From one Mama to another soon to become one or even a friend who wants to gift this Mama something useful. A close friend of mine is expecting her first born real soon and as she saw me buy lots of baby buys and has seen this continue, she naturally asked what she should buy. Those common questions of what I got the most use out of and what I found to be of no use and could have done without.
Because let’s face it, becoming a first-time mum is daunting. It’s scary and no-one tells you what it is really like. We hear the positive and negative stories but until you actually live within it, experience it first-hand, is only then when you come to realise what it’s really about. The excitement pours in when you first start looking at clothing, those little sleepsuits to the cute little socks.. that you can’t help yourself adding all these cute little baby finds to your basket, but this suddenly becomes quite daunting as you are not just buying clothes, you’re having to buy a travel system, a moses basket, a crib, a changing table, a baby carrier, a baby monitor, a bath… the list just becomes endless. I remember spending hours online reading articles for recommendations on each item, seeing what others bought, reading those articles with the top 10 reviews to comparing prices for different models to see what worked best for us and was within our budget. It was LONG! It was tiring and as mentioned earlier the whole experience became super daunting and the list became expensive!
How does a tiny human being need so much!? You obviously want the best for your baby but seeing the endless lists online and what other mums are buying makes you think you don’t have enough. I remember seeing a changing table on many recommendations but for me this wasn’t practical. I didn’t want to keep going upstairs to the nursery room to change Zakariyya and then have to bring him back down. I just wanted it to do there and then and so instead I just bought an extra changing mat to keep upstairs in his room as well as having one downstairs, but I kept coming back to do I need it because everyone else is buying one? And this was the case for many items.
There wasn’t a list which was like one size fits all and that’s all that you needed, which we discovered when Zakariyya was born and upon leaving the hospital had to do a quick rush to Asda and Tesco to buy tiny baby clothing and premature pampers nappies as the clothing and nappies we had bought drowned him. Oddly enough the tiny baby in Asda was still bigger than what we needed and thankfully Tesco’s tiny range was the right size. This is something else you will find, every retailer’s range will fit differently with some sizing up small and some too big.
Having been a good year into being a first-time mum, I can safely say what I would recommend and what we couldn’t live without.
So let’s get started.
1. Sleepsuits: You can never have enough sleepsuits. Not only will you quickly find you will be going through at least two a day due to the spit ups, leakages and blowouts but they are so convenient and easy to put on your newborn baby. They are super comfortable and fuss free when it comes to nappy changes, and I ended up going through so many because of it. I had bought so many cute outfits and was gifted many but with Zakariyya being a tiny baby we didn’t get to use them until 10 weeks old and even then I found myself reaching for a cute sleepsuit unless we were heading out or had guests over. Those early days call for comfort & ease and these are essentially that.
2. Swaddles: But not just any swaddles, swaddles that were a complete doddle to wrap Zakariyya in. I struggled to swaddle, I remember the midwife showing me how to with blankets in the hospital as Zakariyya was just not sleeping and I was desperate for some sleep. I came home and my mum took over with looking after Zakariyya as I was still recovering, and she would swaddle him like a pro with his muslins/blanket. Whenever I tried, I would never get it tight enough for it to stay in place and Zakariyya would wriggle making it looser and so it never worked. My mum showed me many times but it was just not happening as I was too scared it would be too tight on him. I did a search online and found some swaddles on Amazon that came 4 in a box and wait for it had wings with Velcro fastening… honestly game changer! I would pop Zakariyya in and just wrap the wings over which fastened with the Velcro. It was super easy and super handy and I didn’t have to faff around so many times trying to get it right and get this, even my mum approved and loved how quick it was. It certainly helped with us getting more sleep and knowing Zakariyya was neatly tucked in for the night.
3. Dream egg white noise: this was another Amazon buy and was widely recommended by other mums. Whilst in the hospital, the midwife advised one night to play white noise from Youtube to help with the sleep which worked but I realised this wasn’t practical for me in the long run. I needed my phone for my alarm and didn’t want any calls/messages coming through let alone my battery constantly dying because of the usage. I purchased this based off the recommendations and the reviews and we used it every night and it worked. Zakariyya slept much easier and for longer periods. I think we also slept a lot better because of it. It has a lot of noises to choose from but the one that worked for us was the fan and the dream egg doubles up as a night light. We would simply charge it during the day and it would be ready to use in the eve. It was quite handy to have as it is portable so I could attach it to the stroller and we were able to take it away on holiday too. So if your little one is struggling with sleep, I would definitely recommend this as it helped us hugely.
4. Self-sterilising bottles: Whether you breastfeed or formula feed your baby, it is always handy to have a starter pack of bottles just in case it’s needed. I found the anti-colic Mam starter pack which had 3 small bottles but the best thing about these bottles were that they were self-sterilising and of course the added feature of being anti-colic. This means no extra purchase of an actual steriliser which itself can be quite costly dependent on which you would buy. It also means you don’t need to lug it around if perhaps your visiting family and you are using bottles to feed your baby. You simply take the bottle apart and wash it with some warm soapy water and then put it together with a little water poured into the bottle and place it in the microwave for 3 minutes and viola they are sterilised. Simple and easy and I am all for this when your juggling 101 things, sleep deprived and adjusting to being a new mama.
5. Baby Bjorn Bouncer: This was a complete god send for us. We had to wait a little longer before we could put Zakariyya in it due to his weight but once we did start using it, it was in daily use. Zakariyya absolutely loved it, he would look around the room and we would use it to comfort him but once he was kicking his legs, he would end up rocking himself especially when he was excited. I had searched for the best bouncers online but in particular, I needed it to be lightweight and portable as I would be heading to my Mums and to my in laws frequently and would need to pack this into the car so I didn’t want anything too heavy or chunky that couldn’t be packed easily into the car. Neither of them live close by so these trips would mean I would be visiting for a handful of days and packing for a baby would mean the entire boot and backseat of the car would be taken up with Zakariyya’s stuff and a little bag for me and my husband. How things change! The Baby Bjorn bouncer folds so easily and can be slotted into the car and takes up very little space which was a major plus. The fabric comes off easily so can be washed and I purchased another cover for when one needed washing, I could pop the second one on meaning I didn’t have to wait. Every trip to my mums, she would ring beforehand and ensure I would be taking the Baby Bjorn with me as it was very much needed. If I were to ask my husband what his favourite baby buy was, it would most definitely be this.
There you have it, those are my top 5 baby must haves. I would love to know what yours were/are, feel free to share your must haves within the comment section to help a new Mama out.
