Love It:
Baby Monitor
From the start we knew we wanted a video monitor for Reaghan's nursery. They obviously aren't necessary, and audio ones can do the job, but I LOVE being able to see her in her crib when she's sleeping. Especially when we transitioned her to her crib for night time! It's helped me in learning her cries and body language; knowing when she can fuss herself to sleep and when she might need a little help. This is the one that we have...
Play Mat
During 2-4 months tummy time is crucial in helping babies reach important developmental milestones like head control and rolling over. I love giving Reaghan "down time" to lay on the floor and learn to play with and reach for her toys and find her feet! It's important to me that she learns to independently entertain herself. We have the one pictured below, given to us at one of our showers.
Bumbo
I love our bumbo with the tray! As Reaghan began to get head control, she wanted to be upright more and more so she could see what was going on. (She's a nosy one ;)) This was definitely more in the 4th month than the 3rd. She started to like sitting in this more than laying in her rock n play, so it's been good to sit her in while I get dressed or putting on make up etc. The tray is great because I can put some toys on it to keep her occupied. It works the best on the floor, but I admit I've set her in it while its on my bed so I could engage her a bit. I just have to keep an extra close eye on her if its not sitting on the floor.
High Chair
So pretty much the same reasons I love the Bumbo, I love the high chair. She sits in this every morning while I make/eat breakfast and dinner time is so much easier now that she can sit in this while we eat. Also, like the Bumbo, we didn't start using it until her 4th month. We got a good deal on an Ingenuity brand from WalMart that converts to 3 different styles shown below.
Disposable Pads
This one isn't super specific to age, but we didn't have a need for them until we were into Reaghan's 3rd month. We were suddenly in this weird "in between" diaper size and we had a diaper blowout literally almost every day. I knew we needed something to cover her changing table cover so I wouldn't have to wash it every day, and these disposable pads have been perfect. I can use the same one for 4-5 days if we don't have an incident, so this box of 36 have lasted us almost 2 months.
Exersaucer
I love how active and fun Reaghan is getting as she grows. My parents bought her the one shown below for Christmas and she LOVES it. Personally I prefer these to the Johnny Jumpers you hang in the doorway. Yes they take up space, but I like that they are securely on the ground. Either way - coming from a PT standpoint - I'm careful to limit the amount of time Reaghan spends in it in one setting to decrease chances of hip developmental issues.
Baby Swing
LOVED the swing during the 2-4 month time. It has been really helpful for Mark when he is home alone with Reaghan on Mondays. If she's struggling to nap in her crib for him and he doesn't have the time to work on it with her (because he's also working) she will take a good nap for him in the swing. I can see her outgrowing this soon as she likes more and more to be busy and upright, but as of right now, it is still nice to give her a change of scenery.
Leave It:
Boppy Pillow
Honestly, I hate to put this on the leave it list. I wish a had an "eh, sorta helpful" list, because thats how I felt about the Boppy. I did use it occasionally while nursing and I would sometimes use it to help prop Reaghan up - and when I used it, it was nice. It definitely had its helpful moments, and before Reaghan was born I was sure it would be essential because so many people swear by it. But honestly, was it something that made my life soooo much easier and something I used every day??? Not really.
**No affiliations present in this post. As always, I am expressing only my opinions and experiences.**
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