1. RILEY’S 2-PIECE PJS | 2. MY PJ TOP | 3. MY PJ BOTTOMS | 4. LETTER BOARD

Anyway, over the last three years I’ve definitely collected lots of tips and tricks to prepare my kiddos rooms for the best sleep possible! Whether it’s things I’ve learned on my own, suggestions I’ve learned from all of you, or tried-and-true tips I’ve been given by sleep experts – all of the things I’ve compiled in this blog are things that have worked for me and my family! So, I’m sharing them with you guys in hopes that your babies (or toddlers!) get some good sleep too! And as always, please feel free to share your experiences and tips in the comments below. I love it when we help each other by sharing all of our own experiences. That’s my absolute favorite thing about this blog. Mamas (and daddies) coming together!

My first two posts in this series were geared more toward parents of infants or expecting mamas. But this one is really for any parent who needs some extra sleep! But if you are expecting, I HIGHLY suggest creating a baby registry at Walmart and adding these things now. You should also check out my other two blog posts in this series – 1) General Must Haves and 2) Must Haves in the Kitchen. Then use this link to create a registry and easily add all the items! If for some reason you get a product that you need to return, you can easily do it online or bring it in store! Which will be a lifesaver for larger items that are harder to ship. Plus, if you want to add anything that I didn’t talk about, search for it on Walmart’s site and I swear there is a 95% chance it will be there! I was shocked but how many items they have and how many retailers/brands they work with. Ok let’s get into this!

Blackout Shades

This seems like a super obvious tip. And in some ways it is. But the tip I’m about to give you is one that Riley’s sleep coach told us that I thought was some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten! Sure, it’s important to have blackout shades in your children’s rooms. Molly and Riley both have them in their rooms. Not only do we use the blackout shades but we have blackout blinds to to make the room extra dark! And we will even push furniture up against the sides to make sure no light is peeking through along the edges. We’re serious about our dark rooms! And when you’re traveling, most hotel rooms, unless you’re in Vegas, don’t have blackout shades. So this is what the sleep expert Kimberly told us! Use black garbage bags and tape them over the windows. This was mind blowing to me when she told me this! Genius! Now every time we pack for a trip I make sure we pack black trash bags and painters tape so we can put them up over the windows. This is especially helpful when you’re changing times zones and want to keep your child on their schedule. For example, when we travel from the west coast to the east coast, we put the kids to bed at 10pm (which is 7pm west coast to keep them on schedule) which means they should sleep until 9am (6am PST). Without the trash bags over the windows they would NEVER be able to stay on schedule since the sun would wake them up well before 9am.

 1. BLACKOUT SHADES

Honestly, you could totally do this in their bedrooms! And even though it won’t be the prettiest in your child’s bedroom – it works! Who cares about what it looks like when your kids are SLEEPING! Sleep! Ahhhh glorious sleep! Ha! Just take the time to cut the bags out nicely so they fit perfectly over the windows and it won’t be so bad. Plus, in the first year of your child’s life, you pretty much never go in their nursery unless they’re going to sleep. At least that was the case with both my kids.

Sound Machine

A sound machine is an absolute must in a child’s bedroom. Not only because white noise/brown noise has been known to help not only children, but adults sleep as well. But also because you don’t want your kids being woken up by other noises in your house. For example, we’ve put white noise in both Molly and Riley’s room since they were born and I remember one time when Molly was 1 we actually had a party at the house. And even though it got pretty loud she never woke up! Our house was on the smaller side at the time. It was about 1400 ft.² and all on one level. Her bedroom was about 6 feet away from our living room where all of our guests were. I’m confident that’s because of the white noise. And in general, you just want to be able to live your life when your kids are sleeping. When they’re napping during the day you want to be able to get things done around the house and not have to worry about tiptoeing around everywhere. And it helps Kevin and I! I honestly can’t sleep without it! There are a few good machines you can use. Kevin and I use this one. I LOVE it because it can get really loud. And I like my white sounds LOUD! I can’t even tell you how many we went through before I found this one. And in Molly and Riley’s room we use the Hatch baby rest. I did Instagram stories about this thing multiple times because I SWEAR by it. It’s an OK to Wake light and sound machine all in one! It is the BEST THING EVER to help teach your kids how to sleep later if you have very early risers.

We have this one in our guest room. It’s a much softer/natural white noise (similar to a fan) which many people like. I also recommend a travel one for when you are out and about for car naps or stroller naps!

Air Purifier

I almost didn’t wanna recommend this one because it’s so expensive. And I know a lot of people can’t afford it. But in you’re in the position to be able to get this air purifier for your child’s room I highly recommend it! But not for the obvious reasons which is to purify the air. Yes, that is a great benefit of having one – and if you only need one to purify the air, there are ones under $100 that will do just that which will absolutely help your child sleep better! (This one has GREAT reviews) Especially if they have seasonal allergies, which I’m pretty sure both my kids have.

