Products That Helped Me Survive Baby’s First Two Weeks

The baby product industry is huge. When I was pregnant, I was overwhelmed with just how many “necessary” gadgets there were; things parents-to-be are told that they absolutely need to have. In the end, there’s a lot of fluff and all baby really needs is love, food and shelter… but I admit there were a few products that really helped me survive the first two weeks as a first time mom.

The Chicco Keyfit 30 carseat
The first thing you need is a carseat in order to bring baby safely home from the hospital. I can’t recommend the Chicco brand Keyfit 30 seat enough; we love it for its high safety rating AND ease of use. You don’t have to mess with straps or seatbelts each time you go somewhere; once you have first installed the secure, removable base into your car, the seat itself snaps in and out effortlessly when it’s time to go. Taking the seat out of the base can literally be done with one hand, which means you are able to easily take baby in and out of the car without disturbing them. Great for when daddy has driven them all over town to help them fall asleep, but doesn’t want to wake them up when coming back inside. Ask us how we know.

Baby Nanny App

© Android Market

Speaking of coming home from the hospital, we were sent home with a piece of paper that was used to track and monitor our son’s feeding and diaper changes. This helps us make sure our son is eating and being changed enough in a day, and how long its been since the last feeding. After only a few days at home in the real world, though, I realized how tedious it was to always carry around this sheet of paper and a pen. While I won’t be tracking these behaviors forever, the Baby Nanny Android app by Appulearn makes it possible for me to record all of this (and more) on my smartphone, eliminating the paper sheet completely with a few taps of the screen. SO much easier!

Book: The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp
I am so glad I read this book. Dr. Karp explains his theory behind what’s going on in your newborn’s head and combines 5 techniques (the five “S” techniques) to help you calm and soothe even the fussiest baby. When you’ve exhausted the list of typical fuss-inducing culprits, just the right combo of soothing actions performed together is a lifesaver when it feels like baby is upset for “no reason.” I can personally vouch that it works and we’ve had success calming the geekling down and helping him drift off to sleep almost instantly thanks to this book. There are also CDs, DVDs, and a book for toddlers over at happiestbaby.com.

To go hand-in-hand with the philosophy from Happiest Baby, the following two products will help you execute soothing perfection:

Swaddling blankets
I’m not going to get picky on swaddling blankets here; we tried several of the fancy swaddle specific blankets with panels and velcro, etc. but those designer swaddle blankets can run you up to $20 EACH… and a simple, large cotton blanket works just as well if you know how to swaddle. For instructions, check out this swaddling guide by Parenting magazine. Whichever method or blanket you prefer for swaddling is totally up to you, but you you’ll definitely want to be able to swaddle. Even in the summer!

Sleep Sheep
The cloud b Sleep Sheep is fantastic. It’s a super soft sheep stuffie that makes soothing sounds, like rain or ocean waves. Our geekling loves the white noise effect of the rain sound best. There are two Sleep Sheeps, the original and a smaller, portable one. I recommend the mini portable version because we literally take it everywhere, so the compact size is convenient, and its handy velcro strap means it can be hung anywhere you need it. That even includes my wrist, to keep the soothing sounds of the Sleep Sheep right with me when I’m rocking our newborn or on the go. At night it helps to not only lull our baby back to sleep after a feeding, but I find it pretty soothing, too. Then again, I’m also sleep deprived so it doesn’t take much for me to fall asleep these days! If you’re following the Happiest Baby technique of “shhhhhhh”, you’ll find the Sleep Sheep’s white noise does the trick without wearing you out.

copyright Arm's Reach

I mentioned sleeping, which brings me to our next favorite thing… a bassinet. We personally have an Arms Reach co-sleeper bassinet, but any close proximity sleeping arrangement that is safe, like a side-car bassinet or moses basket, works. I feel better having our son close at night; I can tend to his needs as soon as his fussing begins, before it turns into a frustrated shriek, and I don’t have to race down the hallway 100 times a night. Don’t get me wrong, our baby has a crib and will use it in his own room eventually, but for the first few months until he can roll over, the bassinet has been great. The Arms Reach co-sleeper attaches to our bed, so I can easily reach in and soothe my son back to sleep when he needs that comfort. It also makes sliding him over and back for night time feedings easy, without disturbing him too much. And yet, even though he’s literally just an arm’s reach away, he still sleeps in his own separate, safe space.

