What I Bought in the First 3 Months of Motherhood
In the late nights of nursing a newborn, the truth comes out, the “buy now” trigger finger comes into play and you start ordering things you never thought to register for.
So here are the things that arrived in 2 days or less (usually ordered around 2am) in my first 3 months of motherhood!
Backseat Mirror for the Car – I had a C section so I wasn’t the one driving for the first week since I was still on pain killers. We also bought a car the day after we brought Archer home (the sweet salesman drove the car to our house so I could see it!). Once we got the car sorted out and I could drive again – I realized I couldn’t see Archer. Whoops! We still use this now – it’s very sturdy and doesn’t fall off. We’re getting a second one for baby girl!
Moms on Call Book (0-6 Month) – Whether or not you want your child to be on a “schedule” you need this book. It’s baby care 101 and written by nurses. It’s so so helpful and gives some guidance when you get out of the fog and go “wait, when do you nap? Or eat?” And we did use the schedules loosely but they have flexibility built in which I LOVED! I bought the Kindle version at 3:30am and read it while nursing. I’m going to buy the physical version this time around!
Baby Vitamin D – This was recommended by the pediatrician to give Archer but to be honest we weren’t very consistent with it since I was exclusively nursing so I didn’t have a bottle to put it in and it was really hard to drip directly into his mouth. SO as a result – I started taking Vitamin D so it would just get to him through nursing. (Obviously listen to your pediatrician on this, I was very foggy and can’t remember exactly why all this was important..)
Disposable Diaper Bags and Dispenser – pretty much identical to doggy poop bags. You don’t need the fancy scented ones, just get the cheapest ones you can find. They hold gross diapers, dirty clothes, wet clothes, you name it. We still use these!
Refillable Wipes Container – (the ones I actually bought were no longer available). Okay in theory these are great, smaller than the big packs of wipes, cheaper to refill instead of buying pre packaged wipes, etc. It’s only convenient the first time you refill them. You won’t want to keep doing that, promise. The ones I bought also didn’t zip or close well so wipes dried out. Definitely don’t use these anymore.
Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar – Theoretically you’re supposed to be able to find this in stores but I couldn’t find it anywhere near me. It’s a miracle worker on baby poop stained clothes. I put the bar inside an old mismatched sock (so I would have grip) and used it to scrub out any stains. I still use this on tough stains!
Haaka Silicone Manual Breast Pump – I have no idea how to describe this in a paragraph so just read the description and look it up on YouTube. It’s great in the middle of the night to basically “catch” milk on the side you aren’t nursing on. It’s great but I think I lent mine out so I may have to repurchase…
Fisher Price Baby Swing – Hi, our child didn’t like the Mamaroo. Sorry! It’s so highly rated and swanky and modern but it was so expensive and wasn’t soothing to him. And to be honest, I get it, it’s called a swing but doesn’t have a swinging motion…So we got the good old fashioned Fisher Price swing. We’ll definitely be pulling it out again – downside is it’s bulky to store when the baby outgrows it…
Headbands – I made the mistake of not getting my hair done before having Archer, that sounds vain but not only did I not feel like myself, my hair just looked stringier by the day, just what everyone who doesn’t have time to shower wants. So hello wide headbands! I wore 2 out of the 4 quite a bit and just recently gave away the other too. But they’ve lasted for how cheap they are!
BabyBum Diaper Spatula – Applying diaper rash cream is so gross to me. It’s still gross. Of all the motherhood things, this one really gets to me. This spatula makes it 10 times better. (This set comes with a mini one too which is awesome!)
Reusable Nursing Pads – Great in theory. Purchased because I was tired of picking up disposable pad wrappers. But when you’re out, you have to wash them and they take a while to dry and weren’t as absorbent. Probably won’t use with baby number 2.
Nursing Camis – This was the second pack I ordered – I wore the HECK out of these. I was just looking through them and they’ve pilled quite a bit so I may buy some new ones this time around but I literally wore them day and night for 15 months or however long I nursed Archer. I am debating if a higher quality tank would last longer…again these were just cheap and could arrive quickly ;).
BabyBjorn Bouncer – We never got a bouncer as a gift. This thing is sleek and can be opened and closed one handed. I kept it in the bathroom so I could shower or get ready. The case is easy to remove to wash!
Kiinde Starter Kit – This system is what my brother would call “Stupid Smart”. If you haven’t heard of it, check out the website. It’s an all in one pumping system so you pump into the bags, screw on the lid and when it’s time to feed, just screw on the nipple and you’re ready to go! I loved this and will probably use it again.
Miss Fong Diaper Bag – I realized very quickly that I had purchased the most impractical diaper bag ever. It didn’t fully close, only had purse like straps and barely held a pack of wipes. But it was SO CUTE and Reese Witherspoon designed it!!!! Anyways, not worth it. This bag I ordered is technically a knock off of the Fawn Design bag but I found Miss Fong first so the Fawn Design feels like a knock off to me ;)…It’s great and it looks like they’ve updated it since I got it!
Newborn Beanies – It was starting to get cold so I ordered some hats that never fit him, my sweet 90th percentile headed child. If you have a big headed child, just put them in hooded coats, it’s easier.
Baby Socks – Because he had kicked most of his off in various grocery stories by October so we needed more.
A Thanksgiving Outfit for cold weather – We spent turkey day in St. Louis where it was SUPER cold. I found a cute fleece outfit but unfortunately doesn’t look like it exists anymore.
Shnuggle Baby Bathtub – We bathed Archer in the sink for a LONG time because we only have one tub and it’s MASSIVE in our bathroom. So when he got to the sitting up more phase, we had to find an alternative. We still used this in the sink but it had more support! (It looks like the price has DOUBLED since we bought it so I linked a similar one. It’s not worth $65!)
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