Mommy Favorites: 0-3 Months

Probably to no one's surprise, I did a TON of research before registering for baby gear. There are just a million choices for everything and just so much STUFF.... do we really need everything? The best thing I did was send out a mass email to all my recent mom friends. I hoped for a few responses, but got a ton of very detailed responses back instead! I was very thankful for all the input and put everything into a spreadsheet (again, no one is surprised, especially my mom. My life is a spreadsheet!) This spreadsheet has since gained a life of it's own and has been passed on to mom expecting moms down the line.

Now I that I have a couple of months under my belt wearing the mom title, I thought I'd write up my favorite things - both as a resource for my friends who are expecting, and for my own memory sake. I know basically none of this stuff was around when I was born so it'll be funny to look back someday and look at what I used.

So here goes!

First up is something that was super indispensable to me, especially during my maternity leave: Nolan's Swing. Nolan took almost all his naps here for his first 3 months of life. He loved it from day 1 and we could often put him in there wide awake and just have the rocking motion lull him to sleep.

Snugabunny Swing

Next on the list is Nolan's Gym. This was hands down his favorite toy for the longest time. He'd lay content on his back and bat at the toys and kick his legs like crazy for a long time, allowing mommy to get other things done around the house!

Baby Einstein Gym

Speaking of getting things done around the house, the Moby Wrap was indispensable for this! Nolan loved being wrapped close to mommy and would often fall asleep, while I was able to walk around the house or take deaner for a walk. I also bought an Ergo carrier, which I used a bit, but will probably come in handy more as he grows heavier and we take more hikes.

Moby Wrap

Another item I used daily was my trusty breast pump. The hospital lactation consultant highly recommended I rent their hospital grade pump at the beginning since they said most commercial grade pumps can't keep up with pumping that often. I noticed no difference in the pumps and actually prefer my Medela now so I think the month rental was unnecessary - lesson learned. I still use this every day and it allowed me to build up a giant (but now withering) supply of frozen milk before going back to work.

Medela Freestyle

Along this same theme, these storage bags and milk organizer were essential in keeping everything labelled and organized in the freezer. I tried a few types of bags and the lansinoh were by far my favorite. The organizer doesn't hold a super large amount of bags, but i'd use it squish the bags flat then use the top as another column of bags, then the oldest bags (they were all labeled by pump date) would get stored in gallon-sized ziplocks by date.

Storage Bags

Milk Organizer

For feeding, I got both the boppy pillow and my brest friend pillow - it was actually great to have one upstairs in the glider and one downstairs for feedings. Overall for breastfeeding, I preferred the my brest friend pillow. It is a more solid surface to prop baby in place and lets mom have better posture, saving your back. However, I would still recommend boppy for propping baby up on the ground and a good place to sit baby on your lap.

Nursing Pillow

Night time essential: Halo sleep sacks! It's not considered safe to leave blankets in the crib with a baby so these wearable blankets are the best. Nolan was never a big fan of swaddling (he always loved to have his hands free) so just the regular sacks were what we used every night. He would wear sleeper PJs underneath, which seemed to provide just the right amount of warmth.

Sleep sack

For sleeping, we'd close Nolan's blackout curtains, put on a fan for some white noise, and also use his trusty sleep sheep. I particularly like the rain sound. It lasts for 45 minutes, and I think really helps him fall off to sleep. 

Sleep Sheep

Bottles: We bought 2 types of bottles (Avent and Medela), and ended up preferring the Medela. I felt that the Avent let the milk come out faster, which resulted in Nolan choking a few times and extra spillage. I didn't venture into the fancier types (like Dr Browns) although I heard they were good since they have tons of extra parts that I didn't want to be responsible for cleaning!

Bottles

Speaking of bottle and pump part cleaning, this next item is a MUST HAVE. I can't tell you how many times I've used the Medela quick clean bags. They are so easy - just pop in the microwave and out come sterilized bottles. I use them for way longer than the recommended 10 times too.

Sterilizing Bags

For big ticket items, we've enjoyed our carseat - it was able to grow with Nolan and we are still using it at 5 months. It easily snaps in and out of the base and into our caddy frame stroller. I used the frame stroller pretty much exclusively during 0-3 months - it is extremely light and easy to use. We also bought the city mini GT, that I tried a few times, but he's still a bit small for it. I see us using this stroller more exclusively soon.

Car Seat

Stroller

Items we didn't really use/like

• Bottle warmer. Not necessary - Nolan takes his bottles fine at room temp.
• Pacifiers. Nolan was never a fan, although he semi-likes Mr. Toutou the pacimal.
• Swaddling blankets. Nolan wasn't a swaddle fan so these weren't really necessary. We do use the Aden and Anais blankets for everything though!
• Burp cloths. Nolan doesn't spit up very much. We use bibs much more often, but more after the 0-3 month phase when he's now teething!
• Bouncy chair. We actually used the bouncy chair a ton - we have one upstairs and one downstairs. Our bouncy chair matches our swing and the one thing I don't like about it is that there's not much to do in it - not many toys. If I were to register again, I'd choose one with a better toy rack and not worry if it matches the swing. Although again, the baby doesn't even notice the toys until after 2 months or so.

That's all that comes to mind now. I will hopefully write another one for 3-6 months since Nolan has really changed as far as what he can interact with and sit in. We're getting a lot of use from the exersaucer and swing these days as well as his toys!