Top 10 Newborn “Must-Haves”

I still remember how it felt to have mentally absorbed that we were pregnant and was ready to learn about all we could possibly need for our baby. There are so many resources from blogs, lists to videos, and as informative as they all are, it can get overwhelming.

So as I promised in My Newborn Must Haves video on YouTube, here are my Top 10 favorite newborn essentials.

I cannot stress enough that my essentials may look completely different than what you may actually need. This just worked out for our family and our lifestyle. If you are an expectant mama or brand new mama looking for the bare minimum of what you could possibly need to prepare for your baby, this list is for you. This list is arranged in no specific order of importance.

1. Diapers
2. Wipes
3. Source of Milk (Lactation Consultant)
4. Safe Sleeping Space: Bassinet
5. Burp Cloth
6. Swaddle
7. Carseat & Stroller
8. Baby Carrier/ Wrap
9. Clothes
10. Electric Nail File

1. Diapers

We all know why we would need these, right? I think it is common for many to ask a bunch of these in their baby registries. We did not do that, and we have no regrets.

Here is list of diapers we have tried:

• Dyper
• Huggies
• Pampers
• Honest
• Coterie
• Millie Moon

Initially we were very banked on using the brand Dyper, which are supposed to be the most sustainable and chemical-free diapers out there. However, we weren’t sure how they would actually work and fit on our baby. Not to mention they were subscription-based when we were having our baby, so it would be tough if we were stuck with hundreds of this brand and it didn’t work well for us.

I am also glad that we bought a variety of small packs of diaper brands to test out on our baby to see which worked best on him. We started with using all the Huggies diapers we got from the hospital and baby registry welcome gifts, then all the extra Pampers our friend gave us, then Dyper, then Honest. We tested out Coterie as well by getting their sample pack. Lastly, we tried and stuck with Millie Moon diapers from target.

2. Wipes

We received a lot of different kinds of samples of wipes from the welcome boxes received from creating registries. If you are interested in seeing what else we got, make sure to check out my video on YouTube. My favorite wipes by far are the Water Wipes which are 99.9% water and contain nothing else but water and grape seed extract.

3. Source of Milk

Breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, your baby will need some kind of milk! All I can say about this for now, is that if you are a first time mama and will be breastfeeding, I HIGHLY recommend hiring a lactation consultant. I am glad insurance completely covered ours, because I was also hesitant to hire one. Hire one a month or two before your due date, so she can add you to her list and will be ready to be of service a few days after baby is born. Also, my hubby and I made use of the free lactation consultant visits at the hospital during our stay. Our delivery nurse was fantastic and helped me and Baby Bear start our journey of breastfeeding. Without these women, I probably wouldn’t be breastfeeding well or at all now!

4. Safe Sleeping Space

Baby Bear has been on an interesting sleep journey where he has slept in a bassinet, a crib and now his crib mattress on the floor. The bassinet was where he started after we came home from the hospital and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. We used the Moses bassinet on a rocker stand from Design Dua, and it served us well. There are many kinds out there where you could keep it right beside your bed, but I did not want that. I also didn’t mind getting out of bed, going to the bassinet and sitting on a chair when doing multiple feedings in the night.

5. Burp Cloth

This old school style of burp cloth is truly our favorite. If you are a minimal mama like me, I would rather have something with multiple purposes than have multiple things. We use this for wiping baby’s spit up, for our shoulders when burping, for sponge baths and to pat baby dry after. Oh, not to mention a bra protector when breastfeeding and a towel to pat dry my nipple after feeding!

6. Swaddle

You will be using aa lot of these at the hospital, and honestly we took some. We took two blanket swaddles which we used for the first two weeks. Although we had the Halo and Ollie Swaddles, this is how we started because this what we learned at the hospital and what Baby Bear was used to.

However, our ultimate swaddle winner is Dreamland Baby’s weighted swaddle & sleep sack mainly because of its superb quality and beads quilted into them. We have found our baby to have his best sleeps when in this! (Use my coupon code MIKKA15 for 15% off your purchase!)

7. Carseat & Stroller

In this day and age, I think these are non-negotiable. By law, you need a carseat to take baby around in your car. And for me, a stroller is one of the most ingenious inventions that make our lives as parents so much easier! We chose to use the Agio Z4 by Peg Perego mainly because of its superb and incomparable quality and it’s 5-year warranty. We though these wold be very important since we knew we want more than one kiddo.

