My Top Baby Picks
Glider & DIaper Changer
A lot of people have opinions on gliders and changing tables and not worth the money, but I definitely would recommend both! We didn’t have a diaper changer with Emma and it was SO worth it when we got one for Ellie. I actually got a second glider when Ellie was born – one for her room and one for mine. I had a rocking chair and glider for Emma and ultimately got rid of the rocking chair because it moves around too much when you rock in it!
Co-Sleeping
I know there’s a lot about this, so no idea what you want to do here, but for me… we had Emma in a rock and play in our room for the first 3-4 months, but they are have been recalled. Either way, we had this for Ellie: https://www.amazon.com/Arms-Reach-Concepts-Bedside-Bassinet/dp/B01ITQOV0Q/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_75_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=R7SF99K03GZ4QGPRCCSX and I LOVED it. I wish I’d had it with Emma… Ellie was in it until I woke up in the middle of the night and saw her standing in it about to jump out on to me! haha… Then, I moved her to my bed and she’s been there pretty much ever since! I know.. people say it’s awful. I had her in the crib for a bit but it was harder than just bringing her with me cause she climbs out. So we’re waiting on the rails to come in to convert her to a full size bed. I just couldn’t be away from them and wanted them close to me and all the research on SIDS made me opt to keep them in my room for a while.
Diapering
I loved the Honest diapers. You can sign up on their website with an email and don’t order anything.. THey’ll send you a 40% off of your first bundle… We had all of our family do this and got like a year of diapers and wipes for 6 months. If you’re going cloth, I don’t have any recommendations. We did get a diaper genie and still use it. Highly recommend getting two if you have upstairs and downstairs to make life easier.
I also loved these to put on top of the changing mat/pad. Made clean up much easier! https://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Waterproof-Changing-Liners-Count/dp/B009UPUJIY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3BW5NYRQ3YBCW&keywords=changing+pad+liners&qid=1561479487&s=baby-products&sprefix=changing+bad+%2Cbaby-products%2C168&sr=1-3
We have always used Burts Bees Diaper cream but have had very few issues with rashes. Not sure if it’s the kids, the Honest diapers or what… But have been lucky.
I got a wipe warmer as a gift and never really did use that. If you want mine, you can have it though…
Crib
My sister in law told me about Baby Appleseed. They have some sort of green certification, but aren’t organic so they don’t cost a total fortune, but they are supposedly healthier. Do some homework, but I love our cribs.. We opted for the cribs that convert to full size beds for the future. You can see their cribs at Buy Buy Baby. And if you get their coupons, they honor Bed Bath and Beyond and you can save 20%. I have been very happy with the furniture. Super sturdy.
Bottles/Feeding/Nursing
Seems everything is a “thing” with babies. To make life easier, I went with Joovy Boob glass bottles with a sleeve and then there’s no risk of any sort with all the chemicals in plastic. I’m crazy though.. and millions use plastic bottles with no problems. (This is similar to the set I got for Ellie: https://www.amazon.com/Joovy-Boob-Diamond-Gift-Set/dp/B07MSYCHT2/ref=sr_1_25?crid=28I7Z18IC1PL4&keywords=joovy+boop+bottle&qid=1561478685&s=baby-products&sprefix=joovy+boob+bo%2Cbaby-products%2C174&sr=1-25) I DID use the plastic bottles that I pumped into, however, a bit. If you decide you want these, I bought a good set and you could have them, just get new nipples… If you’re pumping, hands down the Spectra S1 (I believe it’s the one with a cordless option). It takes a minute to get used to all the pieces but was WAY better then Medela and the cordless option was a gamechanger. I think it costs $100 outside of insurance, but insurance covers the rest of it. They send new parts/supplies every few weeks though so I figure the $100 balanced out. I think I got them through aeroflow. They do all the work for you and send it to you when the delivery is close. I had nursing cover ups, but both of my kids HATED to be covered so I gave up. I would just go to the car or even a bathroom stall to nurse because they refused… One tip.. if you are nursing… keep him latched as much as he will in the hospital and start pumping the minute you got home. I didn’t with Emma and struggled the whole year. With Ellie, I got about a week supply built up pretty fast. It helped when my period came back and supply dropped. The downfall is that she developed an allergy to dairy for a bit so I couldn’t use some of it til much later!
