10 things that have made my life easy as a new mom

Here they are:

1. Swing

We bought this swing before Neel was born. A lot of people recommended this to us in case the baby turns out to be a light sleeper. I found this on Amazon. We installed the swing in our living room and used it during Neel`s day-time naps. I was able to do my work and keep an eye on him. He slept great in the swing. But we made sure not to use this during his night sleep. We wanted him to sleep in his bed. But on some nights when he was an absolute terror, we had no option but to use the swing. He was able to fit easily inside till about 4 to 5 months.

The swing comes with spring (costs extra) and belts inside to keep the baby safe. The drawback is it needs to be swung manually, which can get a bit tiring and boring!

2. Rattle Toys

I bought a few of them in bright colors. They can be held easily. Neel loved them and still does. I keep one or two in my bag to keep him entertained on our travels.

3. Stroller/ Car seat

We bought our stroller and car seat from Joie. Till about 4months, when Neel slept a lot during the day, we could just take his car seat out with him sleeping in it and put it directly on the stroller, without waking him up. You don’t even need an adapter to fit the seat on the stroller. For walks and to run our errands, this was quite helpful.

4. Night Light

I bought this at a shop called Rappelkiste in Germany. I used this light till Neel turned 5 months old (I stopped using this when I started to sleep-train him. More on this in my next posts). When he would wake up in the middle of the night and was not ready to go back to sleep, he would just stare at the projected pictures on the ceiling and blabber at them. I would let him play around till he got tired or bored.

5. Pillow

I bought this pillow during my pregnancy to help me sleep better. After Neel was born, I used this pillow to place him on. When Neel started to roll over, we had really bad nights. Every time he moved or turned, he would wake up and cry. They say the best way to stop this from happening is to swaddle the babies. Sadly, Neel never liked swaddling. So I used this pillow to keep him from moving a lot and that actually helped. It also helps in transitioning babies from swings to beds.

6. Baby crib mobile

We bought this mobile at Ikea. I loved its simple and cute design. We did not hang this on his crib. Instead, we hung it above his changing table. He loved it. It was quite amusing to watch him look so animatedly at it as if he was challenging the creatures to play with him.

7. Sippy cup

Neel, like most babies, never liked to drink from feeding bottles. He only wanted it from the source herself! My mom suggested to try different bottles or sippy cups. And he really liked the sippy cups better. Now I am also trying to get him used to the steel cups (which you generally get in India).

8. Jars

When we started to feed solids to Neel, I wanted to store his food in sealed containers to make sure it wouldn’t get spoiled. As I made his food in large quantity, we used these jars of different sizes to store it. And it was easy and safe to take them while travelling too.

9. Car seat mirror

I use this to make sure that I am able to see Neel while driving. When I drove and he cried in the back, it used to make me very nervous. So we fixed it in front of his seat to make sure that nothing was bothering him physically (like one time his cap had covered his eyes and he was crying a lot). You can buy this in most of the hardware stores.

10. Baby carrier

Another item which I think was one of our best investments is this carrier from Cybex. Thanks to the elastic material in the center, it adjusts according to the shape of the baby and I don’t need to adjust any straps. It is quite ergonomic too. I used this a lot when I traveled to Dubai and India.

What helped/helps you as a new mom? I would love to know…

-Madhurya