8. Baby Carrier

Another lifesaver for parents, well mainly for mom. I am all for carrying babies, especially during the fourth trimester when baby is still getting used to his new life outside mama’s womb. Wearing our Baby Bear helped me go about my new life hands-free while still satisfying the cuddles he needed. This also helped him with his daytime naps.

If I remember correctly, I wore him during 3 day time naps and had him in his bassinet the rest of the naps (and bedtime of course). We love the Baby Bjorn Carrier Free so much that I got my husband his own for our anniversary! Although quite pricey, I found it to be worth it and love the airy material that doesn’t catch lint or dog hair! Watch out for second hand websites, like Mercari or Poshmark since they have good deals on carriers like this.

I also tried using a Solly Wrap the first two months with baby, but truly found a carrier with form to be the most convenient for me.

9. Clothes

It goes without saying.. we all need clothes. Just the right amount. Zippers are our friends, multiple buttons are our enemies. Do not buy too many Newborn sized clothes. Onesies are the best.

10. Electric Nail File

This one may sound like such a random item but it is not. Cutting baby’s nails is one of the scariest and ickiest tasks that no parent wants to do. But with the help of this electric nail file, getting rid of long nails is a breeze and almost fun. We had no idea about this, and I started out filing baby’s nails with an adult nail file (because the baby ones suck!) Not until this company reached out and offered to have us try it out, I realized how this was definitely a necessity.

Because we live in such a modern world, there’s really so much cool stuff out there that make parenthood so much better. So, here are five more BONUS must haves I just couldn’t leave out.

1. Sound Machine
2. Breast Pump
3. Milk Storage Bags
4. Nipple Butter
5. Stain Remover

11. Sound Machine

This Hatch sound machine helped us tremendously in putting our baby to sleep. Essentially the white noise is supposed to mimic the sound babies hear when they were in mama’s womb. Hence, they are conditioned to feel comfort by the sound of this muffled noise.

12. Breast Pump

If you plan on breast feeding, the breast pump can be a friend in many ways. My Medela Pump in Style came very handy in helping create a demand for my breast milk. Simply put, the supply of breast milk will depend on the demand. The more demand, the more supply. For me, pumping helped mainly in two ways, to relieve my really full boob from some milk and to be able to store some in the freezer because trust me the frozen supply came in handy during unforeseen times that Mama Bear needed to be out without baby during feedings. It also gave my husband the chance to feed my milk using a bottle.

13. Milk Storage Bags

If you are storing breast milk.. for whatever reason you have, these milk storage bags will come in handy. There are a lot of videos about which bag is best, but honestly I took the leap of faith and used the Medela milk storage bags since we were using Medela bottles and the pump already. After almost five months of using these, I still have no complaints. I usually store 3.5oz in each bag max (even though it can hold up to 6oz, just because this is the average my baby drinks out of a bottle, if we need more and I am home, in addition I just feed him from the breast. If I am not home, then we get from another bag. I also have some bags with just and ounce or two in them because that’s what I was able to pump at that time.

14. Nipple Butter

Because I am all for organic, clean and high quality ingredients, I decided to make a nipple butter myself. If you didn’t know, I have a small business, Raw byRoque, where I sell certified vegan and cruelty-free soaps and other body products. Ac couple of my favorite things about this butter is that all the ingredients are safe for baby and for ingestion (not that I recommend eating this butter!) What this means to Mama is that this saves your nipples from cracking and you do not need to wipe it off before feeding baby (also, it is easily absorbed by your skin anyway!) Also, this can double as a Baby Booty Butter as well!

15. Stain Remover

We did not have this Puracy Stain Remover till we had our first blow out a week after Baby Bear was born. Our super duper awesome neighbor helped us clean out the stain and gifted us with this natural stain remover. We have ordered a bunch ourselves since then. It does exactly what it needs to do with the bonus of being made with plant enzymes.

That is all folks. I tried my hardest to keep this as short as possible while giving you my honest and unprofessional insight as a first time mama who likes to live a bit simple, use things useful and keep things classy. Let me know your thoughts on my essentials and please do share what you have found super important in your newborn journey in the comment section below!

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DISCLAIMERS. This blog is solely an expression and documentation of MY journey as a new mom. 

Cliché as it may be: our baby is different from your baby— all babies are different. My journey as a woman, wife & mother is different from yours— we are all different. My partnership with my baby looks different from your partnership— because surprise surprise, things are just different. I do not claim to be an expert in motherhood or being a wife. These are all my opinions, my own research and my own journey. 

It is my hope that this blog helps you navigate yours a little bit easier. 

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