I have done research upon research to find the best options for baby boy that fit our needs and wants. While some new products may have come out since we bought the majority of these items (a little over 2 years ago), this list is large and lists out everything we still use regularly with baby number two. I wrote “UPDATE” at the end of each item if I had something to add after having our second baby. I wanted to share the items and why we love them, but obviously may not fit every family or baby. We knew we wanted to try for a second baby at some point and in general wanted things to last, so we made some investments with our first and it payed off with having to purchase almost nothing (mainly fun little things!) for our second. If you’re looking for packing your hospital bag, see this post.

Sleep

Zipper Sleepers/Footies - We did not have enough of these! I’d highly recommend picking up some newborn sizes (in bamboo fabric - stretches) and 0-3 month to make sure you’re covered for at least the first couple weeks! No one wants to do laundry the first few days home! Or have a Target pickup order or Ship delivery read to go and place it while you’re still in the hospital if needed so they’re ready when you get home! Make sure you get the double zip sleepers (snaps are no fun in the middle of the night and even the one way zip sleepers are annoying).

Angel Dear and Kyte Baby are our favorite footie/sleepers. They are SOOO soft, high quality (withstand many washes, no tears or stains - even after storage!), and last much longer than cotton sleepers since they’re a stretchy bamboo fabric. When these go on sale I always stock up! Look for a local baby shop that carries these. Its so fun to shop in person at a local boutique! Pacifier Kids is a great shop local to the Minneapolis area with a few locations and online. Carters Sleep & Play at Target or Amazon are great! Soft and seemed to be a standard size. Honest Company and Burts Bees weren’t as soft and run skinny and long (we used for in-between sizes and worked ok for that, but I wouldn't buy again). The Cloud Island brand runs small, so those worked well as a newborn, but the quality and softness isn’t as good as Carters.

Fuzzy Socks - Love these for bed time for the first few months when baby is still regulating their temperature and their feet are so cold! We used these with booties over them (inside the footie pajamas). The booties provided extra warmth and actually kept the socks on the feet! UPDATE - we literally used these nightly for Lochner and not once for Graham. The Snoo (which we used for Lochner) has very thin swaddles so we felt he needed added warmth. Graham was in a cozy fleece swaddle that definitely kept him warm enough!

Booties - We love these and keep sizing up, still used them at 10 months on colder nights or if we used pajamas without footies, or during naps when wearing regular clothes. Also great for outside in the fall when it’s chilly since socks don’t stay on. These never fall off. UPDATE - We didn’t use these at all in the swaddle, but we do now that Graham is in the Merlin Sleep Suit! His feet just are so chilly!! We also use these all the time when we go outside and its cooler out. Still love them! I recently got these fleece & fur lines pair for Graham’s Halloween costume, so we’ll see how they compare!

Swaddle - We loved the Microfleece Halo Swaddle for Graham. We had a cotton version, but didn’t feel like he was warm enough (we keep our room at ~69 and fan running). Lochner was in his Snoo swaddle (non-Snoo (no clip hooks) version here) with his sleeper, socks, and booties.

Merlin Sleep Suit - Cotton or Microfleece. We used this during Lochner’s transition from Snoo swaddle to Crib. Since he was older during the transition he only used this for two nights and he was able to roll over, so we had to transition to a sleep sack right away. We transitioned Graham out of the swaddle once it seemed like he was practicing rolling and wanting his hands out, which was about 3 months old. He’s still in it (he’s almost 4 months) and it works well to lessen his startle reflex. This product is such a nice transition piece! I’d recommend two in case of blow outs or lots of spit up.

Sleep Sack - We have absolutely loved these sleep sacks for Lochner and will continue for Graham. They have held up extremely well in the wash and show almost no signs of wear (maybe some minor pilling around the armpits). We use the 1.0 tog sleep sack throughout most of the year so we have 2 in each size (except XS since we used the Snoo swaddle for Loch and a Halo swaddle for Graham). If its really cold we have one 2.5 tog sleep sack. I’ve used this for Graham since he’s used to the thick Merlin Suit and likes the warmth. We used the 0.5 tog sleep sack two or three times for Lochner, but we keep the bedrooms fairly cool so he never had much of a need. They do have a detailed tog recommendation chart on their website. I tried a couple other sleep sacks (feel free to DM me on Instagram for specifics), but they did NOT hold up as well. There was one sleep sack where the thread was coming undone and I didn’t notice and it was wrapped around Lochner’s foot. Thankfully he was old enough to tell me and so it didn’t turn Into a huge problem (such as a string/hair tourniquet). Yikes.

