Hello, welcome.
So today I'm going to be talking about newborn essentials.
Maybe you're list and my list are a little bit different,
but these are things that I must have for I think a good comfortable time with a newborn.
I mean, do you really need to have all these...? Probably not,
but I personally think that they're all really great to have.
So I will explain more if they're kind of an essential or they're kind of not.
Okay first thing is some sort of wrap or sling... maybe a carrier.
For a newborn I would say probably it's better to use a wrap or a sling.
I have the Maya sling which looks like this and I also made one myself.
If you guys are interested in how to do that,
I will try and see if I can find the link for the pattern that I used for that.
But I would say that it's really nice because you can just put the baby in in the sling.
You know it's really easy to do. You just...
well once you've figured out how to thread like the ring part of it,
once that's done, then it's really easy.
Just put the baby in. You just kind of pull on the tail and then they sit there.
Typically you kind of have to have an arm to hold them, so you have one hand.
But sometimes you can put them in there and if you're very careful you can be totally hands-free.
The other one I really like is a wrap. I just use the regular Moby Wrap.
So I found one really, really cheap for sale. A used sale... what's it called...
the consignment sale. I think I got it for like $10.
I mean really cheap. You can get things that are more expensive like the Solly
and I'm sure there's other ones, but I would say you know
you don't really have to spend that much.
If you have money, great, but you know definitely... I think this is an essential.
Especially if you're a second time mom or you just want
to be productive in general and you want to be hands-free.
You can wrap, stick them in there and then you can
pretty much do whatever. You know, I can wash the dishes,
you can clean, you can do lots of stuff. So it's really, really important have
some sort of baby thing. You know if... a lot of them don't like lying down.
They just want to be like held like you know they were in the womb.
So definitely you need to have a wrap or sling.
You might want to use a buckle carrier. Some people prefer to have the buckle carrier,
but I prefer that for older kids.
Next is some sort of swaddles. Now, with swaddles it kind of depends.
You can use muslin blankets or you know just a regular like receiving blanket.
But I never figured out how to do the wrap without the baby coming out of it.
So I use just like regular ones, like this here.
I forgot what the brand it is, but you'll see over here.
I use that type and then also I have some...
no well anyways I have these other ones.
We really like they're called Love to Dream
and that is... our baby uses them pretty young because they like to have their hands up
instead of you know baby having their hands down.
Some babies like to have their hands swaddled down so I'm prefer to have their arms up.
So we use that one which is been really really helpful.
So their hands are still you know restricted, but you know not down to their sides if that makes sense.
So that one, the Love to Dream is really great.
Nest is some sort of lounger. You can get something like the Boppy lounger like this,
or the one that we use with both kids is the exact same.
What we used is I think it spelled the Leachco, like this one.
It's kind of like... ours is the bougie type,
but you don't need to get that one.
It just happened that at our baby shower from our first kid, who's now two and a half, almost...
yeah almost two and a half, and we got this one and we're still using it today.
The exact same one and it is amazing. It is so nice because it's really soft.
You just... you know put a soft place to stick the baby.
You can put it on the counter, the table, the couch, the floor, just put the baby in there.
Obviously you know before they can roll over and you can just sit them down
and it's just kind of more comfortable than putting them on the floor or something like that.
But it's really, really nice. I like it a lot and we use it almost all day every day.
I'm gonna use it until I literally can't and then I'm gonna cry.
Obviously they need somewhere to sleep. That could be a co-sleeper,
a bassinet, or it could just be a crib. Some people put their child in the crib right away.
Some people's bedrooms are big enough and they actually can have the crib in there
or they just put them in another room with the crib and that's totally up to you.
We use a bassinet. I'm gonna put down the one that we have and you'll see it over here.
It actually was given to us... not a gifted but it was given to us
as part of a product testing group. I will put down...
I think it's called the Stellar Panel. Every once in a while we'll get something to review
and then we do a review. So actually I really, really like it a lot.
This one is kind of big, but I still really like it.
Before we were just using a different type and it wasn't as nice,
but this one is kind of expensive. I mean you don't have to get anything as fancy as this,
but you know any place for a baby to sleep is just what you need.
Now, this one is kind of a necessity, kind of not,
but you can use your phone and I use my phone.
But you need some sort of alarm clock for overnight feeds. When you start feeding,
you're feeding every two hours, maybe even an hour, three hours,
it just kind of depends on your baby and your plan.
But during overnight feeds, your body really needs some help waking up.
Sometimes every two hours because you're exhausted and if you don't set that alarm,
you are not gonna wake up.
So make sure you set an alarm and then set a second alarm and maybe a third alarm.
I have actually somehow slept through an alarm. If you just put it down for one time.
So an alarm!
Something that I feel is a necessity, but maybe not for everyone.
But for me you know waking up overnight feeds I tend to use my phone.
I'll watch like a video of some sort and you know if I don't want to bother everyone...
I mean my wife is Deaf, but you know if I don't want to be making a lot of noise
I have, which I can actually show you right here.
yep that
I use them all day. But they are wireless earbuds.
If you can hear, then you might want to use that.
I'm able to put one in and then what I do.
I take the baby... well first I put my ear bud in, I connect to my phone,
I set up some sort of video that I want to watch.
Then I'll take the baby, change them, and do whatever
and the whole time I can watch a video and then once they're done,
I just pop it back in, and charge it while I'm sleeping.
I mean they think these are amazing and you can also use them throughout the day
if you don't want a specific video playing while you're taking care of your baby or your kids.
So they're really awesome! Good idea.
A baby bathtub is kind of an essential ...kind of.
Some people just use their kitchen sink.