 1.AIR PURIFIER | 2. HATCH BABY REST | 3. PJs

But the biggest reason I can’t live without ours is because it also helps with temperature control. I don’t know about you guys but I literally have had so many sleepless nights because I’m constantly worrying about the temperature in my kids rooms. Kevin thinks I’m insane. I’m constantly waking him up in the middle of the night and asking “Do you think it’s too hot in here? Too cold?” Mostly I’m worried about Riley since Molly is now older and can use blankets and easily pull them on her or take them off her as she pleases. But we have this air purifier in Riley’s room because even though he sleeps in a sleep suit that keeps him warm and cozy throughout the night, he can’t take the sleep suit on and off like you or I could do with the blanket. If we get cold in the middle of the night we pull the blanket over us. When we’re hot, we kick them off. Riley can’t do that so I’m constantly worried about him being too hot or too cold. Goodness, I cannot wait until I can put a blanket in his crib!

Anyway, even though we have a nest thermostat to help control the temperature in our house. Sometimes when the AC is on it can get really cold in his room since it’s smaller than our master bedroom. So even though I had it set to 72° at night. Sometimes it will still feel 75 in our room but feel 69 in Riley’s room. So what I love about this air purifier is that you can choose for it to blow hot air or cold air. And it’s not like a standing plug-in heater that would be very unsafe to put in your child’s room. Just being able to control the temperature in his room with this thing gave me more peace of mind at night. And instead of staying up all night fussing with the air conditioner for the entire house I can just set the temperature in his room to a certain degree and feel good about it.

The only caveat is, I’m not an expert and definitely would consult the website for this purifier or any purifier to make sure that it’s even safe to do this. I’ve looked and haven’t seen anything saying it isn’t but you should look too!

A Sleep Suit

I just mentioned the sleep suit above and I’m going to make it it’s own entire point because I think it’s crucial for good sleep! This is the way our sleep coach described it to us. How comfortable would you be sleeping in just your pajamas in your bed? With no blankets or sheets or anything to keep you company? Sounds so not great right? Well the same goes for a little ones. They want the comfort of a blanket. But as you guys know it’s not safe to put blankets in your children’s crib until they’re at least 1 and I believe some people even recommend waiting until 18 months. But I just never felt comfortable leaving my kids in their crib and just pajamas for an entire year of their life. I wanted them to feel “comfy and cozy”. I keep saying those words because that’s what me and Molly always say. Comfy and cozy! So by wearing a sleep suit you basically get your little one the comfort of a blanket but in a safe way.

 1. SLEEP SUIT

We’ve used a few different brands throughout the years. I really love this lightweight one when it’s warmer in our house. And they have heavier ones if you live in colder climates or keep your house really cool. But I tend to like this one the most because it’s not too hot, not too cold, as Goldilocks would say. It’s just right! This one is great too! It’s a little more on the lighter side. And we try to keep the temperature in our house around 70 to 73° regardless of what time of year it is.

A Lovey

I talked about Lovey’s in my past post about sleep training and I have to mention it again here. Putting a lovey, which is basically a small breathable comfort toy, in your child’s crib is a must in my opinion. Again, I’m not a doctor so you have to check with your pediatrician to make sure this is something they recommend depending on your babies age. But we started putting one in Riley’s crib when he was four months old. His pediatrician thought he was plenty strong enough to be able to move it away from his face if needed and the material of the lovey we used was very breathable. But there’s something about having something to cuddle at night in their crib that just provides comfort for your kids. Molly, of course because she’s almost 3, has a dozen stuffed animals in her crib now! Ha! If it were up to her she have five dozen in there! But having something in there to snuggle in the middle of the night I found definitely helps him sleep better. Please consult your pediatrician before you put ANYTHING in your child’s crib, even a lovey!

A Bassinet

When your little baby comes home from the hospital you’re going to want a safe place for them to sleep in your room. It’s recommended that you sleep in the same room as your child for the first year of their life. I didn’t do that with either of my kids. Molly stayed in our room for the first six months and Riley only for the first four months. But however long you decide to keep that kiddo in your room with you they’re going to need somewhere to sleep. You could just put your babies crib right in your room if you’re budget is really tight. And if you have a room big enough to fit an entire crib. If you don’t though, a bassinet is a great option.

