Got a baby? Perfect! Got ready for the baby? Arranged a beautiful “hello kitty” nursery full of stuff? Want to drop a Baby Shower? Your friends don’t need to think much – just share this article on your social network and let them know, what are the best baby shower gifts for mom and her baby.
Luckily, bringing up a child in a modern world is as easy as a pie! Shitting and yelling pie. I am not going to tell you about the things you will obviously use daily – such as diapers, powders, wet towels – you, as an expectant mother probably have all of that, since you almost have a child and the forest is not where you live.
But, I will give you a small list of tools, that any mother should have even though she’s on budget. I will immediately say – you don’t need a lot of money if you’re going to be a good caring mom. However, there is still a must-have kit, that would allow you to take proper care of your child and mind your own interests.
Best Baby Shower Gifts any New Mom Needs
Thermometer
You have to know, how warm your child is to exclude the inflammatory process. You will study the healthy limits and deviations of the temperature of the body of your baby during teething. This one you will also use in a non-standard situation, in case of constipation. Make sure to pick up the electronic one, not the mercury one of your grandmother. You may buy the cheapest one – the principle of work is the same. I would dissuade you from buying the one for the forehead – it has some tolerance and you can hardly measure the temperature of the infant, who is able to move the head better than any other part of the body.
Buy thermometer on Amazon
Baby Nail Scissors
Well, the first time you decide to cut the nails of your scratchy – it will be a sweaty challenge. Those small fingers seem so easy to chop off. And you are a strong clumsy woman with 0 grace… and the baby is moving his small hands and doesn’t like when you’re trying to hold it still. So you just have to have a safe tool. However, I am using my own, adult scissors to cut the nails of my baby, and it is fine. As long as they are in my hands.
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Baby Shower Cap
This would save your nerves if you’d learn to put it on quickly with no drama on the top of the head of your baby. For some reason, many children hate water on their faces. This would definitely help you to avoid tears at bathing if you do it right. At this very moment, you should see the Indian women bathing their children without special tools. But if you’re not cool-headed enough for such bathing – you definitely need additional equipment to bathe your child right.
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Infant Neck Float
Warning:
You do not leave your baby bathing with that thing on the neck ALONE! Not more than one minute – an average time the float blows away completely and goes underwater together with your baby. There are many types of those floats, though. Some of them have an inside, additional safety camera. But still – SAFETY FIRST! I loved using it since my baby had turned 2 months. The babies feel comfortable and relaxed as you put them into the water with that float on.
You might have some challenges while putting that thing on your baby when you’re alone and the baby doesn’t hold the head yet, but that’s the only inconvenience. Mind the temperature of the water – it shouldn’t be more than 38 and less than 35, so keep it warm by adding some hot water as it cools up. For more information use our bathing tips. With this float, I had a guaranteed 30 minutes of reading by my bathing baby.
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Sling or Carrier
That is a separate topic about the carriers and slings. In brief: using a carrier will solve a lot of problems and will let you make your maternity as natural as it should be – keeping your baby close to your body, letting your baby feel your heartbeat, and your breath – this is what the baby needs for normal emotional development – the confidence there’s someone having it close and safe.
But the biggest benefit is yours: providing the necessary care for your child – you may keep your hands free! Do shopping, take a walk, and wash your dishes. The number of actions is mainly vertical, though, but it’s better than nothing. At choosing baby shower gifts, consider a sling or carrier – it is quite an accessory, with a nice print, decorative elements, and commodity. And even if the mother-to-be has a carrier already – she wouldn’t mind having one for a change.
Buy sling or carrier on Amazon
Grain Warmer
You cannot underestimate the benefit of one of the most seldom baby shower gifts. Cheap but priceless! What for? Baby colic. Very simple: a baby crying, you put the grain warmer into the microwave for 1 minute and then put it into some cloth, like a cotton sheet, or towel – to prevent burning your baby, and put it on a baby’s stomach. Then, in a minute, you reduce one layer of the cloth… until it gets slightly warm and may be applied to the baby’s skin.
The warmth of the grain helps to provoke farting in case of gas production in the intestine of your baby or reduce the pains. Babies love the warmth and so far this has been the best tool to help my baby with colic. You can purchase it together with the other tools, but I suggest a DIY one. DIY baby shower gifts are awesome. Two square cotton patches, and an elastic band to keep it on the stomach of the baby and prevent it from falling off. I used buckwheat – it preserves temperature quite well and smells fine at heating.
Something like this, but bigger size.
Humidifier
Do you have a heating season where you live? Where I live – we have winter. Real winter with snow and we turn on the radiators in order not to freeze in our own homes. If that is your case – use a humidifier. Pick up one with an average capacity for the small room. You don’t need any digital panel on the device – hygrometers, thermometers. They don’t give any precise information on the humidity level or the temperature in your room.
