mahrinawrenn's Prep for Baby Collection on LTK

Prep for Baby

By mahrinawrenn

A list of all things baby that I have & love, or wish I did, that got me through the first year!

Having a newborn can be really stressful because you’re constantly making sure they’re breathing and okay. One little noise and your heart starts racing. The Owlet sock truly helped me sleep so much better. I was able to see Greyson’s O2 levels and HR, knowing that he was doing okay. If something was not normal then you will get alerted with a sound. For a monitor, we ended up getting a Google Nest cam and used an old IPhone. Don’t make that mistake, because you will realize that the phone will die after about an hour of having the livestream on unless plugged in. I wish I would have purchased the Hubble monitor instead. Actual baby monitors can last so long because they run off a lithium battery. Babies nails grow sooo fast so you need a good pair of nail clippers. The Frida Baby ones work great and have a little opening where you can see if you have ONLY the baby’s nail and no skin. Even still, they will scratch themselves. Don’t get any mittens that are just elastic because basically every baby can wiggle them off. The Goumi ones have a velcro strap so they actually stay on even the most active baby. For the first couple months baby’s lie on their back a lot. To prevent a flat spot on the back of their head, you can get a little pillow with an indention in it to prevent that from happening. As your baby starts to get teeth, the Babyganics and Dr. Talbot’s gel is great for comforting their gums. The Dr. Brown’s Pacidose helps baby take medicine more easily. This one in particular is nice because it has two different nipple shapes depending on which your little one is used to. Once baby is big enough to crawl/walk, you need to cover the outlets and lock your cabinets. The Bink covers we got are so sleek and pretty, and no way can your little one get it out! For the cabinets, you can get magentic locks from Amazon. There’s nothing showing on the outside of your cabinet, just the inside. You use a little magnet to open the door once everything is installed. No more ugly locks on the outside. No one would know they’re there!

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TOYS TOYS TOYS!! Do they need them when they’re super young? Yes. Do they need a whole bunch? No. Toys are great teaching tool for babies. They help improve muscle and eye coordination among many other things. The black and white book is something newborns love because of the contrast in color. It’s perfect to sit out during tummy time. Baby’s love to hold on to things & it’s a bonus if it makes sound. Some of my favorites: Mombella mushroom, Skip Hop corn maracas, Bright Stars rattle, & Manhattan Toy rattle/teether. The teething egg and Infantino carrot are great for teething! Baby Einstein has a great little sensory toy that will keep baby occupied forever. You’ll want to eventually take toys with you when you go places, and they will definitely be thrown. To prevent that, grab some toy secure straps. The Skip Hop Bee works wonders when encouraging baby to crawl. It moves around like a Roomba! The little ‘dog walking’ toy is super cute to attach to the stroller to keep baby busy on walks. For a playmat, we tried a couple and didn’t like any of them. I realized by the time he had outgrown them, that a simple one is better- less stimulating & more relaxing. The Aden and Anais and Lovevery ones would have been ones I would have considered. If there’s one thing I wish I had done from the beginning, it’s get a subsscription to Lovevery. They send you toys every couple months that correspond to baby’s age. The toys are all educational and help develop skills that are being worked on at each specific age. All of the toys have a purpose and aren’t just for fun, but for learning too!

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Whether you’re trying to save space in the closet or you want a fancier, the felt baby hangers from Amazon are perfect & come in so many colors. I found some matching velevet clips at BuyBuyBaby to hang pants on. The Yogasleep Dohm has two settings (high or low), and then you can twist it to make it more muted if you’d like. It really helps to have one of these so that baby stays asleep even if there are loud noises around the house. We LOVE the crib mattress we bought. It has one side that is breathable for baby to sleep on and the flip side is waterproof for toddlers. Cloud Island at Target is one of my favorite brands if you haven’t already figured that out😂. Our curtains and crib fitted sheets are both Cloud Island. The curtains are blackout (actually keep it dark), great quality, and durable. The fitted sheets have withstood many washes with no pilling and have a great fit.

