Baby stuff: Lifesaver edition

The amount of stuff we accumulated for Charlie is out of control. Seriously, this kid has everything and needs next to nothing (a clean diaper, a blanket, and his mom near by.) After having been in the trenches with him for 5 weeks now, I have definitely sorted the wheat from the chaff as far as the baby products that work for us. I may amend this as he grows, but so far, these are the things that work for newborn Charlie and his mama.


My Brest Friend- Best nursing pillow with the WORST NAME EVER. I prefer it over the *Boppy. It's a firm foam pillow that straps to your torso and supports the baby. Trying to get a squirmy, flailing newborn latched onto your (already tender) breast properly is hard enough without having to deal with propping up pillows under the Boppy.

*Now that Charlie's a little bigger and we have the hang of breastfeeding, I can use the Boppy or any pillow a lot easier.



Bringing home a newborn baby is one of the most surreal moments ever. I am not only in charge of this little human's survival and happiness, I also make all the rules regarding his care. I have been caring for children almost my whole life, but it was always under another person's guidelines. It was overwhelming to begin to make these decisions for Charlie. One such decision is where he should sleep at night. Holding him in my arms all night didn't seem unreasonable to me, if only I didn't need to sleep! We have a crib in the nursery that adjoins our room. It is eight feet away from our bed. It was too far away. We have a bassinet in our room that I placed next to my side of the bed, two feet away from me. It was too far away. I wanted Charlie right next to me where I could reach out and touch him in the night (and minimize the distance between us for middle of the night feedings). However, I was worried about possibly smothering him in the night. After three sleepless nights (on my part), I found this Safe and Secure Sleeper and had it shipped overnight. It fits on the bed in between me and John and has padded plastic sides with mesh venting. This ensures that the baby isn't hurt and can breathe if he gets close to the side, but mom and dad can't smoosh him, either.


Besides worrying about the baby all night, one of the other reasons I couldn't sleep was that babies are noisy! Charlie sounds like an overweight dog sniffing and snuffling and occasionally whimpering in his sleep. The downside of co-sleeping is that you can hear all those little baby noises. This Sound Spa white noise machine has really helped us sleep. Charlie can't hear us moving around in our room and we can't hear every tiny noise he makes. I prefer the rain setting, but it has multiple white noise options and even projects images for baby to look at onto the ceiling.


Nursing is hard business. I wanted to be able to give myself a break by giving Charlie a bottle every now and then. But I didn't want to confuse him and make figuring out nursing harder by letting him get used to a bottle. Enter the Adiri Natural Nurser. It's the closest bottle I've found that emulates the breast, so the baby can go back and forth easier. It's been really helpful in keeping me sane and my baby fed and happy.


Most newborns like to be swaddled and Charlie loves it. But he was born an almost nine pound bruiser and he's a strong guy capable of freeing himself from almost any swaddle. The Kiddapotumus SwaddleMe helps keep him immobile which leads to a deeper and longer sleep!