1. Gas Drops – Imagine this if you will: The day you leave the hospital, they send you home with a meal. Baked ziti, salad, bread. It’s a super thoughtful gesture and you enjoy it the second night home. As you’re finishing your dinner, you and your husband look at each other and think, hum…that was a tiny bit spicy. You’re also breastfeeding. Two feedings later, your tiny newborn that doesn’t weigh quite seven pounds begins SCREAMING his little lungs off. Oh no! The spicy meal they sent you home with was like poison to your newborn’s tummy. You’re tired, your baby is in a lot of pain, you feel helpless. The only thing that could help at this point was the gas drops. I’m so thankful Joe went out and bought them! You may not have a horrible event like that, but if you may find that you need them to help your gassy baby!
2. Saline drops – When Jonathan was a few weeks old, he became really congested. It was really helpful to already have these drops since you can’t really give them any medicine yet.
3. D-vi-Sol – Vitamin D drops. Your pediatrician may suggest that your baby take these daily, so go ahead and have them on hand. (I’ve found them cheapest on Amazon, plus not all pharmacies carry them)
4. Car Seat – Don’t be like us. We were supposed to have a shower two days after I had Jonathan (he was a few weeks early). We decided that we’d see if we were given any gift cards and then we’d purchase our car seat. Bad idea! Between contractions, I was on Amazon, ordering a car seat for us. Thankfully a friend of ours had extra since her twins had outgrown them and let us borrow one! Ours arrived a few hours after we came home!
5. Aden & Anais swaddling blankets – Great, big blankets made to swaddle babies. They’re super soft and breathable. Sadly, even as a newborn, my child could Houdini himself out of these in minutes, no matter how tightly he was swaddled.
6. Vaseline – This is for boys and girls! If you’re having a boy and he’s being circumcised, you’ll need it. But for both boys and girls, diaper rash can be treated with Vaseline. I never realize that there were different forms of diaper rash. But thankfully my pediatrician husband filled me in on the different forms and that some types are better treated with Vaseline, not zinc oxide.
7. Rectal Thermometer – Taking the temperature of a newborn/small baby is best done with a rectal thermometer. You also want something with a little room between the probe and your hand…just in case there is a bathroom “moment”. The Summer 3 in 1 Family Thermometer has worked really well for us. Simple to use, removable probe tips that store easily in the back of the case.
8. Freezer meals - Make them around your 35/36 week mark. You’ll be thankful you did! We had baked spaghetti, another pasta dish, freezer burritos, twice baked potatoes, shepherd’s pie, cheesecake, apple tart (didn’t freeze well). Between having friends drop off meals every other night, and us having freezer meals, it saved us so much time and stress! If you’re in need of freezer friendly meals, head over to my Once a Month Cooking page on Pinterest for links!
Other stuff:
Paper products – This may be a silly thing to include on my coming home list, but trust me, its worth having! Washing dishes is going to be the last thing on your mind or in your plans. You’re going to be too busy cuddling your baby or sleeping to think about the dishes in the sink. We’re a family who (generally) washes dishes the day they’re messed up (don’t look in my kitchen right now though!). If we wouldn’t have stocked up on paper supplies, I can’t imagine how long our dishes would have sat there!
