Newborn Basics

Soon after we brought Olivia home from the NICU, we began to realize what products were absolutely necessary to our every day routine and what ones we could do without.

Swaddling Wraps
We received several of those Swaddle/Sleep Sack wraps that velcro into place to keep baby swaddled. This is an alternative if you’re dumb like me and just can’t get the regular blanket folded correctly so the baby is swaddled. We had probably 4 or 5 of these in various colors, designs and shapes. There are two downsides to having a ton of these on hand:
1.) If your newborn is too big or too small to fit into them (even with the sizes they offer)
2.) If your newborn doesn’t like to be swaddled
I know that number 2 sounds weird, what newborn doesn’t like to be swaddled? Well, mine. Her personality, since birth, is that she doesn’t like to be tangled up in blankets and wants her limbs, especially her arms, free. We also had issues because even the small sizes were way too big for Olivia. She was 3lbs, 15oz when we brought her home from the NICU and once she’d gained enough weight to even fit into one of these, she didn’t want to be wrapped up in it because she was a month old and totally over the whole swaddling thing. My advice is if you want one, get just one and see how the baby does before purchasing more.

Diapers and Wipes
The day my water broke we didn’t have a package of diapers or wipes in the house. She came so early we were ill-prepared; the nursery still had all of my baby shower gifts strewn all over the floor, we had the room painted and it had furniture, but that was it. We didn’t have bottles, baby wash or even a thermometer. We still thought we had 6 weeks to get the small things that I didn’t receive at my baby shower.
We soon learned as we visited Olivia in the NICU that she wasn’t wearing normal sized newborn diapers. The ones they gave her in the NICU were Pampers Swaddlers Preemie and they fit her perfectly. When we got home we tried other brands of preemie or newborn and they all leaked. As she grew bigger and her legs got chunkier we switched to Pampers Swaddlers Newborn. At that point I decided to try other brands again; Huggies, Luvs, Target, Costco, etc. as they were all cheaper. Every single one of them leaked. What I thought was weird was that a lot of my mommy friends swore by Huggies and said they were the best diapers ever. I guess it was at that point I realized that just like underwear or pants for adults, every diaper fits every baby differently depending on their size. Olivia’s legs were so thin when she was little that the Huggies diapers just bulged on her, causing leaks. As she grew bigger and bigger and went through the sizes (1, 2 and now 3), Pampers have always fit her the best. I can’t really say if there’s a winner for best diaper, because I honestly believe that it’s what fits your kid.

I do however believe there’s a winner for best Baby Wipe. My friend once told me that “Pampers are the best diapers, but Huggies by far have the best wipes.” After trying about three different brands of wipes, I’d have to agree with her. Huggies are the most durable and are quilted, so they seem to “absorb” more. They also smell better and you can buy a gigantic pack of 1,000 at Costco for around $23.

Burp Cloths
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I registered for all sorts of cute and pretty burp cloths, but our most favorite find for newborn to nine months are cloth diapers. You can get a 6 or 12 pack of Gerber brand at Target for $10-$15. They’re durable, absorbent (meaning less gets on YOUR clothes) and also a good teething item once they’re older.

Newborn Clothing
I also mentioned in an earlier post that Olivia had a closet full of clothes when she came home from the NICU – none of which she could actually wear because she was so small. One of our greatest finds for preemies and some good information for mom’s with regular newborns is the Gerber Clothing line. Their sizes run extremely small, which lucky for us, allowed Olivia to fit into their newborn size. Their newborn sizes were smaller than any preemie clothing we picked up along the way. Their onesies were perfect for her. So for moms with regular sized newborns, don’t buy the Gerber newborn size because it will be way too small.

Bottle Warmer/Cooler
Feeding a newborn every 2-3 hours is insanely exhausting, especially if you bottle feed and have a two-story home. Going downstairs to heat up a bottle when you feel like a zombie is not fun. After we were home with Olivia for a few days, I couldn’t take going downstairs at night anymore, so we went to BabiesRUs to purchase a bottle warmer/cooler. We bought a First Years Bottle Warmer that also had a place in the back to hold an ice pack. This allowed us to keep two bottles in the cooler section from 12am – 6am and then heat them when she was ready to eat. For the most part this is a great invention; it has little vials of water that hook on the side. When you’re ready to heat up the bottle you turn it on and pour in a vial of water. The vial of water has to be filled up to certain points depending on how much milk/formula you’re heating up. The directions would say that if you’re heating “X” amount of ounces, fill the water line up to “6.” Whenever we followed the directions, it never worked. So we began testing it and seeing what worked for us. Randomly we’d have the bottle heat up and formula would come out of the nipple and dribble down the side of the bottle, causing the warmer to burn on the bottom. We think this is attributed to the type of bottles we used, but we’re not sure. Either way, a bottle warmer/cooler is a must-have. I never thought I would use it, but it ended up being a staple of her nighttime feedings.

Seats
One of our most favorite things was our Infant Seat. It’s different than a Bouncer Seat because it doesn’t bounce and ours was around 2-3 feet tall, so we could pull it up to the bed or the couch and it would be at the same level as us. It’s similar to this one, but ours was taller and it was much more solid with legs thick like a high chair. During her first month as a newborn, she spent a lot of time during the day in this and once she couldn’t sleep flat on her back due to her GERD, she ended up spending most of the night in it too.

In addition to an infant seat, I purchased a simple Bright Starts $25 bouncer seat off of Amazon after I spent two weeks at home alone (during the day) with Olivia. The infant seat was big and bulky and not realistic to carry up and downstairs every day when I needed to shower or do laundry. The Bright Starts bouncer was inexpensive and AWESOME. She’s 20lbs right now and we still use it on top of the counter when my husband and I both need to get ready at the same time. The grippers on the bottom are great and no matter how big and how strong she is, she can’t even get the thing to slide a centimeter. This is a must-have for new parents, especially if you want to take a shower and have no one to stay with the baby.