I absolutely love being a mom. It is beautiful and wonderful and, oh my, it can be pretty darn hard too. Here are a few of my absolute favorite baby products that helped make my new job as a mommy just a little bit easier those first 3 months.
Snuza Hero
They say you can’t put a price on peace of mind, but I say you can and it’s one easy payment of $129. I have to admit I was (and still am) an absolute nut about SIDS and am constantly checking to make sure Austin is still breathing. The first night we brought her home from the hospital I literally stayed up the entire night watching her sleep. This little alarm clips onto the baby’s diaper and monitors the baby’s breathing by their movements. If it doesn’t sense any movement for 15 seconds, it vibrates to startle the baby. If there is still no movement after the vibration, an alarm sounds. I really really love this thing. It flashes green with each breath so I love that I can peak in on her sleeping and immediately see she’s fine. I especially love to use it when we co-sleep because it makes me feel like I have a little extra assurance that I’ll be woken up if she were to move into a compromising position. It’s great for travel too. I will say that the company says the alarm can not be relied upon for co-sleeping or if the baby is moving (like sleeping in a moving rock n play) but I’ve used it both ways and it still worked.
There are a few newer alarm products by this company I’m dying to try too…anyone use them?
Magnificent Footies
These things are seriously cool. They make all your other sleepers look like schmucks. Instead of snaps or buttons for closures, there are magnets sewn inside the fabric . It is so fast and easy and when you are completely sleep-deprived and trying to change your baby’s diaper in the dark at 3 am, you will LOVE them. They aren’t cheap, but will quickly become your favorites and Austin got a TON of use out of hers! They have some really cute prints too.
Sidenote- I recommend zipper footies for your other sleepers-the snaps are just killer. Austin pretty much lived in footed pajamas her first 6 weeks or so. We ended up going out to Walmart and just buying a bunch of the zipper ones after she was born. I just thought she seemed the warmest and most cozy in footed pajamas in those early days when she was so tiny and floppy and they were just so easy.
GIVEAWAY- Comment/tag 2 friends on Still + Know’s FB post for a chance to win one of these! I will draw the winner on Friday 1/27 at 11 pm!
Daydreamer
I didn’t even register for this. A friend mentioned it to me and offered to let me borrow hers when we were discussing Austin’s sleeping/naps. This.thing.is.awesome. Austin napped great in it. I would put her in this while getting ready, cooking, trying to get a little work done, whatever. It’s the perfect incline and she just seemed to be really comfortable in it. She much preferred it over her bouncer and napped in it like a champ.
Uppababy Mesa and Cruz (infant carrier and stroller)
A travel system to me is definitely in my VERY top “must have” items. I love, love, love our travel system. Ryan and I were total freaks and did an insane amount of research. We read consumer reports, watched youtube videos, sought out friends’ opinions, scoured online reviews, and checked out all the safety ratings. We drove to other cities to see strollers that weren’t carried locally. We EVEN took a cab across Manhattan during a family reunion in NYC to check out a stroller we couldnt get our hands on anywhere else. Ryan, being an engineer, cared a lot about the car seat base. It had to be very safe, structurally sound when installed in the middle back seat of the car, and the installation needed to be simple, easy, and quick. That is easier said than done!!! (Funny sidenote- my nephew’s car seat base was SO difficult to figure out and even harder to remove that my sister finally got out a knife and cut the belt on the carseat to get it out. I am actually laughing out loud while typing this right now because this story still totally cracks me up. In her defense, my hyper-safety-conscious husband tightened the seat belt to such a ridiculous level that it would have taken Hulk Hogan himself to remove the car seat base.
Anyway, these were our top priorities in a travel system and why we chose ours..
Ryan’s wants/needs in a travel system
- car seat high safety rating
- car seat base installation easy, simple, and quick
- car seat base structurally sound when in middle back seat of car (many we looked at came with load legs which required it to be placed in a side seat rather than the middle)
- stroller needed to have good maneuverability/steering and good sized wheels
- high quality material/fabrics on both car seat and stroller
My wants/needs in a travel system
- great safety ratings on car seat
- lightweight (both car seat and stroller)
- stroller seat could face either way (toward or away from me)
- easy-to-fold stroller that I could manage well on my own
- large basket on stroller that could fit my diaper bag, shopping bags, etc. (believe it or not, some of my other top stroller contenders had baskets that couldn’t even fit my purse let alone a diaper bag!)
- easy to get carrier and stroller in and out of car (this is the only carrier I’ve ever seen that has a one click button on the top to pop it out of the stroller, so fast and easy when you are shopping and trying to quickly get back into the car!)
Other things we loved about this system were the side impact protection, the modern design, their great customer service reputation, and that they are a U.S. company.
Everyone has different priorities and there are a million great options for infant carriers and stroller combos so I encourage you to do some looking and find the perfect system for you! The Uppababy Mesa and Cruz just happened to be the perfect travel system for us and I will sing Uppababy’s praises all day long.
*For those who don’t know, a “travel system” is an infant carrier (the baby’s car seat that can be taken out of the car and used to tote them around) and a stroller that it can pop into so the two can be used together as a system. It’s very nice because you can go from car to store without having to wake up or move the baby from his or her seat. Some people opt out of an infant carrier and go straight to a convertible car seat, which stays in the car and can’t be used to carry the baby around. I am a huge fan of the travel system, so even if you don’t like ours, do your research and find one you love!
Baby Paper
This is the most brilliantly simple toy. It’s just a crinkly square that’s easy to grip and play with but babies LOVE it. It was the first toy she could actually use and play with because she could hold it before she could grip anything else. It could keep her happy for so long! I love that it’s machine washable too.
Rock’N Play
When I was pregnant so many people told me this was an absolute must-have so I knew I had to have one. When Austin came home from the hospital she absolutely hated lying flat and this was the only thing she would sleep in (other than our arms). She slept in this every night for her first 3 months. There are different types of Rock’N Plays- some plug in and rock on their own and some just rock “with a gentle push from mom.” We opted for the automatic version that rocked on its own and really loved this feature. Another very cool feature of this one is that you can control it from your phone..the hubby definitely thought that was cool!
Dreft stain remover
Okay, I know this may seem lame to have on my “must have” list, but this little bottle of magic has saved so many of her outfits from some serious blowouts. I can’t tell you how many times I thought “this will NEVER come out, but we’ll give it a try.” Then, straight up Science Fair before and after style it would magically look like new. You guys know what I’m talking about, the “I am required to participate but don’t have a science-minded bone in my body so I’ll compare laundry detergents’ amazing stain flighting capabilities instead” category? Yeah, this stuff is that good.
Miracle Blanket
This thing is basically a straight jacket for babies. Austin loved to be swaddled but could somehow get out of almost every blanket, sleep sack, and swaddler we tried. She could not get out of this and the first night she slept in it, she slept longer than she ever had in one single stretch. It did take some time to learn how to get her in it without waking her up (I nursed her then put her in this. I have heard it’s best for babies hands to be free while nursing so I didn’t want to restrict her) but once we had it down, it worked great. We stopped using this around 3 and a half months when she outgrew it and was starting to roll.
For breastfeeding mamas– my must haves for 0-3 months include the beloved Boppy pillow, Target nursing tanks, and Lansinoh breast pads (plus the Medela Lanolin cream they give you in the hospital!)
and that does it for my must-haves for 0-3 months! What were your must haves? Would really really love to hear about any other favorite baby products you guys love! Comment below!
