I have a lot dear friends that are preggo right now, and I want to share any sliver of wisdom I have gained from parenthood, and that includes consumer reports. I remember being really overwhelmed when pregnant when it came to GEAR, and desperately wanting to feel prepared, but also feeling insanely lost with the millions of options (and cost).
Besides a crib, stroller, and car seat which are the big 3 must-haves (you do need a car seat to leave the hospital here in Canada, but crib and stroller I’d say don’t stress on having them for day 1! We didn’t start using both till like month 3), here are the 5 products that we seriously can not live without:
-
Sound Machine – I have no idea if my baby cares about the sound machine and the fact that it sounds like she is at the beach every night, but it has been a life saver for MY sanity! We live in a pretty small 2 bedroom apartment, and to make sure I don’t freak out if anyone wants to make the slightest noise, or to be able to enjoy watching TV, I need to know that the soothing “beach sounds” is louder than the violence of Game of Thrones.
-
Lovey – We didn’t really see the pay-off of this until we started sleep training, but having this lovey for our little one from the beginning has become HUGE. When we sleep trained it became her “thing” that she nuzzled and helped her fall asleep, and now whenever we travel it is the most important thing we bring (basically equal in importance to our passports!).
-
Bouncy chair – They are literally ALL hideous, but so worth it to be able to shower every day. “Baby holders” such as the Jolly jumper, bumbo, activity-center-thing all had pretty short shelf lives with our baby (she barely used any of those), but the bouncy chair she used a ton, and even as a 1 year old sits in it for 5 minutes a day, so I can shower!
-
360 Ergo – Our baby has spent more time in this carrier than in the car seat or stroller combined (to be fair – we don’t own a car, and we walk everywhere). There are lots of different options for carriers (bjorn, solly wrap, etc), but the thing that is extra cool about this one is that you can wear the babe in a ton of different positions, as they grow. It’s one of the few “baby things” we’ve used almost every day of her life.
-
Nuk Pacifiers – There seem to be like a billion different kind of pacifier options but these ones are magic. Simple as that. Our babe starting taking one at 3 months when a friend told us about this brand. We were shocked, and thrilled.
Oh and don’t stress about clothes – you will receive a whole slew of used clothes from pals, and a few insanely-priced-but-adorable pieces of new clothes as gifts!
Any other parents have a must-have item? Lemme know! Share your insider info with the new parents of the world!
