This article discusses the busiest areas of new parenthood, and baby essentials to help you survive the early months
Being a newborn parent is most the most fulfilling and also the busiest, most exhausting period of your life!
The most valuable commodity you have as a new parent is time. The fewer hours you spend on chores, the more time you have to rest and recover, which makes parenting and all aspects of life easier.
With so many baby gadgets claiming to be a parent’s best friend, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But what do you really need for a baby?
We focus on four key areas: feeding, pooping, sleeping, and laundry.
Whilst prams, strollers, and car seats are important, they won’t dominate your daily routine like these four tasks will. Here are our top tips and recommendations for essential baby items that will save you time whilst taking care of your little one!
Feeding your newborn
Newborns will feed roughly every hour and a half, meaning mothers who breastfeed can expect to spend 40 to 60 hours a week doing so. Whilst that sounds like a lot, breastfeeding can actually save time in the long run. There’s no need to prepare formula, wash bottles, or sterilise equipment—tasks that can add up to an extra 20 hours per week for parents who bottle feed. With all this time taken up by feeding your newborn, making use of the best baby equipment available is essential.
Baby bottles can be tricky to recommend because every baby feeds differently, and it often takes time for a newborn to perfect their latch, so patience and perseverance are key.
Newborn Baby Essentials For Feeding:
Baby Bottles - MAM
The huge upside to MAM feeding bottles is that they completely disassemble, making cleaning simple. They also have less fiddly bits to lose than most anti-colic bottles on the market.
Formula Prep - Perfect Prep from Tommee Tippee
The Perfect Prep formula machine takes just 90 seconds to make a bottle of formula, and requires no boiling or cooling to bring the liquid to the correct temperature for feeding.
Formula Prep - Formula Pitcher Method
Made popular in the US, the formula Pitcher method involves making a large batch of formula for the day ahead in one go. The formula is then stored in the fridge to limit bacterial growth. Dr. Brown's Natural Flow is an example of a Baby Formula Mixing Pitcher.
Washing, Sterilising & Drying Baby Bottles - Bebello Washer
Launched in 2024, this 4-in-1 baby bottle washer, steriliser and dryer breaks the endless cycle of bottle washing. Bebello's deep 360-degree dynamic clean kills 99.9% of germs with natural steam and will free up a whole hour in your day. It really doesn’t make sense to clean your baby products any other way.
Pumping Milk - Elvie Stride 2
Wearable breast pumps give you freedom of movement around the house, can be used in the office and just generally free you up to do other things. When compared to other baby gadgets at different price points, Elvie Stride 2 is the perfect blend of reliability, performance, and usability.
Sustainability Tip
When it comes to feeding your baby, the most environmentally friendly option is breastfeeding. The hand washing of baby bottles and pump parts is a highly polluting activity, with 98% of UK homes heating water by burning gases. Bebello Washer reduces water use and carbon emissions by up to 80% vs hand washing. It can also be rented, making it the most environmentally sustainable method to clean, sterilise and dry baby bottles and pump parts.
Pooping
Newsflash: Babies poop a lot! The average newborn will poop 5-10 times a day which can often make nappy changes seem like a never-ending journey.
With changes happening so often, it's important to have the right setup. This means a suitable change station with a soft mat for your baby, as well as space for nappies, wipes and nappy rash cream easily to hand.
Newborn Baby Essentials For Nappy Changing:
Elevated Baby Change Table & Wipeable Foam Baby Mat
There are loads of good options out there. The main things to consider are whether they match your nursery aesthetic and have enough space to hold all of the nappy changing equipment at once.
Nappies - Peachies
With so many poops & pees to deal with, it is worthwhile finding a nappy brand with high absorbency that will minimise leaks. This will be a timesaver in the long run by reducing the number of clothes washes required. With this in mind, Peachies nappies get our seal of approval. Their highly absorbent nappies are designed with a higher back and wider leg cuff to minimise the risk of poonamis.
Nappy Rash - Sudocrem
A key tip for nappy rashes is that less is more. Trying to change your baby as soon as they have pooped will minimise the amount of time that faeces are in contact with their skin. Getting the baby’s bum clean and dry as soon as possible will significantly reduce the risk of nappy rash emerging. Avoiding fragranced soaps is also a good preventative measure.
