The only 5 things I'm really using for my newborn

Thanks to Target for sponsoring this post! But, as always, all opinions are mine, and I only write about products I already use and love.

Forget the crazy baby registry. Besides diapers and wipes, there are really only 5 things you need to have on-hand when caring for a newborn.

Not gonna lie.

As a newly-crowned mom of 3, I do kind of feel like an expert. Not that I’ve got it all figured out. But I’ve been down this road. Three times now.

And with a 1-month-old, let me just tell you that there are only 5 things that I’m using in frequent rotation these days. And it ain’t the wipes warmer and 17 different baby bath towels.

1. Cotton burp rags

These things are like gold in my house right now. I love that they’re basic, cotton, white, comfy and easy to wash. Don’t be sidetracked by the cute burp rags with the characters on them. These ones are super-absorbent which is totally all you care about when you’re wearing your last clean black shirt and burping a warm little milk monster.

2. Boobs

Duh. I mean, at this point, the child basically has a breast in his face at all hours of the day. He’s feeding every 3 hours or so, so the milk supply is key. I’ve lucked out in that my little duckling has been a great eater from the start, and judging from his 9-pound, 4-ounce birth weight, he’ll be needing to eat ’round the clock to keep up appearances. Which is fine with me because I can’t get enough of these delicious scrunched nursing toes!

My milk supply just leveled out, so the days of totally and “udder” engorgement (bahaaa, I crack myself up) appear to be behind me. I took the opportunity to start pumping to start to build a freezer stockpile for date nights and solo trips to Target (say what???). I also have some organic premium infant formula on-hand from The Honest Company, just in case.

I love this formula because it’s actually modeled after actual breast milk, and it’s also free of high-fructose corn syrup and gluten.

3. Swaddling blankets

For real. There’s nothing I love photographing more than a swaddled newborn. I mean, can you blame me? With our first son, I had a super rough week when he was about a month old. My husband was traveling all week, and I was stuck at home with a baby who cried (ehhh, screamed) from 5 to 10pm every night. It was demoralizing, frustrating and totally defeating. I was at my wit’s end when someone recommended a baby sleep training book, and I promptly read it from cover to cover in about 48 hours. Ever since then, I have followed the mantra of that book, which suggests that shushing, rocking, sucking and swaddling babies in the first 3 months of life (also termed the fourth trimester) is the best way to satisfy their innate biological desire to really still be in your womb. In my house, a swaddled baby is a sleeping baby. Ain’t nobody who can argue with that!

4. White noise

Another sleep trick I swear by is loud white noise. So, in our toddlers’ room, we have white noise from an all-static AM radio station blaring all night. The newborn is still in our room, so I downloaded a white noise app for my iPad for him. It sounds like a waterfall, and it goes in our room all night long. I’ve grown to love it, especially because it allows me to sleep through the baby’s grunting through the night, which means I only wake up when he’s crying and ready to eat.

5. Baby DHA

Our pediatrician insists on a high-quality, all-natural DHA supplement for newborns, and I’ve just discovered The Honest Company’s version. It’s made from pure, premium fish oils and designed to help develop a newborn’s brain and eyes. I love that it has a light citrus flavor, so it doesn’t smell as fishy! He loves/tolerates it. (*wink*)