New Parent Must-Haves That Might Surprise You
About three and half years ago, I became a parent for the first time when my daughter Brooklyn was born. I am typically a prepared person, but of course we all know that an adventure like parenthood is not something one can prepare for fully.
We had all of the obvious items well in advance - crib, carseat, blankets.
Still, I was surprised that so many of the items that ended up becoming must-haves in our family were things I did not even know about as a pregnant woman. I learned about them from moms groups, friends, and by googling various problems that needed solving. It would have been great to know about them before our baby arrived, so I'm sharing them today in hopes of helping other new parents have a slightly smoother first few years with their kids.
Swaddle Blankets. I knew about swaddling children, and that it could be valuable, from watching The Happiest Baby on the Block (watch the video - the book is a much more time-intensive version of the same basic information). What I did not know is that there are easy-to-use velcro blankets that are much simpler and more secure to use than traditional swaddling. If I could recommend one thing to new parents, this would be it.
Nursing Tank. I am not sure how I missed out on knowing about these when pregnant, because they became my daily wardrobe during maternity leave and on the weekends during the years I was nursing. They are a good base layer - throw a cardigan or full sweater over them to leave the house, and comfy enough to spend the day inside and to sleep in. With an easy clip like a nursing bra, they make it much simpler to start nursing quickly. By the time my son weaned, I think I owned five of these.
Car Seat Backpack. I learned about this in a moms group and ordered it during the meeting from my phone while nursing. We were about to head out on our first trip with our new baby, and I knew it would be helpful. More than twenty trips later, it has been more than worth it. It helps get a carseat out of your hands while traveling and protects the car seat if you check it as luggage.
Diaper Cream Spreader. My oldest was already two years old when I discovered this thing, and I wish we had known about it much sooner. It helps avoid getting your hands covered in diaper cream. We stick it to the top of our tub of diaper cream and use a wipe to clean it after using it. I adore this thing.
Diaper Doublers. Once my son started sleeping through the night, he would often wake up soaked, having peed through his diaper. I suspected it was causing him to wake up sooner than he might have otherwise. As you can imagine, getting more sleep for baby (and us) became a problem we were motivated to solve. We tried sizing up his diaper, but that did not fully solve the problem. These "diaper doublers" were recommended by a colleague, and we still use them every night for him.
Snuza Baby Breathing Monitor. As a first-time mom, I was very concerned about SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). It is natural to worry about your sleeping baby - are they breathing OK? You can intellectually know that they are probably fine, but that does not keep you from spending precious energy concerned about the risks. It can seriously impact a parents' sleep and well-being. We researched a few sleep monitors - they sound an alarm if baby stops breathing - and decided to get the Snuza. It was worth it - I felt much more relaxed once we had that as part of our bedtime routine. Once she was an older baby, we stopped using it, and then were able to sell it for about half of its cost on eBay to another family.
Infant Probiotic Drops. It was only a couple of the early months that my children seemed to struggle with gas pains when they were newborns, but it was painful to see them crying and clearly uncomfortable. These probiotics made a big difference for both of them during that period.
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