When I had my first baby, I created the most detailed baby registry a mom has ever made. (Well, maybe not, but it was SUPER detailed!) I figured out how many bath towels I would need to make it through 2 weeks without doing the laundry, for example, and got that many towels. When I was pregnant with our second, I read every list I could find specifically for what you need for a second baby.
As you can imagine, over the past 4 years (and a move out of our house and then back in because of the major renovation we did), some things from our first newborn experience got misplaced. Some I didn’t miss at all and others I knew I needed to get again.
These are the items that are my holy grail baby items – aka the baby must haves. They’re the baby things we used for our first and our second and have held onto for possible future babies.
Second Baby Must Haves
White noise machine
Both of our kids have had a white noise machine (this one, to be specific). We bring it with us everywhere we travel, and I’ve even found that I sleep better with it! It mimics the noise babies hear in the womb, and it’s one of the important pieces of teaching babies how to sleep.
Bassinet for your everyday living space
This bassinet for baby (pictured above) can be used in any room (even your bedroom!), but we had it in the kitchen/living room for when we were on the first floor. It’s where the baby was when we ate meals or sometimes when he just needed a break from being on the floor with his toys or in someone’s arms.
Bouncer chair
The Baby Bjorn bouncer chair was our extra seat with our first baby. At the time we had one from another brand that we just carried all over the house. That has since been recalled, so the Bjorn became our go-to. Some days it was the only way I was able to get in the shower! I highly recommend the toy bar with it. We started using this around 1 month. With our first I think we used it until 9 or 10 months. With our second we put it away after around a year.
Diaper pail
We had an Ubbi diaper pail in our daughter’s room, but I wanted to try something different and heard rave reviews about the Dekor diaper pail. I’ve been SO pleased with it. A diaper pail isn’t the most exciting part of a nursery, but boy oh boy is it important! A few things I really like about it: The Dekor diaper pail is completely hands-free. It has a tie-off bag system, which keeps smells at a minimum. And it is so easy to use! (It opens with a foot pedal.) I wrote a full comparison of the Dekor vs Ubbi here.
Swaddles with a zipper
We had a couple of the arms-up swaddles for our first when she was a baby (including a transition version that lets you zip off the arms so they can have their hands free, especially important when your baby starts to roll over). I honestly got rid of every other swaddle and bought a bunch more of this one. Both of my babies wanted their arms up while sleeping, and the arms-up swaddle helped them sleep better. It has an easy zipper, so middle-of-the-night diaper changes don’t wake the baby (no Velcro to riiiiip). Bonus: They wash really well. (I hang them dry, though they have been through the dryer more than once!)
Wipes holder that is easy to open
The reason we love this wipes holder so much is because it doesn’t let the wipes dry out. You know how you might open a pack of wipes and leave them in one room, and have another pack open in another room? And then you go get the open pack and the wipe on top is dried out? Yeah, I hate that too. This one makes it so you’re never dealing with that.
I honestly think the best way to figure out what you need for your baby is to think about your house setup and your lifestyle. One mom’s must-haves might not be yours, but that’s why you should take all recommendations- including mine- with a grain of salt. And don’t forget that every baby is different!
As for the things we loved with our first that didn’t quite cut it the second time around?
- Pacifiers: Our second never took to them
- DockATot: When my daughter was a new baby I’d have her nap near me in the DockATot, but with a preschooler and a newborn I didn’t think that was safe for my son. That’s where the new bassinet mentioned above came in really handy.
- Ubbi diaper pail: I loved this with my first – until she started solids. And then I realized that any diaper pail is amazing until you start solids! I like the Dekor I mentioned above but I’m also a big fan of the Diaper Genie!
Did I miss anything you knew you needed for your second baby?
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