Awhile back, a few of the women I know from my son’s pre-school met up for dinner and an informal baby shower for one of them who is expecting her 2nd child soon. I had this great idea a couple weeks earlier that as my gift to this fellow mom I would buy her a couple of things that I considered to be Must Have items if I were expecting a child these days. Turns out what I really feel is essential to surviving the infant stage of motherhood is 1) Getting that baby to sleep 2) Getting that mommy to sleep and 3) Maintaining some sort of dignity until the baby is old enough to walk over and grab his/her own juice box.

My gift bag for mom included:

Hyland’s Teething Gel (Normally, I suggest the tablets, but Whole Foods was out) We used Hylands everything with my kids. Homeopathic and effective. You think YOU want your baby to stop crying? Trust me, nobody wants to stop the crying more than your baby. When I first found Hyland’s I read everything about the products, paranoid that I might be drugging my baby. And if drugs are chamomile, I am fine with the guilt because that stuff works.

A pretty and durable baby bottle for breast milk, of course!!! We spent a good 20 minutes telling our moo-cow pumping stories last night. Flat nipples, painful nipples, A-cup little boobies and D-cup whoppers. I would only suggest giving a baby formula when you are as dry as … don’t make me say it.  I realize these things aren’t cheap, but neither are the plastic ones and nobody wants to see a scratched up plastic www.mentalhealthupdate.com/ambien.html bottle in your baby’s hand hosting a party for black mold.

The sippy cup transition thingys for those pretty bottles because sippy cups are ugly and they suck. Ha! Literally, but also because they are top heavy and you’ll be happy you don’t have to buy MORE beverage holding accessories when the time comes.

This cute little crap holder from Whole Foods. You put the tiny baby items like the paci, the teething tabs, the bugger sucker and your emergency Twix bar. YOu zip it up and plop it in your enormous diaper bag that never has enough compartments. Easy to find, cute and eco friendly! When people ask you about your cute crap holder you can have the smug moment when you say it’s made from recycled bottles. I also own this one and use it as my wallet.

This Today Is The Day notepad which I can only find here.  I’m a list maker and when you have a baby, only in your wildest dreams will you accomplish much more than keeping the baby alive the first several months. You put things on the list that you are likely to forget about like brushing your teeth, closing your robe, and retrieving your wallet/keys/ baby from the grocery store check-out lane.  I should have given her the notepad with the advice to only put one item in each category. Otherwise, it’s more like a list of daily disappointments.

And lastly, I threw in delicate lip balm.  Because when all else fails, mama can rosy up those lips, close her eyes, pretend she’s still 16 and thinks “episiotomy” is a clothing line.

baby gifts