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Before we dive in, a quick note 🤍

I am not a medical professional, midwife, nurse, or birth worker. Everything shared here is based purely on my personal experience with my two boys and what worked best for me. Always consult your healthcare provider if you have medical questions or concerns.

Affiliate Disclosure

Some of the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you purchase through one of these links, it does not cost you anything extra, but I may earn a small commission. I only share products I truly used, loved, or found helpful.

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Prenatal & Maternity Favorites

• Belly bands – Once your pants get too tight, these help you avoid maternity clothes longer (or entirely — which is what I did with Jax).
• Support belly band – This was my favorite with Coltyn. I had pretty bad ab separation and this made a huge difference.
• Kindred Bravely maternity leggings – Pricey, but worth it. Watch for sales on their site, or grab them on Amazon if you don’t want to wait.
  • I had the thicker pair, but they also make a more lightweight option.
• Magnesium supplements – Helps with sleep, muscle cramps, and so much more. My midwife recommended Natural Vitality.
  • Take before bed. The taste isn’t my favorite, but you get used to it.

• Yoga ball – By the third trimester, this will be your best friend.
  • Great for back pain, pelvic pressure, and helping baby get into a good position.
• Prenatal yoga & pilates – My favorite way to work out at home, especially with this Youtube Channel.
• Miles Circuit – Start toward the end of the third trimester. I swear by this (and it gets easier each time, I promise)!!
  • I started doing this at the end of my pregnancy with Coltyn and let me tell you… the pressure it took off my back and pelvic- AMAZING! I also am convinced it helped kickstart my labor in combination with a membrane sweep.
  • There are great videos from a birth doula explaining it, doing it with you, and correcting common mistakes. They are the ones I found that made the most sense to me.

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Registry Suggestions

• Register everywhere.
  • Most places give you welcome boxes with full-size items and samples — amazing for figuring out what bottles or pacifiers baby prefers.
• Registry discounts are huge.
  • Target: one year of rewards
  • Amazon: 15% off up to $300 (I think it has to be one order — don’t quote me)
  • Babylist: one-time discount
• Free / discounted boxes:
  • Target – free bag at customer service
  • Amazon – about $9.99 for a large box
  • Buy Buy Baby – pay shipping
  • Babylist – pay shipping, but it is a large box
• Babylist is hands-down the best registry.
  • You can import all your other registries.
  • Link items from Etsy.
  • Add sampler packs of bottles, binkies (pacifiers), and more
    • This was AWESOME for figuring our what kind baby lies. You may love the look or aesthetic of one brand/type and baby hates it, but loves one you barely remembered you had. Believe me, I know from experience and was so grateful I had gotten these sample packs.

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App Suggestions

• Nurture – A great app to track your pregnancy; from symptoms to kicks and later on, contractions.
• Pregnancy+ – Super realistic baby development visuals.
• Baby tracking apps – LIFE SAVER.
  • Track feeds, naps, and diaper changes.
    • LIFESAVER when you are sleep deprived and can’t remember how long since the last feed or how many dirty diapers in one day.
  • Makes doctor visits easier because you can just pull up stats.
  • Helps when you’re exhausted, just use your phone & not have to turn on a light to write it all down. It also helps when your partner can input things while you nap.
  • We used Huckleberry, but Glowbaby is another good option.

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Hospital Bag Must-Haves

• Extra-long phone charger – Definitely something you’ll want if the plugs aren’t behind the bed (which they weren’t in both of my experiences) & you most likely are going to want to take lots of photos or talk to family and a long charger is beyond helpful. 
• Chapstick!!!
• Handheld fan – Got me through my unmedicated labor with Coltyn. Plus this one is GREAT for attaching to strollers later on.
• Dry shampoo, shampoo, conditioner – You’ll definitely want your own products if you choose to shower. I was so grateful I packed these after an unexpected long hospital stay after C.
• Loose sweats – Your belly will be tender. and you’ll want to hide the boyshort godsend undies. These are sooooo soft! I still wear mine. They would be helpful for c-section too, as they aren’t too low and they’re drawstring, so you can control the pressure.
• Nursing tanks – Even if you’re not planning to nurse, great for skin-to-skin.
  • My favorites were from the Auden brand in Target, but I don’t believe they carry them anymore.
• Nursing bras – Bring at least two.
  • I had both padded and non padded/sport bra like ones, and loved both.
• Labor outfit – You don’t have to wear a hospital gown!!!!!! I seriously wanted as little clothes as possibleI & wore a bralette and loose shorts for most of my labor. Because I had a photographer for both birthday, I still wanted to look & feel pretty.

