Surviving as a New Mom: My Top 5 Favorite Gadgets

Before my first born made me a new mom, my husband and I did our best to be prepared. We attended parenting classes, prepared the nursery and every other thing you can think of under the sun. It wasn’t long after my son’s homecoming and we were strolling into Target. With three hours of sleep under our belt we bought even more items to help us survive. These are my personal top five tools for new moms.

1. NoseFrida: If you’ve heard of it but never used it, you’re probably thinking “Gross!” If the NoseFrida is something new for you, it’s basically a nasal aspirator controlled by your breath. My son was born in the fall and started at daycare during cold and flu season. He was constantly congested from about four to six months of age. Veteran parents advised us to snag the bulb syringe from the hospital – it was supposed to be the best! For us, it just didn’t work as well. Another set of parents suggested the NoseFrida and it was a game changer! Combining it with a misting saline nose spray to loosen all the gunk and we had a winner. To be able to clean out your child’s nose is gold in order for them to get a good night’s rest helping mom to get some rest, too.
2. A diaper pail: We have a Diaper Genie, but in all honesty I think any diaper pail would do the trick.  We don’t have a fancy one but it still gets the job done two kids later. It may not seem to be an essential piece to a nursery in the beginning, especially if you have a breastfed baby, but once solid food is introduced to their diet, you’ll be glad to have a diaper pail! 
3. Rock ‘n Play Sleeper: This was a life saver more than once! While I was on maternity leave, I would use it to keep the baby close while washing dishes, folding laundry or anything else I needed to get done. It folds up and out of the way when not needed. The baby was high enough off the ground that I could be doing something and entertain him at the same time. Then, as I mentioned earlier, when he was super congested, he would sleep in it. The angle was perfect for keeping the mucous from bothering him and he wouldn’t wake up as often. The curve around the back also helped to make him feel cradled. 

   

4. Angelcare Movement and Sound Monitor: Although there are no products in the market that can actually prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, this little device gave us a little more peace of mind. In the first few days and weeks as parents, we did our best to put our new baby in his crib, swaddled and on his back. He was so small that the sensors would sometimes give us a false alarm. That’s when we discovered that you can adjust the sensitivity on the monitor. Perfect. Now we could sleep a whole three hours straight while he was sleeping in his crib. However, when he was about six months old and back in his crib full time instead of in the Rock ‘n Play Sleeper, he was heavy enough that we were no longer concerned with false alarms. There was one night in particular that the initial alarm beeped to startle the baby to move and 20 seconds later the second alarm was blaring. We rushed to his room and were stunned that the sharp, loud noise wasn’t waking him. We patted him and called out his name and then finally the alarm subsided. Was he in such a deep sleep that he forgot to breathe? I hate to think of that possibility, but glad we were there to stimulate him.
5. Backpack diaper bag: At this point, I don’t even know why they make any other kinds of diaper bags! I’ve tried them all. Nothing beats a backpack diaper bag to leave you hands free. I love the backpack style so much that I’ve gone through three in the last four years. The traditional and messenger style of diaper bags just leave me unbalanced and my husband also disliked trying to manage them. The only downside to a backpack is that some items get stuck at the very bottom of the bag and are difficult to retrieve. I’ve overcome that hurdle by using a file system in the backpack with smaller thin bags to keep all the essentials organized. Right now we are loving the Mother Load system.

There it is. If I had to pick my top five essentials for getting through the first years of motherhood, these are it! What are your must have recommendations for new moms? What items do you wish you had before bringing home your first baby?