 1. HALO BASSINET SWIVEL SLEEPER | 2. SNOO SMART SLEEPER

We use the Halo bassinet swivel with Molly and this new SNOO Smart Sleeper with Riley. Both are great bassinets but the Snoo is going to cost you a pretty penny. Riley slept great in the SNOO for the first three months of his life. And then he went through a sleeper aggression at three months and things kind of went downhill from there. And then we transition him to his crib at 3 1/2 months because we knew we wanted to start sleep training at four months and we wanted him to get used to his crib. But for that first three months we thought we had the best sleeper in the world on our hands! So if you can afford it, I definitely think it’s helpful. However, it’s really expensive! And I think that the Halo bassinet is a great option. I like it because it swivels over the edge of your bed which makes it easy to pick your baby up and breast-feed in the middle of the night and the side of it pushes down so you can easily get your baby out of it. Both are great options

A Mobile – But Not For Sleep

A mobile in the nursery can be a lifesaver! And no, not for hanging over your babies crib. In fact, I think a mobile of her crib is actually just distracting your baby from doing what they should be doing in their crib and that is sleeping. But what I think mobile’s are absolutely great for distracting your baby during is a diaper change. So if you can hang one over your diaper changing table do it! Molly wasn’t really this way, but oh my goodness does Riley hate getting his diaper changed! It is a constant struggle to try to get him to stay still or even on his back so we can change his diaper. When we change his diaper in the living room we resorted to putting the TV on for 60 seconds to distract him so we can actually change his diaper. But in his nursery we hung a mobile above his changing table recently and it works so well! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this so long ago! And Walmart has a bunch of super cute ones. I’ll link a few of my favorites below.

Zipper PJ’s

Oh my gosh, make sure you have zipper pj‘s! Because I’m telling you those first few months of your baby’s life when they are waking up every hour to hour and a half throughout the night you are going to want to easily be able to unzip their PJs to change the diaper and then zip them back up. Trust me when I say you are not gonna want to mess with buttons! My best friend Stef gave me this advice before Molly and it was some of the best advice I ever got! Again Walmart has some extremely affordable pj’s. This set of three is only $13 and comes in a girl set and a boy set. That’s four dollars a pair. Gotta love that!

 1. ZIPPER PJ’s(3 pack for $13!)

Two-Piece PJ’s

And once they get older, two-piece PJ’s make life so much easier. Like the pair Riley is wearing in these photos. I also just like a light weight cotton PJ so they aren’t too hot or cold. I also prefer long sleeve PJ’s. It always stressing me out that Riley can’t pull a blanket up over his arms at night and I always worry about him be too cold. Whether it’s because it’s winter or if it’s summer and the AC is running. Oh the temperature struggle is real!

 1. RILEY’S 2-PIECE PJS | 2. MY PJ TOP | 3. MY PJ BOTTOMS

Changing Table

Of course you’ll also need a changing table in the nursery – the photo below is of Riley’s! BUT at least for the first few months of your babies life, you are changing a ton in the middle of the night. And I think that for a good night’s sleep, you are definitely going to want a changing table in your bedroom for the first few months of your babies life. I think this one’s really cute and pretty affordable, either to have in your room as a secondary changing table or even to have in your little’s ones room permanently!

1. CHANGING TABLE

Changing Pad

And if you don’t want to put an entire changing table in your bedroom then a changing pad on top of the dresser in your bedroom works just as well! And then you can move it into the nursery once your baby moves in there. I don’t really have a preference one one changing pad over the other. I think this one with the Chevron print is pretty cute. But if you want something more high-tech we actually have the Hatch Baby Grow Smart Changing pad and scale. I feel like this is especially helpful to people who give birth to premature babies. It’s really important that those babies gain weight consistently especially at the beginning of their life and this changing pad doubles as a scale and tells you how much your baby weighs. I didn’t have any issues with Riley’s weight ever in his life. But we got this because it was just fun for me to see how much he weighed from week to week rather than waiting to go to the doctor every couple months.

Lavender Oil

Using lavender essential oil to help my babies sleep was advice that my friend Suedy gave me a few years ago. She’s pregnant with her first baby now but she wasn’t back then and she told me just because it something that her mother told her! So she actually got me a bottle as a gift and we use it on the bottoms of both Molly and Riley’s feet the first year of their lives. Actually with Molly I think we use it the first two years of her life. And I’m not even kidding you that one bottle lasted us with both kids. Anyway, lavender is a really calming scent and helps people relax and it definitely does the same for a little ones! We just put a drop on the bottom of each of their feet before they went to bed and let the lavender will work it’s magic!

I feel like there has to be things I missing but I can’t think of them right now! So can you guys help me and share any products that you think are essential for helping your little one sleep?! We JUST ordered a new mattress for Riley because his current one is ROCK hard so I will let you know what I think of it after we get it! Hope you guys loved this Must Have Baby Registry Series. I had so much fun writing it!!! Here’s the link again to start your own baby registry from Walmart! I can’t recommend it enough. And I really hope these products help so many parents out there!

