“Newborn Necessities.” You see it everywhere when you’re expecting a tiny human to join your family. The sales ads, coupons, and email promotions seem to go on and on, am I right? To make things even more stressful, every new mom out there wants to be prepared for when that little one arrives but may not know what will work best for them.
Sometimes simplifying is the best way to go. Get a feel for who you and your partner are as parents, see what your new routine eases into naturally, and meet that precious person before buying all of the things. They don’t need a ton of stuff in those first weeks, I promise. What they mostly just need you and love. With that in mind, I’ve decided to create a must-haves list for the first 4 weeks. This is an honest and full list of everything we actually used in those first thirty days! If it helps you out, comment below and let me know! 🙂
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Our Newborn Necessities – The First 30 Days
Diapers and Wipes – I feel like this one should be pretty obvious haha. We love being a cloth diaper family and our fourth little one was our first attempt at cloth diapering before 3-months-old. Let me tell ya. It’s an experience for sure. Overall we went through about 16 diapers a day rotating between Huggies Snugglers, our cloth stash, and Pampers Swaddlers. For wipes, our absolute favorite is Huggies Natural Care.
Breast Pads – In the beginning, my letdown is insane and I have to change pads at every feeding. Sometimes I even have to change between feeding just because of engorgement and leaking. So, I use disposable pads until things level out and switch to cloth ones once they can stand up to the milk loss.
Clothes – Our fourth little only wore newborn for a few days and was in 0-3 month for most of his first month earth-side. Between all four kids as newborns, I’d say we averaged about 3 outfits a day. Our first, second, and fourth didn’t even need to be changed daily, we just did it, while our third needed 4-5 onesies a day. I’d say you could probably get away with 4 each of footed pajamas, onesies, and pants if you really wanted to. To be comfortable, maybe make it 4 pajamas and 10 onesies/outfits.
Swaddle Blankets – During the first month, we used our Tula blankets continuously unless they all found themselves needing to be washed. We had 3 of these in addition to the cheap Carter’s swaddle blankets and really wished we had more at the time. Now that we’re out of that stage though, I’m glad we don’t have a giant pile of blankets we aren’t using regularly.
Cuddle Blankets – Baby sized plush blankets perfect for cuddling on the couch are handy when your little one is still super tiny. We had one we loved from Lineman Blanket and grabbed 2 extra Carter’s brand ones when he was about 2 weeks old. I don’t regret having these on hand one bit now that he’s older.
Snuggle Me Organic – Co-sleeping, bed-sharing, and side-nursing are how I survive motherhood. Don’t come at me with all of the statistics and “facts” because it isn’t going to change anything in our household. That isn’t what this post is about. We can agree to disagree but suffocation isn’t SIDS. Mkay? So if you’re a light sleeper (I fully wake up even just to roll over) and you bed-share safely, all will be well. I highly recommend the Snuggle Me co-sleeper over any other version. It’s the original and hugs baby as if they were being held, calming their startle reflex and allowing both baby and parents a more peaceful evening. It’s been an irreplaceable addition to our newborn life stage!
Nursing Compression Tanks & Compression Leggings – Postpartum recovery is different for every woman and every pregnancy. With our first three I was able to bounce back pretty easily but our fourth was a more challenging. With him, I had severe diastasis recti, where the muscles in the stomach tear vertically through the middle. The also separated horizontally near the bottom. This made walking around and normal activities harder than I have experienced before. Compression helped and if I tried going a full day without a compression tank or belly band then I would end the day in severe pain and renewed postpartum bleeding. Do your body and favor and have both leggings and tanks on hand before baby arrives, just in case.
Healthcare Items – These are any of the basic baby items needed to care for a little one. During the first month we used our baby bath wipes, nail clippers, thermometer, and gripe water. Research is showing that a more natural upbringing if often better for both baby’s immune system and skin removing baths from our newborn necessities list. To keep our routine as natural as possible we only clean baby’s “dirty areas” as needed. Water wipes are perfect for this!
Travel System – I desperately wanted to love Britax this time around but I just couldn’t do it. We ended up going with a Graco SnugRide 40 and a Graco stroller for our little man. We used the stroller a lot for errands those first few weeks as we could wrap blankets over his car seat straps (never wrap them before you buckle!) and then just move the whole carrier to the stroller leaving the cart empty for groceries.
Baby Carrier – For the first 30 days, baby-wearing is easily one of the biggest newborn necessities. I prefer my Moby for when they’re a tiny, squishy, skin-to-skin loving creatures. I also picked up the newborn insert for my Ergo 360 this time around but honestly used it once before he was too big for it. A good wrap is where it’s at in the beginning.
Mamaroo – Our one “fun gear” item, the Mamaroo has truly proven itself at the top of our list for newborn necessities. While we couldn’t just leave him for a full 2-hour nap or anything, it was perfect for getting that quick 20 minutes to shower, fold some laundry, eat a snack, or do dishes. I’m actually a little bitter these weren’t available when we had our first three!
Wonder what all got me through delivery? Check out my must-have pregnancy essentials well as my minimalist hospital bag!
