favorite baby products

As a FTM I was incredibly overwhelmed with all the choices when it comes to baby products. There are so many options and of course I wanted the best for my precious babe. Some of my choices were great, and some not so much. So here is my list of must haves and dont bothers.

1. Bath tub - Fisher Price 4 in 1 sling n seat tub - best baby tub ever (I tried 2 others and a friend of mine tried 4 others)

2. breastpump - spectra s1 or s2 - love mine - be sure to contact your health insurance provider to see if you qualify for a free pump

3. Baby carrier - wrap or ringsling for newborn and Lillebaby complete for 3+ months - I'm a diehard lillebaby fan, I have 5 and they were worth every penny

4. Infant car seat - chicco keyfit 30 or graco snugride snuglock are my top choices

5. convertible car seat - it's best to join a car seat group on Facebook or reach out to a CPST and ask for recommendations based on your childs stats and vehicle info (car seats for the littles and carseat safety are 2 great groups) - I have a chicco nextfit zip and love it

6. Stroller - I dont have much experience with different strollers, mine is an overpriced shopping cart😂

I have a chicco viaro and its ok (I dont use it much bc I prefer to babywear)

7. pacifiers - it's best to get a few different kinds and let your baby decide which he/she prefers - my LO likes nuk

8. bottles - same thing, buy a few different ones and see which your LO prefers. we used tommee tippee bc my LO preferred them, although I didnt much care for them bc they have a huge lip at the top that makes it hard to get all the milk out.

9. breastmilk storage bags - parents choice by Walmart - reasonably priced and I never had one leak

10. fingernail clippers - believe it or not, the sharper the better - the white platex brand ones are my favorite - wait until baby is sleeping to clip nails

11. swing - we had the fisher price snugapuppy and graco duetsoothe, both were nice but I think I'd have preferred a mamaroo

12. Bouncer - we got the rocker chair type bouncer and really liked it

13. Diapers - I'm really not ok with harsh chemicals on my babys body, who is? And shockingly enough, so many diapers contain chlorine bleach, that's right BLEACH. Stay away from the Pampers and huggies and luvs - We use the mama bear brand by Amazon during the day and babyganics at night. We have literally tried every organic/chemical free diaper on the market and those are my favorites, hands down.

If you dont know what Amazon subscribe and save is, look into it. 20% off diapers and wipes, delivered right to your door!

14. Wipes - seventh generation, hands down the best - avoid wipes with fragrances and lotions as those can be incredibly harsh on sensitive baby skin

15. Cleaner - again, I have a thing about harsh chemicals. Before baby I cleaned everything with bleach or pinesol. Now that I have to worry about everything my baby ingesting everything she touches, the idea of her ingesting harsh cleaners is terrifying. I ditched most of my chemicals and now use norwex envirocloths to clean all of my babys toys, high chair, etc. If you dont know anything about norwex, I encourage you to do some research on it.. zero chemicals, you only use water to clean with and it removes 99.9% of germs! Sounds crazy but it works.

16. High chair - I have the ingenuity smart clean high chair and am not a fan. It has way too many nooks and crannies that are sooo hard to clean.

17. Baby food - skip it, dont bother with it, do baby led weaning (but be sure to do your research first)

18. Colds - ditch the bulb syringe and get a nose frida. Use a coolmist humidifier pretty much always. Also, zarbees cough syrup is great!

19. Baby soap - I like aveeno lavender for shampoo and the norwex baby body cloth for washing baby's body. Again, you only use water and the cloth. (Seriously, dont knock it till you try it. I was a skeptic too.)

20. Baby lotion - we dont really use it, but like aveeno lavender for once in a while use

21. Sunscreen - babyganics and blue lizard are my top 2 picks

22. Diaper bag - some moms are super into diaper bags, I'm not. As long as it holds my stuff and doesnt fall apart, it's great. I have a gray and pink carters brand backpack style diaper bag and like it fine.

23. Diaper pail/genie - dont bother, waste of money - just get yourself some doggie poo bags to put poop diapers in (be sure to keep a roll in your diaper bag too)

24. Formula - I breastfed mostly and encourage all moms to give it a real shot because it's seriously great. But I was a mom who had to supplement while at work and after trying 6 different formulas, we settled on enfamil enspire, which is the closest to breastmilk.

25. Sippy cups - we like nuk learner cups for milk and munchkin weighted straw cup for water

26. First shoes- pedipeds are amazing and worth every penny

27. Laundry detergent - dreft pure touch with downy free and clear fabric softener and all free and clear dryer sheet

28. Stain remover - oxiclean gel stick, you'll never use another stain remover again, seriously amazing.

29. Vitamin D drops - if you're breastfeeding, these are a must. Mommys bliss are the best. Dont bother with the enfamil ones, they are super gross.

30. Butt cream - seventh generation coconut care, a bit pricey but worth every penny. It works great!

If there is anything you're curious about that I didnt list or you have questions about the things I did list, please feel free to ask! Or if you have favorites you'd like to share, please do so in the comments!