I’ve complied a list of some of our favorite baby items including baby gear and supplies. Many items on the list are non-toxic items because you know that’s how I roll. In a perfect world, everything would be organic and non-toxic. Heck, I’d even make all of my own organic baby clothes if I could. I’d have to learn how to sew first though, ha ha! I’d say that’s highly unlikely. The dry cleaners currently sew buttons back on for me.
I’d describe myself as somewhat of crunchy mama, but not to the extreme. I still live in the real world. I work a challenging, full-time job in commercial real estate. I am recovering from a major, long term chronic autoimmune illness. I cook three meals a day almost every day for the family (my husband helps when he can), and I am now a very blessed mom of two beautiful kiddos. Whew, I’m tired just telling y’all that. Ha, ha! So, life isn’t easy or perfect, especially when it comes to baby gear and supplies. Here are some of our favorite items we’ve used or are currently using in taking care of our kids. Some of these items have really made our lives a little easier.
I’ve included my affiliate links in this post. If you purchase something using these links, first of all, thank you. I appreciate it. I’ll receive a very small credit which I use to support my blog.
- The Moms on Call book: This book was a lifesaver for us with our first child. We had so many of our friends recommend Moms on Call. They even do house calls in Metro Atlanta. We just used the book though. It is a quick reference to help with schedules, food quantities, illnesses and more. It’s short and sweet. It is not an encyclopedia because who has time for that. I wasn’t sure about the whole schedule thing. However, we were believers when we saw how well it worked for our daughter. At four and a half years old, she still does best on a loose schedule. We didn’t follow everything in the book perfectly, but the schedule and many other topics in the book were very helpful for us. We’ve given this book as a gift to several people too. They also have two more books. We have all three. Here are the links: 0-6 months https://amzn.to/2KSCsdi 6-15 months https://amzn.to/2PA6kMy and Toddler https://amzn.to/2EimO9W .
- Organic Cotton Fitted Crib Pad: Cotton is a heavily sprayed crop. I choose to get organic most of the time, especially for crib covers and sheets. Here’s the non-toxic, organic cotton fitted crib pad we got for our son. I’ve been very pleased with it. It has been washed a lot (even using hot water), and so far it has maintained it’s size and hasn’t shrunk. https://amzn.to/2DYy5fq. We also have a organic cotton cover that zips and fully encases the crib mattress. I can’t find it on Amazon anymore, so I didn’t include it.
- Glass baby food jars and glass storage: If you’ve been following my blog, Facebook page or Instagram account for long, you know I’m not a fan of plastic. We use a ton of glass and stainless steel in our house. I batch cook organic, homemade baby food for my son and freeze it. We first used these glass containers with my daughter. See link. https://amzn.to/2zGSrHn I like these a lot. We got these next ones in the link below as a baby gift for our son. I love these, and we are using them constantly. We have the regular glass Oxo ones and the ones with the silicone sleeve. The silicone sleeve makes them easier for travel. https://amzn.to/2SlCpJy
- Dr. Brown’s glass bottles: I always try to use glass for baby bottles. They are safer and non-toxic. Just because a bottle or sippy sup is plastic and BPA free doesn’t mean it isn’t still leaching chemicals into the bottle, especially when it is heated. We have a few plastic hand me down Dr. Brown bottles. We occasionally use those only on the go when we are out at a store to avoid a dangerous accident with an all glass bottle, but we don’t ever warm the plastic bottles for a feeding. Heating can also release chemicals into the milk. Glass bottles are much easier and faster to clean as well. We hardly ever have to use a bottle brush. Dr. Brown’s bottle system can potentially reduce colic, spitting up, burps, and gas. Yes, the parts are plastic. You can’t win them all. We have some of the old design bottles that are tall and skinny that aren’t made anymore, and this year we got some of these new wide neck bottles here in the link. https://amzn.to/2Sp3GuJ . These Dr. Brown bottles with the silicone sleeves are great in case they are dropped. We sent these to our wonderful in-home daycare to use. https://amzn.to/2EbcZvg
- My Green Mattress: Mattresses can be full of chemicals and flame retardants and can release chemicals during use. Infants and children are even more susceptible to chemical exposure than adults. After researching, price comparing, and speaking to the company myself, I chose this mattress in the link here. https://amzn.to/2E6yfS7 . So far we’ve been very pleased with it. We even got my daughter a twin mattress from the same company for her new big girl room. Both kids are sleeping very well on them.
- Water Wipes: Since I don’t make my own (yes, I know I can and probably should), these are the baby wipes I researched and choose to use. You can subscribe and save on Amazon.
https://amzn.to/2KQYoFQ . Target also carries Water Wipes. - Diapers: It is amazing to me that so many diapers contain multiple chemicals, fragrances, and more. Yes, I know cloth is best, but we chose not do to cloth for many reasons. Our favorite all around non-toxic diapers have been Andy Pandy. I’ve only found Andy Pandy on Amazon. Yes, they are pricier than most, but I feel great about our son being in them. Here’s a link to them https://amzn.to/2zEr1lp . We’ve also rotated in some Honest Co., Nature’s Best, and Seventh Generation when we’ve gotten them on a big sale, just to help the cost. Many of these other brands are carried on Amazon and at Target.
