Having a new baby is exciting in so many ways! There are so many amazing items on the market these days and every year they come out with more items to make things easier and help your developing baby! Creating a registry for the first time can be daunting though with all the options, at least it was for me. Even with the input of other moms, there is still a lot of trial and error. Although we had experience raising children, from infant to teen years, not every child is the same and they do not all find interest in the same items. Thankfully Amazon makes it easy to exchange unused items you received off your registry! I would like to share some of our little koala baby’s favorites from her first trip around the sun. These are items that we attempted with our youngest:
Sleeping Baby
First of all, we bed-shared from day one. I know this is taboo to some and there are all the “safe sleep” studies out there. I can not stress this enough: you need to do what feels natural and right for YOUR family. Sometimes this means putting your baby in their own room to sleep, sometimes this means Mom sleeps in a separate room with baby while Dad has his own sleeping quarters, but for those like us it means Mom, Dad, and Baby all share the same bed. Baby and I slept on cloth pads for the first few months so I wouldn’t leak milk all over the sheets until things regulated. We tried many swaddles and found that arms up swaddle was the best for us because it allowed a comfortable position to sleep and they offer different TOGs for all seasons and temperatures. Having a “side car” crib has been helpful for many others; we have such a small space that I ended up just using a bed rail which has worked really well for us because I don’t move much in my sleep.
Keeping Your Mobility
Because our daughter never wanted to be put down, the most important thing for me was a comfortable carrier to keep my hands free as much as possible. I used a few different styles, depending on what we were doing. In the first few months, I preferred a wrap so I tried the Baby K’tan and a Moby but baby and I would sweat so bad because the material was so thick. We switched to an off-brand Moby-style and absolutely loved it! By about 4 months old, her neck control was pretty good and I switched to a more structured carrier. I was given a Infantino carrier which worked great, but my all time favorite was one I was randomly blessed with by a local mom group; the Lulebaby. This was by far my favorite carrier to use every day. By 10 months, our daughter was walking and didn’t want to be in the carriers anymore so I was happy to bless the next family when we passed it on to another new mom in the area. We still carry a Tush Baby in the car when we leave the house just in case, but we don’t use it often anymore. It is very convenient with the pockets to not need a separate diaper bag to just run into the store quickly.
Baby On The Go
Our koala baby happens to HATE being strapped into her car seat, which is very unfortunate because road trips and traveling are Mom and Dad’s favorite pass-time. We use the Graco car seat, Graco base and Graco stroller. We also have a Graco Slim car seat as a backup which works really well for a quick installation and removal option if we need to get into a different vehicle. There are many on the market now and while I have seen some amazing travel sets, I just feel that they are over priced for what it is when Graco makes great product at a more reasonable price, and they are only used for a short while. Uppababy would be a great all-in-one and we may have gone that route if we planned on having more kids in the future to get more use out of their functions. We tried some car seat toys and had no luck with them, so we opted out of any back seat toys. We did however get a mirror with temperature display and it has been phenomenal.
Home Entertainment
Our koala baby only finds entertainment while engaged with Mom or Dad. That dictated which toys were a hit in our home. I would also like to point out that manufacturers will put age ranges on their toys, these are more of a general guideline and are not going to apply to all babies. Our daughter played with toys above the marked age ranges, you just have to make smart choices and be present for safe playing.
Here were some of our favorites through the first year:
0-3 Months
At this age, we focused mostly on tummy time and bonding with Mom and Dad.
3-6 Months
Our daughter had pretty good head control by 3 months old, thanks to all the tummy time, so we started working on sitting up during this age range and she liked the cause-and-effect type toys.
6-9 Months
By 6 months, our daughter was crawling and she loved anything that had music.
9-12 Months
Music continued to be a favorite so we got anything that had cause and effect with music. She was walking assisted around 9 months and we used a Fisher Price push walker that had her walking unassisted by 10 months old. Some may walk sooner and others later, but I highly suggest a push style walker over a seated ones so they learn to walk without sitting.
Anything that is not an actual “toy” but is safe to play with, such as plastic bowls and mixing spoons, are a huge hit too!
Bonus Items
I highly suggest getting the memorabilia items! I was a little hesitant at first because they were not “necessities” but I knew if I didn’t I would regret it later. My favorite are the Luna Bean casting kit and some baby-safe ink pads!
Share with us some of your babies favorite first year toys and those must-have items that made the first year adjustments easier!
Holy Homestead 