New Mom Must Haves

Dockatot Deluxe+ | Paper Flowers: Yadi Aries Fleurs | Furniture: Kids Only Furniture | Mattress: Nook | Bedding: Glenna Jean

Hi loves! I’m slowly approaching the light at the end of the tunnel that is the end of the unpredictable newborn stage lol! I wanted to get this New Mommy Roundup on the blog earlier but was too crazed; I have a better handle on what is working for us and what isn’t now that I’m almost 3 months in anyways!

First, if you have a newborn or will soon let me tell you that your friends are telling you the truth that the insanely difficult beginnings will be over before you know it. Is there a switch at the 6 week mark like everyone told me? NO, but Iya was also 3+ weeks early so I’m not sure if I should be going by adjusted age or not – but I digress, either way it will fly by. To be vulnerably honest, it was around the 5-6 week mark that the sleep deprivation caught up to both my husband and myself. We were bickering about everything & we were simply exhausted. Waseem went back to work at 7 weeks and I felt like I hit rock bottom, I didn’t know what to do with her! It was my first time alone with any baby, let alone my own; I felt clueless, helpless, she screamed in my face all day, I felt like a failure and definitely had a breakdown by day two. A friend recommended the book On Becoming Babywise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep — this is my first Mommy Must-Have recommendation!! Drop everything and buy it – it’s great on Audible too. I learned about the importance of sleep-eat-wake cycles, I picked up on her sleep cues, and it made a huge difference for us overnight. Don’t let anyone tell you your baby is too young for a schedule!! Iya might still be tiny but having structure has done us all a ton of good and she’s a much happier, rested baby. In turn we are must happier, rested parents 😉

On that note… Let’s start with sleepy time products!

Blanket: Pottery Barn | Mattress: Nook | Onesie: Cat & Jack | Headband: HERE | Owlet Smart Sock 2 | Birth Dog: Stitches by Natalie (use code babyiya for 10% off! She’s closing for the holidays in Oct so order yours asap!)

Beauty Sleep

• Dockatot – I’ve heard such amazing things about the Dockatot and from photos alone I didn’t understand the hype.. it just looked like a pregnancy pillow / pet bed to me lol! The brand was lovely enough to send me one along with a bunch of accessories and let me tell you that we can’t function without it and it is not just any ol cushion! The material is firm and breathable (yes I’ve smushed my face into it!) Iya sleeps in it every night and if I swaddle her up for a proper daytime nap.. back in the Dockatot she goes! Right now we are sort of co-sleeping, I put the Dockatot above my head so there’s no way my blanket will ever end up on my little one. We have a Halo Bassinest but I hate having to lift myself up out of bed to pop pacifiers back in all night and tbh both Iya and I sleep better with her close. During the day I have it out in the living room on the couch or ottoman for naps and even play with the Toy Arch attached. I don’t want Iya to become too dependent on movement/swings so it makes me so happy when she’s comfortably entertaining herself or napping in her dockatot during the day! Even though this was gifted to me, please know that my endorsement is genuine! I actually just bought one for a gf who was due 6 weeks after me (she & her baby boy are loving theirs!) and I’m thinking about buying one for a new baby cousin of mine too! Worth every penny.

