My Top 6 Newborn Essentials

As our little one has now turned 1 years old, I can’t keep on wondering where the time has gone. He is definitely no longer the small fragile baby we bought home from the hospital and loves to explore and jump around. As a first time mum, I can’t help but be filled with nostalgia as I reflect back on those early days, now almost a blurry haze of excitement, worrying and of course lots of sleepless nights! No matter how much research you do, nothing can really prepare you for a baby until they’re here. Some items I thought would be great and were hardly useful and other items I really underestimated, so I thought I’d share my top newborn essentials in the hopes that it might help other expectant parents. And if you already have children, have you used any of the products here?

Certain things which are fairly obvious I have not included on the list. These include things like a car seat, pushchair, sleepsuits, nappies etc. I have tried to focus on things that made a difference for me as a new parent and made things easier for me.

This post does contain some Amazon affiliate links. If you are interested in any of the products, we’d appreciate if you use one our links below. 

1) Schnuggle Baby Bath

The Shnuggle Baby Bath was probably my one purchase that was a hit from the get-go. I had seen a lot of online mums raving about the bath and knew I wanted one myself. I had seen my sisters and sister in laws bathing their babies in traditional baby baths and it always looked so scary trying to support their back and neck when they’re so fragile and delicate.

It was so much easier being able to sit baby up in the bath instead. In the early days, we would have someone holding him at the back and someone else would be bathing him at the front, but it wasn’t too long before he could sit comfortably on his own and I could just be at the front. He has always loved to splash around and kick around in the bath. My only concern was of how it would last 12 months as it looks very compact but here were are a year in and he still fits, though his legs are a little bent. And he’s now learned how to stand up in it using the sides! I will definitely be sad to put it away and I am not quite sure what I will use as an alternative.

2) Chicco Next 2 Me Bedside Crib

I’ve already got a review (check it out here) of the Next2Me on the website and it’s been a few months since we put the crib away and I still miss it. As I mentioned on the review, it did take a little while for my baby to get used to it at first, but once he did, I used it consistently for a good 7+ months, until he was starting to sit up on his own. It is a much better option than a moses basket in my opinion, which often don’t last past 3 months and can be a bit more of a hassle putting the baby in and out for nighttime feeds, especially if you’re breastfeeding.

I loved having my baby so close to me but in his own safe space and being able to see him and touch him just by reaching out. I think it’s one of the more affordable co-sleeper options out there and the only one that I would have been tempted with is the new Shnuggle Air Bedside Crib however that wasn’t available at the time. Moreover, even though one of its features is that it lasts up until 2 years of age, it actually works out to be more expensive than how much it cost us to buy a new cot.

3) Coconut Oil

This might seem like a funny one, but honestly, coconut oil has been everything for when it comes to my newborn up until this day. I have used it for so many purposes. For my newborn, I only used to use water on him, so no baby bath products for his delicate skin. I then started adding a little bit of coconut oil to the water and that meant he came out of the bath nice and smooth with a light coconut scent. I used the coconut oil then to moisturise his face and body and I also used it on his scalp which helped to keep his cradle cap under control. If he had any redness in the nappy, I’d use a bit of coconut oil and it would be gone by the next nappy change. I don’t have on particular brand that I’m loyal to but I always try to go for raw, cold–pressed, virgin oil.

4) Lansinoh Cream

For the breastfeeding mums out there, this cream is a must! Breastfeeding seems like one of the most natural things out there but establishing breastfeeding is one of the hardest parts of having a baby and a lot of mothers don’t realise that up until they try it themselves. Lansinoh was recommended to me by friends and midwives alike and it really did help soothe the pain in the early days, especially as my son had a tongue tie too. Some people like my sister have an allergy to lanolin and are unable to use it, if so you may want to look into alternatives like the multimam balm.

5) Close Caboo Stretchy Sling

I ended up with two stretchy slings with my baby. My sister loved using a sling for both of her kids and kindly lent me her close caboo ring sling to use when my baby was born. Another friend also gave me her Yogabellies stretch wrap sling. I wasn’t sure how much I would use a sling at first, and though I didn’t use it every day, it was really handy the times I did use it. We didn’t have a pushchair when the baby was first born so I used the sling to carry him to doctors appointments. Even better was using it around the house to do household chores when he would not let me put him down. He found it intriguing to look around everything as I worked and it did work to put him to sleep a few times, which to be able to do handsfree in the newborn days felt so liberating! When I visited and stayed with my family with my son for the first time, I used the sling when taking him out which saved having to lug my big pushchair in the boot.

Both slings were soft and comfortable to wear and feels secure when you wear it. I was able to find youtube demonstrations easily to show me how to wrap the slings. Of the two, I probably preferred the close caboo more so because I felt it was easier to set the sling and then just take it off and put it on next time.

6) Nasal Aspirator

Being an autumn baby, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that my son caught his first cold when he was 2 months old. It was a really sad sight to see and again as a first time mum I felt such worry to see my little bundle of joy sneezing and struggling to breathe. There is not really much you can give to a newborn baby under 3months to help them when they’re ill. I don’t like to give medicine for a cold anyway, but even more natural remedies like vapour balms and oils all seemed to have a minimum age of 3 months. So I mostly focused on keeping him comfortable, but one thing that really helped keep his breathing clear and stop him from coughing was a nasal aspirtaor. We used this one by NeilMed which though a bit big, did the job well. It also doubles up as a nasal bulb for when you dont want to suck the snot out! A popular alternative is the Nosefreida which I probably would have bought instead if we’d be able to find it in store. 

I’m not going to lie, I would get an odd satisfaction when I’d be able to extract a good amount of snot! It felt like a job well done and I felt content to know that I might be making my baby a little bit more comfortable. My son used to find it fun at first, but the last time he had a cold at about 8 months, he point blank refused to entertain the notion of me going anywhere near his nose with it. Oh how things change!

And that’s it. Did you also use any of the items on the list? Do you have any newborn essentials not mentioned on my list?