We were loaned a Fisher Price Rock 'n Play from a family friend and it has been such a lifesaver! We actually were planning to purchase the newer, automatic version, but the price tag on this one was better! It's so handy to be able to put our little girl down when we need our hands free and the incline allows our curious little girl to be able to see what we are doing.
If I'm being completely honest, I'm a bit of a germ-o-phobe. With a newborn in the house, my husband became one too. We were constantly washing our hands, washing everything in sight, and then washing our hands again. This Aloe Body Butter from The Body Shop is one of my favorites and we were glad that we had some around since it helped keep our hands from being chapped and cracked with all that slightly obsessive hand washing that we started doing. The Body Shop has lots of different scents, but I love the Aloe version because it is just clean and neutral and not all perfume-y, which can be irritating on sensitive skin.
Breast feeding is tough work! And it's tough on your nipples, especially in the beginning! I really wasn't sure what to expect in the nipple balm department - were they really necessary? were there really differences? were my nipples really going to hurt? I was pretty confused, so I just went with the widely recommended lanolin, which seemed the most common and easiest price point for something I wasn't sure I would need. I actually found that I liked this Boob-ease Organic Nipple Balm a lot (and maybe even the name more - hahaha!) I ordered some of the Bamboobies Washable Nursing Pads (both regular and overnight types) because I liked the materials they were made of along with their cute heart shape. I was pleasantly surprised to find a sample of their nipple balm in my order and after reading the ingredients, it sounded like it was worth a try. If you want the truth, I tried it on my nipples and also tried to taste it (for baby's sake). For the record, it doesn't really taste like anything, even though one of the ingredients is marshmallow root, and I was half hoping for a marshmallow flavor... I found that it soothed my nipples quite a bit faster than lanolin and was easier to apply because the texture is lighter and not quite as sticky as lanolin. I ended up buying a whole tub of this stuff, and believe it or not it works so well that I rarely need to use it, so my tub will likely last me FOREVER. Okay, that's enough talk about nipples! (Oh, and in case you weren't sure, the answers to the questions above are yes, yes, and yes...)
We don't actually use these for cloth diapers, (although we DO cloth diaper our babe) but instead use it for the many other purposes as advertised on the packaging. My mom actually ordered them online for us when we came home from the hospital and found that we didn't have nearly enough burp cloths. We ended buying another pack of them because we use them for that purpose, but also for nursing, for changing, for wiping milk spills, and for playing peek-a-boo. We keep them near the bed, on the dresser, near her rocker, near our baby-changing area, in the car, in the diaper bag, and in my pumping bag. So basically, we use them all the time, everywhere and for almost everything (but have not used them yet for car-washing, waxing, or household dusting as mentioned on the packaging). I like this style better than the prefolds because they aren't bulky and get really soft after washing. If I had known that there was an organic version of these, I probably would have gotten them...
I didn't register for these because I thought they were a little weird looking, despite all my mama friends raving about them. There are lots of different versions, but we were thoughtfully gifted several sets of the Summer Infant SwaddleMe (in the original, organic, and microfleece versions) and they turned out to be very handy. They are well thought out and easy to use. I love that there are places for the velcro to stick when the swaddle isn't wrapped around baby, which makes it easier for washing. And they are near impossible to do wrong, so even my hubby who always felt that I was better at swaddling could do it confidently. I can't say for sure if our little girl rested more peacefully in them, but we certainly did knowing that our baby was warm wrapped in the microfleece version on extra cold nights. We loved that we had different materials to keep our baby comfortable while Mother Nature was being very moody this winter. I didn't discover the Stage 1 Pods until it was a little too late, but I really would have liked to try them out when our girl was a wee one. We already have a Stage 3 WrapSack ready for when she is a bit older!
While we were in the hospital and all confined to one room, and had no other responsibilities, we tracked all of our baby's activities with pen and paper. Once we got home, we found that it was a little impractical to continue the pen and paper method. This app was actually just the first one we came across when I was searching for options on my phone and we've been pretty happy with it. It's super easy to use, fairly thoughtful in it's design, and has made communicating our baby's activities between my hubby and I so easy. It tracks nursing, bottles, diapers, sleep, pumping, baths, medicines, doctor's visits, measurements, vaccinations, and once we are ready, solids... The only complaint we have is that when I replaced my phone (after a tragic accident during a walk around the neighborhood), we've had difficulty with syncing. Other than that, the app has been a breeze to use.
So there you have it! Our top picks for what has made life a little easier for us during our first couple of months. How about you? Do you have any must haves on your baby list?
So there you have it! Our top picks for what has made life a little easier for us during our first couple of months. How about you? Do you have any must haves on your baby list?
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