When I was planning for the baby’s arrival, I only wanted to purchase items that we need or really excites me. I try to be very cautious of over-acquiring items since both my husband and I feel tense when our home isn’t in order. I’m now a believer of Marie Kondo’s philosophy of only keeping things that spark joy and finding a home for everything we own.
So today I wanted to round up my list of what I consider “newborn essentials” or the basics you need for the first three months.
Car Seat
The hospital won’t let you leave without one. A bucket seat is the most convenient option but there are convertible car seats that can accommodate an infant.
For us, even though the bucket seat did not last a whole year it was so much more easy for us to get in and out of the house. I can’t imagine walking out to our car trying to hold on to our newborn. Also the bucket seat has made it much easier for us to keep our nugget warm during the cold winter days. You can read more about how I keep my guy warm here.
We have & love the Uppababy mesa. It’s so easy to install and the belt paths also makes it fool proof to install without the base – although I still highly recommend that you read the manual to your seat and vehicle.
How beautiful is this Clek bucket seat? I think it’s worth looking into as well.
Nursery
The only thing you really need is a safe place for baby to sleep. We decided to opt for a crib and forego the bassinet all together.
I should note that we also decided to sleep in the same room as the baby. So our bed made it easy to change diapers and nurse (although we did purchase a glider and changing table).
For bedsheets, we grabbed 3 to start… and to be honest we never really needed more than that. One in use, one in the wash, and another as a back-up for late night accidents. Anything more than that would be for fun.
Diapering Products
Diapers. In newborn and size 1. If you don’t want to overstock, start with 1 newborn box and two boxes in size one. It’s so easy to order online now – so unless there’s a good sale I wouldn’t stock pile too much.
For diapers, we love Pampers Pure and Honest Co. For a budget friendly option, Seventh Generation is also a good.
Water Wipes. Some people use cotton balls, but I think the water wipes is safe newborn skin too.
Vaseline. You could opt for something else, but this is what they used in the hospital. Plus I figured if this is what they recommend after a circumcision, it should be a safe option for diapering.
Sleepwear
Onesies & Sleepers. When I was shopping for clothes, I tried to stick to sleepwear and I purchased a variety of sizes from NB, 3m, 6m up to 9m. I would try not to buy too many newborn sizes since your baby might be able to skip that size all together.
Our favorites were the wrap-over style onesies and button-up sleepers. I really didn’t dare try to pull any clothes over the baby’s head and I didn’t like the zip up style sleepers at the time since we always had to force one of the legs in.
Swaddles. Muslin swaddles are more versatile. We still use ours today. (In the stroller, if we need to change him in public, etc).
You can also grab one of zip up swaddles too to see how you like them. But keep in mind they’ll out grow this quickly and you can’t reuse it for anything else afterwards… other than another baby.
Baby hat. You don’t need many. 1-3 hats is more than enough. I got over excited here. I also learned that they shouldn’t sleep with a hat on since it can cause over heating.
Socks. 1-2 pack is enough. I was going to say one, but because it’s so small… it’s also easy to lose a few pairs. Most nights we had our guy in a onesie, pair of socks and a swaddle.
Amazon Prime
When we came home from the hospital, I was ordering items as we needed them. With same day shipping, this made it so easy for us. Things that we ended up needing: sterilizer, baby bottles, drying rack.
Shopping List
- Crib x1
- Crib Mattress x1
- Fitted crib sheets x3
- Box of diapers in NB and size 1
- Baby wipes
- Vaseline
- Cloths
- Small bucket
- Onesies
- Sleepers (if born in the summer, you might not need any)
- Swaddles x3 or 1 pack
- Baby hat x2
I think this summarize the bare bones of what you need in your baby’s first few months. You can always acquire more as you see fit and I think it varies a lot based on how often you want to do laundry.
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