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Pre-Baby Shopping List for Mommy!

A dear friend of mine, Emily, is having her first baby soon!  Since I am obsessed with passing along “helpful” tips to everyone I know, I decided to share with Emily some things that she may find very helpful to have on hand.  Everyone knows to have diapers and other important baby things in the house, but what about important Mommy things?  Below are some items that are really helpful in those first days home with a little one.  (Many of these things are especially helpful for breastfeeding mothers.  I won’t be offended if my male readers stop reading here!  Haha!)

1)      Nursing Bras – My girlfriend Dorothy works in a bra shop and she gave me great advice about my bras all through my pregnancy.  She recommends getting a bra fitting as close to your due date as possible and no sooner than 6 weeks before your due date.  Your breasts are going to get bigger when your milk comes in, so leave some extra room in your new bra to accommodate for that!  Here are two nursing bras that I have and recommend:

– This is a nursing “sports” bra from Motherhood Maternity.  I like it because it offers a lot of support.

– This nursing bra is from Target.  I wear this bra to bed.  LOVE IT!  For women who haven’t had a baby yet and want to know why I would wear a bra to bed, I have one word for you: LEAKS!  This bra does a great job of holding nursing pads in place while I toss and turn.  One word of caution, this bra comes up kind of high so you won’t want to wear it with low-cut shirts.

2)      Nursing Tanks from Target – Run, do not walk, RUN to go get these nursing tanks from Target!!!  They are supportive enough to wear without a bra.  I have five.  Yes, five.  I have one in red, black, brown, white and light blue.  LOVE THEM!

3)      Nursing Pads – I mentioned nursing pads briefly already.  They can be extremely helpful at night and when you are feeding the baby.  When you nurse a baby you’ll experience “let down.”  That is when the milk is “released” and becomes available to the baby.  The tricky thing is that let down happens in both breasts at the same time, not just the one the baby is feeding from.  So that means that you’ll leak a little (or for some, a lot) from the breast that the baby isn’t feeding from.  A nursing pad will be your friend.   There are several different brands and you’ll find out which kind you like the best, but here is some info to help you out.

Playtex – wide coverage, large adhesive area, good for over night

Lansinoh – wide coverage, small adhesive area, good for over night

Medela – wide coverage, small adhesive area, good for over night

Avent – small adhesive area, can get 100 in a box for about $11

Johnson & Johnson – small adhesive area, countered to shape to breast

4)      Nipple Cream – I used Lansinoh and it worked well for me.  A girlfriend recommended using one made by Gerber that comes in a stick, but I couldn’t find it in the stores.  She liked it a lot because it doesn’t get your fingers messy.

5)      Maxi Pads – You’ll bleed for several weeks after having a baby.  Go out and buy some pads to have on hand.  You can’t use tampons and honestly, you wouldn’t want to anyway.   I tried out the new Always Infinity pads and really liked them.

Moms, what have I forgotten?  Have you used any of these products?  Leave your thoughts in a comment.

4 Comments

  1. Yeah! I am going to have a baby soon. What have I gotten myself into ; ) Thanks for the great advice. Chris really appreciates me telling him about all this personal girl stuff ; )

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