- Organic Velour cotton changing pad cover-neutral: This is plain, simple and neutral in color, but I really like it. It was a back up one, but it has been one of my favorites. It hasn’t shrunk and feels nice to the touch. https://amzn.to/2rhkRmu
- Non-toxic baby crib: I researched cribs. Yes, furniture can also be loaded of chemicals. Here’s the exact one we ordered for my son. The rest of his room’s furniture is hand me downs from my wonderful sister. https://amzn.to/2SrBwzi
- Organic Sheets: The theme for our son’s nursery is construction; my husband is a construction project manager, so it was fun for him to do our son’s room in construction equipment. Here are the sheets we picked. https://www.crateandbarrel.com/organic-construction-crib-fitted-sheet/s226341?st=crib%20construction%20sheets The plain, non-colored sheets are probably the safest, but we went with organic with some designs to add a little fun to the nursery. These next sheets in the link below are also organic and a super fun design. I think they can be used for a boy or girl. We bought them for my daughter, but have used them many times for our son. They’ve held up well over several years. We bought two. This set comes with a pillowcase for when you are ready for that. We waited on adding a pillow for a long time. https://amzn.to/2PiOPQA
- Diaper Bag: For my first child, I had a more standard diaper bag with a shoulder strap. It was always hard for me to carry, especially when it was full of baby gear. For our second child (and with my severe back issues and pain), I got smarter and decided to try a book bag. I’ve been very pleased with this one. I usually don’t wear it very long because it still hurts me, but it is small enough that I’m able to put it in the bottom of our stroller. My husband wears it often because he’s awesome, but it also looks much less girly than some if a man does wear it. I love the bright red too. Here’s the link. https://amzn.to/2EiPRKt
- Snap N Go Stroller: We have an old school version of this one that was a hand me down from my sister. I can tell you we use this almost everywhere we go. The car seat pops into it and boom, you’ve got a stroller. Double check your car seat with it, but it is supposed to be universal. Genius idea. It is easy to get in and out of the car and is less bulky than many big strollers.We have a six month old, and we are still using it. We plan to use this for awhile for quick outings and shopping. https://amzn.to/2PjH7pr
- GT City Mini Stroller: For outside walks around the neighborhood or park, we have this one. We had it for my daughter, and it has held up well. It is still in great condition. This isn’t a running stroller though, so check out a BOB stroller if you are looking for one of those. https://amzn.to/2QnbO2r
- Bibs: I don’t think we could ever have enough bibs for my son. He spits up constantly. He has a lot of reflux, so he stays in a bib all the time unless he’s sleeping. I ordered a few kinds some being organic, but these in the link have been the ones I like the most. https://amzn.to/2Lc87XD
- Burp Cloths: Our favorite burp cloths have been cloth diapers. The old school gerber cloth diapers are the best. These newer ones seem less thick, but still do the job. These are just great multi-purpose cloths to keep everywhere including the diaper bag and car. We already had some and bought more. https://amzn.to/2rtompZ
- Baby Monitor: We’ve only used this one with our son for six months, but so far it is easy to use. I heard about some really cool features that some monitors have such as connecting to Wifi and connecting to your Iphone. We just wanted a simple one. I don’t think this one does that, and we really haven’t had the desire for it to do that. We also chose it is because it had 4.5 stars on Amazon and now has 26,334 customer reviews. Whoah, right? Check it out here. https://amzn.to/2Ek8hLb
- Breathable crib liner: The thick, crib bumper pads made me too nervous to use, so we chose to use these. We used a breathable crib liner with our daughter and now for our son. I don’t know what particular brand we have because we got it about five years ago and we have two of them, but this one looks exactly like what we have. https://amzn.to/2Pp58eX
- Sleep ‘N Play zipper outfits: Zippers are your friend, at least they are mine! I didn’t appreciate how great the zip outfits were until we were changing a newborn so many times a day. I highly recommend getting non-flame resistant zip outfits too. Flame resistant clothes have more chemicals that our babies don’t need to be exposed to, and the tags in the clothes will usually say flame resistant (not always). Sometimes the tags don’t tell you. Many times it will say recommend “snug fitting” and have a yellow tag if it isn’t flame resistant. That’s what you want. Of course organic is the best if you can get it! I’m just not good at the outfits with so many buttons, especially if you are doing it ten times a day. Here’s some we registered for with our son and really liked. https://amzn.to/2PoAF0
- 4moms mamaroo Baby swing: One of my husband’s best friends was generous enough to let us borrow their mamaroo with both of our kids. We use it almost every day. We also use an insert to put in it, especially when the babies are really small. Once you have a baby you’ll realize how wonderful it is to have many seats around the house, so you can put the baby down. Here’s the link if you want to check it out. https://amzn.to/2SJ5Sh0
- SwaddleMe Original Swaddle sacks: Yes, I learned how to swaddle, but I preferred these easy swaddle sacks. We used these exact ones for our son and some similar ones for our daughter. Once he started being able to roll over or break out of the swaddle consistently, we put him in the sacks without the swaddle with arm holes. Here’s a link https://amzn.to/2QLdAda .
- Boppy Nursing Pillow: These are great to hold the baby and support the baby while feeding them a bottle or breastfeeding. I found that I usually needed two boppys or a pillow under mine. I have a very long torso, but these are great for almost everyone in the family to use while holding the baby. Also, the baby may use it in different ways as they get older. Here’s a link https://amzn.to/2UAxoip .
Last but not least, we did our baby registry for our son on Amazon. For my daughter, we did Target and Babies R Us. It was nice not to have to go into a store to do the registry or return things in a store. This registry was a small one since it was our second child, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of doing everything and the amount of choices. The subscribe and save program is great for some baby supplies too. I even found many products online that other stores don’t carry.
I hope this list helps anyone looking for ideas for baby gear and supplies. I could have listed 25 or 30 more items. Maybe I’ll do a part 2 of this post soon. I cut myself off. Babies are the most precious gift ever, but they do need lots and lots of gear!
