do this again in another month or so as I'm sure there will be new things we start using.
Let me know if you have any questions on the above items. I'm happy to answer anything you might think of.
.jpg)
