Baby Must Haves | 6-12 Months

Just as it was the first six months of your baby’s life, these next six months will include many more new experiences, challenges, and milestones. These changes will require adding new gear and accessories to the mix to make yours and your baby’s life easier. Some mothers and fathers may have a different idea of what “essentials” they will and will not need for their baby, but below are some of the items that my family used to make life a little easier and less stressful.

ESSENTIALS

                                                                                                            Toys

The first six months of a baby’s life they don’t play with many toys, if any at all. At least mine didn’t. But sometime between the 6-12 month stage is a good time to get things like blocks, books, balls, and other small toys. To be honest, my daughter is 13 months old and she still isn’t a fan of toys, but there are some that she likes to play with on occasion. My favorites are her wooden toys like her activity cube, blocks, and musical puzzle. One of her favorites is her walker that she got for Christmas, which is something that I would recommend getting for your child. It exercises your child, helps with the walking process, and increases their balance and stability.

Baby Proofing Items

This is probably the most important of everything I will be discussing. Baby proofing items could include outlet covers, door handle covers, baby gates, cabinet and drawer locks, or something along those lines. This may also mean reorganizing the house or buying new furniture, like a TV stand with doors so the baby can’t drag things out of it. Whichever way you decide to baby proof your home, this is a must because once they are able to crawl, climb, and walk, they can and will get into everything they see and could potentially harm themselves if your house is not “baby friendly”.

                    Pack n’ Play

If you follow my blog or watch any of my YouTube videos, you may be tired of me talking about our pack n’ play, but I always include it because it has been an essential her entire life thus far. We use is as a bed mainly. It was her bed the first 3 months of her life, we’ve used it for babysitters so they have something to put Amelia down for a nap in, used it outside if we’re doing something like working on the car so she can be beside us but contained so she wouldn’t go anywhere, and used it as a bed in the countless hotels we’ve stayed at.

Teething Supplies

Another really important one is the need for teething supplies. Your child may already have had teeth coming in before, like ours did, but after the seven month mark they may start to come in at a faster rate, a few coming in at the same time even. This will cause a lot of pain for your child so it is important to have teething supplies to help them through this natural, yet painful, process. Some natural remedies for teething we use are putting frozen fruit, or even ice, in a pacifier/food feeder and letting her chew on it. The counter pressure along with the cold helps sooth sore and throbbing gums. We sometimes use gripe water to help with fussiness. During the teething process, your child to be will be cranky and some babies end up getting a fever, In this case, the best thing to do is make sure your child is staying hydrated and getting plenty of rest. You may use natural remedies or you may use medication, but whatever teething pain treatment you use, have some ideas or supplies on hand because this is something every parent will have to go through and being prepared is best.

Shoes

Shoes are pretty standard, but your baby never needed them before as they could not walk yet. Most likely your baby will be walking sometime between their 6 and 12^th month, so when that happens, shoes will be a necessity.

Dishwashing Basket

Even though our dishwashing basket was gifted to us, I probably would have ended up getting one anyway after realizing how hard it would be to get all my daughter’s tiny bottle pieces clean. Before using the dishwashing basket, bottle pieces would fall off the top shelf of the dishwasher to the bottom and melt, and washing everything by hand would get time consuming, so having a dishwashing basket helped make the cleaning process smoother.

                                                                                High Chair

Another pretty common and standard item once your baby begins solid foods is a high chair. This was an essential for us because having a high chair meant the mess stayed in one spot of the house rather than letting our child run around the house free with food, leaving crumbs and puree behind. It’s also nice to have a place to set your baby to eat so that way you can eat beside them peacefully.

Eating Utensils

The six month mark is when it is recommended to feed our babies solids, so along with needing a high chair, feeding utensils, such as sippy cups and baby spoons, will be needed. Make sure to hand the baby the spoon. It will be messy but good fun for your child!

Toothbrush and Paste

At the start of your baby’s sixth month they may not have many teeth, if any at all, but by the end of the year they will have a mouthful! Keep your baby’s teeth and gums healthy by brushing them. Make sure to use a soft-bristled toothbrush and safe-to-swallow toothpaste.

NICE-TO-HAVES

                                            Baby Carrier

Although the next two items were not “essentials” for us, meaning we could live without them, they were nice to have. I love baby wearing but my daughter was always too small for her baby carrier and I couldn’t use it the first eight months of her life. After she could fit into it, though, I used it a lot. I would mainly use it to take her out on walks, but I also would use it around the house when she wanted to be held but I was in the middle of something that required two hands, like cooking and doing the dishes.