And a HUGE thank you Walmart for sponsoring this series!!!

The post Baby Registry Must Haves – For Getting Precious Sleep! appeared first on Ali Manno (Fedotowsky).

We decided to do it shortly after his first birthday for multiple reasons. One main reason, was that he was really struggling to go down for his nap. Especially his second nap! Around 10 months he really started fighting his second nap. But we knew that was way too early to transition him to one nap so we fought to keep it. But it was hard! Riley is a sleep-trained baby, so I don’t sit there and rock him to fall asleep. I put him in his crib and I leave the room. When we were putting him in his crib, it would break my heart when he would cry for 10 minutes before falling asleep for his second nap. But then after his first birthday he started fighting his first nap of the day too. At that point I knew in my heart that we should transition him to one nap. Actually, I’m not even sure if using the word “knew” is the right word here. Because after we transitioned him I kept thinking maybe we did it too early! But we went for it and there’s no looking back once you make the switch. At least everything I’ve read said there’s no looking back, so I wouldn’t dare try.

We also decided it was time to switch because it was really affecting our life. Riley is not our only child and it was really hard to do anything during the day, not only for ourselves but for Molly, when we had to be home from 9 AM to 11 AM and then again from 2 PM to 3:30 PM. So it was just the right thing to do for our family. Any parent out there with multiple kids knows that getting those naps in, especially in your child’s nursery and not a car nap or stroller, is hard. I don’t want to neglect Riley by not giving him a good nap in his nursery, but I also don’t want to have Molly suffer by not being able to be outside and play all summer long. So since it was the beginning of the summer I just thought we go for it.

There are so many things you can read out there about when is the right time to transition your baby. And I think deep in your heart you kind of just know when it’s time. However I do recommend reading up on it first.

1. MY PJ’S | 2. RILEY’S ONESIE | 3. PINK BLANKET | 4. MOLLY’S CRIB | 5. WHITE RUG

What We Did

OK I told you why we decided to transition to one nap, now I’m gonna tell you how we did it. It’s pretty straightforward. The first day we tried to push Riley’s nap an hour from in his normal time. So he normally went down around 9 AM so we pushed it to 10 AM the first day. And honestly, it couldn’t have been easier! He didn’t want to go down at 9 AM, which is one of the reasons I want to push his nap in the first place, so 10 AM was no problem. We put him down at 10 AM and sure enough he slept great! I’m pretty sure he slept almost 3 hours that first day! He’s never slept more than an hour and 45 minutes before this. Maybe slept two hours once and it was a miracle! But for the most part, he would sleep an hour to an hour and 15 minutes for his two naps. So getting a single 3 hour nap in the middle of the day felt like a huge blessing!

The next day I believe we pushed it to 10:30 AM, and then 11 AM the following day. We kept pushing in 30 minute increments until we got him to go down for his nap at 12 PM. But Riley doesn’t nap at 12 PM anymore. And I’ll get to that in a minute.

First, I want to talk about bedtime. Because Riley went down for his nap at 10 AM the first day and woke up at 1 PM you’re probably wondering what time we put him to bed. A normal wait time for a toddler for one nap for the second half of the day is 4 to 5 hours. So we put Riley to bed right at 6 PM. He did great! He slept until about 6 AM the next day.

For the bedtimes for all of the days after that first day, we would just count five hours from when he woke up from his nap and then put him to bed at that time. So it would pretty much be anytime from 6 PM to 7 PM. Things were going great for the first couple weeks. I patted myself on the back for having the intuition to know he was ready for that one nap! Ha! I was about to get a big awakening! And what I mean by that is early awakening! This is when the dreaded early wake ups started happening!

Early Wake-Ups

And when I say early I’m talking early! And some days Riley would wake up at 3:45 AM and talk in his crib for an hour to two hours before falling back asleep for maybe 60 more minutes. That only happened a couple times, but in general he was waking up at 4:45 AM every morning for a week. I was exhausted! I don’t know what it is but there’s something about getting up before 5 AM that my body just cannot handle. After 5 AM I’m pretty good. But before 5 AM I’m a mess!

I wouldn’t get him out of bed right at 5 AM. I would leave him in there for maybe 30 minutes (longer later. I’ll get the that in a minute) before I went in to get him. But I’d still be up at 4:45 when he started making noise. The great thing about Riley is that we trained him on the Hatch Baby Rest Sound machine/Night light/Time-to-rise since he was about 10 months old. Do you guys know about this light? I’m hoping your answer is yes because I’ve only talked about it a dozen times now. Ha! Maybe not a dozen but a lot. It is one of my absolute favorite products and I could not love it more!

