This blog post is dedicated to every little thing I found useful for my newborn's first three months of life, as well as things I bought that turned out to not be useful.
USEFUL FOR BABY 0-3M:
The thing we use the most. It rolls, is shaped like a circle and is so easy to roll around. We roll this in the nursery at night, and keep it out in the living room during the day. The mattress is comfy and thick, and you can basically attach anything to the surrounding wooden bars. Best part is, you can extend it once baby outgrows the newborn size.
Idk how other moms do it without a proper diaper changing table. This table also has a lot of compartments for storage, for keeping muslin cloths and all your diapers, creams, toiletries, medicines, and more, so it has been super useful from birth all the way until now.
Once baby starts seeing well at around 2 months, you're gonna want to invest in this star projector! Makes nighttime feeding all the more magical, and your little one will be in awe. Sometimes I just put him down in his crib without doing the rocking thing, and he falls asleep watching the little moving stars.
4. Baby Bjorn bouncer The ultimate cry-stopper and entertainment seat when your arms get tired.
Travel around with ease. Foldable and can place on any car seat.
Your baby is going to wear these on repeat! Forget fancy expensive clothes that offer no comfort, and which they will grow out of in a month.
The best way to transition baby out of the swaddle at around 2-3 months.
8. Large Muslin swaddle cloths (at least 120x120cm)
The most effective swaddles are for sure the manual ones. I've heard this from countless other moms too. The velcro-fastened sacks are tempting, but for some reason babies really love the tight, manual burrito wrap.
9. Cocoonababy
One of the most effective cry-stopping techniques for me has been to put baby on his side, and Cocoonababy offers the best support for this position. This has also been a great way to balance out flathead on one side.
Forget aesthetic beige bouclé mobiles and go straight for the loud, colourful plastic mobiles on Amazon. Your baby will be so fixated, and be entertained for just long enough for you to get some stuff done.
Close to the third month, your baby will literally get too heavy to do each feed in your arms. This has been the best high chair for feeding my baby in for the past few weeks. The baby bouncer is too bouncy and not sturdy enough, and with the high chair, you can sit at the dining table and have one hand free or watch TV while feeding!
12. Stokke Flexi Bath (without insert is fine)
The easiest bathtub to use! I place it on my dining table and wash him like how they taught me in Matilda (with one arm underneath his neck to support, the other to wash him with). He used to hate bath-time with another tub we used, and now he loves it and never cries!
13. Egg night light (touch-activated)
For the night feeds when you don't want baby to feel overstimulated by bright lights. Just use this handy dimming light and he'll stay in a dream-like state that makes it easier to put him back down to sleep.
14. Nanit baby monitor
Expensive, but worth it. Notifies you every time baby moves, cries, wakes up or goes to sleep, or even when it detects a carer in the room, and it comes with a breathing band so you can worry less about SIDS. I also love the memories feature, where you can see baby grow.
NOT USEFUL FOR BABY 0-3M:
1. 4moms Mamaroo Bassinet
I thought this automated rocking bed for baby would be a great idea, but for some reason, he never took to it. He would cry and cry no matter the rocking level, and would only stop once we took him out of it. The mattress that comes with was also atrociously thin, and looked so hard and uncomfortable. Also, no wheels so it's stuck in place.
2. Covered foot onesies
In the early stage, you are not going to want anything covering the feet when you do those overnight diaper changes. Taking the feet out and stuffing them back in is a real pain that wakes the baby up even more! I much prefer the onesies that just button up at the crotch, and then swaddle on top. Just remember to regulate the temp accordingly.
3. Sleep sacks
My baby did not enjoy sleep sacks, period. Maybe it'll work for you, but the burrito-wrap was the only way for us.
4. Hanging mobile that doesn't move or make noise
So boring and just for photos, really. Not stimulating at all for babies, especially in the early stages.
5. Any neutral-coloured toy
Go colourful, always.
6. Skip Hop newborn bath
I thought it looked so ergonomic and newborn-friendly, but every time I use it, baby throws a FIT even to this day. He squirms so much it becomes a hazard to use it. Also, water only fills up to his butt and you have to use a shower head to keep the rest of his body warm, but it still feels chaotic when he's screaming and squirming. Much better to use a large bathtub and to immerse baby completely.