Photo by Insung Yoon
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
Mahatma Gandhi
There are infinite paths to live a life of meaning. For many, parenting is a major part of this path. It is one of the most ambitious, trying, and rewarding things we will do in our lives. And having been around since the beginning of human existence, there is no lack of information and strongly held opinions on the best way to go about it.
Much like diet and nutrition, it’s a constantly evolving topic with lots of contradictory advice. It can be hard to cut through the clutter and know who to trust. As someone looking to help and not selling anything aside from my opinions, I want to share a few of the essentials that have enhanced my partner’s and my life as parents.
There’s no blueprint for parenting your specific child, so it becomes one of the biggest, longest running experiments you’ll ever conduct. What food works for them? What sleep habits work for them and the rest of the family? What clothes, bottles, bedding, stroller, etc. to buy? Do I need a wipe warmer? No, you really don’t.
With the help of friends, family, and parenting bloggers, the goal is to find things to try that will give you the greatest results with the lowest cost (in terms of time, money, and energy). Here are 3 of the purchases we made that delivered the greatest benefits to our family with the least cost.
3 Life-Changing Baby Product Purchases for New Parents:
1/ Twelve Hours’ Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old – This little 176-page sleep training book, currently about $12 on Amazon, is the clear #1 one for us. It’s a succinct, quick-reading guide that breaks down how to phase out overnight feeds (yes, please!) and to set up a sleep schedule that works with baby’s natural rhythms to consolidate nighttime sleep into one long block. It worked great for our daughter, and then even better for our son. To this day, when he is 6 months old and she is 2½ years old, they rarely wake up overnight. On those occasions, it typically takes a quick, small intervention—pop in his pacifier or put her blankets back on her. Sleep training is an approach that teaches babies the skill of sleeping independently that will benefit throughout their lives and dramatically improve yours as a parent. When we get the sleep we need, we can be much better, happier parents to our littles. One caveat: while this can certainly work with breastfeeding, it is a little more straightforward with formula feeding, since you know and can help guide exactly how much and when the baby is eating.
2/ Dr. Brown’s bottles – While the sleep training worked well for our daughter, it would have worked even better and faster had we helped her resolve the tummy troubles she was experiencing sooner. We tried everything from tummy massages and leg bicycles to gas relief drops and gripe water to this funny little gas passer—warning: this can double as a poop launcher if not covered! We changed her formula to a dairy-free one per her pediatrician’s suggestion, thinking that she might have a milk allergy. It made her poops smell awful, but much like the rest of these attempts, it didn’t solve her issues. Finally, our friends recommended Dr. Brown’s anti-colic bottles, as do over 40,000 reviewers on Amazon. We switched to these and that worked for her almost right away. They are designed to reduce the amount of air the baby takes in while drinking, and while they have a couple more pieces than other bottles, they’re easy to use and work wonderfully. We haven’t looked back and have only used these bottles with our son. They’re currently $22 for a 4-pack of 8-ounce bottles on Amazon.
3/ Dr. Brown’s formula mixer – Another clutch friend reco, this is the easy DIY alternative to the fancy $200 Baby Brezza formula makers. At $10 on Amazon, we got two, which allows us to put one in the dishwasher at the end of the day while we use the other clean one to make formula for the next day. This mixer allows you to make a full pitcher of formula in about two minutes. This is huge, especially on those occasions when you’re running low and have a cry-screaming baby ready for mo’.
Parenting Essentials Honorable Mentions:
- MAM pacifiers – Pacifiers are a game of trial and error with your baby. These ones work best for both our kids and many thousands of others, apparently. The wider tip design helps the babies keep it in better and the glow-in-the-dark feature is super helpful when you don’t want to shock your baby out of sleep with the overhead light (rude!) but need to find a paci in the dark.
- Magic Merlin sleepsuit – It may look like a baby straitjacket, but it fits them like a cozy hug. It has been a big part of our successful sleep protocol with both our littles. We found a second, gently used one for cheap on Facebook marketplace to leave at our son’s nanny’s home. This is for babies about 3-6 months old, or until they can fully roll over, before we recommend switching to a sleep sack.
- Great gift (or wish list) idea – Paco music book. (Note: it’s in Spanish.) This little gem I’ve linked to is one of the most loved books by our daughter and by us—and has been for a couple years now. We love the unique instruments and sounds it has introduced us all to, the chance to introduce our kids to Spanish, and the fun and vibrant illustrations. This is one of a series of Paco books, including Paco y Mozart, Paco y el rock/jazz/hip-hop/opera, and more. There was also an English option, the Poppy book series, which I would highly recommend. We have and love this one. However, it looks like it sadly may have gone out of distribution. If you can find a Poppy book at a reasonable price (<$30) though, you, your baby, and/or your friend won’t regret it!
Thoughts, questions? What are/were your favorite 1-2 baby essentials for your child or to gift to others?