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$So I fell in love with the whole acrylic theme when I was pregnant. I became obssessed with the sloane crib from Pottery Barn Baby, but it just wasn’t in our budget. I did a lot of searching and found one super similar, but more affordable. It was from Wayfair, and they had the matching dresser w/ table top changer too. The drawers are soft close and have velvet inside in the top two. Super fancy for a fraction of the cost! The rocking chair I got from my registry turned out not to be the best option. It’s a rocker/glider/recliner. Sounds amazing, but it’s not very functional. You can’t recline the chair at all and still be able to rock which is pretty pointless with a baby. Usually you rock them to sleep and then put them into their bed. Even if you did use the recliner part, it takes a lot of effort to keep it in that position. INSTEAD, I wish I would have gotten an actual wooden rocking chair. There truly is nothing better or more comfortable. It may not be the prettiest thing, but being more comfortable and easier to rock is important to me. The acrylic bookshelves were from Amazon (a great dupe to the PB ones). We went with a star/cloud theme so the star lamp from Target was a perfect match. The hanging clouds were also from there, but I couldn’t find a link to it. The rest of the items were not linkable. The two pictures, wreath, letter, little babe cave sign, and cloud shelves were all from Hobby Lobby. The acrylic side table came from Homegoods, so no link sorry! #LTKfamily #LTKbaby #LTKbump$

FRIDA FRIDA FRIDA EVERYTHING. You need it all!! Huge Frida fan over here. The postpartum line they have will seriously help you through that time in a milliom ways. I had a system and it made me feel good. The kit has disposable brief underwear that you’ll be wearing for a bit, instant ice maxi pads, perineal cooling liners, perineal healing foam, & the box it all comes in doubles as a storage caddy!! You can buy the peri bottle with the kit on Amazon (cheaper when you bundle). The bottle works best if you fill it with warm water before going to the bathroom each time. One thing I didn’t know after giving birth, is just how sore you are sitting. I had to have my mom get a cheap donut ring to sit on before I left the hospital HAHA. The Frida one looks 10x better than the one I had. You’ll definitely need one in the first week. I did run out of the instant ice maxi pads and briefs, so I would recommend getting some extras ahead of time.

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These are just some miscellaneous items that I feel like didn’t fit into one of the categories. My personal favorite & clean options for washing clothes are Dreft Pure detergent, Seventh Generation baby detergent, and the Dreft laundry stain remover. Once baby starts eating solids I would switch to a normal stain remover because that stuff just doesn’t help much when it comes to food, only milk/spit up. Always make sure that there is a mattress pad cover on the surface of your baby’s bed. It’s so much easier to clean if there’s an accident. We currently use and love the two that I have linked here. The storage bin that I got from Target was what I had at each area of the house to make my little ‘baby station’ in. I kept one on my bedside table, the living room, and the nursery. I think it’s extremely helpful to have a bin that is waterproof in case of a spill or something!

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When it comes to gear, there were a lot of things that I wish I would have purchased instead of what I did. The biggest thing I wish I would have done was get an electronic bassinet. We got a fancy pack n play to use as a bassinet in our bedroom and it just didn’t work as well as I’d hoped. It was bulky, hard to move around, and didn’t have any sort of soothing mechanism like all our other things we put him in during the day. There were so many times in the middle of the night that he was fussy & a little vibration or movement of the bed would have put him right back to sleep, buuuttt ours didn’t do anything:/ I would buy the Fisher Price Luminate bassinet if I could do it over. We were given the 4Moms Mamaroo and it worked great, but it wasn’t convenient to move around the house. The Munckin or Maxi Cosi swing would have been really nice to have instead. The Ingenuity one is nice because you can rotate the seat itself to sideways facing! The Fisher Price jumperoo was a HIT with our baby. I mena you couldn’t get him out of that thing for a long time. The Skip Hop jumper is a more expensive one that I liked as well but opted for the cheaper one. The BabyBjorn carrier was so helpful for carrying baby as a newborn and for the first few months. YOU NEED A BOUNCER SEAT. It is the easiest thing to move baby around the house in. The deisgn of the BabyBjorn & Baby Delight is nice because babies can sit up in it (at the point they’re physically able to), but also works when they’re newborns as well. It’s just a great position for them to be in to learn about their environment. If you’re thinking at this point, “Why do I need a swing and a bouncer?” My reasoning is that a bouncer can be put on a counter or folded and brought with you somewhere or outside because it doesn’t need plugged in & is compact, while a swing. The last thing I would recommend is the Dockatot & accessories. I debated between that & the SnuggleMe and ultimately went with the SnuggleMe. It sucked because it had no surface under the middle where baby laid. So it had to be set on something soft.

