9 Essential Items For The New Mom

Are you looking for essential items for the new mom?

Being a new mom is exciting and can be overwhelming at times. Therefore, you’ll need all the help you can get to make you more comfortable and more efficient. I know, efficiency doesn’t seem to resonate with many new moms, but we should try to cut down on as much time as we can so we can focus on ourselves and the baby.

There are certain things that I cannot live without because these items help me save so much of my time (and energy). If you are a husband and you have no idea what to buy for your wife, here are a few things that you can buy for her that would make her life (and yours, obviously) so much smoother!

Some of the items below may seem costly but trust me, these things have made my life so much easier!

1. THE ULTIMATE ESSENTIAL ITEM FOR THE NEW MOM – BREAST PUMP

As a new mom, whether your choose to breastfeed or not, you would need a breast pump.

Why would you need a breast pump if you decide or not to breastfeed?

Sometimes, after you give birth, there may be occasions where you might not be able to feed your baby directly or as soon as you’d hoped for. Some of the instances may be:

• Your baby does not know how to latch
• Your baby is placed in the ICU

And since most newborn babies may need to feed every 2-3 hours or by demand, if you don’t empty your breasts, they may be engorged. So yes, getting a breast pump is not just to ensure you can pump milk for your baby, but it’s also to prevent your breasts from getting too full.  

There are many different breast pumps out there. Based on my experience using Spectra 9+ it is effective and not too expensive. Read my review about the Spectra 9+ breast pump here.

Related posts:

10 Breastfeeding Things I Wished People Had Told Me

5 Places You Can Buy Breast Pump Spare Parts 

2. GABAG PUMP BAG

Another essential item for the new mom is a good pump bag.

When you work from 8am – 6pm and have to leave home around 640 am, you need a good pump bag to keep your expressed breast milk cool and to prevent your ice from melting too quickly. Based on my experience, I had to change 2 pump bags and finally, I am very happy with my Gabag pump bag.

With my previous pump bag, the ice would melt by noon and I had to keep the ice and milk in the office fridge! Thankfully, there was a fridge in my previous office but not all offices have one. Also, not everyone would feel comfortable keeping these in the fridge or freezer.

This Gabag pump bag can also keep the ice mostly frozen until the end of the day, but it can also function as a handbag. This is very handy for mothers who need to go to work via public transport.

I can’t tell you how much I love this Gabag! You can buy this bag at several stores and online.

3. NURSING BRA

During your pregnancy, you might want to consider buying nursing or breastfeeding bras as they may be more comfortable at this stage.

As for me, I’ve only used two brands of nursing bras throughout my two years of breastfeeding experience.

Mothercare Nursing Bras

Mothercare carries several types of nursing bras that are essential to every new mom. They are made from comfortable material and don’t have wiring. I like their range because they are very comfortable, supportive, and cute too.

Spring Maternity Nursing Bras

Spring Maternity also makes several very nice comfortable nursing or breastfeeding bras.

They used to have a shop in Bangsar Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur but they closed down permanently. However, you can find them on Zalora.

4. COMPRESSION SOCKS

For the new mom, compression socks are essential.

There are many different brands that sell compression socks because it can be used especially during pregnancy, post-partum and during a long flight to alleviate the discomfort of swollen legs and ankles.  

I bought a pair of compression socks during my second pregnancy and I felt like it helped with managing the swelling of my legs.

5. BABY CARRIER

I know this may be the umpteenth time I am mentioning this, but I really cannot live without my baby carrier!

For me, I have only used the Boba baby carrier and Bebe Sachi sling ring (when they were newborns).

I think we use this more often than our stroller especially if we go to places that aren’t really stroller friendly. We don’t usually bring the stroller to shopping malls because of how the escalators are.

These baby carriers are usually suitable for babies 3 months and above. For newborn babies, it’s always advisable to use a ring sling or kain batik (gendong) as their heads are not strong enough.

Our baby carrier is Boba but there are also Malaysian made carriers like Snugg Baby and  Baby Wrap by Mak Yang.

6. BABY CAR SEAT

For every new parent, you would want to try to train your baby to get used to the baby car seat. It’s important for them to get used to it because it would allow you to travel from one place to another safely.

The first several times, your baby may cry but that is actually part of the process. Whatever it is, ensure that the baby is full and is not sick when you place him or her in the car seat.

For me, I have been using Chicco 360 car seat that can be used for newborn babies and toddlers. We have been using that since my daughter was born

When we had our second son, she migrated into a different car seat. We bought the Sweet Cherry car seat suitable for kids above 4 years old.

Related post: How to keep your baby happy in the car seat.

7. BOKITTA INSTANT HIJAB

Bokitta Hijab is also another essential item for the new mom. It’s so easy to put on and for some collections, you don’t have to iron them. In that way, it saves you a lot of time to get ready. And you’ll look great too!

8. BABY CHAIR

A baby chair is an essential item for the new mom. Although you may not need this immediately, you might find this useful once you need to feed your baby when he is around 6 months old.

Based on my experience, it was almost impossible for me to feed my daughter without her wriggling around. Plus, she likes to sit with us at the table when we eat.

Whenever we eat at the table, we have tried to put her on the floor so that she can play with her toys but most of the time, she would come crawling to her chair, wanting to sit with us. I find this very flattering because it does mean that she wants to spend time with her parents.

With the Baby Fisher Price baby chair, we can strap it (the chair) on an adult chair.

I also find it easy for her to self-feed.

Of course, most of the time she is being fed but sometimes I would let her eat by herself (with supervision, of course).

Some paediatricians encourage baby led-weaning because you let the baby decide what and how much to eat. When I went to see the paediatrician a few months back because I was worried about Aisha not wanting to drink as frequently as her cousins, the doctor assured me that Aisha was fine and that she is just a baby that is easily distracted.

She had also suggested that I could even try baby-led weaning as it may be a better technique. There are also a small number of Malaysian mothers who try to share about this technique with other mothers.

Lactation specialist Pn Kamariah from Susuibu.com is also another consultant who has encouraged this technique to me and my sister.

Your baby will learn to be more independent but it also allows her to try different textures. AND we get to eat in peace (most of the time).

 9. PHILIPS AIR FRYER

The Philips Air Fryer is probably another important essential item for new moms.

I say indirectly because when you’re a new mom, you don’t have much time to cook food like you used to.

The air fryer can help you to air fry different types of food such as chicken, fish and even finger foods. It does not need much oil for it to fry your food so that way, it’s much healthier.

Also, you can do other things while it fries your food. You get to save time this way. WINNNN!

I had used mine for around 7 years!

The air fryer is especially convenient for people who have small families. You can air fry your fries and ayam goreng without having to worry whether your little one will touch it and get hurt from the heat. It’s amazing.

You can also order it on Philip’s online store via Shopee.

So these are the essential items for the new mom that I truly believe will help all moms out there!

Let me know if you’ve ever tried any of these, your experiences and even suggestion. Leave a comment below: