It’s amazing how much stuff can go with such a tiny baby! Or how much laundry they can make!

There are tons of blog posts out there in the world about favorite baby items/gear. There are tons of lists of all the essential items one NEEDS to buy for their baby. I believe there is a very friendly staff person waiting inside the odors of Baby’s R Us looking for the first time parents with a suggested shopping list ready to hand to them.

We certainly have our fair share of non essential baby gear but by baby #3 we now have a pretty good idea of the things that work for our babies and what don’t. So in no particular order here our my top baby gear recommendations for new parents.

1. Exercise Ball- You will have abs of steel after sitting on one for hours at a time bouncing your fussy baby

2. Sound Machine- We did not have one for our first, we simply turned on the bathroom fan etc. When I was pregnant with Little Miss we were given one and LOVE it. I currently sleep in her room and I love it for myself. I don’t hear my son or husband up going to the bathroom at night but can still hear if our son calls out and needs something.

3. Baby Carrier- We’ve pretty much tried them all and our top favorites are Moby for when they are really little. Ergo when they get a bit bigger. Love the option to have them on our back in the Ergo and great waist band for back support. I think I wore my son in the Ergo well into 3 years old.

4. Nose Frida- Those blue bulb syringes they give you at the hospital suck. The squeeze balls they suck too. Or maybe I should say don’t suck which is the problem with them. Now the Nose Frida really sucks (in a good way) Little Miss has had at least 3 colds in her short 3 months compliments of a big brother in Kindergarten. She hates to have her nose suctioned but I’m telling you it works!

5. Rocking Bassinet- This is new to us this go around the one we have is from Fisher Price and we LOVE it. It’s sturdy and easy to move around the house and when she is sleeping and moves she rocks herself back to sleep. Was a pain to assemble but great now.

6. Swaddle blankets- Spend the extra money and get a couple Adan and Anais blankets. All the receiving blankets are too small to get a good swaddle. With our son we used the Kiddopotomus with the velcro, Little Miss needs a light swaddle but not as severe as our son.

7. Fleece Sleep Sacks- I think we have one in every size from small to large.

8. Quality Breast Pump- I have a hand pump, a single side electric Medela pump and I’ve pumped on a hospital grade pump. This really is a case of you get what you pay for. With our son I didn’t think I’d need anything other than a simple hand pump for an occasional bottle when we wanted to go out to dinner. And it worked ok for that, but the better the pump the easier and faster it is. Even if you are not going back to work invest now in a good pump because you really do end up pumping more than you think you will.

9. Milestone Calendar- I like this better than a baby book. I can mark down each day what we do, milestones etc and at the end of each month there are a set of questions to fill out about what’s been going on. Way less demanding and intimidating than a baby book but still all the pertinent information so you can flush out journaling later.

10. Hand print kit- I was so happy that I took hand and foot prints of each of my babies. They grow so fast it is hard to believe how much they change unless you see it. There are some cool ones on the market that your baby’s hand never touches the ink.

11. Pocket Diaper and a Wet Bag- We cloth diapered our son and now Little Miss too. Which is the topic of a completely different post. Love it find it super easy, economical and green. We use Bum Genius and have been quite pleased.

I am sure that I will think of something else I’d like to add to the list but for now these are my top picks and I will say that we’ve traveled with Little Miss on two major trips one to Montana and once to Hawaii and took items #1-8 with us on those trips- well not the fleece sleep sack to Hawaii but certainly to Montana.