Momma's Newborn Must-Haves + Arden's Nursery

Pretty nursery photos taken by Rachel Whyte.

When I first started looking at all the baby gadgets and wondering what the heck to register for or buy for baby girl, I was literally lost. Thank goodness for friends who knew what they were doing and gave me GREAT advice on what we'd be needing or wanting with a baby in tow. Otherwise, I'd probably have started out with four baby outfits, a pack of diapers and a bouncy seat...and that's about it.

So here's a list of must-haves, don't-needs, and nice-to-haves—because it would have been absolutely lovely to have a list like this when I was trying to figure things out.

These things are based strictly on our experiences. Take this all with a grain of salt, because, of course, all babies have different preferences and personalities.

Not a mommy and don't care about must-haves? Scroll to the bottom to see more pictures of Arden's nursery. It's super cute, but I'm biased.

MUST-haves:

1. Rock n Play - They don't carry ours anymore but here's a similar model. It has saved us, because this baby girl will not sleep in anything that sits still, and ours auto-rocks itself. This feature is a LIFESAVER. I don't know what we would've done if we would've registered for one of those new fancy co-sleeper bassinets. It would've been such a waste of money. (For us! Some people LOVE those.)

2. Swing - we have this one. It is just about the only thing she will sit in while she's awake and give me a quick twenty minutes to relax.

3. Breast pump and freezer storage bags - I have this one, but we got it free through our insurance (and it was NOT hard, so please ask me how and I'd be glad to help you get a free one too!) I HATE pumping, but it's a necessary evil if I want to continue breastfeeding after I go back to work. I pump once or twice a day, and I have a pretty healthy back stock in our freezer—which is why these freezer storage bags are lifesavers! In my experience, you don't need anything else for storing milk. Just these bags. This pumping bra saves me daily. And this nursing bra is super great. Also, I don't have this bag yet, but it's a pumping bag for work, and I'm asking for it for my birthday. It's the only one of its kind that I've found. It carries your breast pump and makes that whole "pumping at work" process SO much less of a big deal. You can read all about it on their website.

4. Bottles - we have Avent brand. If you're planning to breastfeed, you only need one pack of these, in our experience. Otherwise, they just take up space in your cabinets and don't get utilized. And in our house, storage space is gold.

5. Boon Drying Lawn. Linked here. I resisted buying one of these at first, because it seems like just another annoying baby gadget that sits out on your counter and looks messy all the time. BUT you have to wash your breast pump parts EVERY single time you pump, so it's either use one of these, or set your stuff out on a paper towel. Which looks way worse.

6. Covered Goods 3-in-1 cover. Mine is this one. OH. MY. GOODNESS. This thing gets used DAILY. It's a carseat canopy, a nursing cover and a shopping cart cover (when she gets a little older). This was way worth the money. I think this will be my go-to baby shower gift from now on (even if you didn't register for it, because—trust me—you need it.) Arden LOVES hers as a carseat cover because it makes a secure little cocoon and she falls right to sleep. And any time we're out, I feel totally comfy throwing this thing over my shoulder and feeding her.

7. A good stroller and the correct connections for your carseat. We have this one. We love it! Make sure, if need be, you buy the connections. We didn't, and it made our first outing very short lived. But make sure to get stroller! Walks help with those baby blues!

8. ALL the swaddles. My favorite swaddles come from this website. They're adorable and SO soft. Arden actually hates to be swaddled, but we use these daily just to cover up her legs, lay her down to change her diaper, wipe up any little spit up messes, and just about everything else under the sun.

9. A good paci. We like this one. Arden can't hold her own paci yet, but when we're out of the house and she starts crying, this thing will relax her in a pinch.

10. An infant bathtub. Any will do, just make sure you get one! Ours was only $20 and it works perfectly. Don't worry about buying one that costs ANY more than that—it's completely pointless. A baby bath literally takes about six minutes, and you only need to bathe them 3 or 4 times a week to avoid drying out their sensitive skin. Spend your money elsewhere.

11. DIAPERS. I always knew we'd need diapers, but I never realized how MUCH we'd need diapers. Sometimes in one diaper change baby girl will mess three diapers. (The cold air makes her pee or she could accidentally have a blowout on the changing table...sometimes both will happen.) I'd say in a day we go through 12 diapers. And homegirl is 5 weeks old and we're still rocking the newborn size, so that's like 420 newborn diapers so far. Stock up, friends. Oh, and we've found that Honest brand contains blowouts the best. Pampers Swaddlers are okay, but she seems to go right through them much faster.

12. Wipes - Of course. The Honest Brand Wipes give Arden a rash. She has to use Pampers Sensitive. Maybe wait to stock up on wipes until you know what works for your baby.

13. NEWBORN CLOTHES. I've always heard not to worry about buying a lot of NB size clothes, because they grow into 0-3 months so quickly that NB size is a waste of money. Well, that's wrong. Thank goodness our friend Alissa stocked us up, because otherwise, I would've literally had 5 NB outfits. She's 5 weeks and still wearing NB. Not only that, but we change her clothes about 3x every day (newborns are diaper blowout city). So. Stock up or you'll be doing a LOT of laundry. We like Carter's. Cheap and cuter than Target. Plus there's one in Waco!

