Top Ten Baby Gadgets You Totally Need

Top 10 baby gadgets you TOTALLY need

Clouds part...Angels sing...light rays cast down...First time parent delusion.  I read many a-articles on minimalist parenting and my ideals lasted about three days until the non-stop 28 hour a day screaming (that's not a typo...time actually stands still 4 hours a day as a new parent) got me digging through every gift bag registry perk trying to find something to soothe him.  Enter plastic non-silicone pacifiers - yes I tried them and they worked for about a day.  Fast forward five months and I am a much wiser, much more humble mother.  Enter the top 10 gadgets I thank the Lord for every day.  I should give you one more piece of background - I am a thrifty mom and we are a thrifty family.  I shop at second hand stores, we borrow items most people own and I'm not afraid to wear a dress with the tags still on .... in case I decide to return it later.  So, some of the items below were purchased and some were gifted or made for us.

In no particular order.

The ten items that have changed my life as a parent and I SWEAR they are necessary for every new mom.

1.  Keyfit Caddy.  Your child spends months in a car seat when you're traveling about and infant car seats don't really fit in grocery carts the way you think they will- especially if you actually wanted to go shopping while you're at the store - so we purchased an under 7 lb click in bare bones stroller for our car seat and I couldn't be happier. I can pull this thing out of the trunk with one hand on baby and I can load groceries in the bottom.  We bought it with gift cards and a coupon from Babies 'r us "Great Trade-In Event" for dirt cheap.



2.  Burp rags:  Borrow, steal, cut up a receiving blanket.  You will use these

things NON-STOP and depending on the level of spit up (a euphemism for baby puke - rotten milk) of your little angel you may get 1-2 uses out of each or less.  My favorites are actually the kidney shaped ones my mom made for us with one side made of terry cloth...love those things and they work well as a prop up object (just roll em up tight).

3.  Silicone freezer trays.  As part of my genuinely living oath I try to limit harmful toxins we are exposed to as a family.  I recognize living in this world I can't actually eliminate every harmful toxin in our environment - but I can NOT expose my family unnecessarily.  So, any food products that are going to be frozen or heated are generally done so in glass...but freezing in glass becomes tricky so I have opted for silicone.  What I love about this product is you don't have to do the partial thaw to get the frozen breast milk or food out of the container.  Baby Bullet comes with a mold, but it's one of those that you have to thaw first in order to get the food out - ugh.....I hate that.

4. O.N.E. Diapers:  If I only had $100 for new baby stuff I'm pretty sure half of that would be reserved for these GROVIA diapers.  I give them credit for my 4 month old sleeping 10+ hours a night and now he averages 11.5 hours.  These diapers with the extra soaker pads allow him to wake up not cranky or fully wet or in a blow out.  Also, in the past 5 months we have had no diaper rash.....I repeat: NO DIAPER RASH.  I assumed diaper rash was a when, not an if situation - turns out I was wrong, in a good way.  Plus use your cloth diaper for 30 days and it pays for itself - if you figure each diaper is .25 which they are when you're using Pampers Swaddlers - love me the blue line

5.  Portable changing pad...I think technically it's called a changing station and I had NO idea how much I would use this thing, nor how deft I would become at one had changing pad opening movements.  Anyways, my friend bought me this adorable skip hop version, but when I left the $30 changing pad at a friend's house 60 minutes of driving away, I bought a generic version on Amazon and love it just as much.  Bonus now husband and I will both have our own .  There are a variety of changing pads out there but here are my requirements - clip closure, clutch-clip handle (to snap onto stroller/diaper bag/or backpack), zippered pouch for diapers.  I have used this thing in parking lots on the pavement, in skeevy stadium bathrooms, on a starbucks chair, and EVERY changing station I've come into contact with. 

5. 1/2.  Buy an UBER portable wipe container - not necessary but $6 of cuteness in a world where you're covered in puke or poop or spit.

6.  Baby Bjorn bouncer....I never would've guessed how much this kid loves this bouncer thing - and it may only be true for really active children (I've asked the doctor several times now if he's having mini-seizures and she assures me "no, he's just a very active baby") in any case...he could care less about this thing from 0-3 months, but after that - the kid drinks his bottle in this seat and entertains himself for hours.  The price tag is high, but the cotton is flammable polyester free and it's a very minimalist design.  Bought ours as we were completing our Target registry (20% off) and with gift cards...so it was FREE.

P.S.  I haven't yet bought the toy attachment $60 for a flippin' wire with wooden circles.  BUT, the amount of times I pick up his dropped toys may lead me to a weakness driven purchase. - stay tuned


7.  Monitor, monitor, monitor.  SO many choices - we opted for a $100 or less video monitor and yes I zoom in at night before  I go to bed to make sure

he is breathing - apparently a new parent thing.  In the long run I felt like too many bells and whistles was too much, but we are living in the 2000's well approaching the 2020's and if you don't purchase a video monitor in this day and age - you're just being silly.  This one has excellent night vision - and a VOX setting (the amount of noise it takes to turn the screen on is variable) & a crazy rotation capability. Love it and may buy a second camera for the chicken coop just for kicks.

8.  Secure Beginnings Mattress.  I'll admit, at first, I felt like this was simply a guilty first time parent purchase.  After all, I was raised on a cheap non-breathable mattress and survived to tell the tale. Truth be told Jack probably would've been fine with a regular old mattress but 2 days of no sleep after he started rolling over and I had the conversation with my husband around this $500 mattress purchase combo - I have been relieved of neurotic baby flipping habits.  I mean I purchased this mattress so that he could sleep face down all he wanted and never stop breathing. Here I sit blogging not watching the monitor with barely contained nervousness.  So thankful for this thing...and it's kind of streamline looking and eliminates the need for sheets.  So there's a $6 save :)

9.  Lille Baby Air Flow Carrier.  I was gifted a Moby, an Ergo and a Tula.  Jack

only wanted to look out - so the inward facing carriers showed no hope.  He hated the Moby unless I bounced around for 40 minutes or more to get him to sleep.  Having a baby in close proximity to your face and screaming bloody murder was not my idea of fun.  Aside from the front facing capabilities, the airflow is also made of mesh so it's less hot.  If you have a warm running baby which we do then the mesh is a necessity.  Jack loves the carrier now - I use it for a lot of shopping trips or if I'm doing stand up work at the school.

10.  Give it up for the gimmick of all gimmicks.  Try drying 5 glass bottles in a dish rack along with matching nipples and tops.  It's so much baby product with so little space.  I love my Boon and honestly I have no idea where I would dry my bottles without it. Not to mention I don't have to worry about the nipples coming into contact with anything unsightly or questionable.  It is made in 3 different sizes cutely named: grass, lawn and yard.  Whatever you do DO NOT purchase the long skinny one - unless you enjoy Jenga stacking.









Honorable Mentions

- Dr. Brown's Formula Dispenser (the newer version with the longer spout)
- Halo Sleep Sack Swaddle (for first few months)
- Zipadee Zip (for next few months...see sew tutorial)