Shopping Cart Cover

The last I will mention is a shopping cart cover. We didn’t use this every shopping trip, but we always kept it in the car “just in case”. However, this was especially good during flu season as shopping carts are a very germy device. So many babies sit in the cart and chew on the seat buckles and everyone’s hands touch the bar handles to push the cart. You never know if someone is sick or how often they wash their hands, so putting a cart cover on the shopping cart helps minimize the risk of catching something.

I hope this list helped someone out and gave some helpful tips on what you might and will be needing for your baby during this time. Thank you for reading this post and leave down in the comments what your baby’s 6-12 month essentials are!

Baby Must Haves | 0-6 Months

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When my boyfriend and I were newly pregnant and shopping for baby supplies, we were very realistic and minimal in the things that we would need. We would shop around and we would come across bottle warmers for $40 when you can do the same thing at home for free and formula makers when you can just hand mix it yourself. Then there were the “essentials” that we didn’t want like a wipe warmer and pacifiers. Among all the baby items we saw that we found pointless, we did find some that we thought we would be in need of, and we were right.

Today I am going to share with you my own list of baby essentials and baby items I love. Every mom/dad/parent has their own view of what they would like for their child and what they think they should have, so this is not a go-to set guide for everyone. I’m just a mom sharing my own perspective and putting it out there for anyone who wishes to read. So let’s get started!

                                                                    Nail Filer 

One thing for sure is baby nails are a lot longer and sharper than you might think, so it is important to have a way of cutting them. I’ve had people recommend to me to bite them off. To me that is not sanitary when they put their hands near their face and in their mouth. And also the thought of chewing on my child sounds weird, so that was out. We bought baby nail clippers but with her fingers being so little we were clipping her skin and causing her to bleed, so we’re saving those clippers for later. Baby mittens covering her hands never stayed on her, so the only other route was a nail filer, which I think is the best and safest way to go.

Diaper Rash Cream

There are of course ways to prevent diaper rash, such as frequent diaper changes and keeping your baby dry down there. But sometimes accidents happen and it is nice to have diaper rash ointment of some sort on hand for when the time arises. My daughter has been sleeping through the night ever since she was six weeks old, so she goes 10-12 hours not being changed during the night. Luckily in her seven months of living, we’ve only had to deal with diaper rash on 3 accounts. We use Earth’s Best Organic Diaper Relief Ointment and it starts working at the first use and clears it up completely within a few days. You don’t have to get a big bottle of your diaper rash cream of choice, but like I said, it’s nice to just have some on hand so that way you don’t have to run to the store really quick when it does happen.

Baby Bath Tub

Many people say you don’t need a baby bath tub, but I found it really useful while giving my daughter a bath. I can lay her down while still keeping her a little upright, and I have the bathtub to support her so that way I can use both hands to wash her. I didn’t like the idea of just laying my child flat in a bathtub, so I just got a little $10-$15 bathtub. She’s seven months old and we still use it every bath time.

Nasal Aspirator

The first few weeks of her life, my daughter had the stuffiest nose and always had boogers. Why? I don’t know. She wouldn’t be sick, but it was nice to have a nasal aspirator to suck it out. We had to use a nasal aspirator almost every single day for the first two month of her life.

Flexible Thermometer

The most accurate way to take your baby’s temperature is rectally, so a flexible thermometer is more comfortable for your baby because it bends with them if they squirm around, rather than a regular, stiff one.

Gripe Water

Gripe water is something my boyfriend and I always used as a last resort, when we couldn’t find anything wrong among the list of: is she too hot or too cold, does she need a diaper change, is she sleepy and want to be put down for a nap, is she hungry, etc. We usually could find out what she was fussing or crying about, but if not, we turned to gripe water. With Mommy's Bliss Gripe Water, if she didn’t instantly calm down, it wouldn’t take her long to. One time she had a crying spell that lasted half the day and she wouldn’t go to sleep even if she was tired, she wasn’t eating, wouldn’t play, she would just be fussy. We gave her gripe water and she stopped crying while we gave it to her then about five minutes later she fell asleep then she was back to normal once she woke up. It’s just nice to have to save everyone’s sanity. It's good for colic, fussiness, stomach discomfort, and more.

