I asked over on Instagram recently whether a list of new born essentials would be beneficial to you guys and I was SO surprised with the results as 92% of you guys said YES! I LOVE that we're all at that similar stage in life where we're either thinking about having babies, pregnant with babies and already have babies in our lives, how lovely that we have all grown together.
Now, even though this was just under a year ago, it all feels like such a blur, so I do hope I don't forget anything. And it's also worth mentioning that every baby and every parent is sooo different; what worked for us might not work for you and vice versa. I remember seeing someone say how pointless muslins were and you didn't need to go too wild on them... I'd already bought and been gifted tonnes from friends and family so worried we'd gone a little overboard, but, they were a lifesaver for us and we flew through them on a daily basis... So that's something to bear in mind, take everything with a pinch of salt and I guess make your own decisions based on those fabulous parental instincts you have.
So that's one of my newborn essentials boxed off, muslin cloths. We found these really useful for mopping up our milk drunk baby, wrapping myself in them if I'd had the luxury of changing out of my PJ's into another fresh set of PJ's and didn't want the inevitable boob leak to mess them up. We lined her pram with them sometimes, and her Sleepyhead/Dok-a-tot bed. We found ourselves going through them constantly so I would suggest having a good selection on hand for your newborn baby.
Our Sleepyhead/Dok-a-tot was a lifesaver during those early days as it was the only place I felt comfortable placing baby Goldie during the day. We moved it around the house with us so she was always snoozing near by. It was great for using in bed during the night feeds as somewhere to place her safely in the hope that she might get at least 30 minutes of sleep in between feeding. We had her with us in the kitchen placed on the kitchen island while we ate and she came with us in the Sleepyhead when we watched TV too. I EVEN remember bringing her into the bathroom with me, blissfully snoozy whilst I frantically had a shower, ahhh those newborn days, what a glorious, crazy ole time.
Speaking of sleep my ultimate lifesaver piece of baby equipment was our Snoo. Now I know it's not an essential but now I've had the pleasure of using it with Goldie, if anything ever happened to it or we were to have twins in the future, I would not hesitate to save up for another one, it was a godsend! The Snoo is basically a smart basinet that cleverly rocks your baby whilst they sleep, increasing the speed ever so slightly when your baby stirs. I truly believe the Snoo taught Goldie how to sleep through the night, how to settle herself and how to extend her sleep through cycles. We've never had any sleep related issues aside from a month when she was both teething and had a cold. She has slept solidly from 630pm-6am every night with two 1-2hour naps during the day (at the same time every day) since she was around 7 months old. We didn't plan or choose to get into any sort of routine with sleep, but Goldie found her own routine and has stuck to it like clockwork ever since. For more info on The Snoo, check out this post here.
Another great invention is a baby sling, we've only ever used our Artipoppe slings so I can't vouch for others but it was a real lifesaver for us and still continues to be a lifesaver despite her being really rather heavy right now.
We used the sling regularly as a place for her to contact nap during the day when we had things to be getting on with from time to time. The sling came in SO handy when we were out socialising as it was a failsafe way of getting her to sleep, even in a loud and crowded room. We take it with us to the beach or on walks where the pram isn't as easy to manoeuvre and it's just so easy to use, Goldie loves it and sleeps so well in it and it just makes life that little bit easier.
And finally we found our Doona to be a real godsend during those newborn days and we're still using it now, but granted it will only be for another few months as this gal is growing so fast.
A Doona is a car seat with built in wheels which makes for a seamless transition from the car to the street. It meant I could push my own baby out of the hospital which was a truly beautiful moment for me. We could transfer her from the car to our house without waking her up and also push her around the supermarket with ease after she'd fallen asleep in the car en route. It just makes life so, SO much easier, especially with the ISO fix base, but also without it when we travel in other peoples cars. Goldie has always loved the car so I would be confident saying the Doona makes for a really comfortable ride too.
And there we have my top 5 newborn essentials. Things like sleepsuits-a-plenty, vests-a-plenty and anything zip-up, I would say are a bit of a given for newborn babies, but I wanted to share the pieces that made for a smoother transition into parenthood and that Goldie got on really well with.
I hope you found this post useful and do let me know if you'd like any other baby/motherhood posts as I would love to set to work at writing up a few for you.
Lots of love
x M
This is a perfect read and really helpful, thank you Megan!
Our first baby is due at the beginning of July, so excited to start ticking things off the never ending lists we’ve made! And a Snoo is definitely on there thanks to your rave reviews. ☺️
Just to say it is against the lullaby trust guidelines to allow babies under the age of 12 months to sleep in the dockatot because of SIDS risks. So I really would amend your blog post.
If you Google dockatot lullaby trust you can find what they advise regarding safe sleep.
There are a couple of products mentioned here that are not recommended for safe sleep by The Lullaby Trust (car seat, sleepyhead). The linked document is really helpful for safe sleep guidelines https://www.lullabytrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Lullaby-Trust-Product-Guide-Web.pdf
In Sweden the Sleepyhead-type nests are what everyone use to put their babies to sleep. It’s completely approved there and considered safe.. I myself did co sleeping almost from day one as it felt the most natural and instinctively right thing to do and guidelines on it may be changing quite soon – many experts say it is very safe as well. The only thing I would say is that since a car seat is not great for the spinal development, babies should only be in one 30mins at a time, so I’m wondering if the Doona is so practical after all..
So many great items!
Danielle | thereluctantblogger.co.uk
In those baby carriers you have to take care that they do not have sun on their legs and feet, the midday sun can quickly leave burns on the skin