Baby Essentials for the first 3 Months

Echo will be turning 3 months on Christmas day. Crazy! How did that happen? Somewhere between the day she was born and now something magical has happened. Parenting has become easy. I know it will get hard again but for now I'm enjoying the fact that we have figured each other out and have a routine down. It's so much fun! We've come a long way from those excruciatingly hard first two weeks, life is good :-)

In light of me knowing so many girls who are expecting I decided to make a list of list of the products I couldn't have lived without during Echo's first 3 months. Enjoy!

1. A stroller with an infant car seat built in. I went with the Evenflo Journey 200 and love it but you can get any kind you like as long as it has that infant car seat. You need a stroller to get you and baby out of the house so you don't get cabin fever and the car seat enables you to move the baby from car to stroller without waking them up. This kind of infant car seat also rocks so you can sit your baby in it at home and it doubles as a rocker to help keep them calm.

2. I was the mom that said I would never use a pacifier. Guess what? I was wrong!  Of course you don't want to reach for the pacifier first when your baby is crying, but when you are in line at the grocery store and can't attend to that dirty diaper right away you will thank your lucky stars you have one of these. Also, some babies are just comfort suckers (like mine) and this really helps them calm down. I use the Avent Soothie.

3. Something that makes white noise. This doesn't have to be a little frog but someone gave me this at one of my baby showers and using the white noise setting is a god send for getting Echo to go to sleep. It also lights up and makes all kinds of other noises and music but I really only use it for the white noise :-) Summer Infant Slumber Buddies.

4. Cloth diapers are amazing and I have talked about the advantages of them in a few other posts. I highly recommend you cloth diaper at least part time. We are using Osocozy prefolds and Thirsties Duo Wrap covers.

5. A portable diaper changing mat. This is a must if you plan to take your baby anywhere. It enables you to change your baby anywhere and even when there are changing tables available you really don't want to put your baby's  bare skin on the nasty bathroom changing tables in public restrooms. I like the Skip Hop Pronto Diaper Changer Kit because it also has storage for diapers and wipes built in.

6. The Boppy! I love the Boppy! It will make life a lot easier when you are breast feeding. It's also great for tummy time. Get one. You won't be sorry. I also recommend getting an extra cover because they get dirty fast.

7. The play mat is something that echo only recently got in to. It can keep her entertained for quite a while now though and it's a great place to put her when I need to get something done or just want to give my arms a break. We have the Bright Start Your Senses Safari Activity Gym.

8. Some kind of breast pump. If you are planning to breast feed it's nice to have a pump. What kind you need depends on how much you will be away from your child. Since I'm not going back to work and only rarely have to be away from Echo I love my little hand powered pump. It's perfect for when I leave her with the grandparents on date night and just need to leave them with a few bottles of milk. It's also great for travel, I used it a lot on my trip to DC. I could pump in the car and then bottle feed Echo so we didn't have to stop to feed. I use the Medela Harmony Manual Pump.