Items to Own for the Modern Mom

Here is a list of items I recommend and why:

1. Boppy Nursing Pillow-- wonderful for breastfeeding moms and dads will love them too!

2. BabyLegs-- keep your infant's legs warm while wearing a onesie. They have so many uses and styles that you are sure to use them for a long long time, check out their website for more details.

3. Receiving blankets--(about 25 per child) The great thing about receiving blankets is that you can use them for just about anything. We put a folded receiving blanket on top of a medium sheet saver for our daughter to sleep on in our bed so that if she leaks through we don't have to change the sheets for the bed.

4. Sheet Saver-- There are different sizes for different things. If you are using a crib then use the crib size sheet savers, they will save the trouble of washing sheets every time your infant soaks an overnight diaper. If you are co-sleeping, use a cradle size sheet saver with a receiving blanket folded over it for added softness.

5. BumGenius 2.0-- These are cloth diapers made simple! They are one-size pocket diapers which means they grow with your child. You will save tons of money on disposable diapers and your child will be less likely to get diaper rash. These are not only economical, but they are environmentally friendly. With each infant contributing approximately 2 tons of waste in diapers alone (over the duration of time in which they are in diapers)but you can cut that down to your cotton, biodegradable stash of cloth diapers to about 26 diapers total.

6. Pail Liners-- Cloth pail liners are for the cloth diapering mama only, but if you do decide to cloth diaper you will want to large ones for your dirty diaper pail and two small wet bags to carry with you for dirty diapers on the go. The design and size are really up to you, but I strongly suggest two of each!

7. Hooded Towels-- They are so much easier to use than regular towels and they keep baby all cuddly warm for the trip from the bathroom to the changing table.

8. Dresser/Changing Table Combo-- DO NOT BUY A SEPARATE CHANGING TABLE!!! Buying a dresser with an area to attach a changing pad is not only just as good, it's better because when your child outgrows the need for a changing table you will still have a dresser that they can use until they move out (or you decide to buy them new furniture).

9. Hotslings Pouch-- Each parent must find a baby carrier that feels comfortable to them. Mine is the Hotslings pouch. The cloth is soft and stretchy, there is only one piece, no extra anything. There is not hard plastic fastners or buttons or even metal rings. It is comfortable and easy to use, but my favorite thing about the Hotsling is that it keeps my baby close to me while allowing me two free hands! A must buy for the mom who wants to full engage in attachment parenting, but still needs to run errands and take care of business.

Boppy Nursing Pillows

Every breastfeeding mom knows that cradling your infant in your arms as you breastfeed can be exhausting at best. If you have a large baby, your arms get tired before they are even halfway finished eating. Having a nursing pillow makes breastfeeding easier and frees up your hands to do something else while your little one suckles to sleep. I've tried a couple nursing pillows but my favorite is the Boppy nursing pillow. It is a basic horseshoe shape and fits nicely around my body so that my daughter is at the right level to nurse. I can read or work on my laptop while I nurse (when she's sleeping) which makes me feel much less confined while breastfeeding. My partner bought me a Boppy for Christmas while I was pregnant, it was the first baby-related gift I had received and I was more than excited to get to use it once my daughter was born. We quickly learned that my partner had his own uses for the Boppy too. The shape of the Boppy contours the neck nicely, making it a wonderful pillow to sleep with (for adult use only).

We now have two Boppy pillows, one for the house and one for the car. Breastfeeding in public discreetly is a tricky matter so most of the time I just put up the sun screens in the front window and breastfeed in the backseat. The Boppy has made it much easier to get my daughter comfortable while allowing me to control just how much of myself gets exposed to peepers.

My partner loves Boppy, so we ended up getting the Boppy brand changing pad covers, the Boppy playmat, and Boppy slipcovers. When I get pregnant with our second child, I don't think it will be hard to convince him to buy the Boppy body pillow. It is a wonderful company that I feel comfortable supporting with products that we have found to be incredibly useful. As our daughter gets bigger we find that a lot of the "must-have" items we bought because all the gift registries tell you to get them ended up only being used for a couple months and then sitting useless in a corner of a room. Not so with the Boppy nursing pillow. I am so glad we made this investment! Moms beware--there are lots of items out there that you think you need, but when it comes down to it you aren't going to use everything.