The minute you get pregnant and announce it to the world, advice comes spewing out of absolutely everyone around you. I was grateful for everyone imparting their knowledge on me but if I’m being honest, I don’t remember any of it. At all. So if you do plan on following advice from people, trust me when I say start a little ‘notes’ section on your phone so that you don’t forget. I really should have done that…
To make things easier on you (cause duh, mom brain), this article is going to focus on my personal top 5 mamma must-haves. Note that I have a 5 month old so this list will surely change over time.
Baby Brezza Formula Pro Advanced: When I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to exclusively breastfeed baby Frankie (read more about it here), the hubby spent a significant amount of time researching different formulas. This is when he stumbled upon the Baby Brezza Formula Pro Advanced. In essence, it’s a Keurig machine but for baby formula. Fill the top with your preferred formula of choice, check the Baby Brezza website to determine which setting is needed for the type of formula you bought, fill the water tank and boom, at the press of a button you will get a perfect bottle of prepared formula in less than 10 seconds. When the hubby originally insisted on getting this gadget (anyone else have a gadget crazy husband?! *eye roll*), I was super sceptical. I had seen some friends and their babies and how easy it was to prepare a simple bottle of formula. But you guys, this thing is a life changer. I don’t mind admitting when my husband is right, but dang, I’m super happy he won this one. He clicked ‘add to cart’ and within a couple of days, we were ready to try it out. First decision? Where to set it up. My first thought was that we would set it up in our kitchen along with all of our other kitchen gadgets. But once again, hubby had another brilliant idea. “How about we set it up in Frankie’s bedroom?”. I looked at him like he had two heads. But, it made total sense. We live in a lovely two-storey home and the last thing I wanted to do was have to run up and down stairs in the middle of the night every time Frankie woke up to prepare his bottle. The Baby Brezza sits on the corner of his dresser and any time he’s hungry, I’m ready to go. Yes, it does hold a pretty hefty price tag (just under $200) but if you’re going to be supplementing quite a bit with formula (or exclusively giving formula), then I definitely suggest it. You can also check online (ie. Facebook Marketplace) for other mamma’s who are selling theirs for cheaper!
Munchkin High Capacity Dishwasher Basket: Lots of formula means lots bottles. YAY! Not. For those who know me (and I mean, really really know me), you know that I don’t wash dishes in my house. Nope. I washed dishes for a good part of 20-something years before moving into our home and buying (praise Jesus) A DISHWASHER! So I work that thing to the bone. Needless to say, my Munchkin dishwasher basket is used each and every single day to keep the nipples of our bottles from flying all over our machine. Practical and of course, keeps everything nice, tidy and organized.
Hydrasense Nasal Aspirator Starter Kit: I don’t know about your kid, but my kid has adult sized nasty boogers. Like, a lot of them. Early on, I didn’t even realize that his nose was ‘blocked’, I just assumed he was a little stuffed up and that’s how he breathed. *face palm* Yay for new mom brain! I had originally bought this nasal aspirator on Amazon but honestly, I don’t find it worked on Frankie at all. His paediatrician recommended Hydrasense (make sure you get the one for babies, not for kids or adults) and it has made such a difference. Sure, Frankie isn’t a fan of the whole snot-sucking process but it works.
Munchkin Bath Kneeler: Ok this one is super straight forward. Giving kids a bath is fun and all, but being on your knees on your hard bathroom floor? Not so fun. So buy a little cushion (doesn’t even have to be this one) and save yourself from some serious knee aches.
Heating Pad: From the day we brought Frankie home from the hospital, we tried being super consistent with having him sleep in his crib. We wanted to try to get him used to it without having a bassinet, simply because his bedroom was SO close to ours. The first week or so was…not so successful. He loved to sleep on me. And was ok sleeping in his swing or in the bassinet portion of his carriage, but he would wake up as soon as we would place him down in his crib. I would spend hours at night reading up on as much baby related stuff as possible and came across a blog that suggested putting a heating pad in baby’s bed before putting him down so that the bed is all toasty warm. I Amazon Primed that heating pad SO fast. Low and behold, it did the trick. I mean, who wouldn’t like to snuggle up into a pre-warmed bed every night? (Obviously, we remove the heating pad when baby is in the crib).
*Bonus* I know I said I would only give you a my top 5 but this just popped up and I needed to talk about it. The Cozy Cover Easy Seat Portable High Chair is pretty stinkin’ awesome. We’ve only recently started using it (we find that Frankie has enough neck control now) and it’s SUPER convenient. Folds up really small and can be tucked away in your diaper bag for easy storage.
Coming soon, I’ll give you Frankie’s top 5 favourite toys as well as my top 5 things I THOUGHT I needed, but really didn’t.
What are your mamma must-haves?? Comment below!