And start drinking Mother’s Milk tea as soon as you get home!
It’ll be a little bit before you need a high chair but it’s not a bad registry item. My M-I-L gave it to us as a Christmas present for Emma’s first Christmas and we just retired it a few months ago. https://www.amazon.com/Ingenuity-Trio-High-Chair-Ridgedale/dp/B019D3SVQO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=ingenuity+high+chair&qid=1561480186&s=baby-products&sr=1-3 I don’t know what they make the fabric out of, but EVERYTHING washes out of it. It also converts to more of a booster kind of like the size in restaurants when you want to move to the table but aren’t ready for a booster seat.
Bathing
I loved this bathtub. I’d give you ours but it’s a little tired… https://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-4-Sling-Seat-Tub/dp/B00F2MQ0EQ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=baby+bathtub&qid=1561479788&s=baby-products&sr=1-4 They have both always LOVED the ater sprinkler thing and it’s nice because it’s portable. We bathed Emma on the island in the kitchen for months. With Ellie, we could do that or bring her in the bathroom and bath her on the fllor while Emma was in the tub.
We have always used the Honest wash for them since the beginning
I also got lots of the baby washcloths. You can get like a dozen for $5 at Homegoods!!!
Monitor
Were on our second. The first was a Motorola and lasted a good while, but I don’t think we could add a second camera? I don’t recall the issue… Order early and test in your house. Some work better. DO NOT GET WIFI that connects to your Internet. Google the scary stories about it… Just get the wireless that work in the house. The one we have now is https://www.amazon.com/Infant-Optics-DXR-8-Monitor-Interchangeable/dp/B00ECHYTBI/ref=sxts_b2b_ccp_search_reorder?keywords=baby+monitor&pd_rd_i=B00ECHYTBI&pd_rd_r=d2e455b6-0d2c-40c3-80c6-c34bc329d578&pd_rd_w=6k6Rx&pd_rd_wg=soeJ9&pf_rd_p=a7bfb983-e674-4caa-917b-596cc469ad1f&pf_rd_r=37V8P0BP5YY0NQVENASJ&qid=1561479540&s=baby-products. I like it fine. The battery life was great in the beginning, but dead now. We even bought a second battery and it has to be plugged in, but it’s not that big of a deal. You can add additional cameras when you have more kiddos and it goes between them.
Stroller
I LOVE our Citi Mini GT stroller STILL https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Jogger-2016-Single-Stroller/dp/B019W8W8P0/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2QJZD8KWR2GFJ&keywords=city%2Bmini%2Bgt&qid=1561478496&s=baby-products&sprefix=city%2Bmini%2Cbaby-products%2C170&sr=1-3&th=1. It’s light weight, easy to put up and open up. It’s good for light terrain (like walking Lady Bird Lake downtown, on streets, etc.). If you’re doing hard core running, then I’m probably not the right one to ask!
Carseat
We used the Chicco Keyfit 30 infant seat for both. (https://www.amazon.com/Chicco-KeyFit-Infant-Seat-Orion/dp/B071L1NG6N/ref=sr_1_3?crid=7S3SLIEYSKFC&keywords=chicco%2Bkeyfit%2B30%2Binfant%2Bcar%2Bseat&qid=1561478730&s=baby-products&sprefix=chicco%2Bkeyf%2Cbaby-products%2C177&sr=1-3&th=1) I’d give it to you, but I think they have an expiration on them. However, I DO have the bases for the cars if you end up going with that one. One comes with, but it’s nice to have a second becacuse you can just move the carseat between cars and the bases are installed. You can review it online, but I loved how easy it was to get in and out and install.