Sound and Light Soother

My daughter uses a sound and light soother every night. We have Wyatt the Whale Storytelling Soother and I liked him better than all the others I had looked at because it plays good music that sounds like real instruments, fills the room with stars in the dark, plays nature sounds, and tells stories. You can also download the app to load your own songs and add more stories. This was something we wanted her to have because I find music so soothing and have fallen asleep to music ever since I can remember. My boyfriend and I play soft music in our bedroom for when we go to sleep and we wanted her to do the same. It’s really relaxing.

Diaper Bag

I originally thought I could get by with a purse or backpack that I already had, but nearing the end of my pregnancy and thinking about all the things we’d actually be taking with us for her on an outing, I decided we would need to invest in a diaper bag. I got the Skip Hop Chelsea Diaper Bag in Black because it’s a decent size, has many compartments, and it’s really chic. They have cheaper ones, but I invested in a more expensive one and one that I really liked because it’s also something I want to contine using even after my daughter is older and doesn’t need me carrying her stuff around anymore. I can use it as a carry-on bag while traveling in the future. It will serve me good and I will definitely get a good use out of it.

Changing Pad

One thing I also liked about the diaper bag is that it came with a changing pad, something I was going to buy anyway, so it was nice that it came together. I wanted a changing pad so that way when I’m out at the grocery store or a restaurant, I don’t have to lay my baby straight down on the fold-down baby changing station. They just don’t seem sanitary to me because everyone lays their baby on it to change them. A changing pad also protects the baby changing station or carpet from poop or pee accidents while changing your baby.

Baby Book

You will not believe how many people I have come across that say that they hate baby books! This can go either way. Yes, it is a waste of money if you’re not going to fill it out and just let it sit on the bookshelf taking up space and collecting dust, but it is so worth it if you’re going to actually put the time and effort into it. To us, this was an essential because it is something we wish our parents had done for us. My boyfriend and I have filled out the majority of everything we can at this point, we just need a few pictures put in. We got the C.R. Gibson Wish Upon a Star Memory Book and we love filling it out and putting pictures in it. It goes up to your child’s first five years of their life, obviously the majority of it will be during pregnancy and the baby’s first year, but I think it is something our daughter will treasure her whole life.

Dreft Stain Remover

This. Is. ESSENTIAL! Whether from spit ups or food, poop or pee, stains on your baby’s cloths, bibs, and bedding will be inevitable, and you need a way to remove them. I have never had a stain remover that removes stains as well as Dreft does. It’s like nothing even happened. I use this on my own clothes.

                                                                                        Swing

We really love her swing. She really loves her swing too. At seven months, she’s starting to outgrow it, but it definitely served us well. The first three months of her life, she slept in it about every other night because it was the only place we could get her to sleep, so the Fisher-Price Deluxe Cradle 'nSwing was our life saver during the first few months. We would also use it when we needed a safe place to put her in while we were making food, going to the bathroom, taking a shower, or getting groceries out of the car.

Pack N’ Play

I love her pack n’ play because we have used it on a regular basis as it comes in handy. My daughter slept in her pack n’ play the first few months of her life, apart from the swing, until we put her in her own crib. We now keep our Graco Pack 'n Play Playard at my grandmother’s house where my mom babysits her and she uses it there as a crib and is able to keep her in there if she needs to set her down for a minute to make food or go to the bathroom. When we go swimming, we are able to take it outside with us and she is in a safe spot while we’re laying out in the sun. We also take it travelling with us and use it as a crib while we’re in hotels. It’s good for so many different things and is lightweight and easy to pack up and put back together.

Waterproof Mattress Cover

These come in handy when your child has accidents in the night. Since my daughter has had a lot of them with her sleeping through the night, the mattress cover has kept the mattress itself clean and stain free. We just have to wash the cover, which is easier than trying to get stains out of the mattress.

Burp Cloths

Sometimes when you burp your baby, spit up will happen. No matter how big or small, I like burp cloths because the majority, if not all, spit up will be caught on the cloth rather than my outfit. And if it does get on anything else, like the couch, I have something right there I can wipe it off with.

So that’s it for my baby essentials list! I didn’t put the obvious, like a crib, clothes, and food, but these are some "non-essential" essentials that I found to make life easier for me and my baby. I hope you enjoyed this post and let me know if you used any of these things or what you found to be essentials for your baby!