Newborn Necessities

We are only into our fourth week of being parents, but we already have our favorite baby items. These products have helped make the last few weeks easier. (BTW--I'm not getting compensated for mentioning any of these. I just like them a whole lot.)

  Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play Sleeper


We decided to have Miss G sleep in our room for the first few months, and we use this sleeper as her bed. I love how the design cocoons her and makes things cozy for her to fall asleep. When she does fuss, her movements cause the sleeper to rock, soothing her without any action need by me or Dave. I also appreciate that it's light enough to move from the bedroom to our living room for daytime naps.

HALO Sleep Sack Swaddle



Again, I appreciate the coziness that this product promotes. I am a big fan of swaddles and sleep sacks, and this product combines both. Miss G likes being swaddled--but she loves having her arms free. It's funny to see how she escapes when we do wrap her up completely. She also likes to kick her legs a lot. The sleep sack swaddle allows us to wrap her up (minus her arms), still giving her room to kick. Because it's a sleep sack, we don't have to worry about her feet slipping out in the middle of the night and getting cold.

Pampers Swaddlers Diapers


We have our hospital to thank for getting us hooked on these diapers. The color change wetness indicator is my favorite part of this diaper, and I'm sad to hear that it is only available for the newborn size. This diaper also absorbs a lot and fits Miss G well. We've only had one oops moment. Once she outgrows the newborn size, we may start looking for another, less-expensive brand, but for now we're a Pampers household.

Gerber Flannel Receiving Blankets



This is such a shallow reason, but I really like these blankets because they're so cute. We requested mostly gender-neutral items so we can reuse them for any future children we may have, whether they're boys or girls. Most gender-neutral things are, in a word, boring. Yellow seems to be the common color, and although it's a fine color, I was getting a little tired of seeing it. When I opened up these blankets, I was pleasantly surprised to see the design and various colors. I also appreciate the thickness of the blanket--not too heavy and not too light. They are great to wrap Miss G in when she's taking a nap or too put on top of her when we put her in the air-conditioned car. She doesn't get overheated but is kept warm. 

So, there you have it--my list of must-haves for the first month of parenthood. I'm sure this list will evolve as we enter new stages of Miss G's life, but for now these are the items we love the most.