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If I were to try breastfeeding again, I would 100% invest in the Willow or Elvie. It would allow me to do all the things I meed to do throughout my day without having to be stuck plugged in somewhere. When it came to bottles, I wanted something that mimicked the breast. My mom had used Avent bottles when I was a baby, and I loved the reviews and science behind them. It was an easy choice that I still don’t regret today. Greyson has loved them since day one. The thing that most new moms don’t know is that you have to buy all different size nipples for every single bottle. The Avent bottles come with size 2. Most newborns use size 1 or 0. With that said, I would make sure to put nipples on your registry! The sizes go all the way up to size 5 (which is fast flow). If you do end up formula feeding, I 1000000% suggest getting the Baby Brezza!!!! We call it our baby keurig haha!! It makes baby bottles with just the touch of a button. No more bubbly, unmixed bottles that make baby’s stomach all upset. We kept it on our bedside table the first couple months & it was life changing. A boppy is a must whether you are breastfeeding or bottle feeding. When it comes to pacifiers, every baby is different, but I truly love the Avent Ultra-Air pacis. They don’t leave a ring around baby’s mouth and let’s them get optimal air flow. I have wayyyy too many Ryan and Rose paci clips than I’d like to admit!! They are the cutest things in the world and GREAT quality. Just make sure when cleanign them not to get the metal clip part too wet because it can rust. For cleaning bottles & accessories, Boon is where it’s at!! Their drying lawn w/ tree hook is a staple in the kitchen. The brushes with holder is super cute and will fit in with your kitchen aesthetic while also being super functional for cleaning. I would recommend lokking at your dishwasher to see if you have a sanitizer setting. If you do, don’t bother handwashing anything (just pacifiers). The Boon dishwashing basket is great to hold everything in to wash. Babyganics soap is great for when you do handwash something!

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When you have a baby there is literally no such thing as too many burp cloths/bibs. My favorite burp cloths are the Gerber or Cloud Island ones. They are just the right size and material to soak everything up. Green Sprouts has these ‘milk catcher’ bibs that are the greatest. So many bibs are usless because they miss half of the milk that actually goes down baby’s neck, but these bad boys do not! The Copper Pearl bandana bibs work better when baby is at least 3/4 months old. They are a bit big until then. Super fashionable with so many different print options and work very well. Kost babies start to eat solid foods around 4/5 months old. The Cloud Island soft spoons were our favorite when starting out. The Munchkin and Skip Hop ones were perfect too. As baby gets older, the NumNum utensils are perfect transtion to real ones. We bought the Ingenuity high chair to match our kitchen chairs and love it! My style has changed a bit, and I would probably get the clear Munchkin one now if I could. We also have the Inglesina Table Chair. It’s great if you have an island ir heavy duty table (space saver for sure). The last thing I’d like to rave over is the Bumkins sleeved bibs. They make meal time for self-feeding babies less messy = less stressful for mama.