• Minimal baby clothes – With Jaxyn, we left him in just a diaper and swaddled as they have to get checked on so much rather than get him dressed until we left. Easier for everyone, and believe me they are still warm. I will say I was grateful I had a few outfits with me for Coltyn’s birth, though because we ended up staying 4 days longer than expected.
• Baby hats – Hospital ones slip off easily.
  • I loved Copper Pearl — they’re SO buttery soft and such cute patterns and colors.
• Swaddles
  • The hospital will have those classic white with blue striped ones, but having your own makes it seem more like home. Plus the nurses can help show you how to swaddle with the ones you will be using long-term.
  • Copper Pearl makes ones that is in the same super soft, buttery material as the baby hats. And they match, which is an added plus for photos. 
  • If you have a dog at home, have someone bring a swaddle that has been with baby home. This will help them get used to baby’s scent before you all get home.
• Postpartum care (see below)
  • The hospital will give you everything you need, but the things I found more useful, especially right after birth, I brought with me.
• Shower caddy– Keeps everything organized and off the hospital floor.
  • Can double as a portable diapering kit for around the house after you go home! Super helpful. 
• Daily prescriptions – full bottles or travel containers, but make sure you bring more than you expect to need. As I mentioned, I was in the hospital for an additional 4 days after my second, which was not anticipated.
• Leave your bag half empty — you’ll want to bring things home 😉
• Pacifiers (multiple brands) – If you plan on offering a pacifier right away, bring several different brands. Both of my boys were very particular on which they would accept and from my understanding that is the normal.
  • Many of the free welcome boxes from baby registries give you one or two.
  • The hospital I delivered at would not give us any for either as it was against their policy, so best to have one just in case.

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Birth Photographer

Okay, this one is very pricey — but SO worth it.

Our birth photographer doubled as a doula, which was truly a blessing. She was incredibly supportive both before and during our both of our births, and the photos captured moments I couldn’t see, barely remember, or don’t remember at all. The raw reactions, emotions, and intimacy she documented are something I will cherish forever.

My first birth turned traumatic very quickly, and I didn’t fully realize how much I had mentally blocked until I saw the photos. And because she was a doula. she also helped keep me calm during moments of panic while pushing. I truly don’t know how I would have gotten through parts of labor without her support. I am so grateful to have those precious, intimate moments captured, because they helped me feel like I was actually present for that birth. Even the scariest moments were documented with so much care and beauty, and thankfully our son was okay in the end. After our first son was born, my husband went with him into a separate room, while she stayed with me — grounding me during such a vulnerable moment.

Most of the photos we didn’t share with others, for obvious reasons, and at first I wasn’t even sure I would want to see them myself. But being able to look back at the exact moments everything changed and experience it from another perspective is indescribable. This is something I highly recommend.

Looking back at both of my births still gives me all the feels. She turned our photos into a video with a song for Jaxyn’s first birthday on her blog — and I BALLED when I watched it. She later created a video preview with our photos from Coltyn’s birth, and again… I cried.

If you want to see real examples from my births, I’d be more than happy to share — just ask. And stay tuned… I will definitely be doing a full blog post on this in the future 🤍

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Hospital Tips

• Even if you bring Depends, “use” as many of the hospital pads and mesh boy shorts as you can so your nurse restocks them. Stock up a bag to bring home with you! Same with Dermoplast and Tucks Pads.
• Ask for a manual breast pump to help you begin expressing milk instead of a standard electric breast pump. Most hospitals cannot reuse them so you can take it home.
  • I LOVE my manual pump and use it more than my power ones, especially in the beginning when I only needed to drain a little milk to reduce engorgement.
• Bring a Haakaa and some milk storage bags with you! While you are nursing, attach it to your free breast to catch your colostrum, or “liquid gold”, to add to your stash.
  • My hospital did refrigerate milk for me. See if yours can too. If not, have your spouse grab a cooler and some ice to keep it at proper temps.
• Ask to see a lactation consultant. They’re SO helpful! Make sure baby has a good latch BEFORE you leave! It’s super helpful for avoiding soreness.

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Postpartum Care Essentials

Depends / Always Discreet – SO much more comfortable than pads + mesh underwear the hospital gives you.

• FridaMom has a version of the mesh undies and pads like the hospital that I liked, but not as much as the disposable underwear.

