After having two babies and talking to countless moms, one thing has become clear to me: There are SO many baby-related items you can buy when getting ready to welcome your little one, and it's really hard to know what's necessary and what brands are the best! There are also so many baby essentials guides out there - a simple Google search will give you literally millions of results! So I was hesitant to put yet another baby essentials guide out into the world - and hadn't done so for a long time. But, because of the amazing feedback all of you have given me on my baby formula and children's vitamins posts, and how many questions I've gotten about baby related items, I thought creating a set of guides related to kids and babies would be helpful to all of you!
Here's why this guide is different: I am the most Type A person out there, so in creating my list of essentials, I combed through every single baby products site I could find, to come up with the short list of items that we couldn't live without and were affordable for our budget. This saves you the work of having to go to Lucie's List, Parents.com, What to Expect, The Bump, etc. if you just want a one-stop shop for everything! I am also super practical, so I'm not going to recommend things that are useless. 🙂
I definitely don't want you to end up with items that just collect dust in your home. So, what do you actually need for your new baby? Here are the must have baby products you'll actually use and love! Any items you've heard about that I haven't listed here are ones that were pretty much useless and we ended up donating or giving away.
First Up: TransportationWe went with the UppaBaby line of carseats and strollers. It was a little pricier, but I liked how easy they were to use/latch/unlatch and fold up. They also held up super well - both Layla and Ayan have used this carseat/stroller combination and it still looks like new!
We bought an Uppa Baby Mesa Carseat . I love everything about this carseat! It's super easy to install and secure enough for an infant. Getting the carseat base is a must! In fact, you might want two if you are going to be using multiple cars frequently. The Uppa Baby Carseat base makes errands super quick and convenient just snapping in the carseat each time you are loading the car!
I'm actually going to write a separate post about this that goes more in-depth into sleep training, how to get your baby to sleep through the night by 4 months of age, etc. Because I ended up with two pretty terrible sleepers with Layla and Ayan, and managed to get them sleeping consistently through the night by the time they were 4 months old!
Layla was a terrible sleeper for the first 8 weeks. She literally from 9pm-4am every single day for 8 weeks straight. She had day-night confusion, and did not enjoy sleeping when being held, or sleeping in a car, on a plane, or in the stroller from the moment she was born. Those first 8 weeks were some of the most stressful of my life, because in addition to having a baby that refused to sleep, I was also recovering from a did not sleep pretty traumatic birth experience. The whole thing was totally ridiculous. The husband and I were so tired we started hallucinating imaginary babies in our house! I'm not kidding. We'd wake up at night and start lifting a baby that wasn't there. It was crazy.
So needless to say, these products listed below were lifesavers for us - and are must-have for terrible sleepers (and probably must-haves for good sleepers too!)
This saved our lives. This was literally the only place Layla would sleep: swaddled, put in the swing, with it on. Caveat here: the AAP doesn't recommend putting babies to sleep in swings. However, Fisher-Price Cradle & Swing Dr. Karp has no problem with it as long as you keep your baby reclined/flat, buckled in, and your pediatrician is aware of it. Here's a video where he explains how to use swings for safe sleep. We told our pediatrician about it, she approved the swing for Layla's sleep, and once we started using it we went from short stretches at night, to Layla sleeping for 10 hours at night without waking up (at around 8/9 weeks old)! We also used it successfully for naps. I think it taught her how to sleep through the night at a young age because the rocking motion of the swing would put her back to sleep if she woke up. (Another reason we used the swing, it's MUCH cheaper than the Snoo, which performs a similar function). I don't know what we would have done without this amazing device. Even if your baby is a good sleeper, it's a great place to put them if you need some hands free time! The rocking motion + music + mobile in the swing are all helpful in keeping your baby entertained and relaxed (whether they are awake or asleep!).
We used the . Much more lightweight, compact and easier to assemble than a pack n play, and I thought it was easier to break down and put up than the Baby Bjorn Travel Crib Lotus also. It served all of the same functions that a pack n play would (e.g. a play yard if Layla or Ayan was awake but needed to be in an enclosed space so I could get some stuff done). We got a ton of mileage out of this because Layla would use it as a toddler bed when we traveled until she was 3, and Ayan still uses it when we travel! It's super high quality - another product that still looks like new after over 4 years of frequent use.
As a new mom, you are constantly worrying about what is happening in your new baby's room when the door is closed! Are they sleeping? Have they rolled over to their stomach? They are whimpering, do I need to rush in there? A video monitor puts new moms at peace and is a must-have baby product! We used this video monitor from - which, interestingly enough, doesn't have great reviews on Amazon but has worked amazingly well for us. It's been super reliable - we haven't had any issues with it in 4 years! We still use it for Ayan now. If we were buying a new monitor today, I'd probably go with this one from Infant Optics - great Amazon reviews, same functionality as the Motorola one. A video monitor is also perfect for sleep training and when kids begin standing/sitting in their crib while falling asleep.
