Favorite First Year Baby Items
We’re in complete denial that our Beckham boy turns ONE in a week. I seriously can’t believe I’m writing this for his birthday. I could’ve sworn I was just checking into the hospital yesterday :( Watching him grow up is so fun and so sad all at the same time. I don’t know if my emotions are ready for this next week, but I do know that we’re just so grateful to be that little boy’s parents, and we never want to take that for granted. Parenthood is such a gift. Beckham is such a gift. We thank God for each of these every day!
All that to say, every milestone is worth celebrating, so we're celebrating for a full week! I’ll be posting three blogs leading up to Beckham’s birthday on January 19th. This is the first one in the birthday series.
I thought it would be fun to do a little round-up of our top 20 favorite baby items that we used in his first year of life. There are SO many baby items out there, that it is easy to feel overwhelmed and like you’re being pulled in a million different directions. With that being said, I want to preface by saying two things: #1. Most of the items on this list are not a NEED, so please don’t read them that way. They are simply items we found along the way that worked for us. That brings me to point #2. Every baby is different. Just because these items worked for Beckham, doesn’t mean that they will work for your baby. Try some things out and figure out what works best for you, your family and your baby. Now that we have that out of the way, lets get to the list!
Top 20 First Year Baby Items (in no particular order):
#1. Lululemon Diaper Bag - We started off with a different diaper bag and ended up making the switch to this one a few months in. We LOVED the switch. Alex is a bit picky about what he is willing to carry around on his back (it can’t be too girly lol) and this one passed the test! It fits quite a bit inside and the outside wipes down well. It’s $50 off right now too!
#2. Toddlekind Premium Foam Playmat - Before Beckham was born, we knew we wanted to replace our scratchy, wool living room rug to something more kid friendly. I did some research and came accross this brand! There are other brands and mats out there that are similar, but I loved the design printed on this one and the warranty offered by the company. We did have some issues with our initial mat, but Toddlekind honored their warranty and replaced the mat. We received the replacement mat a few months ago and have had no problems with it this time around. We loved that this mat was wipeable as Beckham would spit up a lot during tummy time. We also loved that it was cushioned to protect any falls that Beckham might have while playing. We ended up ordering two of the 4x6 sized mats, but having the option to customize the size of the mat is huge!
#3. Owlet Dream Sock - Before having Beckham, I went back and forth about whether or not I should purchase one of these. Friends and family members talked about how much they loved theirs, but I wasn’t sure if it was a necessity for me. Flash forward to after Beckham was born, and I decided it was a necessity for me lol. I was hardly getting any sleep because I was so worried about if Beckham was okay. Knowing that the Owlet would alert me if Beckham stopped breathing or had an irregular heart rate gave me so much peace of mind. It comes with a few different sized socks, and it all hooks up to an app on your phone. The app tracked his wake times and deep sleep times during the night, and it was so interesting to look at. Me being the over cautious, worried mom that I am, used this sleep sock with Beckham until he was probably 10 months old.
#4. MAM Pacifiers - We bought and were gifted an assortment of pacifiers before Beckham was born. The hospital gave us one MAM pacifier in a gift bag and Beckham wouldn’t take anything else from then on out. I think it has something to do with the shape of the nipple on these. The pacifiers with really long and skinny nipples didn’t stay in his mouth. We’ve just upgraded the sizes along the way and he has always loved them!
#5. Munchkin Pacifier Wipes - Piggy backing off of the pacifiers are these pacifier wipes. We keep a pack of these in our diaper bag and a pack at home to clean pacifiers if they either drop on the floor or haven’t been washed in a while. They’ve helped keep the germs and sickness away for the most part!
#6. Hatch Sound Machine - We love this sound machine and all of it’s features! The night light and clock features were so nice during those middle of the night feedings early on. It hooks up to an app on your phone where you can customize the sound, light color and volume. The app just recently updated and we’ve been loving the new brown noise. It also has an OK-to-Wake feature that we are excited to try out as Beckham gets older.
#7. Car Monitor - I’ve shared about this before, but since I use it almost everyday when I drive my car, it had to make this list too. The night vision is the biggest advantage this has over the mirrors. I also like looking forward to see the monitor, rather than looking back at the mirrors - it just feels safer doing that!
