Meeting our baby for the first time was such an incredible experience, and it’s crazy how much our life has changed! Being parents has been a special experience that we could have never fully prepared for, but I hope that the following tips are helpful for you and your family as you anticipate your baby’s arrival!
Baby Routine and Sleep Training
Mom’s On Call– We are using this book and app to try to get her on a routine and to sleep through the night at 6 weeks! She’s 3 weeks old when I’m writing this, so hopefully we’ll get there! It also gives great tips on bathing baby, developmental steps, feeding, warning signs for sickness, and just what to expect in general.
Amendment added when she was 8-months-old: This book was amazing! It has laid a healthy sleep foundation for her and helped us create a consistent bedtime routine. She started sleeping 12 hours a night probably around 3 months old and has kept at it! Moms on Call also has an app that updates based on her age, so that you can know how feedings and naps change as she gets older.
We also watched some Taking Cara Babies classes when she had a 5 month sleep regression.
Birth and Parenting Classes
I cannot stress how important it is to take a birth and/or parenting class! I was super against it at first, because I didn’t want to have information overload, and I felt like I had a general idea of what to expect from my regular OB visits. My OB kept encouraging me to take these classes from the hospital, and I am so glad that we did!
The instructor went above and beyond in preparing us, setting expectations, and answering our questions. It is because of this class that I was not anxious, and was instead excited about our upcoming delivery.
We took our class from St. Thomas Midtown Nashville, TN, and during COVID, they are virtual, so anyone can take them! You also don’t have to deliver there to take the classes.
To sign up, you can go to this site and search for: “Virtual St Thomas Midtown Hospital Childbirth Education” in the 37209 zip code. We took the labor and delivery and new parent class. They also offer a breast feeding class.
Favorite Items for our Newborn
- Kyte Baby Zippered Footed Onesies – I have now bought these in several different colors. The bamboo fabric is so stretchy and soft, and with the zipper that unzips from the top of bottom, it’s so easy to change her diaper! Of all of our clothes, we keep reaching for these over all of the other options.
- Snuggle Me Organic– It is vital to have a lot of “docking stations” around the house. We have a bassinet in our room, a bouncy seat on the kitchen floor, and this snuggle me organic in the TV room. It’s so easy to put her in here while we watch TV or get on our laptops. Note it’s not sleep safe, so we only have her in it when we’re in the room. We lay it on our couch.
- Amendment at 8-months-old: I wish we would have gotten the Leecho lounger from the get go because it lasted until she was about 6 months old, when the snuggle me had to be put up when she started rolling.
- SwaddleMe– These are amazing! So easy to just wrap her in these swaddles for naps and at night. You can also use a swaddle blanket, but these are just so easy to velcro on and off your baby. You’ll be taking them on and off a lot for diaper changes! They sell them at Buy Buy Baby and Target.
- Halo Swaddle– These are also nice, and are good for when she got a little bit bigger. You don’t need a ton of swaddles, since you can’t swaddle them for very long. Three was plenty for us. We kept one in our room with the bassinet, one in the nursery for naps in her crib, and one for the wash/storage. (Buy Buy Baby and Target)
- Burp Cloths– I’d get at least 12 of these! And no preference on brand, you just go through a lot of these!
- Hatch- She loves the white noise setting. “Mom’s on Call” routine suggests putting white noise on every time they sleep. It’s so easy to control this on your phone and it has a nightlight feature.
- Infant Optics– We love this baby monitor! It works easily and the camera quality is great. Note it doesn’t connect to an app, but we like that because you can leave the video monitor with a babysitter/our parents, and we don’t have to get them to download an app.
- Stroller– We love this stroller! Definitely get one where your car seat can clip into the frame easily. It’s so nice to be able to pop her in the stroller to run through the grocery store, mall, etc. We also like to pull the stroller up to the table at restaurants and she just sits there snuggly (we put the stroller brake on).
- There are SO MANY stroller brands to choose from. Babylist does a good job of listing out pros and cons of different strollers. We got ours from Baby Supermarket Playpen in Jackson, MS and I liked testing them out in person.
- We ended up getting a mini fridge for the nursery (our nursery is upstairs) where I can store pumped breast milk, and waters/gatorades for me when I’m doing nighttime feedings. We also plugged in the bottle warmer and set it on top of the fridge- so it’s a one-stop milk shop! Then we use the baby’s bathroom sink/counter to wash and dry bottles.
- Kid To Kid– This is a consignment store in Brentwood, TN, but they have several locations in the US! They are awesome for trading in maternity and kid clothes and baby gear/toys, and it’s super cheap to buy newborn clothes here! (I’m talking $1 for onesies!!) They also sell maternity clothes.
