My Top 5 Favorite Baby Products (4 months and younger)

There are so many things that we have loved when it comes to baby items, and I’ve shared a few of my favorites already, but this topic really deserves a post for itself. These are my top 5 favorite items for our baby that is 4 months old:

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1. The Baby Brezza 

• What it is: Instant baby formula maker
• This thing is super pricey, but it’s worth EVERY PENNY. We had to buy a second one for the cabin because I just couldn’t DID NOT WANT TO make a bottle without it. You adjust the settings based on the formula you’re feeding, dump the formula into the top bin, and pour the water into the side water basin (it automatically heats the water to the perfect temperature!). Then, you adjust the settings for what size bottle you want (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 oz), stick your bottle under the spout and hit the start button. In 5 seconds your bottle is made.
• Why we love this: It’s easy, it’s convenient…most importantly it’s super helpful during late night/early morning feedings when I’m super groggy, and it’s also really awesome when you have baby in one arm and bottle in the other, and need to one-arm/hand it with getting a bottle ready. Seriously, a life saver. If either of these break, I will go out and buy another one immediately.

1. The Oogie Bear

• What it is: a booger and ear wax picker
• This was totally an impulse buy from Buy Buy Baby. We had the snot sucker thing from the hospital (those DO NOT work by the way. Buy the Oogie and a Nose Frida and you’ll never look back), and I saw this little thing and thought that it might be easier than the bulbous mold-attracting sucker with zero suction…And I was right. Although, it is NOT for congestion (see the Nose Frida below for that). This thing is for the ridiculously enormous boogers your infant might get (Helen gets like 3 inch long boogers. I have zero idea where she gets these from, but I always feel like I’m her hero for Oogie-ing out her boogers from her face so she can be boogey-free again). The tips are soft rubber that are designed to only go in to the nose or ear at a safe distance. So there’s no way you can shove it further up and hit higher up the nasal passage, or into the ear drum. Wait. Ear drum? Yes, it’s also for the EARS! If your baby gets a lot of ear wax that you want to clean out, OOGIE IT.
• Why we love this: Well I’ve got a bit of an addiction to making sure her nostrils are clear. My good friends will tell you that I’ve snapchatted or texted them pictures of Helen’s ridiculous boogies. And I like it.

1. The Nose Frida

• What it is: Another snot-pulling apparatus
• I wrote about this in Helen’s 4 month review because she just had her first cold, and was super congested. I had won this as part of a new mommy giveaway, and if I hadn’t, I never would have bought it. I couldn’t even think about sucking my kid’s snot out with a tube prior to having said child.  Turns out, once you have your baby, nothing will stop you from trying everything in your power to keep them safe and happy. Or free from nasal congestion. I broke out the gift pack I received, watched a YouTube video, sucked out her snot for the first time, and was even more addicted to using this than I was the Oogie Bear! The tube never actually goes too far up into the nose (looking at you again, awful hospital bulb thing), and it just forms a suction around the nostril, so that you get some really awesome sucking power when you use it. The amount of crap that came out of her nose during this cold was unreal, and it made a huge difference in her breathing and sleeping while she was sick!
• Why we love this: It works EXACTLY how it says it’s supposed to. There’s a ton of respect there just for that. And again, it’s also gratifying getting out the snot….

1. The Diaper Genie UPDATE: I’m just seeing that this has been discontinued by the manufacturer (guess that explains why Target doesn’t have it!). BUY IT ON CRAIGSLIST! I know that sounds gross, but trust me. This thing rocks, and you can find them for $5-$10 used and in good shape. We have three of them (one for the cabin, one for her room, and one for our basement), and all three I bought used. Why? Because baby stuff is expensive, and I spent less on all three than buying one new. AND none of them smelled or were gross.

• What it is: a big white plastic thing that eats all the dirty diapers and saves your life from diaper odors.
• Seriously, this is a lifesaver. I know it’s a controversial baby item (people seem to either love it or hate it), but for us it’s essential. NOW. There are god knows how many types of these diaper genie type things out there, but I’m telling you with 100% certainty, the DIAPER GENIE ELITE is the best. Why? It has a little lever thing to step on, and it flips the top lid up for you to throw the dirty diaper in. Oh, that sounds like a petty convenience factor to you? Well, next time you’re changing a baby, have crap all over your hands from a blowout, you’ll wish you had a little thing to step on so that the trash can lid would automatically open for you. I’ve been there. That regular base model diaper genie got RETURNED. Or maybe I’m that prissy, but if that’s the case, I really don’t care. Convenience is an enormous thing for me.
• Why we love this: As much as I’d say we could use a regular trash can, I really don’t want to empty one all the time (we empty the diaper genie once a week). The diaper genie really does a great job holding in the odors. And I know this because to me, the WORST smell in the entire world is a huge pile of dirty diapers that have been sitting inside this thing all week. I literally cannot smell the diapers without gagging, and have to hold my breath. But I never smell them until I go to open the genie up, and use the cutter to release the stock of old ones and pull down the bag for the next week’s pile.

1. The Baby Merlin Magic Sleep Suit

• What it is: A “heavy” baby body suit for sleeping
• This suit is supposed to be a transition out of swaddling, but Helen never really likes/liked swaddling. She does, however, really like to thrash around and wake herself up while she’s sleeping. This body suit really helps weigh her down so that she doesn’t wake herself up if she thrashes in her sleep.
• Why we love this: it helps her stay asleep instead of kicking around and waking up. I know this doesn’t work for every single baby, but it worked for ours.