14. A baby book (if you're into that.) We bought this simple one from Amazon. Nothing fancy, but let's me paste in tons of pictures and keep up with this cutie's growth.

15. Line up a Newborn photo shoot. We did maternity and newborn photos. I'm glad we did both, but I'm REALLY glad we did the newborn shoot. It was in our house and we got amazing photos of the baby, us with the baby, and her nursery. Remember, babies don't keep—as they say. One day those pictures will be sweet, sweet memories of your teeny tiny newborn that you wouldn't have otherwise.

16. Diaper Pail. Ours (link here) contains the smell very well and is super simple to use.

17. Wipe Warmer. Here's Ours. Arden hates having her diaper changed without warm wipes. Seems silly, but it's WORTH it to avoid tiny baby screams at 5 am.

18. A stocked up diaper changing station. You'll spend a lot of time here, so you might as well stock it up and make it comfy for you and baby. Make sure you have a little container to hold diapers, diaper rash cream and baby powder. Also, get these. Lay them down over your changing pad and changing pad cover when you're changing baby. Otherwise, you'll be throwing that cute changing pad cover in the washer twice daily. Make sure the baby's laundry basket is within reach of the changing table. You'll be tossing soiled onesies in there all day long. We have this one. It's cute.

19. Feeding pillow makes feedings and just holding your baby way more comfy. Here's ours.

20. Thank you cards. People are going to be sending you food and gifts and diapers and all kinds of sweet things for your new babe. Write thank yous as you go.

21. A can of formula for emergencies. Even if you're exclusively breastfeeding, grab a can of formula at Target JUST in case You never ever know what will happen. Will you have a 4 am breakdown from lack of sleep and need your hubs to give the baby an emergency bottle 'cause momma just can't? Will you contract a serious case of the "baby blues" and need two hours away from the baby to go see a movie before you've pumped any breastmilk back stock? Will you be going through airport security and need to give the baby something to eat STAT? Ya never know. Just get a can, put it in your pantry and forget all about it if you want. We "exclusively" breastfeed, but baby does get a bottle once in a while (like if I need to pump and baby is acting WAY hungry, even though she was just fed less than an hour before, or if I'm leaving the baby with Drew and she just ate, but needs a "just in case" bottle.)

22. Gripe water. Our baby gets the hiccups five times a day. And they stick around for thirty minutes, no lie. And then she gets ticked. This magic juice gets rid of hiccups immediately.

23. FOR MAMA POST BABY-HAVIN': Tucks pads, Dermoplast spray, Lanolin cream, Sitz Bath, Epsom Salt (for your sitz bath), Colace and Motrin. And don't leave the hospital without some sort of pain meds to get you through the first few days.

Things you don't HAVE to have right away (in our experience)

1. Playpen - I have no doubt we'll use it someday when she's bigger. But for now, it's not being used, because she hates laying flat in there and she's not big enough to sit up and play with toys yet. So now we have this giant pack n play taking up space in our living room. Just get a basic one, like this one! And leave it packed up until the baby can sit up on her own. Don't get one with all the bells and whistles. Spend money on something else.

2. Crib - OBVIOUSLY you'll need one eventually. But right now girly girl sleeps in her Rock N Play in our room. So don't feel awful if you don't get yours all set up before baby comes!

3. Loveys - They're cute and sweet and soft, but tiny babies don't care about loveys. (Example of a lovey, here) Wait until your baby is bigger! Otherwise you're just storing it for no reason. Same thing goes for "toys" in general.

4. Wrap carrier - we went and bought this one. I wanted to love it, but I just don't. I like the ErgoBaby carrier better. We have this one and it's GREAT. (Some people LOVE the wraps. Maybe just try one out! But keep the receipt.)

5. Burp Cloths - you just don't need them, because you won't have time to go fetch one every time you burp the babe. We use whatever blanket is within reach if we have a spit-up issue.

Things you don't HAVE to have, but we love having:

1. A cute diaper bag. We have this one. Obviously it's pricey! But you use it daaaaaaaily, like more than your purse. So why not pick one out that has some style to it—it doesn't have to be expensive. Target carries cute ones! Also Drew doesn't feel completely emasculated by carrying ours around, which is a plus.

2. Books. Obviously Arden isn't big enough to appreciate all of her books yet, but I love having them in her nursery and dreaming about the day she goes and picks one out for us to read to her.

3. A good quality glider. We have one similar to this (except not that pricey.) You'll spend a lot of time in this piece of furniture! So pick a good one. Ours just looks like a regular chair, but it spins and rocks and the baby loves it.

4. Cute nursery keepsakes. Totally not functional, but so sweet just to have.

5. Blankets Galore. We maybe have 40 blankets for Arden. But I love every single one, and they all get used.

6. A good quality video monitor. We have this one. It works great! We don't use it yet, but we've definitely tried it out, and I know it'll give peace of mind once we move little lady to her own room.

7. Meal Train! My friends at work (shout out Hannah) signed us up for a meal train that's actually still chugging along. It was SO nice to not have to stress about dinners, especially in the beginning. When your baby is brand new you can't just take them to the grocery store (especially not during flu season!) so you're tethered to the house. This just makes life easier.

And here's some shots of sweet Arden's tropical flamingo nursery!