Essentials Series: BABY NURSERY

This one took a while to put together because there are so many things I love about my baby girls nursery. You can definitely go overboard with decor but I’ve listed my essentials for you here. I chose these items for you because I actually got use out of them and some I still use now and Charlie is almost 2 years old. Let’s get right into it…

1. Crib: Our crib was a gift from my parents and we absolutely love it. It’s sturdy & simple yet chic. It converts to a toddler bed also. We have used it for both the girls and it is in brand new condition. This has held up so well that we will definitely be passing it down to family or friends.

2. Diaper Pail: I made the mistake of buying a different diaper pail at first that was quite popular. I quickly realized the pail itself wasn’t too pricey but the cost of buying the refill bags constantly was ridiculous. I would recommend this one instead as it uses any garbage bag you have available so it reduces continuous costs. Babies items can be expensive, so it’s nice to save where you can.

3. Mobile: So this is not a “necessity” for every baby but both my girls really enjoyed it. This is another one of the things I bought when they were newborns and Charlie still uses it every night. This mobile gives your babe something to happily watch until they doze off to sleep and it plays sweet lullabies as well. Not to mention it looks so cute hanging in the nursery.

4. Crib Mattress: It is recommended to get a crib mattress that is more on the firm side than soft to avoid the possibility of SIDS in young babies. I chose this mattress because it covered that recommendation but was still comfy for baby and waterproof as well. Both girls have used it and love it.

5. Blanket: This blanket/quilt is beautiful and well made. We used this constantly when the girls were little as it’s very versatile. We used it to wrap them in when going back and forth to the car on chilly days, as a floor mat for them to roll around on while at a friends house for a visit, as a shopping cart liner when grocery shopping and the list goes on. And now that Charlie is older we use it as her napping blanket and she loves it. Of course, because we use it constantly, it is regularly being washed and is still in great condition.

6. Swaddle: We did use these swaddles also which are very popular and are also very versatile in that you can throw one in the diaper bag or car to keep on hand. But the ones I’ve listed here I found were perfect for nighttime and being sure they wouldn’t unravel because of the snug velcro closure. In my opinion, the popular muslin swaddles are awesome for swaddling baby in the daytime for naps when you will be close by being that our girls would squirm and stretch once up from their naps and the swaddle would unravel, again the concern being SIDS in infants. Where as this swaddle, because of its secure velcro closure made it next to impossible for the kids to squirm their way out of it. If they were really sneaky they’d get one arm out (Tarzan style, lol) but the velcro closure would still be secure and no risk of suffocation from a loose blanket.

7. Baby Monitor: This was a very important purchase for us. This was the ultimate nursery/safety item so we had to go through some trial & error. We tried a few different baby monitors before we settled on this one. We first bought a iPhone compatible monitor which was supposed to be great because your cell phone would act as the parent monitor but what we quickly found was that it drained my phone battery if we kept it on all night to monitor baby while she slept. Plus I didn’t like the idea of getting a call during the day and then the phone is occupied and you have no way of checking on the baby. And not to mention if the WiFi happens to go out for some reason you are hooped. So we decided we needed something that was separate from our phones. And then after speaking with a girlfriend of mine we decided a monitor with 2 cameras was ideal because eventually we’d need the 2nd camera for another baby or for a playroom and it was more cost effective to buy a 2 camera monitor now rather than trying to buy and add a additional camera later. Then we got this beauty! This has a very clear, large screen parent monitor, it comes with 2 cameras with the option to add an additional 2 more if need be and the range is also very good. We have had get togethers in our backyard while the girls slept in their beds and we have had no issues keeping an eye on them. Then bonus: because this is a Motorola product there is a great warranty program if anything was to go wrong.

8. Bassinet: This is ideal for the first few weeks to months. Because you will be recovering from natural or caesarean birth it will be difficult to get out of bed. Especially when baby is waking up every hour during the night it is so nice to just reach over and pick them up to feed or comfort rather than constantly having to leave your bed. Some complete set strollers now come with a bassinet attachment that can easily be used inside your house as a bassinet as well. I chose this one because it was not too costly, it looked nice sitting in our living room and bedroom, the bedding was removable and washable and it was easy to carry from room to room if needed. I even used this when baby was sleeping and I needed to take a shower, I would just carry babe into the bathroom and have her sleep while I took a quick shower.

9. Sound Machine: We had a sound machine before this one and it stopped working. We loved it but it was discontinued by the time we needed another. So I went on the hunt through google for the best sound machine and this one checked all the boxes. It was nice looking, it had multiple sounds and colour hues to choose from and you can control it all from your cell phone. This, no doubt, is a pricier purchase but we absolutely love it and have been using it everyday for almost 2 years. I will admit the cord that connects the unit to the outlet is now a little finicky so I will be exchanging it but only to get another one of the same. We love it and so do the kids 🙂

And that’s it for this section! I honestly tried to limit it to 5 or 6 items but I felt I used all of these a reasonable amount so they were all worth mentioning.

Questions and/or comments are welcomed. Please feel free to put them in the comments section below.

I’ll be continuing this series with another addition next week so keep checking in!