Little Man is 10 days away from 7 months old and I wanted to take this time (during nap time) to reflect on what baby registry items were worth their weight in gold. Please bear in mind that Little Man was born in June in New England so his first 6 months of life included summer, autumn, and winter with temperatures ranging from over 90 degrees Fahrenheit to below 0. He was also born during a pandemic so I think that may have affected some decisions, but who knows?
To start off, I registered with Babylist.com and loved it. You’re able to add anything from any store and then when people go buy an item off the registry, they are able to compare the prices at each store to make sure they get the cheapest option. I also really liked that they had sample registries to look at as a first-time mom. Alongside Babylist, I also registered at Target, Amazon, BuyBuyBaby, and Walmart so that I could get their welcome boxes and the completion discount for items that were not purchased. I did not register for any clothes because I know people are going to buy a bunch anyways and we got so many hand-me-downs (my closet is full of bins all the way up to 4t). I did have to have my sister go out after Little Man was born and pick up a few newborn outfits because I had none. You see, my mom was convinced that I would have a big baby since I was born 9 lbs 11 oz. However, Little Man popped out at 7 lbs 7 oz and lost quite a bit of weight before he started gaining again so he was in newborn clothes and newborn diapers for several weeks. So without further ado, here is my list of what helped make me love the first 6 months of parenthood despite the lack of sleep and struggle with breastfeeding:
Lillebaby Complete All Seasons Carrier
I absolutely love this carrier. I had tried the Moby wrap and just couldn’t easily get the hang of it. This carrier can be used from 7 lbs with no infant insert. When Little Man was under 10 lbs, I did roll up one of his swaddle blankets to put beneath him to position him better. I continue to use this as well. I use it when I go to BJ’s and it is super helpful keeping people away from baby when you’re out and about. This carrier has gone into Boston on the subway, on the Rail Explorers in Rhode Island, has gone to Maine, and probably still has more adventures. One thing that makes it super comfortable for the wearer is that it has lumbar support. It is also easily adjustable so while we were in Maine, it was easy to switch Little Man from me to my sister when I wanted a break. Cannot recommend this carrier enough.
4Moms Breeze Plus Portable Playard
I registered for this particular playard because of how easy you could open and close it which makes it my favorite playard. My mom has one from Graco and I definitely like how quickly I can open and close mine which can help when you have a fussy baby in your arms. Up until very recently, we had the playard set up in the living room for easy diaper changes and naps. It was also super helpful as a place to lay him while we were bringing groceries in or if I wanted to bring the car up from the garage so that I didn’t have to carry him all the way down the icy driveway in the cold. It was also super helpful to bring to relative’s houses for Christmas for a safe plae to put Little Man down for a nap.
Chicco Corso Travel System
It took my a long time to figure out what travel system I wanted to get. It took a couple trips to BuyBuyBaby to play around with the car seats and the strollers. For the record, we got the LE version of the model above, but it’s not on amazon so I couldn’t easily link it. The difference is the colors and then also the car seat is a model up which allows babies up to 35 lbs (we stopped using ours long before that because babies in car seats get heavy) and I liked the rebound bar on the base. What I liked about this system was how easy it was to push the stroller. I can easily do it one handed which was super helpful the one time I took Little Man and the dog for a walk at the same time. I also really liked that I could put the seat forward facing or backwards or even could put in the car seat. Chicco also sells an infant insert for the Corso stroller so that you can use it when they are very little which I feel like extends the use of the stroller. The stroller has gone to the Big E and many grocery shop runs. I absolutel loved the car seat seat as well. It was super easy to install into the car which was something I was worried about. For help with car seat safety, I highly recommend you follow Safe in the Seat on Instagram or visit her website (safeintheseat.com).
Lovevery Play Gym
So this was a splurge item. I put it on the registry thinking that if someone bought it great, but if not, I would just buy a cheaper one. Obviously, someone bought it for us since I am linking it here. While I don’t love the size of it because you can’t fold it down or condense it at all, Little Man really loves the play gym. We also bought the strands from Lovevery and have them attached where the teether would be and he has loved the strands since day 1. It took him a couple minutes to fall in love with the ball and the wooden toy, but now that he can grab them, he loves it. I love that it came with the high contrast cards and can be used for quite a bit of time. I’m very exicted to turn it into the tent for him once he is finally mobile.
Boon Soak Bath Tub
My friend ended up recommending this tub to us after I had become shocked as to how many different types of tubs there were for kids. I like this one because it is multi stage and supports them all the way up to sitting independently which I really like since I am nervous for the day that we finally put him in the big tub alone (so far he has gone into the full tub with me to experience bath bombs and just to calm down). What’s also really nice is that the tub’s center moves to help the baby be positioned better depending what stage they are at.