#8. Genexa Infant Acetaminophen - This is a great, cleaner alternative to Infant Tylenol.
#9. Nose Frida - This is the craziest little contraption, but has helped us so many times over the past year. We found that we preferred using the Nose Frida over the blue nasal aspirator from the hospital.
#10. Muslin Bibs - Beckham probably spit up for 10 out of the 12 months of his life. Just when I thought we were done with wearing bibs, I think he is now teething because there is drool everywhere. I think we’ll be breaking these bad boys out again! I know I’ve shared about these bibs before, but maybe having that information helps you understand why we love these so much. They’re so absorbent and they come in the cutest colors to match whatever your little one is wearing!
#11. Copper Pearl Burp Cloths - I won’t rehash Beckham’s spit up journey again, but just know that these burp clothes are SO absorbent and thick. We went through way less of these compared to the muslin burp cloths. Do you know what that means? Less laundry! It’s a win, win!
#12. Boppy Pillow - This is a classic that I feel everyone knows about, but we have truly used ours this whole year, so I have to share. In the early days, we used it to take some pressure off of our arms during feedings, then he got a little older and we used it to help with tummy time, and now we use it to support his head while he feeds himself a bottle. It’s the pillow that does it all!
#13. Diaper Caddy - I couldn’t find the link to our exact diaper caddy that we have, but this looks so similar, and with great reviews! We have two of these - one for upstairs and one for downstairs. These have been so nice for keeping baby items organized and creating a little diaper changing station with everything we need!
#14. Dr. Browns Newborn Bottle Set - This is another item I feel everyone knows about, but I wouldn’t put it on this list if we didn’t love it! These were the bottles that worked best for us. They’re not cute, or super special, and they have a lot of parts, but somehow they work so well. Worth a try if you’re looking into different types of bottles for your baby!
#15. Haakaa Silicone Cleaning Brush Kit - I washed a lot of bottles this last year. A lot of bottles! About halfway through the year I decided I wanted to switch to a silicone brush. The other ones I had been using were falling apart and I had read about the bacteria that they carry. I loved this brush set because it came with straw cleaners that were small enough to fit inside the inside of the Dr. Brown bottle parts!
#16. Baby Brush Set - If you’ve seen a picture of Beckham today, you can probably guess that he came out with A LOT of hair. We’ve needed a comb since the beginning and we’ve loved this little three piece set. It is so affordable and we’ve used each piece many, many times, but our favorite is the cradle cap brush for the tub! He never really struggled with cradle cap, but we still use it to wash his hair.
#17. Stain Remover - I sound like a broken record with this stain remover, but you’ll thank me later when the stains disappear before your eyes. You’re welcome :)
#18. Diaper Spatulas - These are so great for applying diaper cream! The two pack came in allows us to keep one in our diaper caddy upstairs and one in our diaper caddy downstairs. Such a good deal for the price!
#19. Haaka Silicone Baby Feeder - This was our saving grace when Beckham started solids and I have a feeling we are going to be using it again soon with all of the teething heading our way. It’s great for frozen breast milk, fruit or veggies! We put a lot of bananas, strawberries and avocado inside. They’ve added a freezing tray since we bought ours - that would be so handy for freezing little breastmilk cubes to put inside.
#20. Zipadee-Zip Sleep Sack - Wrapping up our list with our favorite sleep sack of all time! We’re convinced that we owe Beckham’s good sleep habits to this thing. After Beckham transitioned out of a swaddle, we tried other sleep sacks on the market and always came back to this one. It isn’t weighted like some of the other ones, it is more like a wearable blanket. The price is a little lower than some of the other sleep sacks out there too, so we keep several of these on hand so we don’t run stuck if they’re in the wash.
Phew, that’s our list! I could probably come up with 20 more, but we’ll cap it at that! Like I mentioned earlier, these are things that work for US. We’re all about sharing things that we love, with the hope that we can help other families out there :) We’re curious - what are some items that worked for you and your family? Feel free to comment on this blog or DM us on Instagram - we always love to hear from you <3
