Newborn Essentials

Newborn Essentials

These items are essential items for keeping you sane, and for helping your newborn adjust to the new world. Most of these are to help your baby sleep, and to help you get through the day.

Both you and your baby are experiencing change, so sometimes just knowing you are doing something will make you feel better about your situation haha … Here are some items I would recommend any Mum to get before their child is born:

1. Baby Shusher (or similar white noise device)
White noise can help your baby go to sleep, and it also drowns out any background noises if you’re worried about waking the child up. Our old house used to creak every second step I took, but knowing the white noise was playing kept me sane.

2. A Baby Sleeping Bag
If your baby is a wriggly wee thing, get a sleeping bag. That way no matter where they go in the cot, they’ll be warm.

3. A Decent Baby Wrap
Sometimes babies like to be swaddled, when I had a newborn, I tried several different wraps and my favourite was the Miracle Wrap from the Sleep Store. I would highly recommend checking out their range.

4. Rite Aid Breastfeeding Discs
If you are planning on trying to breastfeed, and you didn’t know – breastfeeding can hurt like a b***h In fact, I would say at least 80% of women struggle. These breastfeeding discs are a lifesaver!

5. A Breast Pump
If you are determined to breastfeed, and are capable of it, having a breastpump is kind of a lifesaver in its own right. It can give you a supply of milk so that your partner can feed the baby and you can sleep. I had an electric Medela Swing breastpump, but ultimately if it’s electric or not is up to you.

6. A Bottle
Be realistic, sometimes breastfeeding doesn’t work out. It doesn’t mean you are a failure!!! Being prepared makes you smart, not stupid. If you want to get a baby bottle, then I suggest checking out the range at the Baby Factory. With my first born, I used the Medela bottles with the Medela Calma teat.

7. A comforter, or a Sleepytot
I was very much against any kind of sleeping aid before my child was born, but when you have a screaming newborn you’ll do anything. It can’t hurt to have it on hand! Both of my kids had comforters when they were younger, and both had Sleepytots. Great way to introduce the dummy too, and make sure it stays with them (if that’s what you want).

8. Paul and Stella’s Self Heating Bottle
Now this one is a bit of a luxury, but I can guarantee if I knew about it before I had my daughter, I would have gotten one. They are perfect for outings or those 2am feeds where you’re a zombie or when it’s Dad’s turn to do a feed. Push a button and the bottle warms to the desired temperature. Formula or breastmilk, this bottle is amazing.

9. Good ol’ fashioned flat nappies
These flat nappies are SO amazing. You can use them for everything – nappies, wiping up spills, putting them over your shoulder (if you have a spilly baby), as a mat (when changing your baby). Honestly, the sky is the limit with these!

10. Essential items for at home:

• Water bottle
• Loose fitting pants / yoga pants / sweat pants (whatever you call them, get them)
• Dressing Gown
• Breastfeeding pillow, or any kind of pillow
• Tissues
• Breastpads (the ones that soak up the milk)
• Netflix / Laptop / DVDs

The first few months of becoming a mother are the hardest. To read more about it, please visit my blog: Being a Mum ….

——————–

Here are some helpful links to sites that are amazing for new parents. Most of these places I have bought from or used myself, and I can highly recommend them:

The Sleep Store – great for blankets, wraps, and other sleeping must-haves. Also they have an amazing array of Sleep articles. Very helpful when you’re not sure why your baby is waking 🙂

Tether my Treasure – Kellie is a certified Car Seat Technician and this is a great page to find out what is recommended for your babies / children in terms of car seat safety.

Plunket – The good ol’ Plunket website has quite a bit of useful information for parents. Plunket’s phone number is 0800 933 922.

Healthline – Always really helpful to keep this page bookmarked. Especially their phone number, which is 0800 611 116.

The Baby Factory – this is a great all-round page for everything you could possibly think of.

Also check out my Baby Shower Gift Ideas page – a lot of links and ideas are there too 🙂

Is there anything I’ve missed? What did you find amazingly helpful during those newborn days?

———————