5 Newborn Items That Saved My Life

Charlotte just turned 6 weeks old.  I can’t believe how quickly time has flown. 

As I have finally gotten into somewhat of a routine with my little lady, I have been thinking about the items that have helped me survive a newborn.  There are the basics: diapers (a whole bunch of diapers), wipes, crib, car seat, etc), but there are some things you don't realize you need until you have a crying newborn. 

I read several blog posts on the Internet about must-haves with a newborn and I found that the majority of the items were crazy expensive and really not that necessary.  I really think they were just items that sponsored that blog and therefore bribed the blogger to write a blog about that item.

Because of this truly not-useful information I decided to create my own list.

 

        Swaddle Me – This saved me from late and sleepless nights.  Unfortunately I didn’t learn about this wonderful item until just last week.  Good thing I have a dear friend who shared her wisdom with me and helped me out tremendously.

I don’t know about you but I have heard of swaddling a baby my entire life.  And even in the hospital they showed me how to swaddle my baby.  However, thinking I could read my baby’s signals  and knew better I didn't swaddle her exactly how they showed me.  Charlotte would squirm like crazy whenever her arms were swaddled so I began “swaddling” my baby without putting her arms in the swaddle.  

Each night Charlotte would just fall asleep and after a few minutes when I'd think she was completely out she would startle herself and do a slashing windmill with her arm, which would wake her up completely, so I’d have to start the getting-her-to-sleep process all over again – change her diaper, rock her, feed her etc.  I would attempt to swaddle her but because she would squirm so much when I would swaddle her arms, I wouldn’t swaddle them.  My wise friend asked me if Charlotte was getting out of her swaddle at night and if so that I should either double swaddle her or get something like the Swaddle Me that Velcro’s so the baby can’t squiggle out of it.  So I bought one for about $11 and tried it.  Instead of trying to get her to fall asleep before 2:30 am, she was asleep by 11 pm.  It was awesome.  The best $11 I have spent.  I will likely buy a couple more so I always have a clean one to use.

Colief – This was also recommended by my all-knowing and wise friend.  We had concluded prior to hearing about the Swaddle Me that Charlotte wouldn’t fall asleep very well because she was gassy and it was bothering her.  I went to the store and found these tablets that would dissolve on the tongue and relieve gas.  This worked well for a couple of days but then seemed to not be as effective.  So when my friend recommended Colief I went right out and bought it.  This also worked wonders to relieve Charlotte’s gassy tummy so she wouldn’t fuss too much. You just add a couple of drops to expressed breast milk or to a bottle and give it to the baby.  It is a little pricy for drops ($14) but it was also very worth the cost.

Medela Nipple Shield – Contrary to popular belief, breastfeeding does not come easily.   Yes, there are those women who don’t have any problems but I believe they are the exception to the rule and not the rule.  

Warning: Possible “TMI” for some people – you have been warned. 

When my milk came in I became engorged which made it very difficult for my baby to latch on.  This was very, very frustrating.  Thankfully I have an awesome lactation specialist, Kristi, that recommended a nipple shield.  This product allows the baby to have a surface to latch on to which facilitates nursing.  Once the engorgement subsided I didn’t need the shield any longer, but I did use it for a couple of weeks.  If it weren’t for this item, I wouldn’t have been able to breast feed. It was worth the cost for the few weeks I needed it.

Swing – My mom told me the swing would be my best friend and she wasn’t lying.  I received a hand-me-down portable swing from my sister in-law.  It was okay, but was battery powered and a little older so it didn’t swing super well.  Because of that we decided to invest in a different one.  Oh it is GLORIOUS.  It is absolutely quiet.  I can only really hear it when there is no sound in the house, and it is a very slight, soft sound.  It has a timer so it will turn off on its own.  It has music and nature sounds and it will swing forward and back or side to side.  AMAZING. Though the tan one is only battery powered (which is what we got because we didn't know until after we bought it, but it still works super well even with just batteries). Charlotte loves it and it entertains her and helps her fall asleep all the time.

Pacifier – I don’t care what people say about not giving your baby a pacifier, unless you want to have your baby on your boob 24/7 then you need to give your baby a pacifier.  Each child is different on what type of pacifier they prefer, so buy a couple of types and determine which they like best.  Charlotte likes the Nuk Orthodontic pacifiers, but she also liked the Soothie pacifier but because she would take both we’ve leaned toward the Nuk because they hook better to a pacifier clip thingy.  Though we did have a WabbaNub, which we really liked because she could kind of grab onto it, but we think my dog got a hold of it thinking it was a toy and took it outside just before the first snowstorm so we can't see it right off below all the snow. We’ll just have to wait until the snow melts to know if our suspicions are correct. Sad, because we really liked the WabbaNub.

If I think of any other items I can't survive without I'll add them, but for now, these are the top 5 things that parents may not realize they need but I sure did.