Top 10 Newborn Essentials: #5

And without further ado, here comes #5 on the list of top ten newborn essentials. I'm going to string you along this time and give you one essential thing per day...

#5: Layers

No, I don't mean layers of clothing although for the hotcoldhotcoldhotcold of the early postpartum period, you should do that too. I mean layers for the crib, the changing pad, and the boppy. Let's take the crib: You have your mattress, your mattress pad, and your crib sheet. Maybe your crib sheet is super cute or maybe you only have one or two. Either way, the second you put your baby in the crib, s/he will drool, spit up, poo, or pee on the sheet. Maybe it's everywhere and you have to change it immediately because it's a total biohazard or maybe it's just a little bit but you've only been a parent for 72 hours and it feels pretty important not to let your baby sleep on a sheet that you know has something gross on it. Changing a crib sheet is a PITA, however, and you should do it as infrequently as possible. If you only have one or two crib sheets, you will be forever doing laundry and if you have enough crib sheets to avoid that, you have way too many crib sheets.  Enter the ambiguous "flannel pad." I happen to have stolen my collection of largeish flannel pads from the hospital (at my nurse's urging - I'm not a klepto, I promise) but they are available for purchase as well. They sort of stick to the cotton sheet, so even a wiggly baby can't move them and suffocate and they're much easier to wash and change than crib sheets.


I have the same sort of thing for the changing table, but these have a waterproof backing. They come in very handy when the peanut decides that the perfect time to do her business is in the 2 seconds between removing her dirty diaper slipping the clean diaper under her bottom. Other fun fact: grabbing your toes and pulling them over your shoulders and/or gnawing on them is a really good way to get things moving down below. Anyway. We wash the changing pads a lot.





I use the plain old flannel receiving blankets as a similar top layer on the boppy. Not only does it protect the cover (which is also a PITA to change) but it also serves as a nice burp cloth/spit up rag/etc. Anyway, the main message here is that babies are really slimy little people and it behooves you to have as many barriers as possible between the slime and the nice, pretty thing you purchased to make your nursery visually pleasing.

Back with #4 tomorrow!