Hatch Rest+ - Sound machine!! You have get the “plus” version if you go with the Hatch! We had the regular (the plus came out around the time we got it and didn’t think about exchanging it), but once we dealt with a power outage we got the plus! (no battery backup) I definitely think it’s worth the slightly higher price point for all the additional features! The battery powered option is fantastic for travel or power outages. It also has the ability to control it via wi-fi (not just bluetooth), which is nice since sometimes Bluetooth won’t reach if we are too far away from his room, such as outside or even away from home when my mom is home with him and isn’t as tech savvy. We have the Hatch Restore for our room. Once we moved Lochner to his own room we wanted to continue the calming waves for sleep! Plus tons of other features, of course.

Marpac Portable Sound Machine - These are great for in the car or stroller, or sometimes I use it during a nap on the couch to drown out other noise when he started to be more sensitive to that. Here’s a very similar option. One has a string, one has a clip. UPDATE - both still working well and holding a charge with baby #2!

Snoo Smart Baby Sleeper - This bassinet isn’t for everyone, but we really loved it!! We used it for the full first 6 months and even brought it on our trip to Montana! I definitely think it helped us all get some extra sleep in those early months. We especially found it helpful in the early mornings when sleep is a little lighter. We started transitioning to crib around 5+ months and slowly worked toward all night in the crib. UPDATE - While we used this for his bassinet, we didn’t use the features. Every baby truly is different had he was a great sleeper without anything but a warm fleece swaddle.

Newton Mattress - This crib matress is THE BEST!!! 100% breathable. Great peace of mind, especially for a first time mama and baby is sleeping face planted into the mattress! If you use the Honey coupon code extension for your browser, it usually finds a good coupon. UPDATE - This was our first purchase for baby #2 with a Black Friday deal! Also, I can attest to the comfort, as I have gotten in Lochner’s crib to help him fall asleep a couple times!

Nanit Monitor - This monitor is fan-tas-tic! It just works. We have two monitors (one floor stand and one wall mount), and the travel stand and case. Right now we have the travel stand attached to a tripod as a makeshift second floor stand since we’re in the process of transitioning Lochner to his new room. Video is great, positioning is a nice wide view, app works seamlessly. Right after we had our second baby they even added the feature of dual video monitoring!! You can see and listen to both cameras at the same time. I really can’t get over how much I love it. Occasionally we have issues with a camera connecting because we have different wifi zones in our house, so I think it sometimes tries to connect to the zone further away, but that is more of a local issue than a Nanit issue. Also it, like any other wifi monitor, needs to be on a secure connection, which means it doesn’t work at hotels. This was a bummer for us, but we have used it traveling to family/friend’s houses and airbnbs and as long as you have a normal wifi connection and password (not through an internet browser situation), it connects seamlessly. And so easy to pack the travel stand and try-pod for a floor mount so you don’t have to worry about where to put the monitor! We started out with a standard non-wifi monitor and it did not work at all for us. I like checking in on how Lochner is doing during nap time if he’s home with my mom, I like the nightlight feature I control through the app when I’m up during the night, and I now use the microphone to tell Lochner I’ll be in there soon when he wakes up and I’m still getting ready.

