I’ve had a ton of requests for this post but I wanted to wait until Griffin was at least 4 weeks old before I put it together for you guys. This way I’d be able to really test out products and be able to give you guys a honest review of what worked best for us to survive this harrowing yet amazing stage of your baby’s life. I’ll admit, our experience with Coco as a newborn was 1000% different than Griffin so keep in mind that every baby is different! What works for one, may not work for another. Having said all of that, this post is now seriously overdue as it’s been up on my computer ready for the final touches for two weeks! Needless to say, we’ve been crazy busy lately! But more on those updates later;)
Sleep
So here’s the thing. We got lucky with Griffin…we got a SLEEPER. And you know what? We freaking deserved it after Coco. At 17 months and fully delirious, I finally succumbed and hired a sleep trainer to help us with her. Thank you to my good friend Natalie who intervened with this because I probably never would have done it on my own. At 17 months, she was still waking 3 times per night. It was horrible and I felt like I was the only one who was going through having a “non-sleeper”. I had significant anxiety especially around bedtime because I didn’t know what to expect for the night. I read every book, tried everything (including CIO) and nothing worked. The sleep trainer DID work though and essentially saved us. BUT Coco is STILL highly sensitive about sleep. She’s woken up the last two nights in the middle of the night. At every bump in the road (illness, travel, Grandpa visits), we have to essentially sleep train her all over again. Which leads me to my next point: Your babies will either be sleepers or non-sleepers. At 4 weeks, Griffin was waking up twice per night. Last night, it was once. And we haven’t done anything different with him. So I’m convinced it’s ingrained in them and thank my lucky stars we’re getting some sleep! Make no mistake though, I prepped for success this time around and yes, bought the Rolls Royce of bassinets (see below). Experiencing a non-sleeping baby for 17 months will make you do crazy things!
Rock and Play– I’m not sure how I missed the boat on this with Coco but ALL of my friends had it for their babes and raved about it so I snagged one at Target prior to having Griffin. First, the price point compared to other swings/bassinets is really great. I got the one that vibrates and is battery powered. What I love most about it is that it’s light and easy to transport up and down our stairs. Newborns sleep a lot so I need the convenience of being able to have some place to put him that’s easy to move around the house. When I shower, I bring it in our bathroom, when I cook, I put it in our kitchen and when I play with Coco, it’s in our family room. At night and one nap per day, Griffin sleeps in the SNOO bassinet which we are obsessed with.
Dockatot– Another gem that wasn’t around when I had Coco. From the moment we brought Griffin home, he loved to lounge and snooze in the Dockatot. You could tell that he felt very secure in it and I loved that it was light weight and similar to the Rock and Play, easy to transport around the house. The first week and a half we had Griffin, he slept in our bed in the Dockatot and we still put him in it at various times throughout the day. He loves to lay in it and look up at our ceiling fan! The fabric is breathable and comes in a ton of cute patterns (check them out here). The dock comes in two sizes so there is an option for when they get bigger too! Honestly, this would be a great item to gift to a mama to be and we love it so much that I think it may warrant it’s own review blog post- stay tuned for that!
Eat
Coco never took a bottle. Everyone assumes we didn’t try hard enough which is fine because I know that we did. She also didn’t take a paci. Or sleep. Or not cry…all of which are stories for a different post, haha! Regardless, I dug up a zip lock bag of old bottles and paci’s I had saved of hers and cringed at how much money I spent trying to find the “right” one that would make her happy. None did but my girlfriend told me about these bottles and said they were hands down the best. We started giving Griffin a bottle of pumped milk this week in this bottle and he’s had one per day for 4 days with zero issues. HOORAY! I have an oversupply of milk and have worked diligently with a lactation consultant to help manage this so please let me know if you have any questions or if you’re having a similar experience. I’d be happy to share what has worked for us on this topic! Because of the oversupply, when Griffin eats, it’s a mess. Milk is everywhere but these burp clothes are our favorite! I prop one under him while he nurses to catch the massive run off, lol.
Gear
Infant Carseat– Honestly, I’ve tapped into my girlfriends and their wealth of knowledge and experience for this one! With Coco, I bought a fancy car seat that looked cool and really swanky. And then I nearly threw my back out lifting it daily. So I sold it and consulted my tribe which overwhelmingly recommended this car seat based on ease of installation and it being so light. We LOVE it and it really is light and easy to get in and out of the car. On that topic, the snap and go stroller has been a LIFE SAVER. Strollers weigh a ton and are difficult to get in and out of the trunk. I’m currently borrowing this from a girlfriend and can’t believe I didn’t have one with Coco! It’s perfect for quick errands (not walks necessarily) and for drop off and pick up! It pops open and you snap your car seat in it and go.
Stroller- We used this stroller with Coco and still love it today. Again, I tapped into my girlfriends for stroller advice and am so glad we chose this one. Right now, we take Griffin for walks in the bassinet and I just ordered the kick stand for Coco to ride on. But down the road, this converts into a double stroller by adding a seat so they’ll both be able to ride in it. Isn’t that genius? There are 16 ways to configure this stroller!
Baby Bjorn– If you saw my insta stories, you know this carrier has been the ONLY carrier that has worked for me. I didn’t “wear” Coco because it just seemed to complicated! Now that I have two kids, I wanted to figure out SOME sort of system so I could be hands free if I needed to be and this carrier was the easiest to figure out. I literally watched tons of videos for different wrap and ring baby wearing options and still couldn’t figure them out. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re adorable but simple and easy trumps cute these days.
Baby Bjorn Seat– Hands down a MUST HAVE. Griffin loves to sit and bounce in this and you can use it for all stages of babyhood as there are several settings. Both of our kids loved it and I loved that they could be close and sitting up without having to be held.
Clothes- Griffin has just grown out of most of his newborn stuff. Everyone tells you not to invest in newborn clothes but at 7lbs 11oz, he wore them for almost a month! I had nothing newborn so we scrambled and bought a bunch at Target when we got home. My favorite jammies though are these! The fabric is so nice and I love how cute the prints are.
I’ve racked my #mombrain and think I’ve covered all of our essentials! Do you have anything you can’t live without? If so, I’d love to hear about it! As always, thank you so much for following along. xo