And speaking of feeding, the next three products are geared towards the breastfeeding new mom. Since we haven’t begun pumping, I don’t have any bottle feeding recommendations yet.

My Brest Friend pillow
The name is a little cheesy, (and that’s not a typo) but My Brest Friend is one of those products that works so well it can get away with a cheesy name. When I began breastfeeding, I required no less than four pillows at once to get into a comfortable position and feed successfully. Getting four pillows positioned just right was a chore, not to mention a pain when I had to switch sides during the feeding and reconfigure pillows to accommodate. Then, when on the go I of course could not carry four pillows with me wherever we went, which often meant I was at the mercy of whatever I could find if I needed to feed away from home. Every new place I fed I’d have to work out a new arrangement. We have a Boppy pillow, but it just didn’t work well. It was too soft and floppy, and hard to keep in place. Then we stumbled upon My Brest Friend. It is a firm, solid pillow that wraps around your waist and clips into place like a belt at just the right height via an adjustable strap. It has built in lumbar support for the part that wraps around your back to promote good posture, and the top is slightly contoured so that baby’s head has a natural resting place while feeding. The shape is streamlined and provides the perfect, solid (yet soft) “shelf” right where you need it to support any breastfeeding position. I love that I can twist the whole pillow around me when it’s time to switch sides instead of having to re-position four pillows. Plus it means no matter where I am, whether at home or on the go, all I need is the one pillow to feed successfully without frustration. I can’t rave enough about how this product has made my breastfeeding experience better.

Medela Lanolin cream
I’m going to make a blanket statement here: if it has to do with breastfeeding, I highly recommend anything by Medela. I’ve used the manual Medela Harmony breast pump to relieve initial engorgement and will be using a double electric Medela pump later. Medela is the brand my hospital trusts to use, and when it comes to lanolin cream and relief from beginner breastfeeding discomfort, I preferred the Medela brand Tender Care cream over Lansinoh. The texture and consistency felt better, so the application was smoother and gentler than other creams I tried, which were thick and harder to apply. However, both the Lansinoh and Medela brands are good, so it may just be a personal preference thing; try both and see what you think! Whatever your brand decision, just make sure you have some lanolin to get you through the first few weeks of breastfeeding.

Glamourmom nursing bras

copyright GlamourMom.com

Just throwing this out there in general… you’re going to want nursing bras and/or tank tops to make things more comfortable as you adjust to the changes your breasts will go through for breastfeeding. I picked up some nursing tanks at Target, but was far from impressed with their nursing bra selection; they were uncomfortable, too. I then ordered nursing bras from Glamourmom, and they are seriously amazing… specifically the Mbody starter nursing bra selections, which remind me more of a sports bra. A super comfortable supportive nursing sports bra. The sizing was easy and boasts that one bra size will support your breasts before, during, and after engorgement, and it’s true. I would imagine their tanks and other nursing clothing are equally comfortable and worth it as well.

One final gem of a suggestion is the Baby Bargains book by Alan and Denise Fields. The most recent edition is set to hit shelves next week, in fact. This book not only helps you find the best deal on baby products, but it helps you navigate the baby product consumer maze and determine what things you need and which products out there you can skip. Brands and models of the most popular baby items are compared to help you make the best decision for your family, and the authors are backed by experience, research, and an impressive following of parents who share their opinions and experiences in the Baby Bargains online community. This book helped save us money as we prepared for our geekling, and it’s worth the read!

And there’s my personal list of the things that helped us survive the first two weeks (and beyond) with our newborn. Remember, I am not an expert or anything. This is my first child. As of the time of this writing, my son is only a little over 2 weeks old and I won’t even begin to pretend I suddenly know it all. Far from it! These were just a few things that made my transition into motherhood easier, and maybe the list will help you, too. Best wishes!