• Halo Bassinest – Since I’ve mentioned it above.. let’s talk about it! I wanted to love this thing so bad, but I just don’t. At it’s shortest setting, the base is at the same level as our bed so I still have to lift myself up to push the side down to access my baby. When your baby is having a fussy night and cries for her pacifier every two seconds.. you – will – lose – your – mind!! Its also so hard to put Iya down when she’s already asleep without waking her but this is a problem I’ll face even when we transition to her crib so I can’t fault it for that. I just figure I’ll have a little more experience then — nothing flustered me more as a new mom than not being able to set her down because I didn’t know how. I’m still holding on to hope though because so many of my mom friends love this thing. Iya is sleeping through the night pretty well with a predicable pattern so I’m planning on getting her out of our bed asap! Fingers crossed that we have some success with it; if not I’m putting it up for sale and am getting this sidecar co-sleeper.
  • A little hack for the Babybay Co-Sleeper I just linked… buy it on Amazon Germany to get it for practically half the US price shipped!
• Owlet Smart Sock 2 – As a new mom with no experience with babies, I was in desperate need of some peace of mind. I discovered Owlet via Facebook and Instagram sponsored ads and was fascinated lol – it quickly went on my must have list. Owlet was generous in sending me one but I would have bought one anyways. It keeps an eye on your little one’s heart beat and oxygen levels and will alert you if either falls outside of the safe range — Waseem is really into checking her heart rate to see if she’s in a deep sleep yet (ie if we can stop holding our breath & just relax lol!!). I’ve seen some people online complain about false alarms or their baby kicking it off constantly but I’ve never once dealt with either. It comes with several sock sizes so I really think those that had issues were using the wrong size sock – trust me, Iya has a strong kick! Iya was born a little over 3 weeks early so our sock hadn’t arrived until a week or so after she was born — in that week I swear I would constantly get up to check that she was breathing. Our first or second night home I cracked my eyes and saw it was completely light out and panicked thinking she didn’t wake up all night. I’ve never jumped out of bed so quickly but it turned out that sunrise was just a lot earlier than I thought haha. I’ll never forget how scared I felt so Owlet really has brought me a lot of ease. I’ll have a full review of the Smart Sock 2 up on the blog soon!
• HALO Sleep Sack – We really never learned to swaddle lol, our little Houdini always breaks free so not only has the HALO Sleep Sack been a lifesaver.. it’s all for safe sleep as a wearable blanket! Iya definitely didn’t like being swaddled at first but now it calms her and is essential for her to sleep for long stretches. We use this at night as its very tight and warm.
• Woombie – I wanted there to be a clear distinction between long night sleep and shorter daytime naps so I love the Woombie swaddle during the day, it keeps her arms down so she doesn’t startle and wake herself up but it has a lot of stretch and isn’t as snug as the HALO Sleep Sack. It’s very easy to get her in and out too!
• White Noise Machine – Speaking of differentiating between day and night.. I love this white noise machine for night time sleep! During the day I keep the TV or some music running and speak at my normal volume but at night I keep everything dark and quiet – this white noise machine helps drown out any little noises we or our cats make and I like to believe that Iya knows it’s bedtime when she hears it. A friend of mine highly recommended this specific machine as it worked wonders for sleep training her now 17 month old. Mashallah he really is the best sleeper so I trust her to the t when comes time to sleep train our girl.
• Nightlight – This nightlight is soooo cute!! My eyes are terrible in the dark (I thought the worse vision during pregnancy was supposed to go back to normal?!!? waaah!) so I rely on this baby to see my baby any time she makes a peep or its time for a feeding. I love that its ceramic, it looks and feels much more expensive than it is – I just love Target!
• Essential Oil Diffuser – This might be extra of us but our desperation for sleep was so real that we tried to create the most relaxing environment for Iya to sleep through the night lol!!! We add a few drops of Lavender Essential Oil to this every night to lull all three of us to sleep.
• Nook Pebble Pure Mattress – Iya won’t be transitioning to her crib for another few months but it’s ready for her once she’s ready! When searching for a mattress, breathability was super important to me and I kept hearing about Nook’s breathable, organic mattresses. Waseem & I were at a baby furniture store when I was pregnant and we saw a Nook Pebble Pure Mattress in one of the crib floor models. I immediately ran over to squeeze it – it’s so firm yet so soft! Honestly it’s my ideal kind of sleeping surface and wish Nook made queen sized beds haha! I even smushed my face into it to “test” it’s breathability and it really is! Thank you Petit Tresor for gifting it to us, Iya is so lucky!

