My Must Have Baby List pt. 1

So I always see all the lists that people make on Amazon, and I've always wanted to compile my own. What were our absolute essentials and my favorite things for the first years of Luna's life?

First off, we got a lot of things second hand, thrifted, or passed down. She slept in the same bassinett that I (and my brother, sister, and some other babies) did. Almost all of her clothes were given to us or found at various thrift stores around (I couldn't live without Arc). Reason: I really hate the idea of my baby already being born with the karma of having a bunch of plastic crap and chemicals produced just for her. I think we have done a pretty decent job of keeping this to a minimum.

Anyways, the list...

Eating/ Feeding

• Breastpump- Essential. Overly essential. Make sure you get it ahead of time, because you never know if you'll have feeding challenges (as I did) and need it sooner than expected. We got a Medela Pump In Style Advanced. Seems expensive, but worth it. Note- if you have insurance through the county, you may be able to get it paid for, especially if it is deemed medically necessary. **
• Bottles- I love the Evenflo glass bottles. They come with slow flow nipples.
• Bibs- get A LOT of them. Get used if possible since they will get ugly pretty quick.

• Spoons- I love the Green Toys BPA-Free feeding spoons!
• Bowls- Our favorites were some super cute bunny and tiger ceramic bowls from United Noodle, which of course we broke pretty quickly. Now we just use mugs or other bowls.
• Ice cube trays for freezing food, or if you want to buy a tray specifically for this purpose, the OXO tray is a MUST.
• Snap top tupperware for freezing the baby food cubes.
• Large pack of labels for labeling food (trust me, you won't remember what it is or when you made it).
• Heavy duty food processor and blender for making baby food. I LOVE my hand held immersion blender!
• Steamer and strainer.

Diapering

• We use a fabulous service for our cloth diapers- Do Good Diapers. I can't say enough about this place, I highly recommend them! I'll post more on them later.
• Diaper pail- just grab a good metal one from Target. Don't buy a "diaper pail", they are just more overpriced plastic crap.
• Wet bag- I love the Planet Wise bag we got at Linden Hills Coop.
• Covers- After trying a bunch, I really like the Thirsties Duos and the Bum Flips.

 Luna wearing a Thirsties Duo, size 1

• Changing table- a MUST. We got ours for $5 at the Linden Hills Garage Sales and I love it!
• Squirtable container (we use an old honey bottle) filled with water and soap (we like Dr. Bronners mild baby castille soap- best bulk prices at the Seward Coop). No need for wipes.
• Diaper cream- I love the California Baby cream. Works instantly. Great score on the Cosmetic Safety Database. By the way, the only places you can get this in town are Target and Whole Foods.

To be continued...

**Just found this about Medela pumps and their propensity for mold-growth. I knew about the tubing, but not the motor problems! Something to think about when buying the breast pump. I am now using the AMEDA, which I got free through my insurance, and I love it.