• FridaMom Peri Bottle – Angled and much easier to use than the hospital one (though I kept the hospital ones for other uses at home – like when my dog had an injury I needed to regularly clean).
• FridaMom Witch Hazel Liners –  These aren’t as thick as Tuck Pads, but MUCH longer so you only have to use one & less worry about it slipping or moving when you pull up your boy shorts. I tucked the top into the front of a pad and then it didn’t move at all.
• FridaMom Foam – HOLY SHIT this stuff is AMAZING!! It isn’t super long lasting, but the relief it give is the best. 
• Tucks Pads – The hospital usually gives you these.
  • They’re still great, even if you use the FridaMom liners. I would put them under the liner to give extra long lasting relief.
• Dermoplast – The cooling sensation this gives is…. Ahh. No words
• Earth Mama Peri Spray –  This one feels nice, but it needs to be sprayed upside down (obviously) wasn’t created to do so. When it’s getting towards the end it barely sprays. It does provide cooling relief and is a natural product to compare to Dermoplast.
  • Honestly, after a few days after Jaxyn was born I gave into the Dermoplast and was happy I did so. But, on the contrary I preferred this over Dermoplast with after Coltyn.
• Skip FridaMom Pad Ice Packs – NOT WORTH IT!!
  • In my experience they were so cold it was extremely uncomfortable, didn’t absorb at all, & were way too bulky so it hurt to move or sit down.
  • Opt for making homemade padcicles from traditional pads, aloe, and witch hazel instead. There are plenty of Pinterest posts & YouTube videos on how to do it. 
• Breast pads – even if you aren’t planning on nursing, you will most likely leak when your milk comes in.
  • I liked the disposables over the reusable because I found the reusable felt wet & were uncomfortable when they were.
  • The cheap ones at Target were just as good as the super expensive ones, so save your money!
• Nipple butter –if you are going to try nursing, I highly recommend getting a nipple butter for before / after sessions. You will be sore, and maybe even crack (I did) & this helps soothe them sooooo much.
  • Be sure to find one you don’t need to wipe off before baby latches, like this Earth Mama one.
  • Another tip from my lactation consultant was to express some milk after each feed and rub it in around your nipples to help heal them quickly. So many amazing properties with breast milk. This helped me more than the creams did!
• Boobie ice packs – When your milk comes in it hurts!! They are shaped to go around the nipple and fit in your bra. SO relieving!
  • They have these on Amazon and at Target. 

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Baby Must-Knows

• Puppy pads on changing tables and in diaper bags = BEST hack.
  • Baby pees during a change? Just toss it! Out and have to change baby in a restroom? Just toss the puppy pad and not worry about those germs going back into your diaper bag from a reusable changing pad.
  • I also put them at my chest area between my sheets and mattress protector. If you’re breastfeeding, leaking WILL happen; some nights more than others. I occasionally woke up drenched. This extra layer helped prevent more laundry. I’d just change the sheets and the protector would be good as new.
• Receiving blankets > burp cloths
  • Burp cloths are great and all, but they’re so small. We used receiving blankets instead. More coverage for spit up when burping over the shoulder. Plus they get too small to use as swaddle blankets very quickly, so gives them another purpose.
• Velcro or zipper swaddles
  • Swaddle blankets are great, but if your little one is anything like Jaxyn, they’ll get out of a it in less than 5 minutes. We used Halo brand and the 5 second swaddle by Happy Baby the most. 
• Avoid button sleepers
  • These SUCK during late night changes when you can barely keep your eyes open or when baby is older and starts fighting diaper changes or getting dressed. Avoid them at all costs!!
• NoseFrida is gross, but boy does it work!!! Don’t think about it, just use it lol
  • With that said, don’t bother with their electric version. We got it & it stopped working after like 2 uses and was difficult to clean. Opt for a different brand off Amazon if you choose to go the electric route. 
• Save the first few pumping sessions milk until baby is sick later on. The colostrum in the milk will help so much for getting over a cold quickly.
  • If you don’t use them all before the 12 month mark, you can use them in milk baths. Awesome for baby’s skin. 
  • Your Haakaa will help with collecting from your free breast during feeds. There is also collectors you can put inside your bra to collect while you aren’t feeding.
• When you pump, your milk will change color!! This freaked me out at first
  • More yellow is more antibodies, more clear means more foremilk, thicker means more hind milk and more nutrients. I’m no nurse so don’t quote me 100%, but this is what I found in my research. 
• Owlet sock helped my anxiety — but the monitor itself has limitations.
  • With that said, I don’t totally recommend the Owlet monitor though. It is stationary unless you manually go in and change the angle. You also only have the app to look at to see baby. If power goes out or you lose Wi-Fi you are essentially screwed because it’s needs both to run.

