First Month Essentials..

As we are now half way through our second month with Max I thought I would share a few of the things that we found really useful. You can fill your home with all sorts of baby related gadgets and gizmos, but these are in my opinion the essentials…

Water Wipes...

Official advice is to not use anything on your newborns skin other than water and suggests using cooled boiled water and cotton wool to clean up after a dirty nappy.  This is all well and good until you are squashed into a tiny toilet cubicle in a cafe trying to clean up what can only be described as a poo explosion! Step forward water wipes...they are 99.9% water and the only wipes suitable for newborns.  We are buying them in bulk from Amazon so they are working out at a similar price to other baby wipes

Nappy Bin...

Living in a one bedroom, second floor flat space is at a premium and trekking down two flights of stairs to the communal bin store after every nappy change is not an option.  After looking at various solutions to our potentially smelly predicament we settled on the tommee tippee sangenic bin - it takes up hardly any room and it's super easy to use - you just pop the dirty nappy in the top and twist to seal it away with no smell or germs - what more could you want!  Check it our here.

Muslins...

Lots and lots of muslins! We bought a few ourselves and were given lots and honestly I thought we had too many...how wrong could I be! I would say we have JUST about enough as long as we do a wash every other day!

Steriliser...

Although we are not bottle feeding we've still been putting our steriliser through its paces mainly for dummy's and the various bits and pieces to administer Max's medicines.  I'm hoping to start expressing this week (wish me luck) so it will be getting even more use.  We went for the tommee tippee steam steriliser purely because a) we don't have a microwave so a countertop version was our only option and b) it was part of a starter kit that was on special on amazon during their baby event!  It's still pretty good value now.

Washing machine...

Last but by no means least a washing machine! Our washing machine decided to give up the ghost the week we brought Max home...thanks for that!  Mr O managed to patch it up with some picture wire and cork (don't ask me, that man can fix pretty much anything!) until we could get a new one ordered.  Now, it's been a while since I have had to buy a washing machine so I admit I am a little out of touch, but I was not expecting a spaceship to be delivered! Aside from looking pretty slick the Samsung Eco Bubble is also very user friendly and includes a useful 15min quick wash and our most used programme...the special baby wash, which includes extra rinses to ensure no detergent is left on the fabrics to irritate babies sensitive skin. Genius!

Baby Bouncer...

Our was very kindly donated by a friend who's two girls had grown out of it and it is worth it's weight in gold! Not only does it allow me to have a shower in the morning while being able to keep an eye on Max (I bring him into the bathroom with me), it also and more importantly soothes any overtired meltdowns with its gentle vibrating.  Our's is no longer in stock, but you this one is very similar.