5 Newborn Baby Items You Do Need to Buy

Being the egomaniac that I am, in a previous post I politely informed you that there are at least 5 products intended to help care for a newborn that I consider to be superfluous. In the interest of fairness (and symmetry, I suppose), I thought I’d run down the 5 things that I consider to be indispensable to have around when you’ve got an infant living with you.

Again, just one fellow’s opinion here – but these items (one of which is brand-specific) will save you a heap of pain and suffering, believe me.

1. Wipe Warmer (example) – Personally, I’d never changed a diaper prior to becoming a father. Obviously I had an idea what was involved, but I’d never physically done it, so I couldn’t really speak to the nuances of doing it correctly. Let me be the first to share a little inside-parenting secret with you. A baby really doesn’t care much for an ice-cold wipe drifting deliberately across it’s nether region.
   A wipe warmer does exactly what you’re imagining – it keeps the wipes warm without letting them dry out. This item isn’t going to be terribly useful after a few months, so don’t break the bank buying the biggest, baddest one you can find. $20 should get you one that will serve you well.
2. Drop-in Bottles (example) – While not the most environmentally-conscious choice in baby bottles, these are much more efficient than their all-plastic, use-once-wash-immediately brethren. If you’re unfamiliar, the bottle itself is like a tube, open on both ends. You buy these plastic sleeves that fit neatly inside the bottle and are secured by screwing on the lid. So instead of having the milk/formula floating around in the bottle, it’s sitting nicely in the plastic sleeve. The best part about these? Unlike regular bottles, you can pinch the bottom to remove the vast majority of the air from inside the bottle, leaving with you with substantially fewer “gassy baby” incidents to deal with. Also, unless you spill the contents, you can easily use the bottle part of the setup again without having to clean it (but using a new sleeve).
3. Cloth Diapers (example) – Most baby-type stores will carry these (in addition to big-box, all-purpose stores like Wal-Mart). There are two types of cloth diapers – the ones with the “fortified” middle, and those without. Get the former. Whenever you’re burping your baby over your shoulder, lay one of these beauties down on top of your clothes. Because the first time your baby spits up on you, you’ll be very thankful you had this super-absorbent, thick cotton shield keeping the milk, etc. from soaking and staining your brand new shirt/blouse/whatever.
4. Boudreaux’s Butt Paste (example) – This is the brand-specific recommendation I alluded to earlier. For diaper rash, this stuff works miracles. Just like with any other diaper rash cream, just cover the irritated area and voila – you’re back in business and your baby is much happer. As best I can recall, it’s safe for babies of all ages. And a single tube will last you a long, long time. We bought two of them right before my son was born (almost 2 years ago) and we still have about half of a tube left. I can’t recommend this product highly enough, seriously.
5. Car Seat Mirror (example) – Obviously, this is assuming you have a car that you’ll be driving your baby around in. As most people know (or figure out very quickly), a ride in the car is a very effective sleep aid for babies who have a hard time hitting the hay. But believe me when I tell you that being able to glance in the rear view mirror (where you can see the other mirror, which is reflecting your kid’s face back at you) is a whole hell of a lot better than having to climb halfway into the back seat just to see if your kid is sleeping or not.

Those are my picks. Anybody else have anything to add? I’d love to hear what you folks found to be helpful tools/supplies when first bringing home your respective bundles of joy…

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