Owlet Smart Sock - This isn't for everyone either, both price point and lifestyle, but this was great for us. As a new mama with a lot of anxiety with safe sleep, this brought a little peace of mind. I like that it will alert you on both the base and your phone if there are alarms or disconnections from internet. You can use with just Bluetooth and the base, but you can’t connect to the app without WiFi and get notifications on your phone. This isn’t a medical device, so you can’t rely on what it tells you, but we look at it to see how “awake” he is based on his heart rate, if he seems to be going back to sleep without help, etc. The sleep monitoring is also nice. Another note: We have the 3rd version, which they aren’t able to sell in the US anymore until they get FDA approval. I highly recommend the newest third version. We initially had the second version and it was okay, but it always said he was “wiggling” and we had a couple false alarms. Thankfully the alarms when off while I was holding him or he was awake, so I knew he was ok. Once it went off (accurately) for a high heart rate when the was really mad! When version 3 came out we traded ours in and it is so much better! Never says he’s wigging unless he’s very much awake, in which you don’t really need the monitor. UPDATE - We now use this for Graham and it still works fantastic. We had to have the sensor (~130?) replaced which was out of warranty by about a month (last year) and they still honored it. Fantastic customer service and they really stand behind their product. We have had a couple connection issues over the past 2+ years and they have been available and quick each time we’ve needed their help. I am sure their new dream sock works well and if you want the older model there are a bunch on Poshmark. Also the fabric sock collection/addons are so cute. We got a couple (free) replacements as the main sock stretched out and I’ve gotten two additional sets which were both patterns and aren’t as stretchy.

Bath

Fisher-Price 3-in-1 Sling Bathtub - Do yourself a favor and stop looking at other baby baths…. we tried them all and this is the best. I did SO much research on products before baby and couldn’t find a great tub. We had a Summer Infant one that worked fine, but we didn’t love. Then we tried another one and brought it back right away. We went through like 4 tubs because they all were terrible and/or killed our back with it being in the tub. This tub can go on the counter, has seat for when baby is sitting (we got it late so never used the sling part- keep reading to see update on this), and can also go in the tub once baby grows out of the seat. Just buy it, you won’t regret it. The only downside we found is that the drain is under the seat, so you have to take the seat out every time to drain it, which was a little annoying, but if it’s in a tub you can just flip it over instead. UPDATE - used the sling for Graham and it works well! We’ve used it since he was about six weeks old (see below for cushion) and I put a warm, wet washcloth on his chest and stomach to keep him warm.

Soft Sink Whale Bath Cushion - We have tiny sinks in our bathroom so we got this little whale bath cushion. It worked fantastic for the first six weeks or so. If you don’t want to use the big tub while your baby is itty bitty, I definitely recommend this little whale cushion! I’ve also heard great things about this flower cushion if you have a larger sink, but I don’t have first hand experience. UPDATE - We used this for Graham’s baths during the first 6 weeks, which was maybe a total of 6 baths. We didn’t bathe him for 2 weeks, then just about once a week. I definitely wouldn’t say its needed, but we used it since we had it from Lochner.

Bath Towel - We didn’t add a bath as part of a bedtime routine until at least 4 months, if not 5 months? I highly recommend getting a couple cozy Cooper Pearl baby towels instead of a bunch of cheaper thin ones. You aren’t bathing baby super often in those first few months, so you don’t need many and they’re just so much softer and more cozy than these. We have a ton of the Cloud Island ones, so we kept them downstairs to use when messy after eating until things got cleaner, along with the Cloud Island washcloths, but we’d easily use something else if we didn’t have them. UPDATE - We still use the Copper Pearl towels, but I usually lay one of these muslin bath towels on the bed to finish drying off and for him to lay on to get in PJs so he isn’t on the wet towel.

Copper Pearl Washcloths - These are a must. They are SO soft and much larger than most other baby washcloths. They also work great to wash your face. :)

Body Wash - Dabble & Dollop. This is our favorite line of bath products and especially love the foaming body wash! As baby grows into toddlerhood, the bath bombs and foaming hand soap are also fun! We use this Mustella shampoo. and have only dealt with a little bit of cradle cap. We also use the Tubby Todd Conditioner and Detangler. Click here for 10% off Tubby Todd products.

Brushes - We love this 3 Step Cradle Cap Brush System, especially in the first few months, along with this Silicone Skin Soother. Neither of our babies had too bad of cradle cap and I think it’s partly due to using the shampoo and using these brushes to gently exfoliate their scalp during bath time. We also have this brush and comb set and it still works well.

Feeding

Boppy - I use the poppy a lot. Like, a lot a lot. I have one upstairs and one downstairs. Aside from feeding, it makes contact naps much more comfortable too by giving extra support and freeing up one or both hands. If you’re planning on breastfeeding and/or lots of contact naps I would highly recommend investing in the soft organic covers here and here, and/or the Lux covers (heavier material), as they are significantly more comfortable on both you and baby.

