The Top Five Things I Didn't Know I Needed

There were many things I knew I would need for when Ella Kate was born: a crib, some cute clothes, a car seat, a stroller, and soft blankets to wrap her in.  These things went immediately onto the registry.  But the lists we got from the places we were registering were overwhelming.  Would we really need every single thing on those lists?? Some things seemed repetitive and some seemed unnecessary.  However, there are many things that we received that I didn't know we would need, and things that I had registered for that I didn't realize how MUCH we would need them!  Here's my list of the top five things I found out we needed:

5. Gas Drops

Holy cow.  I had no idea gas would be such an issue.  You just feed the baby, then burp her, right?  Wrong.  Gas can happen at any time and, apparently, it's extremely painful!  Especially when they are teeny tiny, they don't have the muscles to push it out! It's heart breaking!  Her first real tears came because of gas.  But the gas drops work miracles.  I learned to give her a little bit each time just before she ate to help the gas bubbles collect into one big bubble and pass more easily.  The results were also a little humorous if, like me, you have the sense of humor of a prepubescent boy when you are sleep deprived.  The gas sounds that come from such a tiny body after the drops are given are epic.  Epic, I tell ya.

4. The Wubbanub (or the similar brand, which we got, but I don't know the brand name)

We have just purchased this recently.  I'd heard a lot about the Wubbanub, but we found this similar product that was a dollar cheaper at Babies R Us and came with two detachable pacifiers and a cover.  The reason it's so great is that it stays in one spot, which is useful since Ella Kate is not able to pick up her paci and put it back in her mouth on her own yet.  When she's in the car, it's extremely helpful because the paci doesn't fall out and roll all around, making it impossible for me to find and put back in her mouth.  Plus, she's having fun holding onto the stuffed animal part and playing with it when she's not using the paci.  It also works really well at night when combined with...

3. The SwaddleMe

I don't think we registered for these, and if we did, I had no clue how useful they would be!  Ella Kate is a master at breaking out of a swaddle, but the super strong velcro on these makes them almost impossible for her to break out of if she is swaddled correctly.  It also helps keep her warm at night, providing an extra layer of fabric without the suffocation risk that blankets and sheets cause.  Especially now that our little wiggle worm finds herself almost upside down from the position we laid her in every morning.  She even naps better when swaddled since she still startles herself awake or smacks herself in the face with her little arms when she's sleeping.


2. The Sound and Movement Monitor

We didn't register for this, but bought it just before she was born.  I heard and read so much about SIDS and how some babies just stop breathing in their sleep.  New mothers drive themselves crazy checking to make sure their baby is still breathing while asleep.  It's nerve wrecking and terrifying.  This monitor has a mat that goes under the crib mattress and monitors to make sure the baby is still breathing.  If it senses that baby is not breathing, an alarm goes off and the parent can spring into action.  We have had several false alarms from instances when Ella wiggled her way off of the mat while she was sleeping, or when her breathing was very shallow (as tends to happen with newborns).  We also had one night when I was still up getting things done before bed and the alarm kept going off.  When I'd go to check, it seemed like she was still breathing, until I finally re-positioned her and realized her chin had been really close against her chest and she had not been breathing as well as she needed to.  After re-positioning her, the alarm stopped going off.  It made me feel so much more secure that she was safely sleeping.

1. The Sound Machine/Light Show

This is number one for a reason.  My two darling dogs love to protect their new baby and tend  to bark a lot at night.  Every little sound they hear outside is surely someone breaking into the house to take their baby, and they let every little sound know that they are there to protect her.  So the sound part of this definitely helps drown out the crazy dogs.  Then there's just the comfort that Ella feels hearing white noise while she falls asleep.  There have been quite a few 8 pm meltdowns that have been resolved by turning up the ocean waves and rocking Ella right next to the machine.  It quickly calms her and helps her fall asleep.  I love to listen to it through the monitor at night and fall asleep to the sounds, too!  Kyle always turns the sound off before he comes to bed, he doesn't like to listen to it when he's falling asleep.  Which is funny considering he sleeps through his alarm some mornings!  The light show on this machine is also awesome.  I have recently started using it to help calm her down now that her teeth are starting to come in. It helps distract her and keep her occupied while the teething tablets are going to work.


Honorable Mention:  A back-up plan

Many parents keep their new baby in the room with them and transition to the crib later.  That didn't seem practical to us.  The pack n play would take up too much space in our bedroom, Ella's rocker and changing table are in her room, and I was going to have to trek across the house every time she woke up anyway, so there was no point in trying to keep her in our room.  Plus, the monitor helped me feel secure with her being in her own room.  I could hear her and get to her in plenty of time.  However, sleeping in a great big crib was too much for such a tiny baby.  She needed to feel more secure.  So, I took the bassinet attachment for the crib, which had sides that propped up around, and put it in the crib so she could get used to being in the crib.  It worked wonderfully, and she slept in her own room by the third night we came home.  She's also been sleeping through the night since she was six weeks old.