bloom-approved mama must-haves

In today’s world, new moms are bombarded with items to buy in order to get ready for baby’s arrival. Being a minimalist at heart, I wasn’t buying into all the must-haves that were being pushed my way. instead, I opted for smart, functional buys that made sense for our lifestyle. I started with the necessities, things like diaper choices, car seat, crib & co-sleeper, diaper bags, a baby monitor, and of course clothing because how in the world can a new mom say no to all these adorable pint-size clothes.

Narrowing everything down to which brands and designs we would go with was a whole other job I wasn’t totally prepared for. With the plethora of choices for new parents, I was determined to choose the right ones for our needs. While we didn’t always choose the budget-friendly items, we knew that keeping things simple would allow us to keep overall costs down while purchasing the items we felt best for our little one.

Cribs & Co-Sleeping

Our biggest splurge might have been the SNOO. I went back and forth on this for months and finally pulled the trigger with fingers crossed it was really as amazing as everyone says. I mean if $1,160 can provide my newborn, along with myself and my husband, restful nights, I was ready to sign for my purchase. While we purchased the SNOO, we also chose the Snuggle Me Organic for nights of co-sleeping and napping during the day.

I plan on paying close attention to our little one and trying to listen to what his needs are with sleep so that we’re constantly making the right choice for him.

Stroller & car seat

When it came to strollers and car seats, the Uppababy and Nuna seemed to be everyone's favorites. After lot’s of research, we went with the Nuna MIXX2 for our stroller and the Nuna PIPA lite lx for the car seat.

While both brands are great in design, functionality, and safety, the Nuna took the cake for us. The car seat is one of the lightest on the market and as a fitness professional that understands that these car seats can cause a lot of postural damage, that was a key selling point for me. The Nuna also had some standout safety features that my husband was all about. Lastly, living in the mountains and not visiting the city too often, the tire size caught our eye as we knew that we needed something that could be a little more rugged to support our active Colorado lifestyle.

Our rocking chair was one of my favorite buys as I’m sure i’ll be sitting in it often. We also wanted a piece that would surpass the baby period and become a staple in our home. Our choice was simple: something very comfortable, slightly modern, and good quality.

Rocking Chair

We decided on the Saic Quantum rocking chair by CB2.

This chair is so unbelievably comfortable and so lovely to look at. It’s design is sleek and the quality tells me it will last for years. Choosing furniture that will outlast baby’s needs is always a smart route so you get the most bang for your buck.

Diapers

Diapers, Diapers, Diapers…. This is always a fun decision and right away my husband and I knew that we wanted to give cloth diapers a chance. The simple fact of being able to wash and reuse the diapers was a huge hook for us [after all, we have enough trash filling up our earth] so we’re taking the plunge with the most functional reusable diaper we could find: bumGenius Freetime All-In-One Snap Closure Cloth Diaper.

This diaper is fabulous. It fits most little ones from 8lbs -35lbs and is super functional with some design friendly elements. Now, don’t think for one second that we won’t also use the occasional disposal diaper and actually plan on using Honest Companies newborn diapers in the first several weeks but we wanted to make sure that most of our diaper use was planet friendly while cutting down on overall costs. Wish us luck, this shall be an adventure.

babywearing gear

Babywearing is also another option we plan on embracing and kept it simple with two choices. Our first which will support more every day, around the house wear is the SollyWrap by Solly Baby. It's lightweight and extremely easy to wrap baby up in a safe and comfy position for long durations of babywearing. Having both shoulder and back support is super important to my husband and I so it was a factor that we looked for in all babywearing gear. 

For more out and about babywearing, we went with the Sakura Bloom Scout. I loved the look and design of both of these but the Scout really caught our attention with the ability to support our little one from baby stages into the early toddler years. I asked a lot of moms about their choice in babywearing once their babe was not so much a babe any longer and the Sakura Bloom kept coming up with it’s ease, design, and comfort levels. 

Diaper Bag

For my diaper bag, I chose the versatile and sleek design of the Fawn Design Diaper Bag. I loved that this bag could be worn over the shoulder or like a backpack plus its functionality was a plus too. I also loved that while it was a diaper bag, it was sleek enough to be worn around town as an any-time bag with or without babe. 

Nursing Pillow

Clearly, versatility and functionality were a theme within my "must haves" for babe so it was easy to purchase the Niche Nursing Pillow. Not only did I love the look of this pillow, the shape also caught my eye. While design isn't everything, being a huge fan of sustainable products, this nursing pillow was the obvious choice as it's organic and breathable all the while supporting the growth of baby providing a usable product outside of just the newborn nursing days. Like many nursing pillows, it too can support babe during tummy time and when it's time to practice sitting up. 

Baby Monitor

With sleep being a big deal for all new parents, I mean I caved and purchased the SNOO after all, I couldn't help but be star struck by the Nanit Baby Monitor. This bad boy is referred to as the "Tesla of baby monitors" for several reasons and I fell for all of them. It has a built-in night light with self-adjusting dimming options, temperature and humidity sensors, sound and motion sensors to help keep you in the loop of baby's needs, a bird's eye view over baby's crib, and even taps into a super high-tech app system that helps you track your little ones sleep habits, know when and how long they have been awake and potentially crying, plus so much more. It's kind of like the SNOO's little brother with its efficiency in helping get baby on an ideal sleep schedule. So, even though our little one won't sleep in his own room for several months, this was our go-to baby monitor and I can't wait to put it to use. 

With so much to buy and prepare for baby's arrival, I sure am thankful that we've knocked tons of things off our "must have" list. We're feeling pretty prepared while also reminding ourselves that it may take a village to raise a baby but it sure doesn't take a village worth of stuff. For us, choosing smart, innovative products while still embracing our minimalistic side was crucial and I feel like we did a really great job. Clothes, on the other hand, I went a little nuts over and was cut off from buying baby clothes a couple of months ago. Whoops!

Hopefully, this will help you in your search for all the things you feel you need in babes first several months. There, of course, were little purchases too like baby oils, soaps, teethers, pacifiers, blankets, swaddles, etc. but I wanted to share our bigger purchases in hopes to help you narrow yours down.

I hope that products aside, you're feeling prepared and ready for your little one to join you. At the end of the day, all baby needs is you mama!