
Pregnancy can often be a time of bliss and joy; it can be a time of excitement and thrill! It can also be a time to be scared out of your mind on how to care for a newborn! Don’t worry, we’ve all been there, even if we say we haven’t. It’s often a time of panic of “what will this baby need?” and a lot of parents fall victim to ‘the list’. Ya know, that list that EVERY baby store will hand you once you register telling you the millions of things you’ll NEED to have in order for baby to be born. Well, let me present you with a different point of view, YOU DON’T. If you go into baby registering as most things are listed as impulse buy or not necessary then you’ll probably fare alright. Now, keep in mind there are a few essentials that you will need but 90% of that ‘list’ won’t get you any closer to raising a baby!
The #1 must have for a newborn is some sort of car seat. You legally, no matter the state, cannot bring a baby home from the hospital without one. Make sure the car seat is newborn ready, as in can go rear facing and usually take 4-5 pound babies. Believe it or not, even that extra padding and inserts they put in car seats are often not needed. Make sure your car seat is BRAND NEW or in a non-expired state. Car seat hand me downs are typically not recommended as you have no idea where that car seat has or hasn’t been (if you need some reassurance go check out my blog about our accident we had recently). There is often no way to notice any damage even from a minor car accident; for example, my son’s old car seat would have been visually fine to sell: not expired, great condition, no stains, no outside damage. However, it was involved in a ‘minor’ accident and it was located on the damaged side of the vehicle, but you wouldn’t know that by my ad on craigslist would you? Trust me, if you’ve got 9 months to prepare for baby, you’ve got time to figure out a brand new car seat (no dumpster diving on this!). Even if you’re having a home birth, you’ll still want to plan to have a car seat just in case you and baby need to be transferred to a hospital for complications; always be prepared. Read the rest of this entry »