All the Baby Stuff…

… you don’t need. Living in a small condo has really helped me simplify and do without. I’m not a huge “stuff” person anyway, so it’s been relatively easy… but still a learning curve, especially with a baby. I had a hard time figuring out what I needed to register for and what I didn’t… I thought I’d help any others in a similar situation out.

So here’s what you DON’T need, at least for awhile:

A Crib

A nursery

A changing table (changing pads on the bed or floor works well)

A high chair (we bought a simple, inexpensive one after six months when he started solids… if you have a table (we use a coffee table that lifts up) you can use a booster seat thing on one of your chairs.)

A swing

A bouncy seat

A bumbo

A baby bath tub (if you have a sink or a tub… we co-bathe or wash in the sink. Now that he can sit, he sometimes takes shallow baths in the tub “alone”. We did get one, but he ended up hating it. I wish we hadn’t registered for it.)

A baby monitor (He sleeps in the same room as we do, obviously, and the house is so small he’s hardly away from me… just a couple steps to go check on him.)

A noise machine (there are many noise apps, some free! We use Sleep Pillow)

A nursing cover (nurse uncovered (two shirt method works well for most women) or use a blanket/burp cloth to cover your breast. Noah hates covers as do a lot of babies.)

A diaper pail (use a wet bag instead)

Baby lotion (I have never used any lotion on Noah… just coconut oil occasionally. I just don’t bathe him too frequently and use very little, very natural soap)

Diaper cream (coconut oil again. Also cloth diapers.)

Baby powder (unnecessary and some of them are dangerous)

Formula

Pacifiers (but then if you want to use them, they’re pretty small.)

Baby dishes (we do baby led weaning, so he just smashes stuff on his high chair tray for now)

Baby hamper (we just wash all of our clothes in a hypoallergenic, dye free, natural-ish detergent so no need to separate clothes)

Diaper bag (we use Pete’s school back pack)

Swaddler thingies. Blankets work just fine for most babies. Also some babies hate being swaddled, like mine. Ahem. If yours loves it, you may want to invest in some.

Baby shoes. Until they’re like 6 months or older. They fit them for like a day before that. Plus it can be bad for their growth if the shoes are at all restrictive/hard.

Any gagety things

Cart cover

Hand mitt thingies. They use their hands/arms in nursing and to regulate temperature… so covering them can be an issue. Also if they do scratch themselves, it heals very quickly.

What you DO need, in my opinion/experience:

A baby carrier or two! Preferably one wrap type carrier and one soft structured carrier.

Diapers (we did disposable for the first couple months and then switched to cloth (Soft Bums for the win!) with cloth wipes. It’s actually not bad, especially when exclusively breastfeeding.)

Some baby clothes, but keep in mind they grow SO FAST so you only need like maybe 10-20 outfits per size. At least if you do laundry frequently.

Changing pads. The soft ones that fold up small.

Carseat. (duh) Read up on carseat safety! It’s fairly simple… but so important and so easy to get wrong.

Books (I love Usborne and so does Noah. I am a consultant if you’re interested. :))

Some toys, don’t go crazy… they don’t need much. Think toys that can be used for years. (Sophie really does live up to the hype, btw)

Those expensive big muslin blankets. Seriously, we used them a lot more than I imagined. As play mats, backgrounds, nursing cover, for comfort/warmth, etc.

Bibs. a couple soft ones for drool and a couple rubber ones for food.

Hooded baby towels, ’cause cute. But you don’t NEED them, technically. Babies can use adult towels just fine. Same for baby washcloths.

A pack and play (didn’t bother using it at all till after 3 months because we bedshare and newborns don’t do the sleeping alone thing too well), but after that we started doing some naps in it… and from around 5 months or so he starts the night in there.

A rock and play (one of the only places besides your arms newborns will be content for longer than 1 second)

The Wonder Weeks app (very helpful for understanding the developmental stages of your baby!! Big sanity saver.)

Sound machine app

Burp cloths (could use rags or wash clothes or prefolds)

A couple hats

Socks and/or footed pjs, though keep in mind that baby’s feet are naturally cold. Use the core temp (chest/belly) to determine layers, not feet or hands. If the belly is warm they’re fine. Also, keep in mind that being too warm is more dangerous than too cold for them. If they are held, skin to skin especially, it will help keep their temp just right. 😊

Nose frida/snot sucker (sounds gross but seriously, you will do many more worse things in your mom carrier. That thing works well and really isn’t as bad as it sounds.)

Stroller… I didn’t use it till he could sit up, personally, and I still carry him a lot. But strollers are handy for all the stuff you don’t want to carry. And sometimes it’s nice to put baby in there.

Nail clippers or scissors, though I just tore or bit his nails the first several months.

Tooth brush (we just use water for now)

………

That’s not an exhaustive list, but it covers a lot of the non essentials and essentials. A lot of that you can get second hand, and people also often are willing to chip in for bigger things. Having a baby isn’t as expensive or as cluttery as “they” say!!

Feel free to comment with your experience/items for either list!

Tiny House + Baby on the Way

Similar to my last post, I thought I’d show you how we’re getting ready to welcome a baby into our tiny condo. (I do say tiny with the thought of the homes I’ve seen in Central America in the back of my mind… So I’ll add, “tiny by American standards.” It’s actually fairly decent sized. Not sure why we Americans need so much stuff. Anyway, moving on now…)

First, baby clothes, diapers, wipes, blankets, etc. are being stored on cubbies I found online at Walmart.com… they fit perfectly, which was pretty exciting. (I did do a rough measurement before asking for them, haha, but I didn’t think they’d fit SO perfectly.) It’s rather brown, but it works. Since we have such a small space, I am trying to integrate baby’s stuff into what we already have… we don’t have space to add much new furniture, and we also don’t want our room completely taken over with baby stuff. I think this will work pretty well. 🙂

Next we have the bath stuff–towels, wash clothes, baby wash, etc. This is all stored in a large cubby I received (thank you Mrs. Ursu!) at my bridal shower… it works nicely. I put it in the cupboard closest to the bath tub for obvious reasons.

And the baby bath tub, which is being stored next to the water heater in the closet. Haha.

I would want baby in our room anyway, but there’s not much choice when you only have one room, so of course that’s where baby’s bed is going. (Probably won’t spend much time in there at first, but we’ll see how it goes.) P.S. I really like how our room turned out! You can’t see it here, but we also have some nice curtains. It’s simple, but it suits us both and it’s very relaxing and pretty.

Close up of baby’s pack and play… Thankful to Grandma Serrell for getting it! Put some stuffed animals in for the picture, but right now it’s currently holding all the stuff for our home birth.

And, last but not least, baby books and toys are being stored on the bottom shelf and cubby in our living room. A bunch of other random, larger baby things are stuffed in the closet… didn’t take a picture of that though, sorry. 😛 And there you have it! That’s our pre-baby set up… we shall see how much baby ends up changing it. haha.

And this is me currently! Well, currently a week ago. Anyway, I don’t look much different. I’m 39 weeks and 3 days right now, patiently waiting for baby to decide when his or her birthday will be. Still feeling pretty good, though I can definitely tell my body is preparing for The Day. I know it will be soon; what I don’t know is if soon is tomorrow or in two weeks. Regardless, I am eager to meet our baby (and slightly nervous, truth be told…) when he or she decides it’s the right time. 🙂