Baby essentials - the first few months

When I was pregnant, I did a ton of research on baby gear.  I wanted to buy the best items that we could, but without spending a lot, and definitely not "overbuy" as people often do when preparing for the arrival of their first kiddo.  Well, that didn't exactly work out as planned...  I wanted one stroller that "did everything" and we somehow ended up with four...  The cloth diapers that I originally bought didn't work out for us and I had to buy a whole new system.  The Moby wrap ended up being a pain to put on so I bought a different wrap style carrier.  And the list goes on.  So here are the things that I did find the most useful.  The starred items are my very favorites!

★ JJ Cole Agility Wrap - I have previously wrote about this wrap on the blog, but I love it so much that it's worth another mention.  Ten times easier to put on than the moby wrap, much more compact and lightweight, but just as useful.  Perfect for running errands or anytime you want to hold baby but remain hands free to get a few things done.  The only downside is that it comes in various sizes for the wearer so it's not one size fits all, meaning I am pretty much the only one who is able to use it.  Erik uses my homemade baby wrap when he wants to wear Arlo.  Also, I feel that the product is a little expensive for what it is.  It is basically very expensive t-shirt material.  Then again, so is the Moby...

Whale bathtub - This tub helped calm the anxiety I had about the first few baths we had to give Arlo as a slippery little newborn, as it was easy to use over the kitchen sink in the early days and works equally well sitting in the big bathtub now that he is a little older.  The insert that keeps him from sliding down is removable so when he is able to sit up well on his own for the bath, we can remove it and he can still use the tub.  I didn't originally want a baby bathtub ("just another big piece of plastic" was what I had originally thought) but this really ended up being quite useful.

★ Grovia Magic Stick - I have a full cloth diapering review post in the works, but this product is absolutely on my must-have baby list.  Don't ask questions.  Just buy this.  It's awesome.

A few other items worth mentioning in the diaper department, are the disposables we use at night.  Ever since I discovered Nature Babycare I have not bought any other brand of disposables.  They are the most natural diapers I could find and they fit Arlo really well.  The wipes we used when we were still doing disposables full time are Water Wipes - and I put this item on the must-have list.  These wipes have nothing but water and a tiny percentage of grapefruit seed extract to prevent mold and stuff from growing on them.  They are awesome because they contain ZERO chemicals and can be used anywhere on the body.  Love these!  While we are now using cloth diapers and wipes (except one disposable at night), these products are still worth mentioning because they were so useful early on when poor Arlo seemed to be super sensitive to any little thing that touched his rear end!

★ Rock n' Play - Arlo has gotten so much use out of this little cradle!  It folds in half with the push of a button so it is quite portable and easy to move around the house.  We kept it primarily in our bedroom, as that is where he would nap most often in the early days.  We also used it at night to keep him at an incline when he was sick, as well as when he was dealing with reflux.  When we took our beach trip a few weeks ago, we brought it with us and he slept the night in it.  At almost five months, he doesn't spend much time in the rock n' play anymore, but this was still one of our favorite items from the very beginning.

muslin swaddle blankets - We have used these from the beginning, but are finding them especially useful now that the weather has warmed up.  I hardly ever used them for swaddling, mostly just as a light cover, or now a sunshade over the stroller during walks.  I never worry about letting him sleep with these blankets because they are so light and airy.  I bought several secondhand from yard sales and consignment shops for around $1 each.  The price of these things new is the only con I can list.  Find these used if you can!  The very best blankets we have were actually made by Arlo's Grandmas.  Erik's Mom made us some really great flannel receiving blankets, and when my Mom saw them she loved them so much she wanted to sew us a couple more.  I don't have a picture of those handy and I can't link to them online, so you will just have to find yourself a Grammie to make you one  ;)

In the feeding department, there are several items we have bought and really liked.  I feel like I am washing bottles and pump parts around the clock and for this the boon grass drying rack has been a great item to have on hand, and much cuter on the counter top than traditional drying racks.  We also have the twig to hold the nipples and small pump parts.  If you are doing any bottle feeding or pumping, you will need this or something like it!  Our favorite bottles are the 4 oz glass bottles by Evenflo.  We have been using Dr. Browns Premie nipples as recommended by the lactation consultants early on - good for breastfed babies of any age since the flow is so slow.  Only recently did we switch to the level 1 nipples to increase the feeding pace a bit.


And finally, I will mention all those strollers we ended up with...  I picked up a chicco liteway in like-new condition at a yard sale when I was pregnant.  I got an amazing deal on it, and we have used it a few times.  I know it will be great when he is a little bigger, but right now we are primarily using his car seat and his snap-n-go.  Since he has an infant car seat that easily pops in and out of the car, it is easy to just set it in his snap-n-go so if he is sleeping we don't need to wake him up to put him in a separate stroller.  I know they make entire car seat and stroller systems that go together, but those strollers always seemed to big and clunky to me.  This little stroller frame is super lightweight and easy to throw in the back of our cars.  Unfortunately both of these strollers are not practical for the long walks that we take everyday with Lucy.  Enter the jogging stroller.  After much research we decided to buy the Baby Jogger Summit X3. We absolutely love it.  I can't say that it is great for toting around town, but for neighborhood walks I can't imagine a better ride for Arlo!  I wish there was a single stroller system in existence that worked for all of our needs - getting around town, walking the neighborhood, super portable, etc. but so far I haven't figured out what that might be.  Always taking suggestions if you have them!


I hope that you found this list useful if you are furiously researching baby stuff as I did while pregnant, or if you are just keeping these things in mind for down the road.  Next up - little Arlo is almost five months old and some big changes have happened this month.  Stay tuned for the update!