New baby essentials

Life with a newborn can be tough! This post features the products we are finding super helpful during the first few weeks:

Muslins

OMG Little I is a sicky baby. She is possibly even worse than Little E was and that is saying something! We have to take a stack of muslins out with us and Husband and I seem to have over our shoulder at all times. I even woke up in bed wearing one.

As an alternative to muslins we have discovered the gorgeous fleese lined burp cloths from Clothies (£11 for 3) which are super absorbent and look really stylish in the changing bag. They are shaped perfectly for draping across the shoulder and the fleese side is so soft against baby's skin. www.clothies.co.uk

Back seat mirror

Driving with a newborn can be disconcerting because the design of rear facing car seats means you can't see what your baby is doing. This can easily be solved by a baby view mirror but you need to buy a good one. First time round we bought one which stuck on the rear window and kept falling off and crashing into baby. Not good.

We like the Diono easy view mirror (£12.99) which straps around your headrest. It pivots on a ball so you can get the perfect view of baby from any angle. www.uk.diono.com

Sleep aids

My babies have always slept best at night in sleeping bags which keep them snuggly and warm all night. Most importantly make sure the bag is suitable size for your baby. Often the 0-6mth bags are actually too big for newborns as their head can fit through the neck hole potentially causing suffocation. So make sure your bag is small enough. The other factor to consider is tog. You don't want your baby to overheat. Generally speaking you want a 2.5tog for winter and a 1tog for summer. We found a 0.5tog bag for the height of summer which kept baby cool but helped her to feel secure at night.

If you are struggling to drop off to sleep yourself and find your mind racing with all the new emotions parenthood brings try a weighted blanket which can help you feel more secure and less anxious.

Nappy rash cream

Prevention is better than cure. This is definitely true with nappy rash. Urine is full of harsh chemicals including ammonia and baby's skin is a lot thinner than ours making it sensitive. We have been protecting Little I's bottom since she was born with new Sudocrem Care and Protect (£3.99 for 30g) which is a lotion to help prevent nappy rash. It is in a tube which makes it really handy for the changing bag.

She did develop a bad case of nappy rash after I ate a punnet of strawberries (yes, nappy rash can be caused by other factors including illness, food intolerance and teething) so we switched over to the standard Sudocrem in a tub which is thicker and used to treat cases of nappy rash. It is also antiseptic so helps prevent infection. Luckily this case of nappy rash cleared up within a week and I'll now be avoiding strawberries whilst breastfeeding! www.sudocrem.co.uk

Bedside co-sleeper cot

I am not a fan of co-sleeping. I am too paranoid about squashing baby and on the odd occasion my babies have come into bed with us I simply cannot sleep. With Little E we had a Moses basket next to the bed but the fact that I couldn't see her during the night meant I was forever sitting up to check on her. I knew I would struggle doing this after the C section so we invested in a bedside co sleeper cot which is basically a 3 sided cot which attaches to the side of your bed and raises to match your matress height. You can see your baby sleeping and have easy access to them but they are safe in their own area of bed. Perfect.

To buy a bedside cot in the UK is an expensive business with the average cot costing £200+ (ouch!). After some investigation we discovered that these cots are very common in Germany so we bought a brand new one on eBay direct from the German manufacturers for £80 including delivery. All we had to do was purchase a matress to fit the cot (£12.99 from Kiddicare) The cot comes with the fourth side so you can convert it to a standard crib if required.

To search for a bedside cot on eBay simply search for 'bedside cot'. Ours was from the seller oskar-design based in Germany who always has them available. Here is the current link: http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/231075562419?nav=SEARCH

Some of the products featured were sent for review purposes but all opinions are my own.
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This post is linked to #brillblogposts linky at www.honestmum.com and #PoCoLo linky at www.vevivos.com