Burp Cloths - We have a few different ones we like for different reasons. I love these Little Unicorn cloths or these Copper Pearl ones for over the shoulder. They are nice and thick so they don’t leak through to your clothes and they’re so cute! We love the thinner more affordable burp cloths to clean up the majority of the spit-up mess: here, here, here, and here.

Water Bottle - This one is for you, mama. Make sure you have a refillable water bottle you can keep by your side! I am in love with my new Owala Free Sip (straw or drink free - this is seriously the best water bottle), but I still love a good Yeti with a straw too (silicone straws here). They both keep my water cold for over a day.

Gear

Snuggle Me Organic - We love our Snuggle Me, especially for the first 3 months! Both Lochner and Graham were in and out of it constantly when we just needed to set them down quick. Our cats also love this and it’s a cat bed most of the time after the 3 month period because I feel bad kicking them out of it. The waffle knit covers are our favorite, but the one it comes with is very soft too.

Changing Pad - Love this changing pad, it’s perfect. The mobile is fun when baby is tiny to watch, then grab at, then remove when they get bigger. Very easy to clean! We have one upstairs and one downstairs and use both very regularly with no wear.

Portable Bassinet - We’ve actually used this with both boys a lot more than I was expecting. We haven’t used it outside, which is what I thought we’d use it for (since we have the stroller bassinet), but we use this a lot for next to the bath (especially in the early days) or if we go to someone’s house. It’s very portable and has a mosquito net too! We use this hanging toy bar over it, which we also use in the car seat (once they’re a bit older).

Baby Bjorne Bouncer - This is great. Easily folds up so it takes up minimal space and grows with them from newborn to when they no longer want to be contained and can be in a activity center type toy. Toy bar add-on (must have, in my opinion). We didn’t have the toy bar for a while with Lochner and once we got it he liked sitting in the bouncer for longer than one minute. Graham has had it the entire time and LOVES it. He still prefers the floor over the bouncer, but if he’s had enough floor time I will put him in here while I’m making dinner and it’s usually just enough time! He doesn’t spend a ton of time in here, but he really loves it because he can reach the toys easily and I put it at eyesight height so he can see them well. It’s perfect.

Uppababy Vista V2 Stroller - We absolutely love our stroller. It works FANTASTIC as a single stroller especially. The more we use our stroller, the more we realize how easy and intuitive everything works. The bassinet works great as part of the stroller and you can very easily take it off and bring it in the house or move it around elsewhere outside, at restaurants, etc. The rumble seat can to straight up or tip back and you can add an infant or comfort insert as well. We also added the snack tray, two cup holders, and organization pouch. The basket below is huge, which is really nice when going on an outing and storing seasonal stuff for walks. We recently

Nuna Pipa Rx & Relx Base Car Seat - This car seat is great. They have designed this car seat to be very simple to use, which means its easier to use correctly and SAFELY. Car seats did, and still do, cause me anxiety. Especially a floppy newborn. This seat comes with the newborn inserts to keep baby safe and secure and it says when they need to be removed (sooner than you think)! It also comes with easy to use positioning buttons depending on the size of your baby. A lot of research goes into car seats, so look up the info on this one. They do have an attachment to use this car seat with the Vista stroller, but we never used the car seat with our stroller because “don’t keep your baby in the car seat if you’re not in the car” really stuck with me. I’d rather have him lay flat in the bassinet because it’s inevitable that baby’s fall asleep in the stroller. Also, do yourself a favor and give @safeintheseat a follow, watch her highlights, check out her website. She has taught me SO MUCH about car seat safety, quelled my anxiety a bit, and is such a gift for new families learning about proper car seat use and installation. FYI - DO NOT BUY 3RD PARTY ATTACHMENTS (seat or head supports/positioners) FOR YOUR CAR SEAT! They are not safety tested, ie - not safe!

