Being Mamma Bear

In less than two weeks, my little Laddoo will be a year old, and other than the many countdowns that I am already doing I thought I’d add another one and do it on the blog too. So for the next two weeks, every alternate day, I will blog (or at the very least, I will try to blog) about the last few days of my pregnancy which I missed out on when I was actually pregnant.

As a first time mother, it was very overwhelming when we realised that a baby needs so many things. But when we saw the many, many lists out there we realised that we don’t need to buy ALL of those things before the baby comes. If we just bought the most essential items, we could get every thing else as and when we need it.

In the last four weeks of my pregnancy, my huband and I got our house baby-ready (coming soon) and stocked up on some of the essential supplies we would need when the baby arrived. So here’s a list of things we bought (and some I think you should add to your list) before the baby came.

For the Baby

1. Clothes – We got a lot of hand-me-downs from friends and family and that saved us a lot of money on baby clothes. But when you buy clothes, list out what the weather in your city be like when the baby is 0-3m, 3-6m, 6-9m and so on, and buy newborn clothes accordingly.

You can never go wrong with onesies, so stock up on 6-8 of them at least. In addition, you can get pyjama sets (top & bottom), sleep suits (covered feet and hands for when it’s cold at night), caps, socks.

We bought mittens too but could make baby keep them on for more than a few minutes so I recommend that you don’t waste money on on them. Plus I read that mittens actually hinder sensory development, and it is better to let babies get to feel their face and other things with their hands without the mittens blocking them.

2. Diapers – We stocked up on at least a month’s supply of diapers and baby wipes. We didn’t know about cloth diapers and we rejected the idea of nappies within two days of coming home when we realised that we had to change baby’s clothes and the sheet under her every time she peed or pooped (which was very often during those first few days because newborns pee and poop round the clock.) If you plan to cloth diaper or use nappies, you may need at least 8-10 each day  So depending on your laundry schedule, buy nappies/cloth diapers accordingly. Also, if you plan to use nappies, consider getting more blankets and onesies and other clothing too.

3. Bedding

• If you plan to co sleep, you won’t need more than 2-3 blankets, quick dry sheet, baby foldable bed with a net (if there are mosquitoes where you live.)
• If you plan to use a baby crib, you will need, in addition to the above, crib, crib sheets, net.

You can skip pillows, bolsters, crib bumpers, and decorative pillows because it is usually advised to keep the baby’s crib clutter-free. If you want a pillow, consider getting one filled with mustard seeds as that usually takes the shape of baby’s head.

4. Toys & other items – To keep newborns engaged and entertained you can get

• a crib mobile
• a play-gym that you can put on the floor with toys hanging from the top
• a bouncer/rocker (with a vibration option) with toys hanging
• rattle(s)*

*Babies can entertain themselves with the other toys but you will have to shake the rattle before them.

5. Other Utilities – Other things we got were: burp cloths, hooded towels, swaddle cloths, baby oil, shampoo, baby wash, moisturiser, detergent, nappy cream, nail clippers, hair brush.

6. Things to keep in mind:

• We were advised to not hire a maalishwaali. So you may want to watch a few videos on how to do that yourself. It’s always a good idea to let older family members like your mother or grandmother or mother-in-law to massage the baby if you aren’t up for it yet.
• Watch videos on how to breastfeed and how to ensure deep latch. This will save you a lot of pain and confusion later on.

For Mom

Post Partum Essentials – Sanitary Pads, comfy pillow, a cook, cleaner, and a 24-hour personal attendant for the first 18 years. 😜

Nursing Essentials – Nursing Bras, nursing-friendly dresses/tops, nursing pads, nursing pillow, breast pump or infant formula* and feeding bottles. (if you need)

*I will recommend that you breastfeed for as long as possible. But if for some reason you are unable to, do not hesitate from offering your child formula until you are able to get help.

 

 

Sanity Essestials – Baby Carrier. It is a life saver! Especially during days when baby will only sleep in your arms. I recommend the Anmol Hybrid Wrap that provides support for a tiny new born’s neck too. I started wearing my baby when she was 14 days old and that has been a big help during her sleep regressions.

For the Home – The only thing we got for our home was mosquito repellant machines for each room in the house.

For Memory Keeping

The whole objective behind Being Mamma Bear has been to document our lives; so memory keeping is something I strive for on a daily basis. So if you plan to do that, you might consider looking for and sourcing milstone cards and/or stickers, cute photo props that you can use in your pictures, a baby book where you can stick pictures and make notes, etc.

 

 

Also it is important to remember that in this digital age where clicking pictures and vidoes is so easy, it is also easy to accumulate a LOT of data very quickly. So it helps to have a weekly schedule where you can transfer data from devices – phones, cameras, etc., to one place – like a hard drive. Remember to take regular backups whether that means keeping another copy of all files in another hard drive or uploading it to a cloud account.

Resources you may find helpful

Here are a few Facebook Groups that helped me in those early days. I never asked any questions in the group but learnt so much by just reading through the posts and discussions in the group during those last few weeks of pregnancy.

• Breastfeeding Support for Indian Mothers
• Anmol Baby Love & Support
• Superbottoms Family
• Apps like BabyCenter, The Bump, and What to Expect not only give you weekly pregnancy updates, but also give you weekly baby updates. You will also find relevant articles shared with you on a weekly basis depending on the age of your baby.

That’s all for now. It is important to remember that this is a list of the bare minimum essentials you may need before baby arrives. Depending on your budget and lifestyle you may want to purchase fewer or more items.

Love,

Mamma Bear | Nikita.