The Hatch Baby Rest is a light and sound machine that you can control from your phone that changes to a certain color to let your child know it’s OK to get out of bed. You can manually change the lights from an app in your phone or you can set a schedule so it turns on every morning at a certain time. We have Riley’s set to turn on at 6 AM every morning and we have Molly’s set to turn on at 6:30 AM every morning. Since Riley’s so young, it’s a little bit more tricky with him, but we started using it for Molly I think around one and a half or in between 1.5 and two years old. And I swear she went from waking up super early screaming our names to staying in bed absolutely silent or whispering to herself until that light turns on. We tell her that the fairies control the light and when it turns on the fairies are letting us know it’s time to start the day. Actually, last week was her birthday week and we changed the light settings so it was on the rainbow setting. Which basically means that the light slowly changes colors by itself once it turns on. And she was so excited that the fairies did that special thing for her during her birthday week!

In fact, Hatch Baby just launched a brand new version that now has more features. The Hatch Baby Rest+ still has all the features the original one had, like being able to be use it as a sound machine, a nightlight, and a time-to-rise light that can be controlled from your phone or set on a schedule. But Hatch Baby’s new Rest+ also has an audio monitor built-in and a clock. And the audio monitor is two-way. So you can listen to your child through it and talk to them through your phone if you need to. I do see that coming in clutch for maybe when a three-year-old is trying to get out of bed at 5 AM but you want them to stay in bed. We recently switched both Molly and Riley to the Hatch Baby Rest+ from the original Hatch Baby Rest!

 1. HATCH BABY REST+ | 2. SIMILAR TO RILEY’S OUTFIT

It’s also Alexa enabled so you can change the lights and sounds just using your voice. It’s portable, so as long as the batteries are charged, you can go cord free. And you can control it from anywhere. You could even control it if you’re away from home because it uses Wi-Fi.

Anyway, now that I’ve raved about this light let me tell you why it’s been so key for me during the early wake ups. Basically, even though Riley was waking up so early, and is still waking up earlier than I’d like him to, because I’ve trained him on this light since he was 10 months old, he will sit and talk to himself in his crib until that light comes on. As soon as I turn the light on or when it automatically turns on at 6 AM he will then start calling for me more loudly because he knows it’s time to get up. This has honestly saved my sanity! I’m so lucky that when he wakes up early he doesn’t immediately start crying and screaming for me. Sure his talking wakes me up but I’m able to lay in bed with my eyes closed until I know he supposed to get out of bed.

By the way, I’ve shown photos in this post from both Molly’s room and Riley’s room! I’ve also previously posted all the details for their rooms in past blog posts!

1. MY PJ’S | 2. RILEY’S ONESIE | 3. PINK BLANKET | 4. MOLLY’S CRIB | 5. WHITE RUG

OK back to Riley. Those super early wake ups were really really hard on me. So I started looking into what I could do about it. It turns out I was just putting Riley down way too late. Like I mentioned above, normal wait time for a toddler around his age after his first nap is 4-5 hours. I was pushing five hours, or even five hours and 15 minutes every single time. So we started putting him to bed earlier. And even making his naps earlier.So his schedule would look something like this.

First nap 11am-1:45pm
Bed 6pm-5/5:15am

As you can see we moved his nap from 12 PM until 11 AM. And he started napping longer. I told you about how at the beginning it was for three hours, but all the ones after were pretty much two hours and 15 minutes. But by moving his nap up to 11 AM, he started sleeping closer to three hours some days. And as you can see his awake time for the second half of the day is only about four hours and 15 minutes. Sometimes we will do four hours and 30 minutes. But as a result he’s no longer waking up at 3:45 or 445. Granted it’s about 5 AM or 5:15 AM. But he’s still getting more than an hour extra sleep than he was when we put him to bed later. I’m not getting a ton of extra sleep but I’ll take that extra 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Plus like I mentioned above, even if he wakes up at 5:15 AM, he still just quietly talks to himself in his crib until his Hatch Baby Rest+ time-to-rise light turns on.

 1. HATCH BABY REST+ | 2. SIMILAR TO RILEY’S OUTFIT | 3. RUG | 4. SIMILAR TOP | 5. GROWTH CHART 

If you want to know other things I highly recommend to have in the nursery, then I’m going to be blogging about that in more detail next week or so! Things like an air purifier to make sure your kiddos room has the best air possible. I also highly recommend a sleep suit! We have had Riley in a sleep sack ever since we transitioned him from the swaddle and plan to keep him in it until he’s 2.5 years old. Molly for a sleep sack/suit until she was 2.5. We just recently transitioned her out of it because we know she’ll be transitioning to a toddler bed soon and we don’t want there to be too many changes at one time once that happens. So we thought we would eliminate the sleep suit now and then soon eliminate the crib and move onto a toddler bed.

Also, I think one of the reasons Riley is able to stay chill until his OK to Wake light turns on is also because he has comfort in his crib. I’ve put a lovey in Riley’s crib with him ever since he was four months old. Obviously consult your doctor before you do something like this! But a little breathable security blanket has really helped him, especially when we were sleep training him. And when he wakes up and waits quietly in his crib he holds on and snuggles that little lovey. Molly sleeps with her pink blanket every night and it acts as her lovey! My kiddos just love having something to snuggle at night!

Well, that’s my story. I don’t know if this is going to help anybody or if you are more confused now than before you started reading it. Ha! I hope you got something from the post but if you still have questions I highly recommend checking out Taking Cara Babies site. She has helped me get through this nap transition and I’m so grateful to her! Plus she has so much more experience than me and has a ton of content on her site to help you navigate through nap transitions.

And as always, I hope you guys share your experiences with me and all the other moms reading this in the comments below! When did you transition your child from two naps to one nap! Was it before one year? Was it after? Was it way after? I’d love to hear all your experiences and tips for what helped you and your little one get through it.

The post Early Wake Ups When Transitioning to 1 Nap appeared first on Ali Manno (Fedotowsky).

Hey guys! Welcome to part two of my must-have Walmart baby registry items series! I can’t even tell you how much I’ve enjoyed putting this series together. Honestly, I think it’s because it’s taking me down memory lane remembering all the moments where I needed these items in the first year of Molly’s life and Riley’s life. I was going to make today about must-have items in your nursery. But I decided to save that one for last because I think it’s the best one! Gotta save the best for last right? And that’s because all the items I’m recommending for that post are all about promoting the best sleep which trust me is absolutely crucial when you become a parent. You’re going to be doing everything and anything you can to find ways to get sleep.

Anyways, now that I properly teased the last part of my series let’s talk about part two. This blog post is all about general baby essentials! That means products that I love that I didn’t use in the kitchen, which was the first part of my series, and that I don’t use in the nursery, which will be the last part of my series. So this is basically everything in between. And well, I’m writing it in between! Everything is from Walmart so that makes it super easy for you to create a Walmart baby registry and add all these items. And if you don’t end of needing anything you get, you can easily return to a Walmart store or mail back – having options makes life sooo much easier. And you’ll need all the “easy” you can get once this little one comes into your life

So let’s get into it.

Newborn Lounger

When you first take your little baby home, you’re going to want to hold them all the time. I remember being absolutely, utterly exhausted when we brought Molly home from the hospital and even though I knew I should put her down, I just wanted to hold her in my arms. That said, there will come a point where you need to put your baby down! Especially a few months in when the initial feelings of becoming a parent has slightly worn off and you’re just crazily sleep deprived and desperate for a break. Ha! This is where the newborn lounger/pillow comes in. We used this pillow for both Molly and Riley. It is the perfect little place to sit down your little one when they are sleeping in your arms need a break. And for the first three months of your babies life they will sleep a lot! So having a easy little cushion to put them on just makes life easier. My best friend Stef actually bought me this pillow when I was pregnant with Molly for my baby shower. So that’s why I wanted to beat it to be the very first item on this list! And she’s a mom of three so she knew what she was doing when she recommended this product to me and bought it for me when I was a newbie parent.

1. NEWBORN LOUNGER

Real quick before I move on from this one, I wanted to put a rock and play on this list, but recently they became discontinued because they’re not safe. And I really think that this newborn lounger is a good alternative. You could also use a dock-a-tot which is a safe alternative, but they’re a bit more expensive. But I say, hey why not throw it on your list because of somebody else is buying it for you go for it! Ha! Maybe your really generous Aunt Mary will snatch it up for you

Baby Swing

Speaking off having somewhere to put your baby down, a good swing can change the GAME for you! (Yes this is also a sleep item – but again, it’s for sleep outside of the nursery) The first few weeks of your baby’s life, they will sleep a lot. Pretty much anywhere you put them they will zonk out. You can talk, watch TV, vacuum (the sound of a vacuum actually helps put some babies to sleep), heck you could have a party and your little one will nap peacefully next to you. But after that initial newborn fog wears off, things change in a major way! Now you’ll do anything and everything to keep everything quiet so your little one doesn’t wake up. This is where a good swing will SAVE you. Riley went from taking 30 min cat naps to taking 1:15 min naps when we got this swing. Trust me – add this swing to your Walmart baby registry. And thank me later

