Hi everyone!
Edit: I started this post when my baby was 8 months old, now he is 13 months and I am just finishing this post now! Hope this comes in useful to those looking for baby items (either to buy for yourself, to put on your registry or as a gift)!
Hope you are doing well and life is going great for you! Here at our home things have been non stop busy with Baby A in the house 🙂 I cannot believe he is 8 months old! Time certainly did fly by! Half the time Hubby & I don’t know what day it is when we are taking care of this little one. Initially for the first few months, both of us were on leave, it was incredibly helpful to have Hubby at home to help with baby through the day. Now I get a lot of help from my parents.
As promised from my post WEEKS ago, I wanted to write details on the items we have used/are using that we found helpful with Baby A and that he enjoys. Some of these items were gifted to us and some we bought.
Here we go!
Feeds/Bottles
Baby A is primarily bottle fed both breast milk and formula. I am an exclusive pumper and so I feed using bottles. We tried many bottles but the one that he finally loved and always wants to use is the Evenflo bottle. He is able to latch on and suck well. The bottle releases extra air through a valve and so there is less discomfort from gas in his little tummy. We have stuck to the Level 1 slow flow nipple and this also assists in limiting his gas buildup and pain.
We received the wide neck bottle from the BabiesRUs free gift bag. Since then we ordered the Evenflo Standard Bottle neck gift set.
This is very helpful because the standard neck bottle fits my Medela pump. I can pump breast milk right into the bottles OR I can fit the Evenflo nipple onto the Medela bottles. This doesn’t work for the wide neck bottle.
Tip: What we did was order the gift set through Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby along with a baby play gym. We get free shipping on $49 or more. Take advantage of their price match! We found BabiesRUs to have discounted this bottle gift set to $20, plus we price matched the baby gym (seen lower in this post). Got another 20% off (BabiesRUs) and another 20% off (Bed Bath & Beyond). You get this 40% off by creating an account on the Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby site.
I was unable to find Evenflo bottles readily available at a decent price on Amazon.ca, Walmart.ca.
Don’t forget bottle brushes and soap (I love Seventh Generation).
When baby started solids we really loved these Ikea’s spoons, especially the shorter one, Ikea sippy cup. My brother got us some really cool Munchkin bowls that have a colour changing strip down the middle that turns white if the food is too hot.
Evenflo 4 in 1 Eat & Grow chair
Swaddles & Clothing
I’ll be honest here. 90% of our clothes were either given to us as gifts or hand-me-downs from friends. VERY helpful, we saved a lot of $$! So don’t be shy to let everyone know that you are open to hand-me-downs, many parents are clueless as to what to do with so many clothes their babies have grown out of! Also babies grow so fast it makes sense to just use hand-me-downs.
Something else to be aware of if you are gifting/buying clothes 1) know what season the baby is being born in so you buy season-appropriate clothes (warmer/thicker clothes for winter seasons for example) 2) if you are planning to gift clothes for babies for future wear, make sure you note what season it is then too (for example, 6 months later it is summer time!)
Onesies with zippers are the best things out there! When our little one has a bath and needs to get dressed up super quick so he doesn’t get cold or crying out of hunger, I find that onesies that zip up are awesome. Just make sure the zip doesn’t stick up and poke under baby’s chin.
Lots of baby socks! Their cute little feet do get cold ❤
Aden + Anais Swaddle blankets were so soft and wonderful! Baby loved them! We actually still use it for him (at 13 months) as a light blanket during the summer months! They are available at Walmart/Amazon as well.
Other items we had but did not use as much: Halo sleep swaddle . I can see how this may be convenient for many, but for some reason our baby did not like it. Also it had velcro which was very loud. Middle-of-the-night awakenings for feeding/diaper changes while ripping open this velcro made for a cranky baby.
Diaper/Wet Wipe Essentials
Diapers: Huggies & Pampers
Diaper Genie : we got two and it was totally worth it! Holds a lot of dirty diapers and most importantly KEEPS THE STINK AWAY! Also, if you live in an apartment/condo, the way in which the diapers are stored in the diaper genie garbage bag (long and cylindrical) will fit easily into the garbage chute!
Wet wipe warmer: SO good that we bought TWO, one for upstairs and one for downstairs! Newborns scream bloody murder if you wipe their bottoms with a cold wet wipe and this warmer does a great job of keep the wet wipes comfy warm. It is great for winter weather as well. Also had a nice in-built night lamp.
Diaper rash cream: Sudocrem, totally worth it! Slather it on and you will rarely have problems with diaper dermatitis (diaper rash)!
Changing pads are essential. We actually ended up cutting washable bed pads we had from before to a smaller size! We got four out of this.
Bath Time
Hooded baby towel & wash cloths:
Bathtub: Summer Infant Right Height Centre Tub. Love this because we used the green portion when he was a newborn and now at 13 months we use the white part of the tub. The blue part underneath can be disconnected and used as a stool/for me to sit on when I give him a bath.
Bathtub toys: When baby got to be more interactive (4+ months) we bought him some cute rubber ducks and floating/bobble toys to play with in the bathtub.
Bedtime
Graco Pack N Play Super helpful especially when you are traveling, easy to pack up and carry along.
Then as he got older we got a used baby crib and he sometimes uses it. Most of the time he just sleeps inbetween us.
Car seat & Stroller
Graco Comfy Cruiser Travel System with SnugRide 30 Infant Car Seat Carrier – it’s not bad and does its job and we did not want to spend a lot of, so we got it for a good deal on Amazon Warehouse Deals
Jolly Jumper head support & body hugger
Others
Nail file for when he was a newborn to 7 months
Nail cutter I started using at 8 months
Baby Frida Snot Sucker
Thermometer – bought this from Costco
Baby book to note baby’s milestones
Baby blanket to take pictures month to month
Baby pillow so that he doesn’t have a flat head -> We actually got ours from Wish.com for like $2-3.
Many Fisher-Price Items!
Fisher-Price Bouncer: got this second hand
Fisher-Price Cradle & Swing: second hand as well
A lot added to this list and there is probably actually many more things that I have forgotten, but these items are my MUST haves because they have helped us a lot!!
Anything that you would add to this list? Drop me a message!
Love, peace, health & happiness!
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Life & Medicine 
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