GB Pockit+ All City Stroller
When we were looking for a smaller, umbrella type stroller, I wanted one that was easily portable since I knew eventually we would be travelling down to Florida to visit my husband’s family. Then, enter the GB Pockit. I love this thing. It folds up so small and so quickly and pops open quickly. Little Man is super comfortable in it and it is the stroller kept in my trunk since it doesn’t take up much room at all. My only complaint is the storage underneath is very small and you can’t fit much, but for something that folds up to a square, I can’t really complain.
Frida Baby Electric NoseFrida
We originally had gotten the NoseFrida when Little Man was first born since everyone raved about it. However, I hated the thing once he first got sick because I felt like I couldn’t get everything out of his nose. I even tried with the bulb syringe and still felt like there was more farther up his nose. So, I went on Amazon and ordered the electric Nose Frida and I am a firm believer in this product. When he was sick, this thing was pulling out so much gunk and I felt like it was much more effective than just the regular NoseFrida. It has lights on it to distract the baby but when he first got sick, he was still young enough to not care about them and screamed through the whole thing. Now that he’s a bit older, he does get semi distracted by the lights, but it still isn’t an entertaining experience for him having his Mama sucking all the gunk out of his nose.
Hatch Sound Machine
Everyone talks about how important it is to have a white noise machine and I knew it would be important in our house sicne we live on a main road that a lot of ambulances and police cars come down, sirens blazing. A lot of sample registries and other bloggers recommended the Hatch and I really like it. When he was first born it was nice to have the dim light from the night light to help with feedings and diaper changes and the white noise helps drown out the dog barking, sirens, traffic, and the snow plows hitting the sidewalk. I am very excited to be able to use the time to rise feature once he is older because I enjoy my sleep and don’t enjoy having super early morning wakings.
Yogasleep Hushh Portable Sound Machine
Speaking of white noise and sleep, we ended up buying a portable sound machine to bring with us when going out that could attach to the car seat (never attach anything to the car seat while it is in the car since it could inhibit the safety of the car seat in the event of a crash) or stroller. My mom has described the sound machines as “magical” because Little Man would almost always calm down when the white noise was turned on. We ended up having two so that one could always be available while the other charged.
Nested Bean Swaddle and Sleep Sack
We absolutely love Nested Bean. They are a swaddle and sleep sack company that have a small weighted bean on the chest. We struggled to find a swaddle that Little Man loved and that kept him from breaking out. He has used the Swaddle, Zen One (pictured above), and is now in the sleep sacks and sleeps amazing in them. What I specifically loved about the Zen One was how multi functional it was. It can be used as a traditional swaddle, an arms up swaddle, and as a sleep sack. Within the Zen One there is a swaddle band that can hold their arms down or just go around their chest. The mesh sleeves at the top can also be zipped off so this was an amazing swaddle to help him transition out of a swaddle and to a sleep sack. We ended up making that transition around 9 weeks and it probably took a couple nights before he was comfortable with his arms out (and knew what to do with hands as well).
Vornado Baby Sensa Heater
We live in an old house that is heated by steam and has been renovated several times. Therefore, the nursery, Little Man’s room has no radiator and therefore no heat source when the door is closed at night. I was super nervous about the winter as it approached because I didn’t want him to get cold and then have his sleep disrupted because of that. Enter the Vornado Baby Space heater. There is a model below this one, but we picked this one because it has a sensor that is attached to the crib to keep the room from getting too warm. I was nervous about having a space heater in his room, but this one is specifically designed for nurseries. It is cool to the touch with no sharp edges. If it is covered or tipped over, it automatically shuts itself off. It has lockable buttons in case your little one has a thing for buttons and it also has a spot to store the cord underneath. We have had several nights and days where the temperature combined with the wind chill, made the real feel temperature way into the negatives, and his room is always between 68 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Those are all of my must haves from Amazon. Obviously there are more things to buy like a swing, changing mat, bedding, toys, etc, but these are the things I couldn’t live without. I also highly recommend Little Sleepies for pajamas. They are bamboo pajamas and Little Man can still fit in his 0-3 month outfit despite getting ready to enter 6-9 month clothing. We also have loved the Copper Pearl bibs and burp cloths. Little Man spit up alot due to reflux and I loved the stylish bibs and matching burp cloths to help catch all the drool and spit up to prevent multiple outfit changes throughout the day.
The last thing I want to recommend is Taking Cara Babies. It is a sleep training program that was gifted to us and it is very gentle and easy. There is no crying it out and it teaches babies to fall asleep independently. By 10 weeks, Little Man was sleeping through the night and is always put into his crib for naps awake and will put himself to sleep without us needing to help. I know there is a lot of opinions on the topic of sleeping training, but Little Man definitely needs a happy, rested mom and Taking Cara Babies was a big help with that.
Are there any must haves for you that I didn’t add to this list? Do you agree with my list?