Feeding Baby
- Phillips Avent Glass Bottles– Get in the 4 oz and 8 oz size. These have been our favorite bottles by far!
- Babylist has a bottle sampler package that you can buy and try different bottles, if your baby turns out to have a harder time transitioning from breast to bottle. We started Charlotte out on Avent from the beginning and she loved them. They also screw into my Spectra breast pump.
- Also, you can’t send glass bottles to our daycare, so we have Phillip Avent plastic bottles that we send to daycare with her.
- Phillips Avent Fast Bottle Warmer– This bottle warmer is AMAZING! It literally takes 3-5 minutes to safely heat up bottles of breast milk or formula.
- Use Areoflow Breast Pumps to get your breast pump before baby comes, this site runs your purchase through your insurance company for you. I looked for one that had a rechargeable battery so it could be used on the go, and not have to be plugged into a wall.
- I got a Spectra Baby S1 pump, and soon after baby was born, I had to invest in more bottles and more flanges. Go ahead and stock up on a few of these! We also learned that Phillips Avent Bottles screw into the Spectra pump! We love the Phillips Avent bottles, and were glad to know that these work with the pump. (We liked them better than the Spectra bottles.)
- I’ve also heard great reviews of the Madela Freestyle Flex pump. This one is super small and portable, and fits in your purse! It’s just a little pricer than other options, but your insurance discount can go towards any pump and you’ll just pay the difference out of pocket.
- Brest Friend Nursing Pillow– this is so easy to get baby positioned for breast feeding! Also, take your nursing pillow to the hospital for the postpartum room. Leave it in your car and ask your husband to get it once the baby has arrived. This pillow is better than the boppy because it clips aroud your waist and is easier to position, you’re also handsfree and it has a pocket for pacis, burp cloths, your phone, etc.
- Also we received some baby formula samples in the mail, but we found it helpful to have a small amount of formula on hand- just in case! Turns out, the first two weeks for our baby, our pediatrician said she wasn’t getting enough food from breast milk alone and we had to supplement her diet with a couple formula bottles a day. It was so nice to have some bottles and formula on hand, so we didn’t have to run to the grocery store that crazy first week!
- We are very thankful that our baby has no brand preference for formula. After a few weeks of splurging on the good stuff, we now give her Costco formula and she loves it just the same.
- Dish Drying Rack – Again, we wash bottles in the sink in baby’s bathroom, so we have a drying rack in there on the counter. We like that there aren’t a ton of bottles in our kitchen, so we still have plenty of counter space for cooking, and it doesn’t look cluttered.
Diapering Baby
I didn’t realize how many diapers we would go through! We like Pampers, Huggies, and Costco Brand because they have the yellow/blue indicator line. (Yellow line turns blue whenever she’s wet.) We also don’t have a preference for wipes or diaper cream. They all work!
We LOVE this changing pad cover from Target that is plastic and wipes off easily! We keep some clorox wipes near the changing station, because we wipe it and the diaper pail down frequently.
Diapers: Buy at least one box of size 1 before baby arrives! Baby might be a newborn size to start, but our girl quickly outgrew them within two weeks. We were told not to stock up on tons of diapers because your baby will grow and you don’t know how big they’ll be at the beginning!
Do stock up on wipes though! We have no preference for brand, but our friends love “water wipes.”
Also, our baby cried when she got her diaper changed, and we realized that she didn’t like the cold wipes! We got a wipe warmer and it made a world of a difference.
Get a diaper pail! Target has several options. The newborns have SO MANY poopy diapers a day, so it’s nice to have the smell locked away in a pail, instead of having to take out the trash all the time.
Bath Time
- Scrub Brushes– These are less than $10 from Amazon. They are perfect for washing her little scalp/hair.
- Baby Wash Cloths– These really are a little softer on their skin than normal washcloths
- Skip Hop Moby Bath Essentials– We have all of these bath items (scoop, kneeling pad, baby tub, etc.) and it’s made bath time so much easier! We keep them all in her bathroom, so ours is baby-free, and we don’t have to store them.
- Baby Lotion– Our baby LOVES getting lotion on her legs and feet after bath time (who wouldn’t?!). We use this Aveno Baby Lotion and it works great.
- Honest Baby Shampoo/Body Wash and Johnson and Johnson Baby Wash are what we use for bath time.
