20+ Newborn Essentials

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Are you ready to find out what newborn essentials you really need for your cute little baby? Keep scrolling to learn what they are!

You may be asking yourself, “another newborn must-have items blog post?” There are already so many out there, a lot of them from parenting sites. I tell you what though, I’ve seen all of those lists and there are so many things on there that you DO NOT NEED. Before having Ollie, I fell into the trap of some of those lists and bought things that are still sitting unopened in a box somewhere.

I’m also not going to go into detail on the OBVIOUS items. I will list them though because the pregnancy brain is real.

Crib, Mattress, and Sheets
Car Seat & Stroller
Diapers and Wipes

Diaper Bag
Clothes – Onesies, Pants/Shorts, Socks, Jammies (zippered), Hats
Blankets & Burp Cloths
Bottles

Pacifiers
Baby Monitor
Bath Supplies/Towel

The amount of clothes that you get is totally dependent on how many times you want to do laundry. I can tell you to get 8-10 onesies or 7 pairs of pants, but the truth of the matter is that clothing is so specific to the season and to the baby. You may get 8-10 newborn onesies and then have a 10 lb. baby that only fits in 1-3 month baby clothes. Or a baby that poops a lot and those 8-10 onesies are not enough! My advice on clothes is to get what you feel is right given the season your baby will be born in and family history of baby size and growth. We got a lot of our onesies on Amazon and Walmart because they grow/poop out of them so dang fast!

Now that we’ve got the basics, here are my (and the many moms I’ve talked with) recommendations for newborn must have items.

20 Newborn Must-Have Items

2-3 Pairs of Baby Gloves

I had no idea how sharp tiny baby fingernails were until Ollie came out scratching and clawing! He didn’t really do that, but whoa, those were sharp. You can’t even cut them for a while with fingernail clippers because of how their skin is attached to the fingernail. You basically have to just pull them off with your fingers. The excess fingernails, not the entire fingernail. Haha. Anyway, baby gloves keep them from scratching their face while they are sleeping if a tiny fingernail escapes you. Also, by the time we were done with this stage, we somehow had one of each pair so don’t spend too much on these!

Bassinet

I’m not kidding when I say that we took Oliver’s crib mattress into our room for him to sleep in because we didn’t think we needed a bassinet. Two months later, he was still on our floor on the mattress. What I’m trying to say is invest in a bassinet! Especially if you have a rough recovery like I did and can’t easily get up and down off the floor.

Baby Carrier

I wish I was kidding when I say that Oliver’s carrier got more mileage in the house than out of it for the first few months of his life. There was a time when he was super cranky and only wanted to be held so I wore him in the baby carrier and it freed up my hands to do other things like eat or change the channel. That’s literally all I was doing so that’s cool.

Baby Dock a Tot

This is one that I personally didn’t have, but most of the moms I spoke with did and swear by it. This actually may have helped Ollie when he was going through the phase described above! It gives the baby the feeling of security without you needing to be holding them and without needing to swaddle them all the time. We’ve definitely got one in our Amazon cart just waiting for the next baby to buy it.

Baby Rocker

This was another thing that I didn’t have that moms swear by. We either held Ollie, carried him in the carrier, or created a tiny station in the corner of the couch for him to lay on. The last one was really very depressing because we love the couch corner but couldn’t use it while he was out. Had we just invested in a baby rocker, homeboy could have been chilling there, enjoying life while we enjoyed the couch corner.

2-3 Swaddles

When I say swaddles, I mean actual swaddles, not blankets that you use to swaddle your baby in. I am 100% aware that there are moms who can do the perfect swaddle at 2am in the morning (or 2pm for that matter), but I am not one of those moms. Instead, I buy my swaddles ready for me to just snap and seal. Or velcro and seal I guess I should say.

Night Light

As much as I hate to say it, you will be up in the middle of the night with your newborn. There is just no sugar-coating that. For us, it was about every 2 hours for the first 2 weeks. After that, we got the go ahead from the doctor to let him sleep as long as he wants during the night and he slept for 8 hours when he was one month! Fingers-crossed your little baby does the same! Until then though, a night light is key to making sure you can see what’s happening without having to turn on all the lights. I highly recommend using one that will not wake you up a ton either. For me, those are the ones with the blue light. Those keep me awake for so long after a night feeding.

