After bringing William home from the hospital, I realized that there is actually very little that one "needs" to take care of a newborn baby. Diapers, wipes, boobs (or formula and bottles, if that's what floats your boat), and a few blankets. That's pretty much it. However, there are a few things that I'd rather not be without when it comes to taking care of the small one. In no particular order....
The Lightly Padded Maya Wrap
I got this to use with Noah when he was about 18 months old because he only wanted to be carried on my hip, but our regular carrier didn't work that way. So, the ring sling it was. We only used it occasionally since by the time we got it, he had been walking for quite awhile, and my philosophy is, if he can walk, let him. Since having William, this has been a lifesaver. I'm able to carry Will around and still play Guitar Hero or whatever with Noah.
We had the typical type of carrier that you see most people using with Noah when he was teeny tiny, but I have problems with my shoulders, and it hurt to use it for very long even though most people thought it was comfortable, according to the reviews. This, I can use for several hours without it bothering me. I think it's the way that the shoulder doesn't pull straight down on my shoulder but rather down and in. If you do get one though, make sure you get the padded shoulder.
Wipe Warmer
I'm pretty sure most wipe warmers are created equal, so I didn't specify which one. Noah has the Wal-Mart special, and William has the Babies R Us special. I don't really have much to say about this except for that William is noticeably more comfortable with diaper changes with it than without it. I wasn't sure it made that much of a difference until I used a cold wipe on him and he about jumped off the changing table. That's pretty impressive since he can barely hold his head up. So, this is more to make Baby a little happier while I wipe his little bum.
Halo Swaddle Sleepsack
I love, love, love this. We didn't discover these until after Noah would take himself out of his swaddle, so he just used the regular ones which are also amazing. With newborns however, the swaddle sleepsack is AMAZING. Not all swaddlers are created equal. If I was truly going to be cheap, I'd just use a blanket, (and we did, with Noah) but this is just so much easier for us to use, (especially for Daddy,) and so much harder for Baby to get out of. We have a few of the Kiddopotumus ones, and we use those when this one is dirty, but the ama-za-zing part about the Halo one is that you can change Baby's diaper in the middle of the night without unswaddling. Much more convenient. I think it's also a little easier to get a good tight swaddle. There are fleece ones for colder nights, and cotton ones for warmer nights. I think I'm in love with both.
Sleepers
People always told me "you can never have too many onesies." I disagree. I think you can never have enough sleepers. Onesies are fine, I guess, I just don't feel like it keeps baby warm, and if it's even slightly cool, you have to put pants or something on, which is just more of a hassle when you're trying to change one of those fifty billion diapers during the day (and night). There's rarely a day that William only wears one sleeper, and I have to do his laundry every other day just to keep up with the sleeper demand and we have probably 8-10 of them. I plan on going to a consignment store or something to pick up a few more at some point.
Breast Pump
For me, this might actually fit better into the "necessities" category, but I think I may be an exception. I'll explain later. If you are one of those who plans on breastfeeding, a pump is something that's very good to have. It's nice to express some milk if you ever want to be away from your baby for a couple hours, but for some, like me, it's nice to have even if you spend every waking minute with your baby. If nothing else, to help relieve pain that first week or so after your milk comes in (it usually comes it about 3 days after Baby is born.) I don't know about most people, but for me, that's a very painful week or so. I have to take Tylenol to get just a little bit of relief, and that doesn't really help all that much. So, I would use the pump to just pump enough to take some of the pressure away. (You don't want to pump too much because then your body thinks that a baby is actually drinking it, and tries to keep up with the demand.) SOME people make enough milk to feed quadruplets even after that first week. I'm not even exaggerating. The pediatrician is always amazed when he asks how much I'm able to pump after feeding William. I feel like a circus freak. William's only 2 weeks old, and I've already got 200 ounces frozen in the freezer. Like I said, circus freak.
The one pictured above is the one I use. It's the cheapest well-reviewed pump out there. It's the Lanisoh manual pump. It's easy to use, and if you use it as much as I do, you'll have forearms like Popeye.
....and now the husband is home, so I'm going to go pay attention to him now. I may end up doing a part 2, but for now, these are the things that came to mind as my "favorite things."
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