So you know you just need a place to bathe the baby.
The one I like... we have is called the Puj.
Ours is the travel one. We used to have this tub,
but recently we got for free from one of our Buy Nothing groups.
They had this one which is a Puj tub and I really like it.
It's really nice and soft. It's foldable. You could store it and it's not a huge hard plastic thing.
So you can just fold it up and stick it away and its really nice.
You know you just need somewhere to bathe your baby.
Nest is nail clippers and a file.
So you don't have to get anything that's expensive,
but those little nails they grow real quickly
and then there's scratching all over your face and killing you and it's just awful.
Like seriously... I'll be holding the baby and all of a sudden it's like
"oh"! You know it's like I'm bleeding out or something,
but yeah definitely, definitely you need to have some sort of nail clipper
I like this one. This is the one that I have and it's super cheap and again
all of the links will be down below if you want anything.
Next is kind of common sense, but diapers and clothes.
For clothes, I'm not gonna put down any specific like recommendations
just because you know every baby is different. All clothes, styles, preferences, everything is different.
But you know, just make sure you have clothes for your baby period.
Then for diapers you can do either disposable or cloth diapers.
Here we do cloth diapering mostly. Every once in a while....
recently with our newborn baby we use disposables
until they're able to fit into our regular one size cloth diapers.
We just have not invested in newborn cloth diapers.
Maybe we should have, but I will put down a link to the type of diapers that we have.
Which ones we like for cloth diapering and i will also link two of my cloth diapering videos down below as well.
If you're curious what type we have and how to clean them and all of those sort of things.
Next our muslin blankets. I had mentioned like with swaddles you know you might not use them,
but they're really great for many other reasons.
Um, you know currently it's becoming summertime soon.. you know spring summer time.
I will use it to cover the baby if we go out for like a walk in the sling.
Maybe they'll have a hat but you might want to cover with a blanket.
You can use them for burp cloths, for cleaning up messes,
for laying down... putting the baby down.
I mean there's so many multiple uses that you can use these for.
I mean you don't have to buy any fancy burp cloths. You can just use a Muslim blanket
and that's perfectly fine. You're good to go!
They're really great for so many different reasons. You can use them for a bib.
I mean whatever, but like I said.... and you don't have to get any fancy ones.
Target has some cheaper ones that you can buy
and I'll put them down below... a link for some that I like.
A diaper bag/backpack. I preferred the backpack style.
I just think that it's easier. You know if you have the messenger strap, that's fine.
I've used that before and I do have one that's bigger, that's a messenger style.
But if you're gonna be using it all day, I think it I prefer to use the backpack.
It's easier to just put it on. Then you can hold the baby. The stroller, they'll have the stroller straps
and I just prefer and I will put down the two different types that we have down below.
You'll see over here the next two things are I guess essential for most people I would say.
Which is car seat. Obviously if you drive anywhere with the baby,
you need to have a car seat. I will put down the type that we have.
It's just a Graco brand and you can use a convertible car seat too if you want.
Some people prefer that for newborns instead of an infant one.
But I prefer to have you know the infant bucket style. I just like that.
I mean we used the exact same one from our older child and it's still good.
Then the other thing is some sort of stroller.
Now getting a stroller it's really gonna depend on your lifestyle.
You might want something small or bigger, a jogger stroller,
you know I'm gonna put down the one we have which we really like.
But again that's really up to you what types you're gonna use.
Do your research before you pick. There's a lot of different strollers.
You want to consider if you want something that's gonna be able to convert to a double later.
Which might be a good idea if you're gonna have more kids.
If you want a jogging stroller just in general because you'll use it for jogging.
Then you might use it just for your everyday use. If you do a lot of hiking, trails,
you might want something more of a rugged type.
If you're in the city you might want something smaller to fit in your apartment
So I mean there's a lot of different options. But get a stroller.
Next is a baby monitor.
I would say... I would say this is a must, a video monitor.
But again not everyone's gonna need that.
If you're Deaf or hard-of-hearing you're definitely gonna need a video monitor,
but I just like it in general because sometimes I prefer to see what's going on.
If it's really really quiet, you know, are they really okay? Everything safe?
I can take a look and see the video. I can see if they're breathing, whatever.
So that... I really like a lot. We use the Lollipop monitor
and we have used other monitors in the past, but this one we really like so far.
I will review it if you want to see that specifically for that monitor.
Next I would say is not an essential, essential, but for most people
especially if you're going back to work or if you just want to go out in general,
would be a breast pump. I will, you know, I can talk in another video all about the Baby Buddha, Elvie.
So I'll just go ahead and make a review for each one that I've had.
I would say in general you know you can get a lot of different ones through insurance.
I'm gonna put down a specific place here in New York
that you can get almost any type of breast pump you want from them.
Even like the one they didn't sell...
well I'll just put down a link down below.
Then I would say the last thing is food.
So whether that means breast milk or formula, breast milk you know whatever...
if you're feeding, nursing, you know just make sure you remember fed is best.
So if you are a low supply like me you might need to supplement with formula
or with donor milk and that's perfectly fine. For an over supplier and you just breastfeed and that's all.
You know it's really your decision. If you want to just use formula for whatever reason that's fine too.
Just remember to feed your baby.
So I think that is all for the newborn essentials.
Let me know what is your list for newborn essentials.
Do you think that all of mine are essentials? Maybe you want it add something, take something away?
Give me recommendations. You can put them down below for other people.
So let me know. Hopefully you've enjoyed this video.
Let me know if you want any other sort of baby, parenting sort of videos
and I will try my best. Alright, thanks so much for watching
and see you in the next one. Bye!