Baby’s First Year: Favorite Products

Now that I’ve survived the first year of mommyhood (!), I wanted to go ahead and share some of my favorite products for the new mamas, or mamas-to-be, out there.

1. Diaper bag: a roomy diaper bag is a must. What I really like about this Honest Company bag is the insulated pocket for bottles.
2. WubbaNub: the first time I heard this word I was like, “what the hell is that?” It’s your life saver, that’s what. Before the WubbaNub, A would spit out his pacifier and I’d have to find it and give it back to him. We played this not-so-fun game all day long. But with this pacifier, the cute animal on the end basically acts like a weight so that it doesn’t go astray when baby spits it out. And once your little one realizes he has hands, he can pick it up himself! I love this thing.
3. Baby Einstein Musical Toy: A was never really into toys (still isn’t), but for some reason, he took a liking to this one. Maybe it’s the music this particular one plays, but I still carry it in my diaper bag in case I need to offer up some entertainment.
4. Sleep Sheep Sound Machine: we used this white noise machine pretty much every night until we sleep trained (more on that below). It has a few different sounds you can choose from (A liked the whales and the rain), and it really helped soothe him to sleep, especially during the newborn days. Now I can’t help but feel nostalgic when I hear those whales.
5. Electric Sterilizer: because I breastfed throughout the first year, I had to constantly sterilize A’s bottles and my breast pump parts. This machine makes sterilizing super easy. Just add some water, place your bottles/parts in the machine, and push a button. 
6. Moccasins: A isn’t really a fan of shoes and constantly pulls them off. Except for these. He can’t get to these because of the way they fit with the elastic.
7. UPPAbaby Cruz: we tested out a lot of strollers before we decided on the one we wanted and the UPPAbaby Cruz won for two main reasons: (1) it’s lightweight and easy to fold up; and (2) it has a large storage bin. I believe the UPPAbaby Vista is a newer and bigger model, and while it does have a large storage bin, I nixed it because there’s a large rod in the middle of the bin. This mama needs all the storage room she can get, especially while shopping with baby.
8. HALO Swivel Bassinet: this bassinet was a life saver for me. Because I had to have a C-Section, getting out of bed during the recovery period sucked. Imagine doing that in your sleep deprived state at 2:30 a.m. to tend to your crying newborn. The HALO bassinet cut that part out for me. Because it swivels, I would just move A into my bed without having to get up and out of bed myself.
9. Velcro Swaddles: I don’t know about other babies, but my kid was able to escape the tightest swaddle like it was nobody’s business. The velcro swaddles shut that down pretty quickly.
10. Ferber’s Book: I understand that sleep training is a controversial topic, but to each their own. We Ferberized A when he was old enough to be sleep trained (I believe around 4 months) and haven’t looked back since. I also had him on a Babywise routine (not schedule), which helped as well.
11. Rock n Play Sleeper: This. This thing is holy grail. Especially for a newborn. While I tried to get A to sleep in his bassinet for the first month, he sometimes just wouldn’t have it. But he LOVED the rock n play and some nights, it would be the only way anyone in our house could get some sleep. I think it’s the way it snugs them (reminiscent of the womb?), but they love it. I used this thing day (as his “chair”) and night (as a “bassinet”).