Newborn Essentials (Every Single Item I Used In The First 7 Days)

Knowing what to purchase as a new mom can be a challenge.

There are lots of common sense things to buy for your baby, but there are things that might get overlooked, too.

I’m going to share with you every single item I used in the first week after we were discharged from the hospital.

Contents:

♥ Clothing & Dressing
♥ Bathing
♥ Diapering
♥ Feeding
♥ Bottle Cleaning

♥ Travel
♥ Sleeping
♥ General Care
♥ Additional Items

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Here is what we used –

Clothing & Dressing

Plum needed items for the daytime, and nighttime. And since I did her laundry every 7 days, she needed enough to last at least that long. As you shop, be sure to account for extra items due to poopies, spit ups, and accidents.

  • onesies and t-shirts
  • pants, or shorts
  • socks
  • pajamas – I used those cute little pjs with footies but quickly abandoned them in favor of onesies at night. She was super hot-natured.
  • laundry basket

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Plum was a winter baby (well, Houston-winter, anyway. lol.), so we also opted for:

  • hat
  • sweater
  • jacket, or coat
  • baby mittens – these often slip right off of newborns’ small wrists, but her grandma sewed her a pair that first just right.
  • knitted booties

For laundry, instead of Dreft, we opted for Seventh Generation Free & Clear. I was totally happy with it, and so was her skin.

Bathing & Cleaning

Babies sure do get dirty, fast! But how? All they do is lay around, and sleep. Our discharge nurse instructed us to give our girl a bath within 7 days of arriving home.

We used:

  • tub – This is a simple 4-stage tub that takes you from newborn-to-toddler. 13 months later and we are still using, and enjoying, it.
  • baby wash – Our baby wash + shampoo combo worked like a dream. I liked the thick, luxurious feel of it.
  • baby lotion – As much as I wanted to love Noodle & Boo’s baby lotion, I just couldn’t. It did not moisturize my girl’s dry skin at all. So we switched to Aveeno, which got the job done just fine.
  • comb, brush – Our durable combo, which we still use, feels sturdy in my hand, not like it might snap in two at any moment, like others we own.
  • wash cloths
  • drying towels – Simply Joys by Carter’s drying towels are my absolute faves, unlike our other drying towels that seemed to move water around, instead of actually absorbing it.
  • baby q-tips – Trust me on this one.

BONUS: a small fan-forced heater – Our home gets drafty, so not only did we turn off the air-conditioning before bath-time, we also gently warmed her room too, since that’s where her changing table was.

That changing table, by the way, has been used three times. Maybe.

It’s, now, storage for the clothes she’s outgrown.

That was definitely one item that did not work out for us.

Diapering

During that first week, we changed her diaper once every 2-ish hours.

Feeding

I planned, and attempted, to breast feed but it didn’t quite work out. I used these items while trying to increase my milk supply. I used the others as I supplemented breastmilk with formula.

RELATED: How I Stayed Awake For Newborn Feedings

  • breast pump – I used the Ameda Mya Joy Double Electric Breast Pump, but I wasn’t crazy about it.
  • breastmilk storage bags
  • Boppy nursing pillow – super helpful for comfortably situating baby and mom for breastfeeding.
  • bottles – Of the seven different bottles we tried, Philips AVENT was my fave, while her dad was partial to Dr. Brown’s Options+.
  • formula
  • bottled water – Ozarka Natural Spring Water was the only water I could stomach during my pregnancy, so I stuck with it for formula-feeding.
  • burp cloths – some of her birth cloths were smooth, whereas others were toothier. The smooth ones were best for her delicate newborn skin.
  • bibs

RELATED: Make Newborn Nighttime Feeding Easier With This Formula Feeding Bottle Station

Bottle Cleaning

  • bottle brushes – If you can believe it, we were happier with the dollar store bottle brushes than we were with the 3 name brand ones we tried.
  • bottle rack – We bought one to start and that one worked out just fine in the beginning.
  • cleaning product – Seventh Generation really made me a believer during those early days. We, also used their free & clear dish detergent for bottle-cleaning.
  • pot, large – We used this to boil, and sanitize Plum’s bottles.

Travel

We traveled once during that first week, from the hospital to our home. And we used a:

  • car seat, or travel system – our hospital wouldn’t allow us to leave without one.
  • car seat cover – This one kept her well insulated from the cool weather.
  • diaper bag

Eventually you’ll want a stroller. I opted for a travel system, which means the car seat and stroller were sold as a set.

Sleeping

  • bassinet – I loved our Arm’s Reach ClearVue. I talk about that, here.
  • sheets for bassinet
  • swaddle
  • sleep sack – This is an alternative to a swaddle, and a safe way to keep baby cozy, instead of having blankets in the bassinet. Plus, Plum HATED being swaddled.

BONUS: white noise machine – Remember that heater we talked about in the bath section, it did double-duty for us, since we also ran the fan-only portion as a form of white noise. Although, we do own this, too.

RELATED: 8 Things To Consider Before Choosing Your Baby’s Bassinet

General Care & Lounging

  • receiving blankets
  • pacifiers – We used these in the hospital, so we stuck with them. We bought a few extras for when they’d get lost.
  • American Red Cross baby kit – There are so many helpful items in this kit. It has nail clippers, a comb & brush, a thermometer, baby toothbrush, pair of mittens, and more. I used the nail file right away.
  • baby mat for tummy time

Storage

Before our changing table became part of the storage plan (lol), I used a couple of other things.

  • diaper trolley
  • bassinet bin – Plum’s bassinet has a large bottom storage bin, and 2 decent-sized end-pockets, so everything we needed within the first 7 days (and until she outgrew her newborn clothes) fit in there.

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Items for You, Mama

Baby isn’t the only one who’ll be needing some stuff in that first week. You will too, Mama. Following my vaginal delivery, I used:

  • hand sanitizer
  • peri bottle – I used these to do warm water rinses down under, after I pottied.
  • cooling pads – Ugh: these were a dream! And sooo soothing.
  • maxi pads – For 6 weeks post-delivery, I used pads. These maternity pads look identical to what I used in the hospital, and after I came home. After those, I moved to regular ‘ol, high absorbancy, maxi pads.
  • laxative – for those first poo’s at home.
  • OTC pain reliever – Your physician will advise you on what to take, if needed.
  • post partum wrap – As you heal, your organs, and muscles, will move back to their usual positions. One thing a post-partum wrap helps do is to provide additional stability, and support, as your muscles move back into position.

And, for my breast-feeding mamas:

And that’s it. Those are all the items we used within Plum’s first 7 days.

All the Best,
Ash

P.S. You might be wondering why there are no toys on this list. We did have, and offer, one toy – a rag doll. As for others, it took more than a week before she was ready to interact with them.