As the arrival of baby number two draws near, I am revisiting what is essential for newborn babies. By way of stuff, I would describe our style of parenthood as mostly minimalist. And yet, we’ve had our battles with the constant consumerist pitch. How can you not? There is a new iteration of nearly all baby products we’ve purchased less than a year and a half ago. We’ve decided to make do with what we have instead of upgrading. Sure, for a few baby essentials we’ve decided to double down. But for the most part, we will be taking Casey’s things and reusing. And he will have to practice at a young age how to make do without. As for the rest, I will be decluttering to make space. Here are a few baby essentials that in my opinion are necessary to have.
A Note to First Time Moms:
You don’t need much to make a happy home. Just the bare necessities and a community of people who loves your child. They don’t even necessarily have to be related to you by blood. I have never felt like I failed my kid by providing less material goods. My son has grown up to be a joyful and happy boy. Running in the grass and finding birds in the sky is his favorite past-time. Sure, a soccer ball or a pack of bubbles makes it more joyous. But I can say with certainty that it isn’t a requirement of his. All of this to assure you that choosing to provide less doesn’t necessarily make your child’s life less adequate. If anything, it creates space for more creativity, contentment, quality time, and gratitude. I know I have my biases, but at the end of the day this is what works for us. And every mom should be empowered to do what works for their family. Without further ado, my baby essentials, revisited.
Baby Essentials, Revisited
+ Diapers: We used cloth diapers exclusively for the first six months of Casey’s life before he started on solids. It was fairly easy to do with a washer and dryer at home. More importantly, it saved us money and it reduced environmental waste. And now that we have a second on the way, it pays back in two-fold. Our cloth diapers come from Esembly, and the size 1’s lasted six months. If you want to continue using cloth diapers after starting solids, they sell size 2’s. These worked for my mom friend until her baby was over 1 year old. You can read about my experience with cloth diapering here and decide if it’s truly right for you.
+ Wipes: We’ve always used disposable wipes for Casey, out of convenience. Since we traveled often, the disposable wipes served better. I have always chosen Burt’s Bees wipes. To cut costs and waste, we cut the wipes in half when he was a newborn. We stored the cut wipes in this Ubbi Wipes Holder so they didn’t dry out.
+ Car seat: I think car seats and strollers go without saying. We have tried multiple car seats (4 en total). For the newborn phase, we loved the Nuna Pipa RX. It clicked in and out of a base and we could leave baby asleep in the car seat when needed. Eventually, though, they have to transition out of that. Our son grew out of it quickly. The car seat we liked the best is the Nuna REVV Rotating Convertible Carseat. If you want to go the minimalist route, skip Pipa RX and go with the REVV. It comes with an infant insert for the newborn babies. Just be ready to transition baby into a crib if they fall asleep during a car ride.
+ Stroller: We have the Uppababy Cruz V2 stroller and we are sticking with it for the second one. It doesn’t convert to a double stroller, but I don’t think we need one even with a 19 month age gap. We actually did consider buying a double stroller but I find them heavy and bulky. We’ve compromised by choosing the Piggy Back Stroller Board attachment. Casey is now able to walk, but at least we have an option for when he gets tired. We also own the Doona Liki Trike, which I highly recommend for toddlers. It is light-weight, travel-friendly, and much cheaper than a new stroller.
+ Swaddles: You don’t need much for swaddling. The muslin types worked alright but for us the velcro swaddles were better. One or two of the velcro swaddles was more than enough. Laundry runs aplenty during those early months, and you aren’t changing the swaddles every night.
+ Feeding Supplies: I thought I would breastfeed entirely for at least 6 months. But Casey had other plans. We ended up doing half formula, half breastmilk for 3 months, and then switching to 100% formula after that. That being said, I don’t know what I would have done without my Baby Brezza Formula Dispenser. Mike and I say it’s the best gift we received from the baby shower. It was a godsend during those late night feedings. For bottles we stuck with Dr. Brown’s bottles. My favorite bottle brush was Booni’s Cactus Brush Set and we used Oxo Tot’s Drying Rack.
+ Clothes: I have yet to buy clothes for Casey, and I plan to do the same for my second. We are fortunate enough to have a great Buy Nothing group. A majority of our baby items were supplied through there, clothes non-exempt. I wrote about utilizing your local Buy Nothing group to save money here. FACT: Newborns don’t need shoes (in California). And you can avoid socks and mittens if you stick to footie pajamas with hand covers. You can make do with one jacket. We mostly kept Casey in the stroller or car seat with a blanket over him when we went out.
+ A snot sucker: Hear me out. This is one of the baby items that you won’t know you need until you do. Our son got the cold a few times during the winter months, and this snot sucker alleviated him so well! He was able to sleep better after using it. I found it way more useful than a diaper balm (which we barely used). Unfortunately, there was no other good way to relieve a plugged up nose.
Nice to Have
+ Sound Machine: We went out a lot with Casey. The sound machine helped him stay asleep while we stayed social. To this day, he uses a sound machine. It is one of the few baby items we doubled up on for baby number two.
+ Diaper Bag: For our family, a diaper bag is necessary. We have used this diaper bag almost every day of Casey’s life. We like to go on family adventures, out to the park or to coffee shops and restaurants. At almost 18 months old, we take it to his gym and swim classes, to stores and play dates. Of course you can always make do without by substituting a tote bag. Especially if you love to spend quality time at home with your newborn.
+ Bottle Washer, Sterilizer and Dryer: This second go-around, we were generously gifted the Baby Brezza Bottle Washer, Sterilizer and Dryer. I have already run it a few times to sterilize Casey’s bottles for baby number two. It works so well and saves a TON of time. I wouldn’t necessarily call it essential, but it’s nice to have.
And that’s about it for the newborn stage. When Casey was born, we lived in a small space. We didn’t even have a crib until we moved out of that home. We were gifted the Baby Bassinet of my dreams. I will be using the same bassinet for the next one. But to be honest, you don’t really need one. Many parents co-sleep or put them in the crib straight away.
I like to compare to what I thought I needed before becoming a mom. You can check out my minimalist curated registry for my first born here. Obviously today’s newborn essentials list is more pared down. That’s because the baby registry was with our son’s first year in mind. And to be honest, there are a few items on my original list that I didn’t actually need. Here are the items on the original registry that we rarely used:
- Chicco Alfa Lite Travel Play Yard – we mostly used a crib in hotels when we traveled.
- Baby Bjorn Mini Carrier – I preferred pushing the stroller. I had an emergency C-section and couldn’t carry a baby in front of me.
- Hatch Rest 2nd Gen – we didn’t even open it. We returned it and made do with a travel sound machine.
- Humidifier – He was born in April and we felt it unnecessary to run the humidifier.
- Lalo Play Gym – Casey hated tummy time. However, now that we’ve converted the Play Gym to a Play Tent, he loves it as a toddler. So I guess we played the long-game with that one.
- Baby Camera. We bring it when we travel, but hardly use the camera.
- Nanobebe bottles – Casey preferred the Dr. Brown’s bottles. Such a bummer because these were way easier to clean and so pretty.
- Frida’s Baby Soft Sink Bather – While it was convenient to use for Casey, the Lalo tub is enough. It functions from newborn to toddlerhood. And the soft sink bather eventually started to have a smell.
- Frida 3-in-1 thermometer – We have yet to use once!
