Back in January i compiled a list of our top baby items for the first three months, you can find the post here. So today i’d like to tell you what our must have were for 3-6 months because boy oh boy having a 0-3 month old is a lot different than a 3-6 month old!
Items from 0-3 months that we still use daily
1. Bouncy Seat – Liam still loves his bouncy seat. He now uses it for short cat naps or to sit up and play with toys (strapped in of course). At times it will still calm him down if he is fussy but not like it use to.
2. Swing – He still depended on his swing until 4.5 months to take his long afternoon nap. During out trip to PA, right after he turned 5 months old, he was not interested in his swing anymore. He has not been in it once for over a month now. So sad, this is the first thing that he has officially outgrown. We LOVED this swing so much!!!!!
::comparison picture…oh my goodness this made me so sad, the boy is getting so big and this “present picture” was almost two months ago::
3. Monitor – Don’t know what i would do without our video monitor. If you have a little extra money get the video monitor, it is wonderful! Honestly, is so much more calming to look at your baby to see exactly what they are doing rather than just listening. Now that Liam is sleeping in his crib during the night it is great to peak in on him without going in his room to make sure he is okay.
4. Sophie – No words to describe how much we love Soph, she is awesome. Well worth every single penny you spend on her. Hands down on the of best teething toys ever.
5. Sooth and Glow Seahorse – 9 times out of 10 he will be asleep by the time the music stops playing.
6. Wubbanub – During the last two months Liam has took to another brand of pacifiers (i will talk about them later) but still relies on the wubbanub to fall asleep.
7. Play Mat – He used his playmat a lot until he was about 4.5-5 months old then he started rolling EVERYWHERE and did not stay 1. under the mat or 2. on his back long enough to play.
Items that i should have included in the first post but forgot and we still loved from months 3-6
1. JJ Cole Bundle Me Urban – I don’t know how i forgot to include this last time but we loved the Bundle Me. Having a late fall baby meant traveling outside in the cold often. Blankets just didn’t do enough and Liam would have overheated and not fit if he was in a bunting. He was always toasty warm and comfortable in his bundle me. If you are going to have a baby under 9 months old during the winter time you will definitely want one of these.
2. Munchkin Formula Travel Dispenser – this is great when traveling because you premeasured out the formula so it is easy to feed on the go without having to carry cans around with you.
Must Haves For 3-6 Months
1. Exersaucer – Honestly, i so not know what i would have done without our exersaucer because Liam loves it. He can entertain himself in it for over an hour! At 5 months old he learned how to turn around himself and really play with all the toys. He has been using it since he was just over 3 months old.
2. Doorway Jumper – I am sure by now everyone knows how much Liam loves to jump and the doorway jumper has been one of our go to items to let him burn off energy.
3. Soothie Teether – Oh the wonderful word of teething…..when Liam first started teething he would pull his soothie paci (or Wubbanub) out of his mouth and chew on the round disk. When i found the soothie teether at Babies R Us i knew he would love it and he did. He has special “chew” sides and is easy for him to hold, spin around, and chew of different surfaces.
4. Sesame Street – Liam is a PBS kid…i kind of feel obligated to send them money.
5. Highchair – At 6 months old he is eating two solid meals a day and eats them both in his highchair. I love our highchair because it has 8 different levels which is great because we have a bistro-like table in our kitchen and he can still sit at table height with us and it also reclines three different degrees. This was wonderful because when he first started eating it was much easier for him to eat when he was at a slight recline.
6. BIBS! – Soft, waterproof bibs are the best thing. I could not even tell you how many bibs we have OR how many we go through each day especially now that he is eating solids. He could easily drool through 2-3 bibs per day, then add in 2 bibs for meal time and you get 4-5 a day. Yes, stock up on bibs it won’t hurt. If i could go back and stock up with my ultimate bib lot i would get a 10 pack of solid color wash cloth material bibs to use for meal times (plus baby food STAINS!) and around 10 (depending on how often you do the wash) soft fabric, waterproof bibs for all day, and a few nice bibs for going out because those adorable outfits get covered up by a bib so at least make it a cute one.