Related to sleep: Swaddling!
The Aden + Anais Swaddles. Totally useless as a swaddle, but great as a baby blanket. So even though we didn't use these for a swaddle we loved putting them on both kids when they were in the carseat or stroller, to block the sun in the car, or even as a makeshift nursing cover when we were out.
. These just ended up collecting dust at the bottom of both kids' dressers. Sometimes we'd use them as a blanket when we were out and about if it was a particularly cold day, but we couldn't really find a good use for these. I'd suggest you buy the The HALO Sleep Sacks Miracle Blanket first! There are plenty of other swaddles out there (zip a dee zip, swaddle me, summer infant, ergo baby, etc.) - the Miracle Blanket still wins 🙂
When it comes to must-have baby products you have to include a baby carrier! They're so multi-functional and we used them for both kids. There are TONS of baby carriers out there, and some of the trendiest ones (e.g. the Boba, the Ergo, etc.) I think are either unnecessary for the price or unnecessary for how complicated they can be to use. We used two carriers for both kids, and both were amazing: 1) The - it's like a wrap but all the work is done for you. It keeps baby super snug and close to you while being really comfy to wear. The downside is that you need two sizes for dad/mom because it's not one size fits all, so there was no way the husband could fit into the XS K'Tan for me! 2) Infantino Flip 4 in 1 Carrier - this is basically like the Ergo360 or LilleBaby but SO CHEAP, comfortable and super functional! Now don't get me wrong, the Ergo360 or LilleBaby are both great carriers and people love them, but the K'Tan and Infantino were so much cheaper and equally functional, I'd recommend them first. For a carrier that doubles as a nursing tank when baby is 0-15 pounds, the Lalabu is a favorite of moms I know.
You will spend a lot of time changing diapers, so you want products that you can trust! We used , . We liked Pampers the best because we literally never had leaks or diaper rashes with these diapers. For nighttime, we used Pampers Sensitive Wipes and Pampers Pure Wipes, Pampers Swaddlers Diapers Pampers Overnight Diapers which was great because we only had to change diapers at night if they were poopy - and these diapers helped with sleep training (stay tuned for my post on that!)
The few times either kid got diaper rash, we used , or this other Diaper Rash Cream . We used as an "everyday" butt cream. Mainly to prevent diaper rash, which worked well!
For diaper pails, my main tip is: don't get the diaper genie. It's a waste and is a pain to use - especially since you can't use regular trash bags for it (you have to buy special diaper genie bags - an added expense!) Instead, we liked the Ubbi Diaper Pail . It is super easy to use, it takes regular trash bags, and it doesn't smell! After 4 years, it's still going strong and hasn't broken once!
If you have a regular changing pad, these from Munchkin were amazing. We put this on top of our changing table pad's cloth cover - which was great because every time we had an accident, we just replaced these instead of having to wash the entire changing pad cover. We had 10 of them in rotation! BUT - even better than a regular changing pad is the waterproof changing pad liners Keekaroo. Super portable, easy to clean, fits on top of any counter top or dresser top, lightweight and sturdy. It's great!
Here's my disclaimer: your baby doesn't really need toys. You'll get a lot of toys as gifts, and the best gifts we got were board books which both kids still love to read and stuffed animals which are great for imaginary play. Here are a few other things we had for Layla and Ayan that entertained her for the first year of their lives 🙂
Activity Mat: We liked this Fisher Price activity mat and got a ton of mileage out of it until Layla and Ayan were about 8 months old. And even after that, both kids still liked playing with the toys from the mat!
Sophie the giraffe: Was great for chewing and teething.
Other Must-Have Baby Products
As far as pacifiers, we loved the Soothies Pacifiers , They were the only ones Layla would use! I know some babies like the Nuk Pacifiers too - but Layla never took to those. Ayan didn't like any pacifiers so for him, nothing was really needed!
My tip would be to buy one of each first, and then figure out which one your baby likes before buying more of a particular brand.Nails: Your baby's nails will grow fast! You will need some good baby nail clippers! We loved the Safety 1st Sleepy Baby Nail Clipper and still use it for both kids. You can also your baby's nails using this nail file if you're scared of cutting their tiny nails at first!
Blankets: The Aden + Anais blankets did not work for us to swaddle, but we still loved them! There cotton blankets are the best, and as mentioned earlier, I really used the Aden + Anais Swaddles as blankets when we needed one! These are the perfect blankets for warmer temperatures.
There you have it! Our Must-Have Baby Products you will Actually Use and Love! What would you add to the list?
