[Teeniemama]

I have barely started thinking about any of this BUT it seems like there are only about two million products on the market for moms and their new babies. What are some things I will definitely need? What products did you enjoy the most or find the most helpful?

[*SamF*]

my favorite hidden gems were the nose frida and later on Sophie (teething giraffe).

Honestly all you have to have is a car seat, crib, diapers and some clothes. The rest just makes it more convenient.

[BeckyM]

Ditto what Sam says, most of the stuff makes life convenient, but you don't have to have much beyond the carseat, dipes & clothes.

The convenient items I found to be the most helpful was the stroller & bouncy seat. The pack-n-play was great for when he was in my room, especially for the night-time nursing sessions. And we still use for traveling too. highchair is good too. I started putting Mark in it early on, even before he was eating solids (around a few months old) since he liked to be with us, and it got him used to eating with us at the table. I know some ladies swear by a swing, we returned the one we got as a shower gift and used the money to buy the mattress for the crib. Some babies love them, others don't and it takes a lot of space, and they outgrow quickly. I also didn't get any special baby food makers either. And didn't buy pre-made baby food for Mark. He ate what we ate, we just used the mini chopper or the blender/food processor. I froze stuff ahead of time in small plastic containers, and we thawed and heated.

[MarieJ]

great suggestions ladies

my can't live withouts:
swing(1/4 kids hated it, the rest LOVED it)
carseat/stroller travel system
crib, swaddle blankets, white noise machine--my kids sleep train early in their cribs-where you want you LO to sleep it totally your call
diapers-I tried cloth but its very expensive up here so I only did it with DS1
I bought all the baby food makers, all collected dust-all you need is a blender or fork
I use Naturesutten pacis
clothes-I go overboard. Babies might need ten outfits total including sleepers in each size, I have clothes none of the kids ever wore
Bumbo-loved it
boppies-great for bf, ff, and teaching them to sit up
jumperoos-best invention out there for 4-8month olds

[Counting our Blessings]

First off Congratulations!

I have found that all we needed were a milk source (breast or bottle), paci, car seat, we use cloth diapers, and a jumperoo (I love it too Marie!). By far and away most baby stuff is just cute to look at, in my opinion. You can spend oodles of money on stuff that just isn't used very much. We also buy everything (except carseats) secondhand. You can save tons and they grow so fast, they don't wear them out.

[BeckyM]

I loved the Boppy pillow too, it was sooooooo helpful. And I agree totally with the Second-Hand items (except the carseat). We get the majority of Mark's stuff from there, and it saves tons of money. I bet the majority of these items were never even worn. With his recent Elmo obsession, we picked him up 3 elmo stuffed animals for under $2.00 each, 2 of those are the talking ones that only required new batteries. Full retail for those talking ones is around $30 and up. I also got my maternity clothes that way too for when I needed them. Those can get expensive if you buy new too.

[MomtoKatieB]

I liked a pack n play. It worked for our situation quite wonderfully.

[Teeniemama]

Thanks so much ladies! This is sooooooo helpful. I usually do a lot of research before I work on a project, and this is obviously my big project how. I am hoping to buy a lot of second hand items since none of it will be used for very long. I am going to go add your suggestions to a list.

Here I am writing at 3 am since I cannot sleep through the night! This started happening to me immediately. I usually wake up at 2 but tonight it was a little later. My cat is pleased and she is trying to stand on the keyboard.