1. BABY SWING

Baby Carrier

You 1000% need to put a baby carrier on your registry. I know this sounds silly but the one thing I always say that surprises me about parenthood is that there are basically never any breaks. It’s nonstop all day every day. So when you do need your hands free to get a few things around done around your house, you’re going to need to put your baby in a carrier. I used two different carriers with my kiddos. A wrap carrier and then a traditional carrier. A wrap carrier is really great for the first few months of your child’s life when they’re itty bitty. You can use a traditional carrier for this, but I just found the wrap to feel more cozy for them. I used a few different brands of wraps – I was very fortunate that I got multiple. This is one of the ones I used most. I was a size medium. But I was also sent a size small and the small is way too small for me. So make sure you look at the sizing and choose your correct size.

1. WRAP CARRIER | 2. TRADITIONAL CARRIER (seen above) | 3. AFFORDABLE CARRIER FOR $30

If you don’t want to get more than one carrier and only want one then this one is it! We used the Ergo Baby 360 carrier with both our kids. And it was the same one for both our kids. So they last! I don’t know the exact weight limits but you can carry your kid in this thing for a long time! Well into toddler hood! And it’s called the 360 carrier because they can face forward and backwards in it. And you realize once your child is older they won’t want to face you anymore. They want to be facing outward and seeing all of the things going on in the world that they’re constantly learning about.

A solid carrier like this can be expensive. This one’s $140. So definitely put it on your registry so you can hopefully have someone get it for you!

Car Seat

You absolutely need a car seat on your registry. It’s one of the first things you need when your baby is born to take them home from the hospital. In fact, the hospital won’t even let you leave with the baby without seeing them strapped into a car seat first. We used the Orbit car seat with Molly, but it no longer exists because it’s discontinued. But with Riley, we use the Maxi Cosi Mico Max Plus car seat. It’s got incredible safety ratings, it was really easy to install, and it’s easy to take it in and out of the car. And when I say it’s easy to install literally it’s two latches that you latch onto a bar in between your car seat cushions. And then with the click of a button it comes undone. Remember the days when the car seats were an absolute nightmare to install? In fact, I remember when we had Molly we were gifted one, I can’t remember the brand, and it’s seriously took us five hours to try to figure out how to put it in the car. And even after all that time we still couldn’t figure it out and we brought it to a professional installation place. And they even had a hard time figuring it out! So you definitely want to go with a brand that is easy to install and this one is absolutely a piece of cake!

 1. CAR SEAT

4 Moms Playard

Okay technically this next item has to do with sleep, but it’s also for play so I thought I’d include it on this list. And it’s really not intended for sleep in a babies nursery – since it’s meant for sleep on-the-go or outside of the nursery. Anyway, I can’t recommend this item more! Pack and plays are also one of those items that you’ve seen and heard horror stories about! Where they’re so absolutely impossible to figure out how to open that it takes a parent hours to figure it out. My sister had one where I remember Kevin and I legit spent an hour trying to figure it out and eventually she had to come over to my moms house and do it for us. Some of them are just impossible! But this playard is foolproof. It literally has a button that you press in the middle and then a handle you pull up on and it collapses in one second flat. Then you throw it in the travel bag and hit the road. It’s also great because it is a safe play area when you need to put your baby down and do something. And I have a little cover that comes on top that you can use as a baby bassinet when your baby is very little. We actually used it as a changing table in our family room for the first nine months or so of Riley‘s life. We just recently moved it out of our family room and packed it up in the garage to use for trips. The pics below is of it folded up. It’s so easy to transport!

 1. MY $12 TOP | 2. PORTABLE PLAYARD 

We have a regular changing table in Riley’s nursery but that’s upstairs in our home. So we needed something downstairs but didn’t want to have to buy a whole nother changing table. This worked perfectly! When I tell you this is an item that you will use over and over and over again I mean it! And then of course we take it on the road with us when we travel for our kiddos to sleep in. A lot of hotels offer a crib that you can request to the room. But I’m always weirded out about how old those crib mattresses are. And, with Airbnb’s being so popular now, most of the time you have to bring something with you.

You can also buy this attachment that you can store diapers and wipes in, if you use it as a changing table. We got the storage caddy because we used it as a changing table for so long in our house. Literally we used it 7+ times a day for nine months straight. And like I said, now we have it in our garage ready to go when we need it for a trip. To be completely honest with you this might be one of my absolute favorite baby products ever. Because it’s one we got so much use out of.