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You can never go wrong with the traditional changing pad. Throw a cute cover on it and voila. I think I would have liked to splurge on the Hatch Baby Grow Smart Changing Pad/Scale when I was getting everything for Greyson. There were so many times that I wanted to know how much he weighed to make sure he was on track and trying to do it on a normal scale with all the subtracting was just too much haha. Being able to just wipe it off and not worry about a cover is also a plus. For the first few months, you’re most likely not going to be changing baby in the nursery. It’ll probably be on the bed, couch, or floor if you’re anything like me. We got the Cloud Island changing pad liners and kept some in each area of the house for diaper changes. In each diaper changing area we had we always had: Babyganics hand sanitizer, Burts Bees diaper cream, Tush Swiper attachment, & baby poop bags. If you’re looking for a wipe warmer, I highly recommend the Hiccapop one. I did a ton of research and this one by far had the best reviews. For best results, pour water & some lavender essential oil on with the wipes. Baby will be very happy!! Pampers Pure Diapers have been the only diapers we have ever used and love them. We RARELY had blowouts (maybe 2), and they hold a lot of pee. The Aqua Pure wipes are great for sensitive skin babies! The last thing I want to talk about is diaper pails. You NEED the Ubbi. We originally had a Diaper Genie, but it smelled sooo bad even when closed. I had no clue that plastic was porous and metal is not. The Ubbi is metal and the Diaper Genie is plastic. Save yourself the trouble and start out with the Ubbi Diaper Pail & you will have no smell when the pail is closed & bonus: you can use regular trash bags!

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This diaper bag is my favvvvee😍. I made the mistake of getting a diaper bag that just went over my shoulder and it sucked. ALWAYS ALWAYS get one that is a backpack style. You will thank me & yoursel! The goldbug shopping cart cover/highchair cover is so cute & functional. I love the fact that it’s a 2-in-1. If you are formula feeding the Skip Hop formula holder works great and stores formula for 3 bottles. I always just kept it filled before we left the house. The Baby’s Brew is freaking awesome!!! Definitely worth the investment. It has 3 different temperatures that you can warm your formula or breastmilk up to. It makes life 10x easier when your out and about trying to find warm water for babys bottle. I always keep a wet/dry bag in the diaper bag filled with a spare outfit. The inside of it is waterproof and easily cleaned. If baby had a blowout I just threw it in there until we got back home. For diaper changing on the go: babyganics mini hand sanitizer, baby poop bags, & a reusable wipe container w/strap are all essentials for us. At the point your baby is eating food, you’ll want to keep a silicone bib in the diaper bag. It’s super easy to clean off and can fold right up.

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Baby mirrors are horrible because you can’t see your baby unless you take your eyes completely off the road to focus on them in the rearview mirror. Even then you can’t see them when it’s dark out. This baby camera that we got from amazon is probably the best find ever. It’s only $40, sticks to your windshield or your dash, & has nightvision. It’s so nuc to be able and look at the screen for like 1 sec to see if my baby is sleeping or not. Highly recommend!! For car windows, having a shade that is adjustable in shape is nice because most windows are not rectangles/squares. They usally get shorter on one end and the brica one allows you to customize it to yours. The fan I found on amazon and it has legs that bend and wrap around anything (and actually stays in place). We used it on the infant car seat and attched it to the stroller. It’s rechargable with a USB & holds a charge for a long time. Speaking of the car seat, I love Copper Pearl and everything they make, including the car seat cover. It’s perfect for spring/summer/fall to gove baby maximum shade and privacy to sleep. We use the Aden and Anais muslin blankets during the warmer months to keep baby warm in the car seat and stroller. Lightweight and sooo many cute prints. For napping on the go, the Skip Hop noise machine worked great to soothe him to sleep & it straps on to the handle of the car seat/stroller. We use it when we stay the night somewhere too. Lastly, a simple pack n play is all you need when traveling. The graco one gets the job done. To make it a little more comfortable you can get a firmemory foam mattress from amazon. We used this starting at about 2 months old and he slept sooo well. No one wants to sleep on the thinly padded, hard mattress that comes with pack n plays.

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