Potty Time

• Ubbi Diaper Pail – I LOVE this Diaper pail!! Aesthetics aside, I wanted something that wasn’t reliant on cartridges. They get expensive and I just know I’d get left in a pinch without one on hand. The Ubbi takes any kind of bag so I use a regular kitchen garbage bag and it’s so easy to pop in and take out. Another win is that it’s made of steel not plastic like the Diaper Genie. Plastic will absorb odors over time & with small LA apartment living that’s something we couldn’t leave to chance. We’ve experienced no diaper stink at all – I’ll report back after she starts solids!
• Kitchen Towels – I was looking for something to put on top of my portable changing pads so they aren’t freezing and something to put over our nursery changing table so I’m not washing the fitted sheet every other day. I didn’t want to go the disposable route because diapers and wipes are enough waste, so I needed something cheap and bleachable. These kitchen towels did the trick! They’re absorbent, about $1 each, and not an eye sore.
• Wipe Warmer – We bought this within a couple days of bringing Iya home! We felt so bad when she’d cry over the shock of cold wipes on her butt in the middle of the night!
• Diaper Rash Care – Aquaphor has been the best for clearing up diaper rash literally same day! If she’s not red/rashy we also love Honest Company’s Butt Paste – it smells so good! It isn’t advised to use baby powder anymore since its easily inhaled so if you do choose to use a powder its important that it is talc-free. I love Burt’s Bees Dusting Powder, it’s cornstarch based, smells so good, & keeps Iya dry! I sprinkle a little directly onto her diaper away from her to be safe instead of directly onto her skin. As for diapers.. we love Pampers Swaddlers!

Feeding

• Nursing Pillows – I love my Boppy & Brest Friend equally and switch back and forth between them often. I loved my Boppy for nursing when Iya was super tiny and now when I’m lounging around nursing on the couch. Now that she’s a little bigger with more neck strength it doubles as a lounger for her too! If I need to multitask while nursing (use my phone or type on the computer) I love my Brest Friend as it’s sturdier and acts like a little table — obviously I always keep one hand on her so she doesn’t roll off. It provides great back support and makes it easy to sit upright.
• Gerber Flannel Burp Cloths – These are so soft and SUPER absorbent, I don’t even bother with bibs most of the time when I’m bottle feeding because these work so much better tucked under her chin.
• Comotomo Baby Bottles – I LOVE these bottles!! TBH I bought them because they’re stylish. We were using Dr Brown’s Wide Neck Bottles which I did like but I got fed up with all the parts to wash/sterilize so one night I grabbed a Comotomo and never looked back. Not only does it mimic the breast, Iya’s gas issues went away completely, and she barely leaks/spills while eating from these unlike the Dr. Brown’s bottles! Pumping moms know how depressing it is to see that little trickle out of the corner of their mouth lol!
• Spectra S2 Double Pump – My insurance covered an electric double pump so after a ton of research I decided on the Spectra S2. I don’t have anything to compare it to but its supposed to be hospital grade and best at emptying the breast. I’ve had no issues with it at all! Its just becoming more popular in the US so there aren’t a ton of accessories readily available like Medela. I like Medela bottles for storage and use this adapter when I want to pump directly into them. Super easy! I use Lansinoh Storage Bags for freezing my pumped milk btw!

Lounge n Play

Iya is still too little for toys but we’ve been having a lot of success with the Mamaroo, Fisher Price Cradle n Swing (ours is the Snuggapuppy but I think they’re all the same?), & Skip Hop Activity Gym (so stylish & not an eyesore!). We also have a Baby Bjorn Bouncer which she is just beginning to warm up to now that she’s getting bigger and stronger.

Paper Flowers: Yadi Aries Fleurs | Crib: Kids Only Furniture | Mattress: Nook | Bedding: Glenna Jean | Birth Dog: Stitches by Natalie (use code babyiya for 10% off! She’s closing for the holidays in Oct so order yours asap!)