Things I Love, Baby Edition {The First 2 Months}

Before Blair was born, I was a little overwhelmed with deciding which baby items she’d like or not like. Especially when it came to registering for her – so many options! I also learned that when it comes to baby shower gifts, other mamas will give you things that worked for them (which is so appreciated, since a first-time mom has no idea what might work!). Now that it’s been pretty much eight weeks (has it really?!), I have a pretty good idea of things that are working (and a few that did not work) for us.

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1. Halo Swaddle. This thing is a LIFESAVER. The hospital put her in one of these, and I wanted so badly to take it with us, but we had to leave it. Sigh. I had one at home, but it wasn’t a newborn size, it was a size one – 13lbs+ – so I knew that wouldn’t work for quite some time. My mom ended up grabbing us a newborn one on Day 5, and we haven’t looked back. She sleeps in it every single night…so you can imagine how frequently I have to do laundry. If she’s fussy, it instantly calms her down, and she’s very fidgety, so it keeps her from moving her arms and waking herself up at night.

As for what didn’t work for us – the Summer Infant SwaddleMe. We tried this on her first night at home, and she fought it so badly and it basically didn’t keep her arms contained. We honestly haven’t tried it again since, because the Halo Swaddle is working so well for us. I think if you have a baby who doesn’t move like crazy, the SwaddleMe might work, but Blair moves constantly and the Halo Swaddle is snug enough to keep her arms inside!

2. Fisher-Price Snug-a-Monkey Swing. I had this on the registry, but hadn’t intended on buying one unless we happened to receive it as a gift – just because I felt it wasn’t necessary and would take up space. Well, we learned our lesson around Day 6 – there was just nothing that would calm her crying, and she’d scream when we put her in the car seat, too – so we had started swinging/rocking the car seat gently to calm her down…and it worked. We realized she really liked the swinging motion, so again my mom came to the rescue and we went to Target to pick up the swing. It works miracles. She does so well that she’s been sleeping in it instead of the Rock ‘n Play (which she rarely will nap in anymore).

3. Huggies Snugglers Diapers. We had a variety of diapers given to us as gifts, and some we’d picked up on sale – and we’ve tried them all. I’d always heard great things about Pampers Swaddlers, and we didn’t hate them, but we LOVE Huggies Snugglers. We had also gotten some Luvs as a gift, and I hadn’t planned to use that brand at all, but we tested them out and they weren’t awful. I wouldn’t buy them myself, though. We also tried Pampers Baby Dry (we had picked some up on sale), which to me, seemed just like Luvs…so I wouldn’t buy them again. We had gotten some Huggies Snugglers newborn diapers as a gift, and we ended up loving them. We had purchased a box of size ones as well, and so far, they’re by far our favorite. If I’m being honest, Blair has had a blowout in each of the four types of diapers we’ve tried (so I can’t say any brand in particular can prevent that), but overall, the quality and fit of Huggies Snugglers has been the best.

4. Pampers Sensitive Wipes. Ironically, though I prefer Huggies diapers, I actually like Pampers wipes better! We tried both, and the Huggies Natural Care wipes were not moist enough in my opinion. I like that the Pampers Sensitive Wipes have more moisture, so they work best for us.

5. BOB Stroller. Before we were even pregnant, I knew I wanted a BOB Stroller when we had a baby. As a runner, I’ve seen them many times before in races I’ve run, and heard great things about them. Since running is one of my favorite things, I definitely wanted a way to bring Blair along when I work out. Being the practical, sometimes minimalistic, people we are, we decided that the BOB was the only stroller we needed – it wasn’t necessary to have a second stroller that was only for walking. We ended up getting the BOB and the car seat adapter for the Britax B-Safe car seat, and it’s been great so far. We’ve used the stroller for running, walking and browsing the aisles at Target, among other places. It’s so versatile, easy to use, and easy to fold up. It does take up quite a bit of space in our Ford Edge, so I can’t imagine how much space it’d take up in a car – but if you take the wheels off (super easy to do), it fits a little better. It’s just been super convenient to have only one stroller, and it’s nice to not have more baby equipment sitting around!

6. Aden and Anais Swaddle Blankets. While we don’t actually swaddle Blair in these (she’s way too fidgety and strong to stay in them), we use them to keep her warm while she’s in her car seat or napping in the Rock ‘n Play or Swing. I’m super paranoid about letting any cloth get too close to her face, so I do like that these are light and breathable. They’re also soft and seem to keep her warm, despite how lightweight they are.

7. Nuk Pacifiers. Honestly, pacifiers have been a struggle for Blair. She rarely will take them, and I originally didn’t even want her to try them at all. However, after listening to her crying constantly, I kind of hoped she’d like pacifiers at least some of the time. For the longest time, my mom was the only person who could get her to take it, but now she’s a little more willing to take a pacifier…but still only about 25% of the time. They’re definitely not her favorite, but the only type she’ll even consider has been Nuk brand. The Soothie that she had in the hospital didn’t work at all, and she doesn’t like the Dr. Brown’s pacifiers at all (luckily, we got a TON of those as gifts…ha). We actually got a Nuk pacifier free with one of our baby registries (I think it was Babies ‘R Us), and she liked that one best. We found two more of those that we’d gotten as a gift, so we’ve been keeping one upstairs, one downstairs and one in her diaper bag…just to cover all our bases.

There are probably a ton more things I could list that are working/not working, but these are our most used favorites so far! I’m sure that’ll change frequently as she continues to grow 😉

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