::here is where i would insert almost every single picture of Liam because he always has a bib on ….::
7 Bath Toys – Liam loves the water and really enjoys playing in the tub. We have just a few simple squirting bath toys that he loves. They are easy for him to grab and pick up (and put in his mouth of course) and a rubber ducky that he likes.
8. Angel Dear Lovie – The boy loves soft fabric and likes to snuggle with it before he falls asleep. The angel dear lovies are so soft and the perfect size for little ones. We ended up ordering two so that if one was being washed (or you leave under the bed at Grandmas house in PA) he would have another to fall asleep with….or sometimes you just need to double fist some lovies.
9. MAM Pacifiers – These are Liam’s favorite daytime pacifier. Surprisingly, given how small they are, he can pick them up and put them back in himself. They come with cute attachment clips which are WONDERFUL because at this stage he loves to throw things so knowing that it is attached to his car seat or shirt is a lifesaver. They are made to a specific length so that they present no chocking or strangulation hazard.
10. Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder – I just did a post about these last week. They are great and a life saver for teething but also a great way to introduce whole foods and learn the mechanics of chewing.
11. Baby Legs – Liam is hitting the season and age were baby legs are a must to protect my babies knees. With the weather warming up and little man loving to wear nothing but just a diaper. HIs attempts to crawl and roll around the floor leads to red and sore knees. The baby legs are wonderful because he can be wearing just a diaper or onesie but be sporting his baby legs over his knees for protection.
12. Hats – We go on lots of walks and are outside a lot. These baseball hats from the gap have been wonderful for keeping the sun out of his eyes. With so many twist and turns on our walks through he neighborhood i was constantly adjusting his sunshade to keep the sun out of this eyes. Now that we have the hats we are good to go without the adjusting.
13. Car Window Shade – I have dark tinted windows in the backseat of my car but it does not do enough to keep the sun out of his eyes. A simple window shade does wonders and baby can still look out the window.
14. Stroller – We have a Greco stroller that works with out car seat and we love it, especially when shopping. It can hold a lot underneath and turns on a dime. We also have a simple and cheap umbrella stroller that we have used a few times BUT i am saving up for a new stroller that i am loving!!
15. Toy/Pacifier Leashes – Again, honesty i don’t know what we do without toy leashes! Liam is a thrower…hmm future baseball pitcher maybe. I made four of these clips myself and we use them on everything…Sophie, Freddie the Firefly, rattles, fresh food feeder while on a walk…everything! You can buy them on Etsy or make them yourself…i’ve even seen some at Target that would work.
16. Sassy Ring and Phone Rattles – Hands down one of Liam’s favorite toys. They go everywhere with us. I don’t know it if it the noise or the colors or how easy they are for him to hold but he loves these.
17. Luvs Diapers …. no Huggies or Pampers for us. Liam leaks out of everything except Luvs. We have TWO cases of Huggies that i am trying to use up and it is torture. What i have learned is that the big name brands do not mean quality or best leak protection. The Luvs are thinner and softer than the Huggies we have and hold so much more without leaking.
18. Canon Rebel – It is so worth it! I wish that we had our DSLR camera before Liam was born so that we could have captured those first few months the way we have this last month. No one was on board with me spending so much money on a camera …until they saw what amazing pictures it took, now everyone backs me on the investment.
Learn from my mistakes…
Baby Clothes ….
1. Do not be in denial about your child's size and/or age! Liam had about 8 outfits that just “looked huge” to me and were labeled 6-9 months. I figured he would swim in them and end up wearing them towards the end of summer. One day i decided to put one of the outfits on him just to see how close it was to fitting and it was almost too small.
2. Baby Clothes Sizes are CRAZY! Liam is wearing some 12 month size clothes…and he is not one of those “off the charts" big babies. I made the mistake of organizing his closet while pregnant by size and didn’t even think to look into the larger sizes to see if any of them ran small and would fit earlier. Now he has a handful of stuff that he never wore..bummer.
…..and why did i buy a size 9 month fleece sweat suit for him while pregnant? Did i think we’d have snow in June?!?