• VTech monitors – I highly recommend.
  • They are able to be adjusted through the monitor handheld or the app. I love this more so now that Jax is older and moves around. The handheld is also great because it’s in constant communication with the monitor so you don’t have to wait for the app to load to take a quick peak. It also does not use wifi (the app does though), so when storms have knocked out cable and Wi-Fi I’ve still been able to keep him in his room and see him. 
  • Now with two babies, we still love this monitor because of the two cameras with only one handheld. We can keep an eye on both boys with just one system and its amazing. 
• Skip microwave sanitizers — boil instead. Cheaper & honestly, I felt safer.
  • But, if you want to have something to set and walk away from, I highly recommend the Baby Brezza sterilizer. It fit all of our different (and weird shaped) bottles, binkies, pump parts, and whatever else I could wash and wanted sanitized. 
  • We just boiled everything with our first, and used our sterilizer with our second.
• Loungers: Boppy or SnuggleMe
  • Newborn lounger Boppy was Jax’s favorite thing to nap in when he was a newborn. Highly recommend one. With Coltyn, I had the SnuggleMe Lounger and loved it even more. If you can invest in one I totally would, but the Boppy lounger is also a great option.
    • Disclaimer: The SnuggleMe has changed since I used it (similar product), so I do not have experience with the new model. I also do not believe the Boppy lounger I used is made anymore, but this one is similar.
• Halo Bassinest – highly recommend
  • We had the Luxe version and I loved the vibrate feature, but I didn’t use the detachable feature much- mostly because I had the loungers I talked about above.  Lasted us for both babies and still had life left.
• Reach out to your insurance to see if they cover breast pumps!! Most will cover one fully.
  • There are various websites to go through, but I liked Homefront Pumps the most, but got my pump for my first pregnancy through Aeroflow and it was also pretty seamless.

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Diapers & Wipes

• Pampers Swaddlers & Dyper Brand were our favorites.
  • Swaddlers are more accessible and found pretty much everywhere.
  • Dyper brand can be found in some Walmarts, but they also have a subscription service. I LOVED that these are made from bamboo, are incredibly soft, and are compostable (though I didn’t compost them). They also offer a pick-up service where they will compost them properly.
• Up & Up (Target) – budget-friendly, but as they got older, my boys leaked through them or were prone to more blow-outs.
• Honest, Huggies, LUVs, Cosco Brand – didn’t work for us. My boys either got rashes quickly or leaked through fast.
• Alcohol-free Wipes –  If baby starts to get a diaper rash it’ll burn and they’ll scream. We like Pampers Pure, Dyper brand, or Water Wipes the best. 
• Diaper creams: Burt’s Bees + Aquaphor
  • Air helps rashes heal fastest.
  • Oatmeal baths work wonders.

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Breast Pumps

I have tried several different breast pumps, from manual to powered, hands-free to wired.

• Spectra S1 – powered & not hands-free
  • This was my favorite one as it got the best output for me. I liked that I could unplug from the wall so I wasn’t tethered to an outlet, but it wasn’t hands-free so you are still connected via tubes.
  • I liked that I could pump directly into bottles and cover them to use later that day. Also made it easier to pour into storage bags to freeze.
• Elvie – powered & hands-free
  • Honestly my least favorite of my powered pumps! I had the worst output with it and a hard time to get them adjusted just right.
  • I will say a good friend of me had an amazing experience with them and liked them the best her pumps. It just depends on the pattern of suction and how much you need.
• Elvie Stride – powered & hands-free
  • I would give this and the Willow a tie. I liked both equally and found the Stride was much improved over the original model. I will say, there are tubes still connecting you to the pump that you can put on your belt, which to me was one of the only downfalls.
• Willow – powered & hands-free
  • My favorite of the hands-free pumps I tried. It was easy to place in your bra, could be a closed system (no leaking) by pumping directly into a bag – great for on the go. Can pump into collection containers which are sold separate – though I did this more often so I think they are necessary. No cords or tubes.
• Medela Manual
  • I found this to be one of my top two choices my first pregnancy. I had amazing output with this. I liked how much suction it gave. I would pump directly into bottles on roadtrips with this which made feeding in the car much easier.
• Haakaa – Manual
  • AMAZING for catching your let down while feeding on your free side. I will say it took me a while to figure out how to attach it properly and with enough suction, but once you do it’s WELL worth it. I built my stash up with my seconds quickly with this method.
• Lansinoh Manual
  • Not my favorite. I found I couldn’t draw enough suction with this one.

Be sure to Reach out to your insurance to see if they cover breast pumps!! Most will cover one fully, or cover a percentage of more expensive brands. There are various websites to go through, but I liked Homefront Pumps the most, but got my pump for my first pregnancy through Aeroflow and it was also pretty seamless.

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Pregnancy and the early days of motherhood can feel overwhelming in ways you can’t always prepare for. There is no “right” way to do any of it — only what feels right for you and your family.

These are the products, tips, and experiences that truly helped me through two very different pregnancies, births, and postpartum seasons, and I hope something here makes your journey feel a little easier. Take what serves you, leave what doesn’t, and trust yourself — you’re doing an incredible job.

If you’d like more real-life motherhood favorites, tips, and honest recommendations, be sure to subscribe below so you don’t miss future posts 🤍

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Updated: January 7 , 2025