10.28.2018

NEW BABY & BREASTFEEDING MAMA MUST HAVES

I partnered with the brands featured below for this post and received product in exchange for my honest and open opinion.

When it comes to bringing home a new baby, there are so many new products out there that sometimes it's not easy making choices on what to buy. Of course you want the best for your new little bundle of joy, so I'm sharing some of my top favorite must have items we've chosen for baby! Of course, since I'll be breastfeeding, I had to share some of my top picks for breastfeeding mamas too! Breastfeeding isn't easy, but it's oh so rewarding and I'm so excited to be able to do it again, though I'm definitely feeling more prepared this time and feel like I know a little bit of what to expect. Read all about our favorites below, if you're expecting, you'll probably just want to go ahead and add them all to your registry now. :)


PUJ BATH TIME HOODED TOWEL + WASHCLOTHS
We've loved Puj brand for years after owning multiple puj phill-up hangable cups, hug hooded towels, non-slip bath treads and now some more fun products! Bella absolutely loves her fill-up cups and plays with them every single day during bath time, and her hooded "big hug" towel she had a couple years back was the best. It was her absolute favorite towel to wrap herself up in after a bath, so of course we wanted to let baby boy in on the fun! He's going to love being wrapped up in this luxuriously soft, cozy and absorbent hooded puj hug towel after his baths, and during baths, I have a feeling he's going to love the softness of these sweet little puj fresh washcloths!




MILK BLISS ALL NATURAL GOURMET LACTATION TREATS
It's no secret at all just how much I love chocolate, and peanut butter and chocolate together? Even better! But what I love most about these treats from Milk Bliss (well besides their adorable packaging), is the fact that they'll help me along with me breastfeeding journey! I've mentioned previously, that while breastfeeding Bella, I had a lot of milk supply issues, and while I breastfed her for 9 months, only the first 6 weeks of that was exclusive breastfeeding. I tried pumping more between feedings, but even that didn't help, and I had no clue where to buy lactation products to try and up my supply. So I'm hoping that doing my research this time, being prepared with all of the right products and being equipped with new knowledge, that this time around I'll be able to exclusively breastfeed for a longer amount of time, and my goal this time is to breastfeed for a year or more. I'm super excited to try out these chocolate chip lactation cookies and also these peanut butter chip lactation cookies after baby is born to help boost my milk supply! I also really excited for these 5 pack chocolate peanut butter overnight lactation oats! Yum!



PARASOL CO. DIAPERS + WIPES + FEMININE CARE ITEMS
I've heard so many amazing things about the Parasol brand over the past couple of years and of course had to try them out for this baby (they unfortunately weren't around when Bella was a baby and I only found out about them right around the time Bella was potty training). I just love these diapers because not only are they timeless and modern in design (aka yay for no sesame street prints on the diapers), they're also very safe compared to a lot of brands! They're chemical free, free of heavy metals and free of other harmful materials (which not only makes them irritation free and safer for your baby's sensitive skin, but also makes the workplace for their employees safer)! Oh! They sell more than diapers too! They have baby wipes, diaper pants (for older babies/toddlers who are potty training), and also carry a line of amazing feminine care products such as feminine wipes and pads!



BLABLA KIDS HAND KNIT DOLLS
We simply love the adorable knit dolls from over at Blabla Kids. They're just so huggable, soft, sweet and their simple designs are always so eye catching. Each doll is handmade from high quality hand picked cotton, and knitted by skilled artisans one stitch at a time in Peru. I also love that these dolls are safe and that Blabla Kids are not only committed to the environment and your child's safety by using only 100% natural fibers, but they also have been tested and meet the both United States and European safety requirements. Oh! And they are fair trade and sustainable! Blabla Kids has been working with the same artisans for over 17 years to create their dolls! We recently added TouTou the dog to our collection for baby boy, and of course we didn't want big sister Bella to feel left out, so Jasper the deer was her choice! She falls asleep every single night hugging her little deer and it's just the cutest thing!



MILK SNOB CARSEAT COVERS, NURSING COVERS + SWADDLES
With a baby on the way during the cold months, a car seat cover is pretty much a necessity to keep those tiny little cheeks toasty warm. Even better, is when you find one that doubles as a multi functional cover that can not only be used as a cover on your baby's car seat to keep the cold or sun out of their face, but also as a nursing cover, a shopping cart cover and so much more! Though at home I don't usually use nursing covers, when I'm out and about, it's always nice to have one on hand in case I want to be more discreet (especially at church lol). Milk Snob has so many colors and prints to choose from and every single one is soft as butter. They also carry a ton more items (like this super sweet buffalo check swaddle blanket), changing pad covers, crib sheets, adorable knotted hats and gowns for the tiny ones, wrap baby carriers... pretty much just all the cutest things.



CAKE MATERNITY NURSING BRAS
With Bella I didn't bother to get any nursing bras and ended up just using my regular bras during my 9 months breastfeeding her. Though thankfully I never had any issues from it (mastitis, etc), I know it definitely would have made breastfeeding so much easier to have a nursing bra or two and I wish I would have gotten myself at least one nursing bra during that time, so this time around I made sure to grab a few. These 3 from Cake Maternity are perfect for all stages of pregnancy as well as postpartum and breastfeeding. I've actually already started wearing them because they're so comfortable as well as being super supportive and are also super cute! I love this one for when I want to feel super put together, this one for when I just want to be nothing but comfortable, and this one for sleep and those first couple of weeks postpartum (it's amazing and buttery soft ya'll). I definitely recommend these nursing bras to all the mamas who plan on breastfeeding or pumping!



