Generally Useful Baby Items

[Issel Anne Lim]

Hello, All! I was recently asked which baby items we found particularly useful. Here are a few:

- The JJ Cole Bundle Me (for the car seat, which is essential to take home the baby from the hospital)

- The Avent Soothie pacifiers (since many babies will want to suck on something to be soothed, but aren't necessarily hungry)

- Footed pajamas (so you don't have to bother with socks, or two pieces of onesie + pants), which either zip up or have a lot of snaps, so that you don't have to remove the whole thing while changing (for example: this somewhat unisex outfit)

- Swaddle blankets (especially important in the newborn days, when swaddling is key); we received these Carter's Swaddle Blankets as a gift, and they're soft, large, and able to stretch over a baby... we also got a Miracle Swaddle Blanket, which worked wonders for getting our baby to sleep in the first few weeks

- Travel system stroller (which has an infant carrier that you can put in the car and then click directly into the stroller). It's best to go to an actual store (Babies R Us, Bye Bye Baby, Target, etc.) and try these out to make sure you can maneuver the strollers around.

- The Diaper Dekor Disposal System (this really does a great job of containing the stench from smelly diapers... newborns don't stink too much, but infants start getting progressively stinkier!).

- Chux -- you can get either small or large. These have a cotton fluff layer and a polyproplene backing, so it's soft on baby's skin, but doesn't let anything leak through (we put these on our changing pad at home, and on surfaces when we need to change baby on the go). Doctors' offices often use these when weighing naked babies, to contain any accidents.

Feel free to add more advice! :) This is by no means a complete list, but hopefully more folks will add to it. :) We also had a registry via Amazon.com, which made it much easier for people to get us stuff, since most folks already have an Amazon account. Amazon has a registry completion bonus. If you join Amazon Mom, you get more discounts and Amazon Prime (free two-day shipping) and video streaming. :)