4 Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Baby

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Is it true that no one is ever really ready for a baby? True or not, there are some thing that are tough to know before baby arrives. I did quite a bit of research (and read so so so many blogs) but you can’t predict it all. Some are preferences that didn’t come to light until baby was here, and others were just lack of experience. If I could go back in time, or if we have another I would make some adjustments. So here are 4 things I wish I knew before my first baby. If you are looking for more posts like this, see my post-partum and labor & delivery posts. Let’s get into it:

A Better Bassinet

We actually didn’t register for a bassinet at first. I didn’t realize (blame my pregnancy brain) that I need or want something other than a crib. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends that babies sleep in the same room, but in a separate, safe sleeping location until at least six months to reduce the risk of SIDS. (It’s also worth noting that some new information has come to light, so we’re moving our girl out prior to 1 year – do what works best for you and your baby!) I picked up this portable bassinet from Ingenuity. Now let me be clear – this worked for us! Baby girl slept in it for about 5 months. With that in mind, if I knew then what I know now, there are some features that would be must-haves.

• A taller or adjustable height option. The less getting out of bed to feed, the better.
• Larger size or weight limit. She got too heavy, and then too long, so she would get wedged sideways!
• Portability wasn’t a big deal.

Honestly, knowing what I know now, I would seriously consider the Halo Swivel Bassinest. It has adjustable height, a fold down side and fully mesh walls. Food for thought!

More Monitor Research

Despite the research I did on nearly everything else, I did almost zero research on baby monitors. Other than knowing that I didn’t want to do something like the Owlet, and I wanted to have a video monitor not just audio, I pretty much just threw a mid-level monitor on the registry and called it good. Again, this has worked for us, but I have quite a few complaints. Of course, I likely wouldn’t have known what I wanted in advance, but I’ll do my research if I need another monitor in the future. I’m open to recommendations!

Follow Through

This is likely due to my own personality more than anything else, but if I could go back in time, I’d tell myself to stick with my plan and not apologize to anyone for it. Before my first baby, I was excited but also quite keen to make everyone else happy and included in our experience. It’s a sweet idea, but I needed to think of my husband, myself and my baby first! Pregnancy and the birth of your child is a truly monumental event and we all deserve to navigate and experience that event in the way that we choose. So whether that means having your whole family in the delivery room or not telling anyone your baby was born until they are a week old – you do you. If we have another baby, I’d be tempted to go with the second option – a whole week of pure unadulterated newborn time? Dreamy.

Do the Diaper Backpack

Well, we held out for a long time, but it finally happened. We broke down and ordered a diaper backpack to replace our diaper bag. All things considered, our bag is great! A cute pattern, lots of pockets and plenty spacious enough to hold diapers, covers, outfits and all of the toys baby needs. But the bigger she gets, the tougher it is to keep the diaper bag on one shoulder, baby on the other arm and do anything at all! Interestingly enough, I reviewed a ton of diaper bags and backpacks before choosing what I did for our baby registry, but in the end, decided against a backpack because they all had terrible reviews. All of them! So I’m hoping to come back to you in a couple of months with good reviews on the one we bought. Fingers crossed!

While another baby is definitely not on the horizon for us today, I’ve thought a lot about these items and how a few tweaks would have made a difference. Are there any items you aren’t sure about as you prepare to welcome a little one into your life? Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!