Nursery Needs: How Much do you Really Need?

When deciding how much STUFF you need for Baby, the worst thing you can do for your state of mind, and your wallet, is to go to your dear friend’s house (you know, the one with a lot more money than you) and use their nursery to judge what you will need for yours.  If you have a room the size of a football field, you can buy so many wonderful things for Baby, including things like a wipe warmer, a wall-hanging ladybug storage bucket, or a steaming and drying bottle spinning machine thingie.  But you don’t have that much room, and you may not even have a separate room designated for Baby.  And most importantly, you probably don’t have the money for everything you want.  Advertisers (and our friends’ nurseries) make us believe we need everything from a Winnie the Pooh framed drawing to five different kinds of lotion for a baby who may never need moisturizing at all!  You need to figure out what you need, and hopefully you’ll have money left over for the things you want.

Many baby store websites will give you a list of “essentials”, but most of those lists are made by the stores themselves, so they include things you only need if you’re trying to create a nursery fit for the cover of Nursery Magazine. 

Here is a list of things you need for a newborn, and nothing else:

The REAL Essentials:

1. Diapers (cloth or disposable)
2. Wipes (store bought, or make your own with cloth)
3. Clothes (Baby can’t be running around in their birthday suit all the time)
4. Car seat (if you plan on ever transporting Baby in a car)
5. Personal carrying device (stroller, hammock, Bjorn, etc)
6. Crib or co-sleeper
7. Bedding (sheets, mattress protector, blanket)
8. Furniture (something to put clothes in and books on)
9. Bottles
10. Bottle brush (or some way to clean the narrow insides of a bottle)
11. Nursing pads (or let tissues stick to you – not the worst thing in the world)
12. Breast pump & accessories (if you’re going to be away from Baby for 4+ hours, and of course, if you’re breastfeeding)
13. Bibs
14. Thermometer
15. Baby soap (soap for sensitive skin – preferably a “no tears” brand)
16. Monitor (if you need to be in another room from Baby)
17. Baby-safe nail clippers
18. Baby Tylenol, or something similar
19. Diaper rash cream
20. Burp cloth (or a hand towel)

You don’t need at bottle warmer.  You don’t need a baby couch that looks like a fat frog.  You don’t need a Diaper Genie.  (I take that back – the Diaper Genie’s awesome).