Thinking back on the last year, it is mind boggling how many things we have acquired for Charlotte. I didn’t even know what most of these things were before having a baby! I am sharing below our absolute favorite things and I hope this will be helpful to all of you new Mamas or pregnant Mamas that are building your registry!
A few tips for new moms: every baby is different and may not like some of the products that you buy. The GOOD news is, there is a whole world out there you may not know exists (I didn’t!). It’s called Facebook! People sell baby stuff on it ALL the time and you can get most of your money back selling baby products that didn’t work for you! Check to see if your city or neighborhood has a Facebook group you can join.
I also want to add that I try to be a minimalist. I only have one type of cloth bib, burp cloth, silicone bib, sippy cup, bottle, etc. listed because I truly only use one type. I don’t like having a hodgepodge of things and got rid of or sold all the things that didn’t work well for us. Sometimes practicality had to outweigh things that were “cute”!
Sleep
The combination of all these items is how we got Charlotte to sleep through the night very early. I follow Mom’s on Call pretty closely and highly recommend reading that book! Having a routine is key and we do the exact same thing every night. She takes a bath, gets pajamas/sleepsack on, has a bottle and we read Goodnight Moon! We use a sound machine, a swaddle sleep sack when she was little and now the Kyte sleep sack, she slept in the Dockatot from day one and now sleeps in the big Dockatot in her crib. I have loved the Infant Optics monitor, no complaints! I prefer it over monitors that you use on your phone. I know sleep is the hardest thing about being a new parent, so if you have any questions please ask away!
Charlotte slept every night for the first 7ish months with the Owlet sock monitor on and then we stopped using it. We probably should’ve kept it on longer but she started standing up in her crib and it just wasn’t worth the hassle! A bunch of you have asked if it’s worth it and if there are false alarms. We have had a false alarm one or two times because it wasn’t put on properly and got loose/fell off. Other than that it has been great and gave me SO much peace of mind. Charlotte got RSV when she was 4 months old and our Doctor had given us all of these instructions for if she stopped breathing. Talk about scary… I was so thankful we had it then so I could actually get some sleep without worrying if she was breathing all night. All that said, I 100% think it is worth it!
Feeding
I could write a whole blog post on this, but will try to keep it short. We used comotomo bottles and never had trouble with going back and forth from bottle to breastfeeding. If you are pumping, I highly recommend using Kiind bags, you can pump directly into the bags and it helps cut back on all of the parts you have to sterilize. The Haakaa is an absolute must have for breastfeeding, it catches your let down that would be wasted from the other side while feeding. I’m also obsessed with our Stokke high chair. It is SO easy to clean and I love that it grows with your child and can be used for years to come. The velcro on these bibs cannot be beat, when your baby is screaming for food or fighting you to go into the high chair, the last the you want to do is have to deal with buttoning a bib! We exclusively use Munchkin cups for water. Since turning one, we use ThinkBaby sippy cups for milk.
Diapering/Hygiene
We have used Pampers Pure diapers and wipes from the start. They fit great and Charlotte has never had a diaper rash. I love the Munchkin diaper pail, I ordered the Ubbi first and was not a fan. I didn’t like how low to the ground it was and that it didn’t have a foot pedal. This bath tub was our favorite and we use all Noodle & Boo products. They truly smell heavenly!
Travel
The carseat/stroller debate is one of the hardest decisions and totally depends on what your lifestyle is! We have absolutely LOVED all of our Nuna products. Charlotte sleeps so well in the car in both the infant carseat and her “big girl” carseat! We use the Nuna Tavo stroller for travel, it has a one hand fold which is super handy and the Nuna carseat clicks right in. This could definitely work as your main stroller, it is an awesome stroller it just doesn’t have the option to hold two kids once you have your second!
Our main stroller is the Bugaboo Donkey and to be honest I worried I picked the wrong stroller at first because it looks so large. It’s actually the same size as the Uppababy Vista but appears a lot bigger. The Uppababy Vista is SO popular but I’m personally not a fan of the tandem style when you have two kids. I have heard from so many friends they don’t love it with two and that it is really hard to steer/navigate. I prefer the side by side style of the Bugaboo Donkey and now that I am having two babies so close in age, I am super glad I have it. It maneuvers like a dream and I will report back on how I like it once I have two babies!
Toys
I’m linking our top most used toys. The piano was by far the best toy I bought and still gets played with even today! The stand up toy was great for the 6m-12m stage when I needed to shower, blow dry my hair, trap her so I could cook dinner, etc!!! 🙂 Also this radio toy is a great one to keep in the diaper bag, one of our most used toys for sure.
Charlotte absolutely loves dolls and stuffed animals. She loves to carry around as many as she can at one time! I linked 3 dolls because she plays with one a ton, uses this one that plays lullabies as a lovey and it stays in her crib, and this one is for the bath and stays in the bath. For stuffed animals she really only has the Jellycat brand. As she has been learning animal sounds, she loves to grab the animal that goes with the sound, which is pretty darn cute! Jellycat makes coordinating books that go with each animal. Charlotte still loves them and they make great gifts too!
Books
Charlotte gets SO excited to read books. Every morning when I pick her up from her crib, the first thing she does is point at her bookshelf! She especially loves books with animals/animal noises and lift the flap books!
I hope this has been helpful for you all!!! If you have any questions about a specific item or if I forgot something you are wondering about, please feel free to email me or leave a comment below.
xo,
Laura
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