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D.C. Area Babies
mcatmay
member
Suggestions for a newly pregnant friend
mcatmay
member
My bestie is finally pregnant after some hiccups along a long road and, once she's out of first trimester, i want to start "a gift a month" until the baby comes. I'd love some suggestions as to what you ladies think are essential survival items for either mom or baby during that first three month haze of having a new baby. Some things i've thought of include (at least from my perspective):
A&A swaddles
RnP
Sleep mask and sleep CD for mom
white noise machine for baby
What other things do you all swear by? Or what things do you think are a complete waste of money? Anything and everything goes!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Suggestions for a newly pregnant friend
Wow! I wish you were my friend when I was pregnant!
Definitely the Rock N Play. I got mine off of Craigslist and it was by far the best bargain of everything I got.
I got a sleep mask and CD as a gift and I've never used them. When it was time to sleep while I was on maternity leave, I needed no help in that department. Although I know some people have a harder time trying to sleep when the baby sleeps, so this might be good for them.
Boppy
Lots of sleepers - I went through these like crazy when DD was a newborn and having a lot of them kept me from having to do lots of laundry, which was the last thing I wanted to do.
How about a gift certificate to Let's Dish (if she's local) and then you guys can go together and make frozen dinners for when the baby arrives? Or, if she's too tired at that point, you can go make them for her. Some friends mailed me frozen meals (they live far away) and those came in super handy in the first few weeks.
Gift certificate for a massage.
an IOU for a girls night out once baby arrives (I really need one of these now, LOL!)
food for the Mom; I don't drink coffee or anything else w/ caffeine so I let myself eat as much chocolate as I wanted
- IOU for adult companionship. as much as i'm sure we all love our babies, being on ML often makes us yearn for adult interaction since we are missing it all day.
- a journal for capturing her thoughts and baby's milestones. i intended to do this for each of my kids...i don't like the over commercialized and corny baby books, i wanted a regular journal where i could write thoughts during pregnancy and after the birth but also capture their milestones growing up. i said i intended to to this, b/c i didn't actually do it!
- stretchy nursing jewelry (made especially for baby to play with while nursing)
- sophie the giraffe
- this is adorable (slide 5: https://www.pinkandbrownboutique.com/gifts/gifts.html). i
this store!
- stocked mini diaper bag (most people get gigantic diaper bags, but i found i was able to carry everything i needed in a mini bag. it was so much easier than lugging around the huge one i had with #1. contents: several diapers, wipes, powder, 2 onesies, 2 outfits, plus random small things like my wallet/phone, etc)
- GC for maternity wellness: massage, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, acupuncture. this is helpful for all moms-to-be, but especially for those who had a challenging journey, as your friend did
- GC for things she and her husband enjoy doing, but won't get to do for a while after baby (movies? dinner out? weekend away?)
such a nice friend you are for doing this!
Maybe this is a dumb idea, but you know those tickers that are all "You're X months & now your baby can hear/has fingernails/etc."? What if you did presents along that theme? Like
You're X months...celebrate your baby having toenails by using this gift cert to treat yourself to a pedicure.
You're X months...celebrate your little monkey doing somersaults at 2am by reading this Curious George book.
Honestly, while presents for baby might be most useful, a mix of presents that could pamper the mama/help her enjoy her pregnancy (which it seems was maybe a struggle to make happen?) & practical would be best?
Things I couldn't live without (some already mentioned): Miracle Blanket, white noise machine (we have two Conair ones), My Brest Friend pillow (much better than Boppy), Bebe Au Lait nursing cover, "Happiest Baby on the Block" book & DVD, a set of "links" for attaching toys to things, Wubbanub pacifier animal (which I haven't used, but everyone swears by), mirror to see Baby in the car, Gerber birdseye cloth diapers for burp cloths, Jolly Jumper deluxe car seat cover (assuming Baby will be in the infant seat through some part of fall/winter).
Many of those can be found most cheaply on Amazon or BabySteals.com or even ebay.
What a thoughtful thing to do for your friend!
GREAT suggestions - for both mom and baby!!! and Kastle, i love the idea of trying to match it up to the stage of development of baby - what a great idea!
you are such a sweet friend! i don't want to damper the mood and you know your friend best, but just something to consider - if it's been a bumpy road for her so far, could she be a little nervous about having/getting too many things for the baby before he/she arrives? fwiw, i had an early mc and it kind of made me anxious when people got super excited about my 2nd pregnancy until I was well past our 20 week anatomy scan.
so some ideas for her: a belly band for that time before she's big enough for maternity clothes, larger PJs and loungewear (I hated that maternity PJs were so clingy), cute maternity undies or other stuff to help her still feel pretty, burts bees mama bee belly butter, a yoga ball (helped so much toward the end), prenatal yoga or workout dvd, maybe you could even volunteer to take some maternity photos of her down the road?
umbdbride, you're right to mention it - having gone through a mc myself, i'm exceedingly sensitive to it. She actually wanted to go out and buy a new car for the baby (she's still in first tri) and I told her to only buy things that she was ready to throw away if anything happened - because that's what i did with my baby gifts.
I haven't quite thought how i'm going to do it yet - maybe monthly, maybe just more weekly towards the tail end of her pregnancy. For her birthday (over thanksgiving), i got her stuff to make her feel better - teas, belly oil and pajamas. I figured that was safe for now.
I don't know what the right answer to a new life - it's so fragile and so precious. I'm so excited for her that it want to go out and get her a million things and at the same time, i sit on myself to wait until she's out of first tri. Being a new mom was really rough for me and i had no support and no real clue what i was getting into - i just want to be able to smooth out the road for her a little bit because i don't think she has any clue either - the other day she told me, "i know that you were keeping the details of your pregnancy to yourself because i was struggling to get pregnant but boy, this first trimester is rough - sorry i wasn't more supportive"... and all i could think about was, "she ain't seen nothing yet!". I really don't want her to hit the wall that i did as a new mom.
Thank you for the suggestions though - i especially like the idea of taking maternity pics as i 'dabble' in photography - a great idea!