We never used a pacifier clip with Bella, and it was one of those things that I was always needing, she only used a pacifier for around 6 months or less, but while she did, it was constantly falling on the floor, so a pacifier clip would have been a big help. So this time around I'm prepared with some adorable, gender neutral, and super minimal clips from Ryan & Rose! I chose the plain leather cutie clips in tan, black, and cream (the ryan real leather cutie clips) and I feel like they'll go with everything, not to mention they're super cute! I also had had my eye on these natursutten natural rubber pacifiers for awhile so I scooped up a couple of those, and I'm also loving this matching teether! Ryan & Rose has so many adorable pacifier clip options that no matter what your style, you'll find something you love.



I breastfed Bella for 9 months (I wish I could have longer) and I'm fulling planning on breastfeeding this baby, so I wanted to make sure I had some things to help out with that this time. I always felt that a ton of milk was being wasted on whatever side I wasn't feeding Bella on at the time since when I'd go to switch her to my other breast or she was done nursing, my breastpad on the opposite side would always be full. I mean, you can't expect your body to only "let-down" on one side I guess, but it still always felt so wasteful since every single drop of breastmilk is so hard to come by and so precious. So earlier this year, a friend and fellow blogger who had just had a baby, shared about this Silicone Breast Pump with Silicone Stopper from Naturebond, and I immediately knew it was a must have item for when baby #2 came along. Just suction it to whichever breast you're not currently using, and let it catch all the milk that flows when you're nursing and let down. I can't wait to use this and I'm hoping it will help me get my freezer stash going in no time. Naturebond also recently released these pretty lace reusable breastpads made from the softest bamboo cotton that are perfect for eco-conscious mamas or those who don't want to be making constant trips to the store for disposable breastpads.



Would you just look at how cute these sweet little hairbrushes and comb set from Natemia Baby are? You all know I'm not the biggest fan of plastic, so when I found out that wooden baby hairbrushes existed, it was high up on my to-get list. I just love the minimal, natural look of this wooden hair brushes and comb set and the regular brush is so silky soft, perfect for delicate newborn hair. Not only are they functional, but they also look really pretty sitting out on the dresser. I also grabbed some of these bamboo baby washcloths, and they are buttery soft, I can't wait to use them for baby's baths!



I've heard so many good things about FridaBaby over the years, but somehow never got around to getting any of their products. Well with a new baby on the way, I felt it was the perfect time to change that! Cue the NoseFrida! No clue why we haven't got this sooner, especially since our poor little Bella ended up getting a cold at 2 months old (this would have been so much more useful than the hospital bulb syringe). Hopefully I won't have to use it for a long while, but just in case, we're prepared now. The Fridet momwasher was a product that has been highly recommended to me by so many fellow mamas, everyone says it's so much better than the regular peri-bottle you are given at postpartum, so I'm actually thrilled to add this in my hospital bag and hopefully make that first week postpartum a little easier.



This was one of those must have items we had with Bella, and I honestly don't think I could have survived breastfeeding those first months without it. It was such a lifesaver. Out of all of the nursing pillows I've looked at, this one will always be my favorite just because we used the living daylights out of it when Bella was an infant. We actually ended up keeping it for a couple of years because she ended up taking such a liking to it and would use it as a cozy pillow while watching shows or cuddling with her Lambie. I had a pink one with Bella, and this time I wanted something simple, so I chose the Bare Naked Boppy pillow and I just love it. I love how simple and clean looking it is, and if I get tired of the white and want to switch things up a bit, I can just throw a cover on it (a friend actually custom made one for me, but Boppy offers so many cute options). I have a feeling this is going to be a huge favorite again this time around.
This blooming lotus baby bath is one of the things I grabbed for baby this past week. It's just so darling and I love that it can be used in a kitchen sink (where I plan on bathing baby most of the time once he/she is here) or anywhere you want as they get older. It's so soft and though it comes in a ton of pretty colors, this pretty neutral gray especially caught my eye and I knew we had to have it. When Bella was a baby, we had a hard plastic tub and she hated baths, so I eventually had her shower with me, because bathing her in her tub made her so miserable, so I'm excited to try this sweet bath out in the future. The contoured shaped petals of this blooming bath are perfectly designed to cradle your baby while bathing and it creates a safe and comfortable environment for them. It's machine washable and dry-able AND the polyurethane foam inside dries fast so there's no chance of mildew or mold. Another reason I love this adorable bath, is because it's not been treated with any harmful chemicals or any flame retardants, which is super important to me as a mama.
We LOVE the Bumbo floor seat in our home. It was another one of our most used and loved baby items when Bella was a baby, and we recommend these seats to literally everyone who is having a baby now (we've even purchased several as gifts for family members)! It's just perfect for allowing baby to sit up and look around when you may not be able to hold him/her (because all babies love to see what's going on), and we also loved it as a feeding seat for Bella until we finally purchased her a highchair at around 7 months old. It's soft and not made from hard plastic which I love, and comes in a variety of colors, we had blue with Bella, and chose "cool grey" for this baby so it would fit right into our home without clashing with anything (grey is one of the best neutrals, isn't it?). I can't wait to see our baby boy sitting in this cute seat once he's big enough!


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