As a newborn and child photographer I actually spend quite a bit of time discussing the pros and cons of different baby/ toddler gear. Moms always have an opinion and we ALL have our favorites. To this end, I thought it’d be fun to write a blog about my favorite, must have baby products. Moms already know that having a good lavender scented lotion helps baby sleep. You know that you should have baby Tylenol, gas drops, and gripe water on hand BEFORE you need them. And pretty much every parent out there will bend your ear about why their diaper brand should be your diaper brand. As my guy is about to hit the 18 month mark (*gasp*), I’d like to share some lesser discussed products that I can’t imagine not having had for the first year and a half of my little man’s life.

1. Besides clothing, the item most gifted to new parents are receiving blankets. As the recipient of more blankets that we’ll ever use, I spent the first week or so of Little’s life trying out different blanket styles and brands. The one that stole my heart was Carter’s Swaddle Blankets. These are 100% cotton and have just enough stretch to make the best swaddle ever! We loved these so much, that even though we were gifted more blankets than we’d ever need, but we went out and bought a second set of these. And now that Little is way past the swaddle age, he still loves snuggling with these super soft blankets.

2. I’m not about to debate breastfeeding vs. bottle/ formula feeding because as far as I’m concerned, if your baby is thriving and you’re both happy, then you’re winning at parenting. What I am going to share is a quick anecdote about my guy and our feeding struggles. Long before I ever became pregnant I told myself I’d do whatever I had to do to breastfeed. Well, you know what? Breastfeeding is HARD! I persevered and managed to breastfeed Little until, at 10.5 months old, he weaned himself. But, from the day he was born until the day he weaned, he always had to be supplemented with formula. My supply was just never able to fully keep up with him. If you’ve ever seen him, you’ll understand that he grew (and is still growing) like a weed. For the first six weeks, this meant that we feed him formula by syringe to avoid nipple confusion after every nursing. We also learned within a week of Little’s birth that he had a “lazy suck” – the term the lactation consultant used. This didn’t affect anything until we introduced a bottle around 6 weeks. We quickly learned that even the slowest flow nipple was too fast for him; he acted like he was drowning. After quite a bit of research, I found the Medela Calma nipple. This nipple has a diaphragm in it that ONLY releases milk when baby sucks – just like a breast! Yes, it’s pricey for a nipple, but it’s worth every penny to not watch your baby choke at every feeding.

3. Boppy Newborn Lounger – personally I loved this SO much more than the regular Boppy. For the first 2 or so weeks we were home from the hospital, Little wouldn’t sleep without myself or Jeff next to him. We took shifts through the day and night and just put this awesome lounger on the couch and plopped little man on it when our arms just HAD to have a break. Looking back now that times seems like a dream, but all I can see is thank god for Netflix!

4. Graco Swing by Me Portable Swing – Now, the reviews on this swing aren’t the best. It’s battery operated (boo) and the motor is a tad loud. BUT, it folds up like a charm, is lightweight, and easily rocked my guy until around 25 lbs. This got us through the 6 month old nap issues. Yep, there was about a month where this was the only place he’d nap. And you know what, I totally let him. Momma needs a break sometimes too!

5. Fisher Price Newborn Rock N Play Sleeper – This is another of those things you don’t HAVE to have, but they sure are handy. It also folds for easy transport and baby fits in it in a way that almost cuddles them like your arms. Little refused to sleep in a pack n play when we’d travel but he’d sleep in this.

6. Next on the list is a good sound machine for baby’s room because unless you live in a vacuum there will be noises. And sound machines are soothing! My favorite is the Cloud B Sleep Sheep. This bad boy has been used for every nap time and bedtime for almost 18 months and is going strong. It’s also only on its 2nd set of batteries!

As a newborn photographer, I’ve also found a FANTASTIC white noise app that I use during every newborn session to drown out all of the other noises during each portrait session. You can find the app, White Noise Baby, in the Google Play Store and iTunes.

7. Little had sensitive skin but it got quite a bit worse around 6 – 9 months and he even had some problems with eczema. I know that there are some eczema cleansers and creams that people swear by, but I’m telling you, his eczema seemed to feed off of those pricey products. We, we gave Shea Moisture’s Baby Eczema Bar Soap a try and within a few days Little’s issues were under control and they haven’t been back since! Not only did this work for my little guy, it’s less than half the price of most other eczema products, and it’s super moisturizing.

8. From around 5 months – 11 months I made all of Little’s baby food myself with my Magic Bullet (no need to buy the baby bullet) and these great freezer trays from Oxo. They’re wonderfully flexible and the lids help prevent messes. I liked being able to take an hour or so and make a month’s worth of fresh baby food for my guy.

9. When it was time to switch to sippy cups, we realized that Little did much better with straw sippys. Yay, using a straw is supposed to help prevent ear infections! After trying about 8 different brands, I’ve finally found one that passed my tests. It had to be easy for Little to open himself, it had to be easy to clean, and it had to NOT leak in my purse! The Playtex Playtime Straw Cup passed all of these requirements with flying colors AND they come in a bunch of adorable designs to boot!

10. My last “favorite thing” is my newest purchase – the Bumbo Booster Seat. Little man has been making it clear that he’d rather sit at the table in a chair like a big boy instead of in his high chair lately, and honestly I’m perfectly happy to get that bulky high chair out of my kitchen. I found a new in box Bumbo Booster on a local FB yardsale group for half price and jumped on the deal. It’s even better than I could have hoped and my guy LOVES his new chair.

My final tip is this – find a great, local, online yard sale site be it through Facebook or Varagesale. At least half of the items I’ve posted about have come from Savvy Pensacola or been sold there when we were through with them. Infants go through clothes, toys, and gear faster than at any other age, so why pay full price?

I know this post was a definite change from my usual blogs, but I hope you enjoyed it!