Being a Mom of 3, I have learned a thing or two about what items are really necessary when pregnant with your child, in addition to the big items of stroller, car seat, high chair, etc. Of course, all moms are different and some of the things on this list may have been lifesavers for some moms. This is just my experience with those “best gifts for new mom” ideas.
Pee-Pee Tepee:
If you’re a new mom, you may have never even seen these. I know I had never seen them until I got a few sets at my baby shower for my son. The idea behind these is they protect you from getting sprayed with a little boy’s stream of urine during diaper changes. Now, first of all, let me say that regardless if you have a boy or a girl, you *will* get sprayed at some point or another during a diaper change. My daughter was especially bad with this whenever my husband changed her (she saved it for him!). These are super cute and seem like a good idea, but from my experience, they are a pass for a new mom.
Bottle Warmers:
Let me preface this one by saying I know several moms who use bottle warmers and swear that the warm milk helps their babies keep calm during feedings. For me, this is one item that received zero use and was not helpful at all. A bottle warmer is essentially for moms to warm-up milk for your baby at feeding times. My philosophy with this is-if the baby never knows what it’s like to have warmed milk, they won’t think anything of it when you give them normal temperature milk. But, again, I know there are some moms who swear by them. To each her own.
Gripe Water:
There are times when I think Gripe Water may possibly help, but for all 3 of my kids, this was another one of those never used gifts. I did try it with my son a few times but it never did anything. Gripe water is given to babies with gas issues; it supposedly settles their bellies to help calm them down from an upset tummy. None of my kids were colicky babies (thank goodness!), so for a super colicky baby this may help, but I never found it beneficial.
Baby Food Processor:
A baby food processor must be one of those things for the very health-conscious mom, which, sadly, is not me. Once again with this item I have lots of new mom friends who use their baby food processors religiously. For me, I made do with a simple mash-it-up tactic. Plus, there’s always Gerber baby foods, right? If you are shopping for a very health-conscious mom who has time on her hands to make her own food, this might be the gift for you. Otherwise, I’d skip it.
Baby Clothes Monthly Closet Organizers:
Now for the super-organized mom, this may be on your necessary list of items. However, for me, these were very underwhelming. Before I had my first baby, I never knew the amount of clothes I would have and how quickly they would grow out of their clothes! I had the nursery closet set-up with these lovely closet organizers that separated all the clothes by months. It took so long to organize it all! When my son arrived, I could hardly keep up with the organizers. By the time my third child came around, I had ditched the organizers and was lucky to find a hanger to hang clothes on rather than just finding them in a pile of clean clothes!
The items listed above might work for some moms, but from my own personal experience, they are good in theory but never used in our house.
Onto the list of lifesaver items I could not “mom” without!
Sound Machine:
In our house, a sound machine is a staple in each of our children’s bedrooms. We started using them with my first-born to help calm him down at bedtime. I am here to tell you they honestly work. When I was pregnant with my second child, I had a conversation with my postpartum nurse and she explained to me that newborns find comfort in the sound of being in the womb (very similar to the sound of white noise). So the transition home with a newborn is more welcoming with the sound of white noise to lull them to sleep and keep them comforted. We love this sound machine-it has a variety of sounds and offers timers to set so you don’t have to run it continuously (an issue if you do run it continuously like us-we go through batteries quickly around here). Also, this sound machine is portable-take it wherever you go! A baby that sleeps makes for a happy mom.
Crib Sensor Pad:
I am a neurotic Mom, and even after 3 kids, I still worry everyday about the safety of my kids. The crib sensor definitely helped ease my mind when we transitioned our babies to the crib. The idea behind a crib sensor is that it detects baby’s movements and breathing. If baby does not have any movement in a certain amount of time, an alarm is triggered right away so you know something’s wrong. It is a plate that you sit underneath of the crib mattress that fits perfectly under the mattress. We love the Babysense 7 monitor– it has lasted us through 3 babies and has been incredibly reliable. For anxious moms-this is a must!
Floor Seat:
We absolutely love a good floor seat as your baby grows and begins to learn to sit upright. There are many floor seats on the market, but we love this Fisher-Price floor seat. It is stable so my wiggly babies could not tip the seat over no matter how much they wiggled and thrashed, and I love that the fabric on the outside can be removed and washed. We use ours all the time-from sitting baby at the dinner table to taking baby outside and sitting them in the grass. It’s a necessity for sure!
Play Yard:
As soon as baby starts getting mobile, you’re going to find that you want something to keep them contained not only for their safety, but for your sanity as well! We put up a play yard in our family room so we could place the baby inside with some toys. The play yard allowed them mobile time in a safe place, and we could keep our dogs out and they wouldn’t trample over said baby. We like the Summer Infant play yard because we could take it outside as well. With a canopy we were able to protect the baby from the sun. Definitely a must so you can safely allow your baby to be mobile!
Vaporizer and Vapor Rub:
Now, I may be old-school here with this item, or maybe it was just beat into my brain from my own mother, but we use Vicks BabyRub and VapoRub for everything! In our house, whenever there’s a sniffle or a sneeze, we’re slapping on the Vicks to help clear the sinuses. This works great in conjunction with the Vaporizer at night-especially during the winter months when colds run rampant. We use Vicks so much in our house that my son sometimes tells stories to his “guys” saying they need Vicks to help them breathe!
Well, there you have it! This one mom’s opinions of what works best and what to pass on. Buying for a new mom or even looking at bulking up your baby registry can be a daunting task, so hopefully this list helps clarify your decisions!
