The newborn items that got us through the first two months

We’ve been parents for 2 months now, and definitely getting the hang of things! Though we still have a lot to learn, I figured I can at least share what we’ve learned so far, in the hopes that it’ll help some other expecting or new parents. These are the baby items that have been the most useful for us in the first two months!

Muslin cloths – Muslins are absolutely essential since milk gets *everywhere* and spit up happens (a lot). We originally bought one of these 8-packs, and then promptly bought two more packs after we brought our babyhome. And we still use them up every few days!!! Babies are messy. You REALLY can not have too many of these!

Baby Bjorn bouncer – Our son wasn’t sure about this the first couple times we put him in there, but thankfully he learned to love it pretty quickly! I’m so glad we bought this so that we have a place to put him where he can be “seated” instead of held or lying down (we haven’t bought a high chair yet). We use this several times a day! It’s especially helpful when we’re cooking or eating.

Play mat and play gym – We have a plain mat from Done By Deer (similar to this one, but just the mat) and this play gym . We use it for “play time” multiple times a day, every day, and my son has yet to get bored of it. If anything, he is more amused by it by the day. This was the only baby “toy” we had before he arrived, and it’s definitely the one that’s gotten the most use. The only downside about the one we have is that you can’t easily change out the toys that hang from it (I didn’t know that was a thing when we chose it!) so we’ll probably get another one where you can, like this one.

(The other “toy” that gets the most use is the tummy time mirror, pictured above. We got this in our first KiwiCo box! He wasn’t interested in this until he started holding his head up a few weeks ago, but now he loves it!)

Stroller – So, admitting a mistake here: Before our son arrived, we bought this Emmaljunga stroller, which we all love. It’s really nice and he naps so well in it. But unfortunately, that stroller wasn’t the most practical choice because it is just so huge–way bigger than we need right now. It became clear that it just wasn’t going to work for everyday use long-term. So after a lot of research, we got a Bugaboo Fox2 and I couldn’t be happier with it! (Let me know if you’d be interested in reading a full review of either stroller!)

Baby carrier – We have 2 baby carriers: this one by Najell and this one by Ergobaby. The Najell is a wrap-style carrier that’s great for wearing around the house. This carrier is unique because you actually put it on like a shirt (you can see how it works here) so it’s less intimidating than the wraps you tie yourself. Buuut honestly, I think it is kind of annoying to get right-side-out/untangled to put on, and since it comes in different sizes, it’s not adjustable. So I’ll keep using it as long as my son still fits in it, but I kind of wish I’d just gotten a normal wrap, like this one! I think the Ergobaby carrier is better for outings because it’s a little simpler to put on, it’s adjustable so my husband and I can both wear it, and it offers a bit more support than the wrap style one. (Also note that the Ergobaby carrier we have is meant for newborns. We have another Ergobaby carrier that is for bigger infants, and we opted to get the newborn carrier instead of the newborn insert for the bigger carrier.)

Pacifiers – We tried a few different pacis and the Bibs Supreme are our baby’s favorites! Don’t forget a few paci clips (I don’t have a favorite yet).

Swaddles – We didn’t start swadding our son until about week 3, and it was a game changer. Swaddles can be comforting for babies because they feel all snug in them, but they also help newborns stay asleep by preventing their Moro (startle) reflex from waking themselves up at night. These from SwaddleMe make it so easy to swaddle, and he sleeps so well in them. I bought two and that’s been enough for us!

Sound machine – We started playing white noise to help our son sleep when he was around 3 weeks old, and it worked so well. Apparently white noise imitates the sounds from the womb? So it helps babies fall asleep, and also put themselves back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night. At first we were just playing white noise from Spotify on my iPad (this playlist on a loop was the best I found), but eventually it made sense to buy an actual sound machine. We have been really happy with this one, but note that it only comes with a USB plug, so you need to use a separate wall plug, like this.

Moonboon – A Moonboon is like a bouncy baby hammock, which you can buy with or without a motor. I definitely thought it was an unnecessary luxury, but about 2 weeks in and running on very little sleep, we were desperate for something that could calm our baby down at night. We bought it with the motor and are really happy we did! It’s the quickest way to calm him down when he’s upset, and he also loves napping in it during the day.

Lift – This is so useful, especially the first few weeks. He slept almost all day, every day, and he would mostly sleep in the lift on our couch (pictured below). The lift has handles on it, so you can move it around while the baby is sleeping in it. It’s also helpful to have something so portable for the baby to lie or sleep in when you’re not at home! we often take it with us if we’re going somewhere in the car and aren’t taking the stroller.

Onesies – My son basically lived in onesies for the first few weeks. I had bought some cute outfits, and each of those got worn maybe once before he grew out of them. Because 1) he was a summer baby and it was warm, so there was no need for anything more than a onesie, 2) we were just at home most of the time for the first few weeks, so there was no reason to get him all cute and dressed up, and 3) ummm, we went through like 5 onesies a day because they would get… soiled. Any other clothes just added more work to each outfit/diaper change. So my advice would be to get a BUNCH of onesies (like maybe 10-15, mix of short and long sleeve), and only a few outfits/layers for when you actually need them. (Obviously this also depends on the time of year when the baby is born!) For reference, he was a size 50 (US 0-1 month) when he was born, moved up to a 56 (US 1-2 months) within a few weeks, and was 62 (US 2-4 months) before he hit 2 months.

What are your newborn essentials??