25 weeks! Wow. surreal. CRAZY. This week has been pretty chill. Levi is moving around a lot more and he even let daddy feel a quick kick. Only took like 45 minutes of “belly time” as we call it but it was pretty sweet. We have been setting aside about an hour each night to just lay and talk to him and really feel him wiggling…I am so go go go during the day that he really is only active at nighttime (already confusing his days and nights uh oh!) We both are ready for him to get bigger and his kicks to get more pronounced because that really just might be the best part. Other than that, things are all still pretty much the same! Levi is baking along and I am still feeling amazing. Sleeping sucks. That is about it. If you followed along before #rookierod, you know I have always been a crap sleeper so couple that with no caffeine and not being able to sleep on my belly has been FUN. I posted on instagram my missing of caffeine (and even though I said please don’t message me about the what you “can” haves, I still got some) so I wanted to address that! I chose to cut caffeine completely during pregnancy, along with make a few other diet modifications that benefit baby the best. What you decide to do for your own pregnancy, ultimately is between you and your care provider! If you want to go into more details, feel free to set up a prenatal consult through the Bump to Babies website and I can go into more detail as well as recommend some of my favorite prenatal nutritionists! Speaking of nutrition, I will go into this more next week but I start testing my blood sugar during week 26! So super pumped about that (not really but doing it for the babe)
Okay! Moving on. This week I had a lot of requests to talk all things registry. I’ll be honest. I think a lot of baby products on the market are a scam. Baby does not need as much as everyone makes it out to seem, especially during their first year and ESPECIALLY if you are planning to breastfeed. I will start with the basics.
Baby NEEDS:
- a crib (or somewhere solid… safe within AAP guidelines to sleep)
- a carseat (if you do the GRACO extendtofit4ever you literally never have to buy another carseat unless an accident or something happens)
- diapers (using esembly baby diapers you literally only have to buy two systems and then you never buy diapers AGAIN…crazy right?)
- a handful of outfits and swaddles
- to be fed…if this looks like breastfeeding than you only need your breast and I consider a HAAKA a need but realistically…just your breast and some nipple cream, and a cozy pillow for comfort (I recommend the boppy or the my breast friend, either one will do)
- if you are formula feeding, you need formula and a handful of bottles
I think a lot of the time baby products get pushed as being “must haves” and parents (first time ones especially) can get super overwhelmed. My goal with Bump to Babies is to keep things as real as possible. I have tried gosh knows how many baby products over the years and there are a lot of cool ones but a lot of them just add extra steps and more clutter than they’re worth. If you have been following along this week I shared my Top10 list of “do nots”, they were just in a random order but I will link the graphic down below anyways. I thought it would be fun to do a list of my favorite products as well. Again, this isn’t an extensive list but more of a quick off the top of my head what I feel like makes life easier.
Just a quick run down on the list, all of this can be found on our registry or we already own it!
HAAKA- breast pump, amazing for catching milk on the opposite side from where you are nursing, makes building a stash simple and takes the pressure off of pumping sessions if that is not your goal
Graco 4ever Extend2fit carseat- one carseat designed to grow with baby from as early as the newborn days all the way until they are ready for a booster seat
Newton Mattress- BREATHABLE mattress, honestly this one is a biggie for me..I know everyone raves about the Owlet and those are pretty cool BUT this mattress is literally breathable so gosh forbid baby were to roll over they can breath through the mattress. It was the first thing we added to our registry after finding out we were pregnant with Levi.
Solly Baby Wrap: The best baby wrap, especially for the early newborn days. I have held countless babies in my solly wraps and they are just so good for so many reasons. From the close skin to skin to having your hands free…the list goes on. I really truly think it is a need, especially if you are bringing baby home to already having other kids around.
Ollie Swaddle: SO GOOD. Perfect for safe sleep and babies love to be swaddled, especially early on since it reminds them of the womb.
Hatch Sound Machine: Not only is this amazing for the baby days, but it can grow with them and be an okay to wake light for the toddler years! Babies love white and pink noise and this sound machine (that can be controlled from your phone so you don’t even have to interrupt their sleep) is perfect.
Frida Baby Snot Sucker: Truly the best snot sucker on the market. Kind of gross if you think about it too long.. BUT sure beats the screaming that comes with those blue bulbs.
Boppy Pillow: Great for breastfeeding nursing sessions, but this one pillow has so many uses. Great for siblings that want to hold baby but may still be too young, great for extra support during bottle feeds, supported tummy times or lounging in the beginning and even for supported sitting later on.
Nanobebe Bottles: Or as I like to call them…the boob bottle. They have been the easiest bottle (I have found) for babies who exclusively are breastfed but need to take a bottle every now and then. They are shaped like a nipple and breast and less likely to aid in suggested nipple confusion.
Motorola Baby Monitor: Since I had the Summer one on my do not list, I figured it was wise to include the monitor I LOVE. It is so clear, virtually indestructible…AND you can add multiple cameras to one monitor making it the perfect grow with your family piece.
Again, ultimately when creating a baby registry you have to keep in mind your family’s needs and sometimes products work better for one baby and family than another. This list above are products I have personally used with multiple babies, in various settings so I stand by the validity of them. As always, if you would like to go more into depth about anything I discuss here, please feel free to reach out! Here I am linking our registry and like I said earlier please keep in mind that we have been blessed with a ton of hand me downs, as well as happen to own a majority of baby stuff I would recommend… so our registry is not as extensive as say another first time parent’s would be (comes with the nature of my career).
http://www.babylist.com/rookierod
Thank you so much again for following along on our journey and in case I don’t say it enough, we are so so glad you are!
xoxoxo,
Mariana
Bump to Babies 