Breastfeeding Favorites: Newborn to 6 Months

There's a bit of a baby boom amongst in my friends at the moment. I know quite a few people who are pregnant or are thinking of becoming pregnant and seeing as I've recently had a little one myself, I'm getting a lot of questions about my favorite products. Registering can be a bit overwhelming so this is the first of a little series suggesting some of my/my husband's favorite products. The first of the series will focus on items I found helpful for breastfeeding my son from newborn to six months. He is currently eight months now and we are still breastfeeding but now that he's started on solids our feeding favorites are looking a little different.

If you're interested in breastfeeding your baby there is actually very little you need, which is why I'm trying to avoid calling this a "must have" list when pretty much all of it are "nice to have" items. I'm sure if you need to work outside of the home as so many of us mom's do, some of these items will end up being must haves but if you're able to stay home, or have some time off in the beginning, these items should be enough. Quite frankly, you've already been given everything you need... breasts. Seriously, that's all you need. However, you can't put that on a registry so the items below are the products
I found to make life as a new mom a little easier.

1. Nursing pillow - In the beginning it felt like I was feeding my son all day every day. There were also times when my son just wanted to be held and would cry when he was put down. Having a nursing pillow was a great way for me to keep my sanity. Some of our visitors also found it useful to prevent tired arms when they spent their visits snuggling with our little guy. Once your baby gets older, nursing pillows are great for tummy time or propping them up when they're learning to sit up. While I don't use our nursing pillow for every feeding these days, it still gets plenty of use. (Side note: I also have one additional cover for my Boppy so that if one gets soiled, I can put on a fresh one while the other is being laundered.)

2. Nursing cover - Some woman are comfortable breastfeeding in public without a cover. If that's you, perfect! So far I have decided to use a cover when in public. It's just a preference of mine. There's no right or wrong way to do it so if you feel like you would prefer to cover up, a cover like this one works great!

3. Reusable breastfeeding pads - Leaks happen. And when they do, it's nice to have something there to absorb the liquid and prevent wet marks on your shirt. I received some disposable breastfeeding pads as gifts but they always felt uncomfortable and made my chest look lumpy. I used up what I had and then switched to reusable pads. I was gifted a set of 3 off my registry and ended up loving them so much I bought some more. I pretty much always prefer reusable products to disposables so it made sense to ditch the disposables. They are more comfortable, cost efficient and less wasteful. Win win win! (I also have these and love them as well.)

4.  Bottle drying rack (and flower accessory) - I will put emphasis on the fact that you certainly don't need this item. We use a drying mat for all of our dishes and it would work perfectly fine for bottles as well. But this bottle drying rack is incredibly stylish and was too cute to pass up on. For a while I felt a twinge of guilt for buying it but now that we're introducing our son to a sippy cup, we've been using this a lot more. If you need to pump and use a bottle or decide to formula feed, this will be much more useful to you. I've actually been using this a lot lately for my husband and my reusable water bottles since they always need to be propped up on something when we used the drying mat. Now that I know how great this holds them, I wish I started using it sooner.

5. Hot/Cold packs - Let's be honest, those first several weeks of breastfeeding are not easy - it actually really sucked most of the time. But I wanted to stick with it and to help get through some of the soreness I used these hot/cold packs. I've only needed to use them cold but they are able to be heated as well. I suppose any old hot/cold pack might do but these are shaped to fit around your breast and really offered up some much needed relief.

6. Nipple cream - It was several weeks before I was able to breastfeed without some pain during the first few seconds of latching. I shed a lot of tears over those first weeks. I thought I was doing something wrong but eventually, my nipples got used to the feedings and things got MUCH better. During those initial weeks though, I tried a bunch of different nipple creams. Earth Mama Angel Baby was my favorite.

7.  Nursing bras and tank tops (not pictured) - Again, a total "nice to have" item. You can certainly adjust your wardrobe to make it nursing friendly but having a few staple items like a couple nursing bras and several tank tops really make things more convenient (especially if you like to layer, like me). I currently have two nursing bras and five nursing tank tops and while I wouldn't mind some more, those suckers are expensive. So I'm doing what I can with what I've got and so far it's worked out pretty good.

8. Breast pump - Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, breastfeeding help and supplies are covered by your health plan. So while it might not be something you need to register for, it is a helpful tool in breastfeeding and therefore I'd be remiss if I didn't have it on my list. The hospital where I delivered had breast pumps on hand and was even able to handle all of the insurance paperwork. I barely had to do anything and it was awesome! I haven't needed to use it often but from the use it has gotten, it works great! 

9. Bottles - For us, this was a "just in case" item. I had no idea how nursing would go and whether I'd opt to pump and bottle feed. So we purchased 6 bottles to have on hand. We never ended up using any but I was happy to have around. Based on the research we did, they are an excellent choice for breastfed babies. We also like that they didn't have tons of part so they'd be easier to clean than some of the other options available. They also have them available in glass though I'm thankful we didn't splurge on glass bottles we didn't use. If you're planning on working outside the home, or have times where you won't be near your baby to feed them, I'd say bottles are a must have item.

10. Breastmilk storage bags - If you're going to pump, you'll need someplace to store the milk. I lay these flat until frozen to save on space in my freezer.

At this point I'm sure I sound like a broken record. I didn't necessarily need any of these items but they certainly were nice to have around. I currently work from home but if/when I do return to my office, I'm sure some of these items will become more essential. I also didn't include any items for boosting supply or any other type of troubleshooting. Thankfully, I haven't needed any of those products (knock on wood) so I wouldn't be comfortable recommending any of them. While I did use a nipple shield in the first few days, I didn't have much luck with it and didn't use it much longer than that. Feel free to comment below if there are any breastfeeding items you felt were helpful to you - whether they're on the list or not!

Welcome/Introduction

I feel like I've written this intro at least a hundred times. I originally wanted to start writing several years ago. I had managed to publish a few posts, but ultimately deleted them. I wasn't sure what direction to take, whether I'd have enough new content to write about, or what I had to offer in an age where so many people are blogging. Recently though, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that this is what I should be doing. Day in and day out I find myself fantasizing about what I'd write about and how I'd say it. Whether I'd have a YouTube channel, a blog, an Etsy shop or any combination of the three. Should I write about organization, thrifting, eco friendly products, reusable products, or parenting? As of this writing I still don't really know. All I know is that I want to jump right in and see where it goes.