Must Haves for You and Your Baby in Their First Year

Updated December, 2020

Everyone told me how expensive having children was going to be. A lot of these expenses stemmed from all the stuff that everyone thinks you absolutely have to have. I found a lot of that stuff was less important, or more of a luxury, then an actual necessity. I was part of all sorts of blogs and e-mails leading through my pregnancy and up to birth. All of them offered big long lists of things that were needed when you had a baby.

I’ve made my own list of carefully vetted “Must Haves” that my partner and I used either every day or incredibly often. This takes out all the extra fluff and the the millions of toys and trinkets and gadgets that fill people’s houses. These are my First Year Must Haves.

Car Seat

This one is obvious, of course. If you have a vehicle or plan to put your child into a vehicle ever, you will need a car seat. My partner and I discussed back and forth for a very long time if we would get an infant car seat or start out with a convertible car seat. I am the type of person who carries my child a lot. I don’t really use a stroller if I can avoid it so I wasn’t sure having an infant car seat would be very useful for me. I ended up being really glad that we got an infant car seat. It made loading and unloading our little one much easier. We also bought a second car seat base so we could clip the car seat into both of our vehicles.

We went with the Graco SnugRide SnugLock 35 LX Infant Car Seat and Graco SnugRide SnugLock Car Seat Base. It had all the convenience of your typical car seat. I looked specifically for a seat that wasn’t too heavy while still providing the level of convenience and safety we were looking for. I also consider it a reasonable price for a car seat.

Pack 'N Play

Because we didn’t spend all the money on your “conventional” nursery items, we needed one piece of furniture that met our needs on multiple levels. See the Graco Pack ‘N Play Travel Dome. Initially, we used it just for the changing surface that it offered, since we didn’t get a big bulky changing table. It lived in our bedroom with us also, so when we woke up in the middle of the night and needed to change Monster’s diaper, we didn’t have to go far.

This piece of furniture grows with your child, offering first a place for you to keep them sleeping close to you, then a safe place for them to play and nap as they got older. I will say my partner set it up initially and I found it wasn’t really a piece that I collapsed and brought other places with me. Still, I found this versatile piece of furniture to be an absolute must have for us.

Breast Pump

This one is a must for any breastfeeding moms, especially if you have to go to work (although if you are like me and overproduced milk, also just great to have to help relieve breast engorgement). I specifically purchased the Medala Pump In Style with Max Flow Breast Pump, a very popular and well known brand. I got the starter pack, which also came with a few bottles to pump into. This small, light weight machine was easy for me to drag back and forth to work with me.

Before you run out and purchase a breast pump though, check with your insurance provider. Many insurance companies will cover the full cost of a breast pump.

Bottles

If you pump at all, or if you formula feed, you are going to need bottles. We bought two sizes of bottles for the first year. The Evenflo Classic four ounce glass bottles were perfect for us to start out with. Monster wasn’t eating a ton in any single sitting, so having a huge bottle was unnecessary. Knowing we wouldn’t use that size for as long, we got 6 of them, which was plenty. When Monster was eating more than 2-3 ounces in a single sitting, we upgrade to the Evenflo Classic Glass Twist 8 ounce bottles. We had more of these bottles, 12 in total. Part of the increase in number was because Monster also had started school and both of us were back at work, so we needed bottles to send to school every day as well as bottles for me to pump into and I honestly didn’t want to have to worry about washing all of them every night. I prefer glass bottles to plastic, especially because I often stored milk in the bottles directly and then froze them, resulting in the milk being in them for an extended period of time. Do note however, some schools do not allow glass bottles, so if you are planning to put your child in school, you may want to check with your provider. We often sent the plastic medala bottles to school with Monster instead of the glass ones. Yes, glass does break, but in these last 12 months, we only broke one, which isn’t bad considering how often I dropped them.

Changing Pad

I know that those little baby changing stations are available in a lot of locations, but I’ve never been able to put my baby’s body directly onto one of them. I just don’t know if they are ever cleaned or not. Additionally, there were plenty of places I went that didn’t have a changing table. The JJ Cole Changing Clutch made things much easier for me. It was small and compact, meaning that if I didn’t want to haul around a huge diaper bag (and I didn’t) I didn’t have to. There was a place right inside of the changing pad for me to stash diapers and wipes, so everything I needed for an outing was available all in one little baggy. Bonus: It was cute too.

Burp Cloths

I never thought burp cloths would be so important but they were an absolute must for us from the get go. They covered everything from spitting up to drooling to wiping their face. When Monster was first born I tried only having one out at once that we would use and then wash before we pulled out another one. Yeah, that ship sailed by three months. Now we have one in pretty much every room. So burp clothes, and a lot of them. I found getting a few different sizes and shapes was also nice. Both for a change of scenery and to deal with different messes.

Bibs

A similar concept as burp cloths, but bibs ended up being really handy. Not just for food either. It was great when Monster was teething or really drooly. Then, instead of changing their whole outfit multiple times a day, we just changed their burp cloths. Much easier. Again, just like burp cloths, lots of them.

Nipple Shield

If you are breastfeeding, and your child latches on right away, no problem, and does great the entire time they breastfeed, I’m glad. This was not the case for me. Monster was 2-3 days old when they started having trouble latching. I was in tears, convinced that my child was going to die and that I had completely failed as a parent. I’ve also heard from other women about their children biting them, or getting really sore nipples. The Medala Contact Nipple Shield saved me. It was a last resort, since we didn’t want Monster to have nipple confusion. If the choice was between nipple confusion or not being able to breastfeed at all though, I would take the confusion any day. My partner ran out at 11:40pm to buy this small piece of silicone. He got the last one available right before the store closed and brought it home. With the help of this little shield, Monster was able to latch. I was sure we would be stuck using the shield until Monster was at least 3 months old. It helped them get the hang of breastfeeding and by the time they were 2 weeks old, they were already off their training wheels and successfully nursing on their own.

Flannel Backed Tablecloth

Okay, this one is a borderline luxury, but it really saved our bed. See, no one tells you that you are going to leak milk like crazy from your breasts while you sleep. Or that some women sweat like crazy at night for a month after giving birth. And don’t get me started on the blood which, while I was taking precautions against, I really would not have wanted all over our bed. With just a cheap little Tablecloth with Polyester Flannel Backing, we were able to keep our bed nice and usable well after the birth. We put it under our sheets so that any mess that was made didn’t live with us forever. We were able to wash our sheets and the table cloth. We didn’t need it after that first month, but it sure was great to have.

Nursing Bras

I bought my nursing bras even before I gave birth to accommodate my growing breasts. I found the Wirefree Sleeping Nursing Bra to be the best fit for me before and after birth. These super comfortable bras provided me with support and my Monster with easy access to meals. They also had plenty of room for nursing pads which offered a little extra protection on those especially leaky days. They came with extenders in the back to help accommodate my changing size. Additionally, they worked great for both day and night wear.