On The Go

I love using a soft blanket when I’m holding my boys for a nap. Lochner still uses his in his crib and I use Graham’s for naps on me, especially if it’s chilly and we’re outside. We have this Barefoot Dreams Blanket and it is SOOOO soft. We have a few Barefoot dreams blankets and they hold up so well! We also got Lochner a toddler size Saranoni Blanket, but they have smaller receiving blankets too for about $20 less than Barefoot Dreams and equally as soft. We haven’t washed ours a ton and it has a slightly different fabric content, so I can’t speak to longevity, but I’ve heard good things! This works great as a stroller blanket too!

Diaper Bag - Comfortably large waterproof and washable tote bag. I started out with a very cute diaper bag and Matt had a diaper backpack (that we try to keep stocked in the car), neither of which I loved. The diaper bag was adorable, but didn’t fit enough. The backpack just never seemed to work, it was too deep to easily reach things and they’d get lost. The company just rebranded and I think they’re changing out their styles a bit, but I bought a tote similar to this for myself, but it turned into the perfect diaper bag! I love that it’s waterproof and opens wide so I can find everything! I add this pouch for diapers, wipes, changing pad, and cream and use the front zipper for pacifiers and a clip. I usually add in this pouch with an extra outfit or two for each kiddo and sometimes an extra shirt for myself (spit up days are fun). It’s nice to have the pouches because I can throw just the pouch in the car or I can add it to our swim bag easily. I got an extra large tote specifically for swim class and pool days, but it works well when we are going somewhere for more than a couple hours, since there’s more to bring. I don’t see it currently on their site, but I’ll keep an eye out for it! All, the bags and pouches are waterproof and machine washable! I wash a couple of the pouches weekly with our wet swim gear. One of the pouches stores our soap, sunscreen, and detangler and we don’t have to worry about it leaking. The other day we accidentally left the bags outside and nothing was wet inside. So nice!

Diapers - We have a few diapers we’ve tried and work really well for us. Lochner had a lot of diaper rash as a baby until we found these brands. We always use Coterie diapers at night. They almost never leak (and boy are they full in the morning)! I used to use these all the time for Lochner, but they’re more expensive and bulky than the other two options, so we stick with just using these at night. Parasol are our daily go-to diapers for both boys. They hold a lot, but are thinner and a little more affordable than the Coterie. We’ve had a few leak throughs with these, so if using overnight you’d probably want to size up or go with something else. I feel like these might run a little smaller than Coterie or Millie Moon, so we had to size up sooner in these. Millie Moon is Target’s luxury line of diapers. They’re very similar to the Parasol diapers but fit a bit larger/taller. We prefer Parasol, but it’s nice to be able to run to Target and pick up Millie Moon diapers when we’re almost out of Parasol and haven’t ordered them yet! Sometimes our store is out, so I usually try to order for curbside pickup to make sure they have them before I run out, in case I need to go to a different location.

Tubby Todd - We swear by the All Over Ointment. We use this every diaper change instead of any other diaper cream. We also use it on any other scrapes, bruises, or rashes and they heal so much more quickly! I’ve also used it on my sunburn. It’s fantastic. We have the tub at each diaper station and use the travel bottles in our diaper bag. We also use their travel kit and Click here for 10% off.

Swaddle Blankets - we don’t ever use them for actual swaddling, but we do use them a lot around the house, outside, on walks in the stroller, in the car seat, etc. The Little Unicorn are my favorite - the prints are so cute, we definitely have more than we need! I also love the Silky Soft Aden and Anis swaddles - very thin, as well as soft and silky, nice for summer or indoors.

Quilt - We have a few of these quilts for a thicker blanket on the go - we use these on the floor at music class or at someone’s house, as well as for a thicker blanket in the stroller or in the car/outside. Target also has cute Cloud Island ones (specific one here) they’re just a bit smaller and not quite as soft - they are not swaddle blankets, not sure why they call them that.

Waterproof outdoor blanket - Here is a link to the Little Unicorn site, but they do have more color options if you search the first link on amazon too. We have the smallest size and the largest size and use them for different things, but we spend a LOT of time outside and use these a lot. The small size is great to keep in my stroller and I usually keep the large one in my car.

