Now that Lamb is well and truly hitting his terrible twos and I no longer have a baby (sad face), I thought it would be a good idea to blog about my most recommended products we have used so far. As there’s soooooo many fab products out there, i’m going to break them down and write a few posts.

Here are five of my recommended baby essentials for newborns.

1. Our most used product in the first 6 months was Infacol. As new parents, Joe and I had no idea about colic. Well, that’s not true, our midwife told us to have some in the house ready, as colic is common in newborns. However, we didn’t really know what to expect if our baby had colic. It took a few weeks of a very distressed and unhappy baby for us to realise he needed the medicine. As soon as we gave it to him he instantly changed. The smiles were back! You can read more about our experience with colic here.

The Johnson’s Baby Skincare Essentials box is a must have, as its great for storing all of your bath time products.

2. We are big fans of the Johnson’s Baby products and still are. As soon as we started properly bathing Jaxson we used the bedtime products. My favourite is the Johnsons Baby Bedtime Bath and Johnsons Baby Bedtime Lotion. They smell delicious and have always been part of our bedtime routine. Using familiar smells is one way of helping your baby fall into a bedtime routine, and it certainly helped us with Jaxson. 6pm bath, Baby Bedtime products, bottle and bed. Then wine (for mummy, of course).

I absolutely love these aden + anais Jungle Jam Cotton Muslins! It’s nice to have fun prints rather than plain white as they become a lovely accessory rather than just a cloth.

3. Muslin cloths. What would I do without my supply of muslins?! I literally had one draped over my shoulders 24 hours a day. Suffering with colic caused Lamb to spit up after every feed. His weight gain was amazing, but we couldn’t understand how as he was spitting up so much milk! By the time he was a month old we had around 30 muslin cloths and most of the time they were all dirty or in the wash! They are an absolute essential. Fab for mopping up any mess and wash really well. They also come in use as a sun shade or light blanket, or even a hat!

Lamb has the ‘Sandcastle’ 0.5 tog GroBag, which is not only perfect for bedtime, but also for days out when he naps in his pram!

4. GroBag or sleeping bag. Once your baby is over 10lbs you can put them in a sleeping bag. I am a huge fan of them, they really help regulate Jaxson’s temperature at night, which helps him sleep through. When we had our first batch of warm weather, after bringing Lamb home, we struggled to keep his bedroom cool, so put him to bed in only his nappy. But this meant he was waking up in the middle of the night with cold legs. My sister-in-law told me to buy a summer sleeping bag and he would be fine to sleep in it in the warm weather. I thought he might be too hot, but she was totally right. As soon as I out him back into his sleeping bag he started sleeping through again. Lamb is now 16 months and we have only just stopped using his GroBag (because he’s obsessed with standing up in his cot and the bag prevents him doing this). In this super warm weather I highly recommend the GroCompany 0.5 tog GroBag.

I decided to use the Tommee Tippee electric breast pump and manual pump.

5. Electric breast pump. Without a breast pump, Jaxson would never have been breast fed. I wanted to feed him naturally more than anything, it meant so much to me to experience everything as a new mum. Unfortunately after many attempts, I couldn’t get lamb to latch, but I didn’t give up. For 4 1/2 months I expressed my breast milk and fed it to him in a bottle. All that mattered was he was getting my milk, the best thing for him. As Lamb’s feeds reduced I moved onto a manual pump, and I actually found this just as good as the electric pump. I had so much milk I was able to get plenty with a manual pump. My advice would be wait until your milk comes in before you invest in an electric pump, you don’t want to waste your money if you don’t end up using it.

I hope you have found this post useful! I’d love to know what you couldn’t live without for your newborn?

Alex xx