They collect the data around the device, so practically the additional electronics are useless. What you need – is capacity. How much water can the device vaporize in an hour? I repeat – you use it during the heating season when the air of your house is artificially dried by the working radiators. But the air you’re your apartment still changes, together with the humidified air. So basically it has to work all night long. (During the day you will be out if you understand the importance of somewhat clean oxygen.) So pick up one with a bigger container and bigger capacity.
The mentioned above tools are those to comfort the baby. As for the tools for the mother – there’s a different set. And it differs from mother to mother. It depends on if you’re nursing, or prefer formula nutrition due to some circumstances. For the last one, you need more tools. But first I’d like to review electronic devices.
More about choosing the right humidifier: Humidifier for baby: How to choose?
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Baby Monitor
These are constantly going down in the price. Now you can purchase a sound baby monitor, cry detector, for less than 10 USD. You may purchase a video monitor if willing. You won’t need it for a small place, as you will definitely hear your baby crying in the room next door. But if you have a spacious place and people come to visit you often – make sure you have any type of monitor by hand. You will always stay cool about the state of your sleeping child.
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Baby Bath Seat
The infants look fragile. And they just don’t look so – they actually are. Bathing an infant is a big deal. You may want someone else to hold your baby as you bathe it. I already mentioned the neck float, but that one you may not use from the very first day. At this age, the simple baby bath seat or tent is a perfect help. You just put your baby on it and wash it with your liberated hands. I won’t say, that you don’t have to control the baby, but things will become much easier for you. And you have to bathe your infant EVERY DAY. Ease your routine up a bit.
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Breast Pump
I will not recommend using it often, for even though the manufacturers are trying to consider the anatomic features of the woman’s organism and lactation peculiarities – nothing may be as close to natural pumping as a baby’s sucking. If you pump often – it harms the skin of your breast. But sometimes the mother may need rest or needs to go away. If there’s a perspective of the kind – you may start to store your milk, pumping some like 50 ml daily and freeze it for a month. If you’ve had some booze and are afraid that your baby will become an alcoholic after nursing – you just pump and dump three hours after the consumption of the alcohol and give your baby formula of previously pumped breast milk.
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Nursing Bra
This one may be on the list of baby shower gifts if you exactly know the size. Please, please, please – don’t buy a classic nursing bra – “hello from the thirties”. This would destroy the self-confidence of the woman, who looks ugly and weird. Pick one with the side clip. It still looks sexy and holds the increased breast firm. Perfect in public and will not destroy the sex appeal of the woman. Choose a pair of soft ones, that could be kept on during the night. You can check this before choosing.
Buy nursing bra on Amazon
Night Light
Your baby will eat a lot! Moreover, in the nighttime as well. 4-6 times per night until it turns 4 months! And if you are a separate sleeping adherent – you’d have to come up to the cradle of your baby 5 times per night! A cute little night light will save you from dropping your baby, hurting yourself, and breastfeeding your husband instead of the baby. The light source should not be too bright – it affects your sleep and that of the baby. I got me these tiny led mushrooms. Cheap and perfect.
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Eye Mask
Making the list of baby shower gifts, we didn’t forget about the mother. You don’t underestimate the meaning of the darkness for your sleep. If you need to take a nap during the day, while your baby is doing so – wear this mask! During the first three months of parenting, you will have to use every chance to sleep. The lack of sleep leads to the loss of concentration… and that one you need to take proper care of your child.
Buy eye mask on Amazon
Changing Diaper Station
One of the most useful baby shower gifts. During the first four months, you will change the diapers all the time, if you’re not a wolf-mother. If you don’t give up your social life (which is better to reestablish during the first three months after giving birth) – you will go out a lot. As a mom ago I wouldn’t trust the hygiene of public places, so I always had a changing kit with me. A clean sheet to put the baby on, a couple of diapers, and wet towels. If I only knew there’s a kit like that in a form of a cute bag – I’d avoid a lot of inconveniences.
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Bathroom Scales
We put it at the end of the list of baby shower gifts because normally women have bathroom scales. If not, the new mother would certainly want to know, how much she’d lost after delivery. And she would also want to know, how is the weight-loss process going. But the main function of the floor scales is to estimate the weight of the newborn. How do you do that? First, you weigh yourself and then take the baby and weigh yourself with the baby. May arithmetic help you in the next step.
Maybe, this baby shower gifts list is not a classy one, but the mother-to-be will definitely use these items and would be happy to have a whole kit.
You may add your suggestions on the must-have things for the kit of the baby, excluding medication and hygiene means – just the tools and devices, that could be put in a travel bag.
Buy bathroom scales on Amazon
Born in Belarus, 1985, a pedagogue and family psychologist, mother. Taking part in procedures of social adaptation of the foster children in new families. Since 2015 is a chief editor of the motherhow.com project, selecting the best and up-to-date material for those, who are planning, expecting, and already having babies.