For Mom
My advice for the hospital for mom, is to talk with other moms who delivered at your hospital. Each hospital is different! I gave birth at St. Thomas Hospital Midtown in Nashville, TN. The hospital provided everything from the gown, fuzzy grippy socks, peri bottle, mesh underwear, pads, witch hazel, and dermaplast spray. You also get to take all of these items home (not the gown lol). I have also heard that some hospitals even provide ice packs or “padcicles.”
If you find out that your hospital doesn’t provide some of these items listed above, you may want to purchase beforehand. “Frida” brand has all of the postpartum essentials and they sell them at Target and Amazon.
But below are some things that we brought or wished we would have brought or bought for the hospital.
Hospital Bag
- Robe for Mom
- Two Bath Towels (Hospital towels were horrible and small!)
- Toiletries (Shampoo, Conditioner, Razor, face wash, make up, hair dryer, etc.)
- Fuzzy Socks with Grippies on the bottom (I bought some from Amazon)
- Nursing Pillow (Leave in car until you’re in the post partum room, then get husband to bring it in for the lactation consultant)
- Breast Pump (Leave in car, you’ll only need if your baby is in the NICU. The hospital will give you a pump to use, but they may charge you for the parts/rental. So just use your own.)
- Going home outfits for daddy, mom, and baby
- PJs for dad
- Casual outfits for dad (jeans, t shirts, undies, etc.)
- Phone chargers
- We brought a quilt from home to put on our hospital bed- it was so comforting to have a little piece at home in the sterile recovery room.
- Spare Bag to bring stuff home in – like a reusable cloth grocery bag (Note that there are a lot of brochures and paperwork too, so maybe bring a folder or brown envelope)
- Some people suggest bringing your favorite pillow with a colored pillow case, but their pillows were fine to me
- Book/iPad
- Carseat- leave in the car, your husband can go get it when it’s time to be discharged
For Mom at Home
- Frida Peri Bottle – Hospital provided an average peri bottle that you take home with you, but this one is much nicer
- Ice Pack Pads– These were nice for the first few days.
- Mesh Underwear- You can take them from the hospital and they’re washable! No need to purchase these. I only used them for the first week at home.
- Breathable Panties– I used these basic Fruit of the Loom panties for the subsequent weeks after the mesh panties. The elastic is soft, so they’re comfortable for your shrinking belly! They’re also cheap so you could get rid of them after postpartum healing. (Pads with wings also fit these well, and not in the boy-short-style hospital-issued mesh panties.)
- Pads for first few weeks– You can also take these from the hospital! I used the hospital jumbo pads for the first week, with the mesh panties. Then I just used Always Flexfoam Pads for the subsequent weeks. These Always Flexfoam Pads are made in a ton of different sizes- I started with size 5 and then decreased over the next three weeks to a size 2.
- Always Pure Cotton FlexFoam Pads– These 100% Cotton version of the Always Flexfoam pads have been the best! The cotton isn’t irritating, and the flexfoam stays dry.
- You don’t need adult diapers– I bought adult diapers, but only used them at night, and I thought that the mesh underwear with a large hospital pad was sufficient. Adult diapers also weren’t cost efficient, since you have to change your pad every three hours. I also found that the elastic wasn’t comfortable on my belly, it was quite tight.
- Night gowns that button-down the front! These are awesome for nursing at home. I didn’t wear any of my gowns in the hospital- just wear their gown! Our baby pooped right on my gown, so I was glad it was hospital property!
- Tylenol– As your stomach shrinks, it cramps similar to period cramps. This mostly happens when you breast feed, but you’ll probably want some Tylenol on hand to ease the pain. Some of my friends had a little stronger stomach pains and the doctor was able to prescribe them something stronger. These occasional stomach cramps only lasted about 10 days for me.
Things to do the first week:
- Pediatrician Visit– Let hospital know of your Pediatrician’s name, their office will call you to schedule your first visit, once baby arrives. We go to Heritage Medical Clinic Green Hills.
- Birth Certificate– For the state of TN, the hospital gives you a “mother’s copy” and then you have to go online to order official copies to be sent to your home. They give you a handout with instructions on how to do this. You might want to bring a folder to the hospital to store important docs like this!
- Day Care Notification– We called all of our day cares and told them that our baby had arrived! We gave them her name and birth date. We are on several waiting lists, so this was also an opportunity to follow up and check the status of our wait!
- Health Insurance– We called our health insurance and asked where we needed to mail the birth certificate to, and how to get our baby added to our insurance plan.
- Maternity Leave– I let my company know that my baby had arrived, and I got my FMLA/Short-Term Disability payment squared away.
Tine Murray 