You should only use cream if a nappy rash emerges. In this scenario, an antiseptic healing cream like Sudocrem is the best treatment, as it both prevents and reduces the redness and soreness of the rash.
Sustainability tip
A staggering 600,000 nappies are sent to landfill every second. Most of these are made from plastic with no way to recycle them. Peachies nappies are made from a higher proportion of plant-based materials than regular nappies and boast a significantly lower environmental footprint.
Sleeping
Sleeping (or a lack of it) is very likely to be the toughest part of life with a new child. A newborn’s sleep cycles will typically last 45 minutes, meaning your baby is likely to get sleep stretches of 45 minutes, 1.5 hours, 2.25 hours or 3 hours. Because their tummies are so small, it is unlikely a baby will be able to sleep more than 4 hours unbroken in the first few months of life.
Ultimately, your baby’s sleep stretches become your opportunities to sleep too. As the saying goes: “You can’t pour from an empty cup”, so helping your baby sleep better allows you to sleep better, which allows you to be a better parent.
Newborn Baby Essentials For Sleeping
We start with creating an environment that allows your newborn to sleep:
Clothing Temperature Chart
These charts act as an invaluable guide as to how to layer your baby for different room temperatures, making it a newborn baby essential.
Room Thermometer - Groegg from Tommee Tippee
Having a thermometer that provides an at-a-glance temperature reading for your baby’s room allows you to adjust their clothing or the room temperature itself. Waking in a dark environment can be scary, so having a consistent reference point is calming to know they are in a familiar environment.
Swaddle Sleeping Bags
Involuntary flailing arms and kicking legs during sleep (also known as the Moro Reflex) are a common cause of unnecessary wake ups in babies. Swaddling your newborn is one preventive measure you can take, although some newborns will reject swaddling. Swaddle sleeping bags, specially designed to hold your baby in an arms up position, can also reduce the number of wake ups caused by this startling reflex.
Sleep Soothers - Ewan the Dream Sheep
Some sleep products will use a gentle hushing sound when a baby’s cry is detected. This can help reassure the woken newborn and lull them back to sleep (in effect protecting your sleep too). Ewan the Dream Sheep mimics the comfort of the womb with a selection of noises and a calming pink glow to help your baby get back to sleep when they awake. Rest assured, if your newborn is upset because they need changing or feeding, they will let you know!
Bassinet - Snoo Smart Sleeper
If your newborn is really having trouble sleeping (meaning you are too), it may be worth considering solutions like a bassinet. The Snoo Smart Sleeper helps rock your baby to (or back to) sleep with its calming womb-like motion.
Smart Bouncer - Elvie Rise
The Smart Bouncer is perfect for rocking your baby to sleep. It also transforms into a bassinet and is sleep-expert approved.
Blackout Blinds
Your newborn won’t recognise night and day until around 3 months of age. Days are very long in the UK summer, so blackout blinds will help your child develop their circadian rhythm sooner, which improves the chance of sleep through the night sooner. Travel blackout blinds with window suction cups can be an essential baby item for summer trips.
Sustainability tip
Sleep is not one of the most polluting areas of parenthood (bottle washing and nappies very much are the focus areas). However, renting baby equipment like the Snoo rather than buying new is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint versus buying new.
Washing Clothes
With liquids coming out of their every orifice, your newborn will ensure you have plenty of wash cycles to do. It is likely you will have a washing machine, but drying clothes often becomes the bottleneck.
A tumble dryer undoubtedly speeds things up, but household bills will skyrocket and it is not a planet-friendly solution.
Newborn Baby Essentials For Clothes Washing
The best tactics are to minimise the amount of washing needed in the first place (see nappy section above), and to optimise your drying routine.
An optimised drying setup involves investing in;
1) Good drying racks with lots of rungs to spread out clothes.
2) Sock racks with multiple pegs for hanging clothes.
3) A dehumidifier will help clothes dry much faster than natural air drying with low running costs.
Sustainability tip
Babies grow quickly and need lots of changes, meaning you get through a lot of clothes. As with fast fashion, this creates a lot of waste. There are lots of excellent pre-loved options on sites like Vinted, eBay and Gumtree. Rental services like OR Collective, Bundlee, Lula Loop are great options.