We also have the attachment that makes it so you can just put the carseat on top of the stroller if you go with that combo.
Carrier
I had the Baby Bjorn wiht Emma and then moved to the Ergo baby 360 (I think) when she was bigger and I was more pregnant. Emma would STILL be happy in the carrier if she could. Ellie doesn’t like to be restrained! I never did well witht he wraps of any sort. I couldn’t figure them out. But… I have the Baby K’tan, Ergo Baby and Baby Bjorn if you want to try them out before you pick one out (if you’re going to baby wear). Emma wouldn’t ever let me be far away so it was the only way I could get anything done.
Misc.
– Swaddles. I probably had close to 20… I used them for EVERYTHING.. Swaddling, light blankets, sitting at the park, burp cloths, etc. I personally don’t think you can have too many. Now that they’re older and love baby dolls, they use them as blankets for their babies.
– Burp cloths/bibs – Emma never spit up. Ellie spit up a LOT. So I used them a good bith with Ellie, never with Emma. For bibs, when they get older, I like the plastic ones with a pocket to catch stuff. Emma was good with them for a long time. Ellie refused bibs entirely forever!!!
– Love this… https://www.amazon.com/Ingenuity-Baby-Base-2-Seat/dp/B07N1GCBLD/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=infantino+high+chair&qid=1561478987&s=baby-products&sr=1-5. I wanted a Bumbo, but Target was out of stock so I got this. I’ve since bought one for my mother in law’s house and a second one for here (more of a booster). You can sit them on the counter with you once they can sit up while you prep meals, do dishes, etc. as well as when they learn to eat. Now that they’ve outgrown the high chair, we have these on the regular chairs. Emma technically doesn’t need it anynore, but has been in a phase where she wants to stand on the chair so we keep it close by and lock her in if she won’t sit down.
– Swing – I could take or leave it. Neither of my kids loved them. Emma WOULD sleep in it though and she was really hard to get to sleep without me holding her! But as soon as the music went off, she’d wake up so we had to keep hitting the button!
– Playmats – I have a couple I can give you. I do like them to give them some independence and provide some stimulation
– Books… Just an idea for your shower. I had everyone sign a book and write a message instead of a card and that’s how we started their libraries. I did the same for Ellie since we already had everything we could ever need… So just asked for books for her.
– Boppy pillow… I hate that they’ve cornered the market on this, but they really are the best. I had another version too that was kind of useless.. Spring for the boppy pillow 🙂
– You won’t need sunscreen at first, but we use ThinkBaby. It’s mineral sunscreen and seems to be one of the safer ones for them.
– Dreft laundry detergent. Smells like baby. I STILL use this sometimes on loads of just kid clothes.
– Forehead thermometer (so many out there. I’d just do some homework)
– Rectal thermometer (If you’re ever worried about temperature, they have you do this. Sometimes the forehead can be a couple degrees hotter).
– Oh… Amazon has some new mom’s club or something. I dont know it requires prime or not… But it was well worth it!
Apps
– Timeshel – This lets you choose your favorite 15 or 30 photos a month and then mails the prints. Quality is great and I found them a month after Emma was born. They let me go back and create that month so I’ve been sending these to us and the moms since Emma was born.
– Ink – This makes thank you notes SO much easier. Snap a photo of the baby in the outfit, wiht the gift, etc. and then you can make a thank you postcard right on your phone. People LOVE them so much more than handwritten notes and I’m real big about making sure we thank everyone for stuff
– Sound Sleeper – I used this SO much with both of the kids. Even now, I use it from time to time if they’r having a hard time going to sleep. It’s like a sound machine on your phone.
Embryo Storage
We have our remaining embryos at Ovation. We had done offsight between Emma and Ellie, but I think they were still local to Austin. I would be nervous to transport too. I don’t have a strong opinion on this though since TFC is pretty stringent on the companies they work with. I think it would depend on the savings and how soon you’d want to try for a second because you’ve got to pay to bring them back I think as well.
