My Favorite Newborn and Baby Related Items | Somerville Newborn Photographer

February 01, 2023

This blog post has little to do with photography and is entirely about me reminiscing about the baby years that are sadly now behind me…my youngest turned three in January! I remember reading and watching a gazillion different posts and youtube video about “must haves” in the weeks before and after my first child was born. I was overwhelmed with the information and went a bit overboard with my first for fear of being underprepared. So many of the “must buy” products and items I feel I never used; both my girls NEVER took a pacifier and my oldest refused to drink breast milk from a bottle so I had a whole super pricey set of Dr. Brown’s bottles and products I had to give away as we were sold on the comotomo by the time she weaned and started on whole milk. A few items I wasn’t sold as essentials became everyday can’t live withouts for both my babies through a process of trial and error and habit. So what are these less talked about things that you may or may not need? Check out my 6 items below!

I was obsessed with my colorful, easy to pack, and adjustable Etsy ring sling! Given my first baby was born under 6 lbs, I carried her in this non-stop for the first few weeks! I also loved all the different ways I could use it as she got older, including having her on my hip or with her legs out as she got bigger.

My worst and most stressful memories as a new mom were when my baby got sick. It’s always so scary to have a congested little one who can’t blow her own nose yet. Though this one took a long time to get used to for my oldest, my youngest practically begged for the nose Frida when she was stuffed up and it was one of the only ways in which I felt I could directly ease her pain when she was sick…not to mention that it felt really satisfying getting all those stuck boogers out and washing them away through the tube!

 

I wish I could remember which brand onesies we were gifted that changed diapers changes, but I can’t emphasize how much less stress and agitation I felt in the middle of the night when I had to change a diaper because of magnetic onesies! I really do not understand why all onesies aren’t magnetic or without the little buttons that can take some time to do with a kicking baby. I swear, half the time, I also got the buttons wrong!

A few friends had Gaiam exercise balls they would use in order to soothe their newborns and we jumped on board! I idea of swaying or walking back and forth the house seemed less appealing and realistic to me than just bouncing on a ball! Our first child quickly adapted to this method of falling asleep for daytime naps and we had to deflate it every time we traveled long distance or find one if we forgot it!

My husband and I were utterly unfamiliar with the contemporary sounds of generation Alpha (yes, that is what we call kids born in the 2010s), so we reverted back to what we knew as early millennials and quickly purchased a raffi playlist for the car and during windown at home after we realized youtube videos are hard to stream! I remember singing baby beluga as a six year old and now any raffi song reminds me of the first few months of being a new mom! My daughter still loves these songs…they will always be timeless!

After we sleep trained our first, we realized we needed something to help her understand when it was time to “wake up” or “snooze.” For a few weeks, she woke up too early and then was overtired before her first nap. Another mom suggested we get a Mella and after we decoded the somewhat nonintuitive buttons, the changing lights helped her “check the time” so to speak before officially making sounds to come get her! This is another items we had to take with us every time we traveled as she became a part of our family  This one is obvious given who I am, but I had to admit, I didn’t take enough pictures of my kids in their first year of life! Though iphone photos keep increasing in quality, I still personally recommend new parents invest in a solid DSLR camera to begin capturing their growing families! A great start camera is the Nikon D610, it’s the camera I started on as a professional and I still use it as a back up for sessions! Though a brand new one is still close to 1K, you can find some lightly used ones for a few hundred through B&H photo, especially now that it’s considered an “out of date” model.

 


Archive
January February March April May June July August September (2) October November (1) December
January February March April May June July August September October (1) November (1) December
January (1) February March April May June July (2) August September October November December (1)
January February March (1) April (2) May (3) June (6) July August September (2) October November (1) December (2)
January February (1) March (3) April May June (1) July August (3) September (3) October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December
January February March April May June July August September October November December