 1. PORTABLE PLAYARD 

Baby Seat

We used this seat for Molly and then I believe we donated it and ended up buying a different one for Riley. I wish we had it because this one is so much better than the one we had for Riley. I think it’s because of the softer material. The one we got for Riley, which I won’t say the brand because I don’t wanna bash them, was very hard. It was like made of plastic all around and was made so he could sort of spin in it and look in all different directions. But the problem with the hard plastic was that his little baby legs didn’t want to go in and out of it. I remember feeling like I was going to hurt him every time I tried to get him in there. Whereas this seat is made of fabric and so easy to slide your baby in and out. And it has really good back support when they’re very little. I can’t remember how early we started putting Molly in it. But I believe it was earlier than recommended. Ha! It was just so convenient when we were doing something to sit her in there without having to worry about what she was going to get into.

 1. BABY SEAT

Jumper

Speaking of things that are easy to put your kid in to keep them occupied, we also used and loved his Jumper. The exact “ocean theme” jumper that he had is sold out, but this one is the same, but more of a “globe” theme. We didn’t have this for Molly but we got it for Riley. It was just one of those things that he absolutely loved jumping in. So when we needed a minute to get something done or if he was getting fussy in one scenario we would put him in the jumper and he would happily bounce for hours if we let him. It also plays music, which he loved! We usually would limit his time in there to 15 to 20 minutes or so. But I think babies are allowed to go longer I’m not quite sure. I also feel like it’s a great way for them to get a little bit of exercise especially before I can walk.

 1. SIMILAR JUMPER

Floor Foam Mat

Whatever you do – do not buy a play mat that comes in those jigsaw pieces that you put together. They will never stay together because your kids will rip them up and I feel like so much little pieces of dirt and debris gets in between them. I know this because we got one like that for Molly. And by the time she was mobile she was ripping it up and pieces were just all over the place. However, we had a foam mat like this for Riley. I can’t even tell you how many of you guys sent me messages asking for details on it. I don’t know if this is the exact brand we had but I think it is. I just liked it because of the subtle gray and white pattern on one side. It is reversible and has a fun pattern on the other side. But you guys know me I like my white and neutral colors. Ha! It’s definitely pricier than the jigsaw foam mats, but I think it’s worth it. And once again if this is an item you can get somebody to get you off your registry, you’re golden.

 1. OUR EXACT PLAY MAT

I was just going through my phone and found this pic too so I thought that I would add it in!! My jeans are only $16!!!!!!! And they are absolutely incredible quality for being so inexpensive. I’ve also linked my top. It is henley-style button down, and I am LOVING the sleeves. Did I mention that it’s only $11?? So my entire outfit is under $30! Talk about a steal!

 1. $16 JEANS | 2. $11 TOP | 3. OUR EXACT PLAY MAT

Reversible Cloth Bibs!

I just realized that I left these out of the Must Haves for the Kitchen! We love these reversible cloth bibs in our household!!! The reason that we love them so much is that they are a soft waterproof like cloth that are super easy to wipe off. You can rinse them, or wipe a little dish soap on them and add some water and they are perfectly clean! You can just lay them on a towel to dry, or hang them from a hook. We store ours on the handles of our window sill above the kitchen sink, within grabbing distance of the high chairs! We also throw them in the washing machine every once in awhile too. You really can’t beat the ease of these. We started using them with Molly because she really didn’t like the hard ones, and honestly we will never use anything else!

1. REVERSIBLE BIB

I also love that the design and fabrics alternate and that you can reverse it to either side. We use all of Molly’s for Riley too! Even the more girly ones, we just flip them to the reverse side with the more solid color, and they easily turn more “boyish”. Another great thing about them is that they have a magnet at the back to attach them, and you don’t have to fumble with any hooks or holes! They seriously make life so much easier, and the kids don’t mind having them on at all! Plus they last forever!!! We’ve had some of Molly’s since she was an infant and they still look like new. OH, did I mention that there is also a pocket that catches all the food they drop? And the pocket is on both sides. I highly recommend registering for one of these!

There you have it. I LOOOOVE all of these items and I really think you will too! If you are expecting, start your Walmart baby registry today and add these things!!! You’ll be sooo glad you did! And let me know if you have any questions in the comments below. And please share the items that YOU love that I haven’t put on this list! In my last post both Lindsay Burns and Leslie suggested the Baby Brezza as a must have in the kitchen so I am adding that here for you guys to check out and giving Lindsay and Leslie a shout out like I promised!!!! If you guys suggest something I like below and I mention it in my next blog in this series, I will give YOU a shout out too! Stay tuned for part three of this series – baby must have in the nursery! My final and most important one in the series!!!!

And HUGE thank you to Walmart for partnering with me on this series! It’s been one of my favorites ever!

The post Baby Registry Must Haves – The Everyday Stuff appeared first on Ali Manno (Fedotowsky).