Sound Machine

We didn’t start using a sound machine with Oliver until he was about 2 months old, but I sure wish I had used it sooner! Because he slept in our room, we heard every noise he made. Every burp, toot, grunt, and explosive poop. Yep Get yourself a sound machine. It will help your baby sleep more soundly and get used to it and will also help you!

Rocking Chair

This was a splurge that I am so glad we made. At first, we kept the rocking chair in Ollie’s nursery while he slept in our room and I just nursed on the bed. Nope. Don’t recommend it. Once we moved the rocking chair to our room, nursing was so much easier! I didn’t wake up Josh as much and it was so much more comfortable.

Baby Camera

We loved having a baby camera in addition to a baby monitor. Originally, we had a nice camera that was designed to be for babies. However, Oliver pulled it down as he got older so we just switched to Wyze and have loved it. There is no monitor, just the app so we would just check it if we get a movement notification or heard him through the baby monitor to see if we needed to go in there or not. It worked for us!

Changing Pad/Table

I’m listing this as a must-have because I did not have one for a long time. Ollie’s dresser had a changing table top but we didn’t really spend a whole lot of time in his room when he was a newborn. We were either in the living room or our room. For a long time, we just used the floor. That was all great except that I couldn’t get on the floor so Josh was changing him most of the time. I guess that wasn’t that bad. Haha. Once we started using the changing table though, it was amazing! Our backs didn’t hurt from hunching over and we were able to strap Ollie in so he couldn’t escape.

Baby Bum Cream

I never realized how easy it was for a newborn to get diaper rash! It’s insane. Ollie had diaper rash for a bit when he was little and the poor little guy was miserable. Meaning we were miserable. Being the new parents we were, we had no idea what it was until my mom changed his diaper and told us his bum should not be that red. We applied some diaper rash cream and bam, it was gone within a day or two and he was back!

Breast Pump

If you are nursing, please do yourself a favor and get a good breast pump. I’m talking, hands-free. I know. It seems like a luxury, but it is so worth it. I spent hours a day pumping when Ollie was first born because he didn’t latch very well and I was working. Because I had to hold the pump, I just sat there. I couldn’t even comfort Ollie if he was crying. I can’t even think what it would have been like had I had other kids… Yeah. Nope. I’m getting a new hands-free pump next time around for sure and recommend you do too!

Nursing Bra

I thought I didn’t need this. I was so wrong. Your boobs change so much during pregnancy so there’s that. You also don’t want to keep pulling up or down your bra to nurse. It would be so uncomfy. Invest in a nursing bra that will be comfortable to sleep in and give you enough support. You will thank me for it.

Breast Pads

Breast pads are definitely a newborn must-have. I should just learn my lesson and trust the moms! If you’re nursing, leaking happens a lot more than you expect it to. For me, this was especially true at night. Getting breast pads helped keep the milk off my clothes and sheets.

Nursing Pillows

You would think a regular pillow would do the trick when nursing, right? Yeah, I thought so too. My in-laws got me a nursing pillow when they came to visit me in the hospital, and I did not expect to like it as much as I did. It gave me so much support when nursing that was super helpful, especially with how weak my arms were postpartum.

Stroller/Car Seat Travel System

A stroller/car seat travel system is a newborn must-have in my opinion and that of the moms I spoke with. We have a car seat that fits right into a stroller making it easy to go on errands with a tiny newborn without having to continuously get the baby in and out of the car seat. Most of these travel systems will also have an insert for when your baby is big enough to easily get in and out of the car seat.

Infant Tub

Another newborn essential I didn’t realize was so popular amongst moms is the infant tub. This cutie little tub can fit in a sink or bathtub and allows for easy cleaning of your newborn. It looks comfy and it’s so functional.

Nose Frida

If the name doesn’t draw you in, I don’t know what will! A nose frida is a newborn must-have item that we still use today! It allows you to suck out your baby’s nose of any undesirables. We tried a bulb, but the Nose Frida worked so much better for us.

Baby Care Kit

The last item on the newborn must have checklist is a baby care kit. These cute little kits come with all sorts of items that you will need to care for your baby such as nail clippers, thermometers, brushes, a medicine dispenser, and even more. We still use things from this little kit.

There you have it! These are the 20 newborn must-have items that all of the moms I chatted with all agreed on. It is 100% possible that you will not find use for some of these though which is totally fine! Find what you need and know you will use to help the transition to life with a newborn that much easier. Is there something that you didn’t realize you needed that you will be buying? Let me know in the comments!

This post was all about newborn must-have items.