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My husband and I welcomed our firstborn child into the world in the Fall of 2023, and she is nearly 5 months old. We are blessed to live in an era of privilege of technology that previously did not exist for the parents of past generations. These are my top 8 items that I’ve found to be the biggest solutions to the challenges endemically posed by newborns on their sleep-deprived, exhausted parents. I have an entire list of items that we’ve used, but I wanted to emphasize how helpful the top 8 truly were in navigating the challenges of our firstborn!
1.) The Right Bassinet: This is a MUST HAVE. Bassinets have been a thing for hundreds of years in various forms, but the technology of mixing safety, comfort, soothing sounds, and rocking motions has changed the game for sleeping in those early stages of infanthood. My husband and I hit the jackpot – our little one started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks old, and before that, she would sleep at least 3-4 hours once or twice a night. We largely attribute our success in this area to the “cheat code” – the 4moms MamaRoo bassinet. We’d highly recommend this bassinet because it’s a very effective blend of the cheaper, more basic bassinet models with the very expensive multifunctional models that exist on the market. Frankly, this bassinet is the gold standard in our book and worth every cent, and since we both work, having this to help us get sleep was monumental in those early stages. We kept her in the bassinet until almost 4 months old, just recently moving her to her crib due to her growing size! BTW we also used waterproof sheets that kept the mattress pad looking brand new (despite the spit up and drool!).
2.) The Right Bottle: We’ve tried a handful of brands of bottles, but I think I can confidently say there is a correct bottle brand – Dr Browns. All my other mom friends use these bottles for their infants because they really are the best on the market. The big feature that separates them from the rest is their anti-colic device in each bottle. Babies are notorious for being “gassy” and it’s always said you have to burp them after feeding. These bottles do a phenomenal job at minimizing the ability for air bubbles to form in the milk or formula, negating a lot of the gassiness that goes into feeding an infant. Also, they’re safe for our sterilizer station. Our baby was never endemically gassy, and we attribute it to feeding with the right bottle.
3.) The Right Sterilizer Machine: Okay…it’s not necessary, I’ll admit. I know a number of moms that just throw their bottles in the dishwasher and do a separate load for their baby bottles or even just hand wash. However, my husband and I have become much more conscious on chemicals in our everyday household products, and using a sterilizer machine cleans with just distilled water and heat. There’s nothing more natural than that! And since we want to use a machine to clean (we do rinse bottles before putting them in it), this machine has been perfect for our use. It’s extremely easy to use and is very effective – never leaving any streaks and VERY effective at fully drying in the same cycle. It’s also fairly cheap considering the prices of other ones on the market. The Baby Brezza Sterilizer can be found here.
4.) The Right Swing: This was and is such a blessing. Need to get some stuff down around the house but your baby wants to be rocked? No problem. This swing combines rocking motion and sound, at an upright and comfortable angle for your baby to fall right to sleep. Our baby loves the swing and we genuinely cannot fathom these past few months of care without having the Maxi-Cosi Swing in our portfolio of equipment! The cushion liner is machine-washable, and that has been ultra-helpful as our little one has had a few blowouts while catching her cat naps!
5.) The Right Pump: There will be debate on this one. However, both my mom and mother-in-law were blown away by the utility of this pump based on their experience pumping in their day. We have a plug-in pump that I have to hold the attachments while pumping, but this portable Momcozy pump free’s up so much time. I’m blessed that I get to pump my milk for my little one, but it can be time consuming! This specific model has worked perfectly and without any hiccups for the last 4 months I’ve been using it – letting me get things done around the house, take care of my little one, etc. all while pumping. Previously, I was fixed to the couch for multiple hours a day. So much time gained back!
6.) The Right Bouncer: Similar to the above mentioned swing, this Ergobaby bouncer has a primary cushion that is machine-washable, and our baby has had blowout diapers whilst sitting in it. I guess our baby does have blowouts quite regularly, now that I’m thinking about it! I’ve used this to shower while my husband is at work, and I need somewhere to put my baby that is safe and comfortable for her. She also enjoys sitting it when we’re on the couch, and feels like she’s hanging out with us. The bouncer has points where you can attach a toy bar to keep them occupied, and our baby has really enjoyed playing with the toys on the bar ever since she was about 6-8 weeks.
7.) The Right Baby Monitor: This item in particular my husband and I were both weary of. We’ve all read the horror stories of wifi-enabled baby monitors being able to be hacked into, and we didn’t want to accept that risk. Though our parents mentioned it might be nice to be able to pull up our baby on their phones or our phones, we opted to go with a non-wifi enabled monitor that only transmits to the single monitor screen that is included in the purchase. The camera monitor is very flexible and picks up sound very effectively. In addition, it has an excellent quality image, so we can clearly see what kind of face our little one has whilst napping. This item is very affordably priced, and definitely makes the list of best purchases we’ve made for parenthood! We also bought an accompanying stand for the monitor that can be found here. Installation of the stand was a breeze and didn’t even take me half an hour to get it set up. Now we have a great view of our little one while she sleeps.
8.) The Right Diaper Pail: This is a pretty simple item, but we discovered that many of the competitor products on the market require you to use their trash bags (that are definitely marked up!) for operation. This Ubbi Diaper Pail is technically simple – letting us use the cheap bags we buy in bulk from Sam’s Club. It keeps the smell down when the lid is closed, and we have one for both upstairs and downstairs. It’s very easy to change the bag and operate!
Notice I did not include car seats, cribs, strollers, etc. as there are a dozens of brands of each of them, and honestly, I can’t really discern how much better ours are relative to the competitors. I feel like that’s the theme with many things that we now use daily, but they don’t quite make the list of “Top 8” due to the fact that the above 8 items have a key characteristic that separates them from the rest (price, functionality, washability, etc.). However, below is my list of items that we’ve used if you’re curious.
Congrats on parenthood, it is a blessing every day!
List of 0-3 Months Baby Must-Haves
List of 3-6 Months Baby Must-Haves
List for Momma, Pregnancy, Nursing/Pumping, Postpartum Care
Life of Les 
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