Random

Bandana Bibs - Lochner spit up a lot, but wasn’t a drooler, so we didn’t use these much. Graham is drooling all over so he wears these quite often. The Little Unicorn ones are so cute, so we have some of those. The Parker Baby Co ones are very soft and more affordable, so we use these more around the house (a few different color options if you search).

Silicone Bibs - The Mushi Co bibs and the Lou Lou Lollipop silicone bibs are my favorite because they grow with your toddler better, the tray/pouch thing is larger to catch more food, and they’re cuter. We tried the coverall plastic and those are terrible (and plastic), we tried Target’s silicone and they’re small and the tray/pouch thing is small and collapses easily. I mean really, you only need one or two. We have like 5 at home, one in the car, and one at my parents. :)

Pacifiers - We love the Frigg pacifiers - Moon design, Rope design, Daisy design…how cute!! Graham is still working on liking that brand, but we are determined to switch him to these! The 0-6 worked well for Lochner and Lochner now uses the 6-18m (we’re going to try to wean him after he is set in his big boy room since he finds great comfort in them at night).

Supplements - Generally we use Wellements for our infant and toddler supplements. We’ve used basically all of them at one point, but here are our must-haves: Vitamin D Drops, Gripe Water (helps to resolve those newborn hiccups every time! Get it before you have baby so it’s ready), Baby Tooth Oil (great for teething, we usually applied this before nap/bed and sometimes before nursing if he didn’t seem as interested), Constipation Support (more of an issue when eating solids regularly and into toddlerhood), Chest & Foot Rub. We have also used Mary Ruth supplements: Vitamin D Drops (6+ months), Toddler Multi-Vitamin. There are also a lot of other more specific supplements depending on your baby/toddler/kids needs, as well as many for adults! Personally I’ve loved the post-natal probiotic.

Toys - I’m working on a post that shares all our favorite toys for certain age groups, but my number one recommendation is a Lovevery subscription (Montessori) and the Lovevery Play Gym with Sensory Strands add-on! The Block Set and Tunnel are also great as they grow older. We’ve loved everything in the subscriptions and Lochner (over two years old) still plays with almost all the toys (obviously some more than others). Black & white cards are great for baby. We got some in both the Lovevery 0-3 month kit as well as the Kiwi Crate kit (a STEAM based subscription), so I don’t have a link for those. The Lovevery kit has a cute sensory book they can go in, which is my number one 0-3 month “toy”. The Kiwi Crate one is great too because it has a ring that you can hang on something. This car seat/stroller/hanging Lemur has been a great addition to time spent while we’re on the go or outside in the stroller. This grippy Rattle & Teether as well as this Sloth Rattle & Teether are also favorites to use starting around 3 months - both easy to grab. These will be the categories, I will link once they’re live on the blog. Newborn to 3 Months, 3-6 Months, 6-9 Months, 9-12 Months, 1 Year

Sprout Baby App - We’ve used this app for over two years, now for both boys. It is the best baby tracker app. I’ve used a lot of them, but they’re all missing one thing or another and this really has it all. We use it daily for sleep and feedings, sometimes diapers (with our first we tracked diapers for a long time, with our second we tried for the first two months, to make sure he was eating enough, etc.). It logs medication, illness symptoms, growth, milestones. Take what you want and leave the rest, none of it is in-your-face and doesn’t have anything popping up all the time like some others have. It’s simple and well thought out. It was the first thing Matt said when I asked what I should add to our favorite baby things list!

Phillips Hue Lights - So random, but these lights are great to be able to turn on and off remotely. We have them around our house, but I really love having schedules set so they’re on before nap time and bed time at nice dim settings. I also love being able to turn the nursery lights on (or off) before I’m in the room when they wake up or when I’m sitting in the rocker after we’re done reading books and it’s time for lights out. There are a ton of different light bulb styles and some are just shades of white and some also have color. They also have light strips, which I think would be fun in Lochner’s big boy room!

Baby Books - We have this gorgeous Artifact Uprising Baby Book for both boys and love it. Very simple and timeless. I also love the Write to Me or Promptly Journals for more detailed documentation as your baby grows! Write to Me also has Holiday Journals to document different holidays. We have Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! I want to get a birthday one too!

Ok there is my extensive list. I will add to it if I come across anything in particular, but that’s a good round up!