The Best Baby Gifts We Received

I've been a mom for two years now and remember the newborn stage in detail. Sure, some memories are fuzzy due to the crazy sleep deprivation but mostly, I remember the highs and lows of the beginning of parenting.

When Adalyn was born, people were so sweet to us and were very helpful. We got all kinds of baby gifts at my shower, at the hospital and when people came to meet Adalyn at our home. Today, I want to share the most helpful baby gifts that we received and why they were so special.

1. Meals

The number one gift that we got post-baby was people delivering meals. My mom, sister and sister-in-law made us homemade meals and I am forever grateful. This is my number one favorite baby gift for a couple of reasons. In the beginning, things are so hectic. You are recovering from birth, learning to take care of a new baby, sleep deprived, breastfeeding seems like it is 24/7, etc. Time is limited and not having to worry about dinner was so amazing. Also, just knowing that someone took the time to make you food was so comforting to me during this time.

One of our visitors: Adalyn's great grandma- Busia!

2. Helping out

The second best "gift" that we got was people helping out. My mom would come over some of the days of my maternity leave and help out. I'm sure that when we have another baby, we will need help, especially with Adalyn so this is a very helpful thing to give a new parent. This could include helping around the house, calling while at the grocery store to see if they need any food (my dad did this for us) or helping out with other children.

3. Baby bottles

Whether you are formula feeding or breastfeeding, you will probably end up using baby bottles at some point. I breastfed Adalyn for 18 months but since I went back to work after 10 weeks, I pumped at work and our caretakers gave Adalyn bottles.
We liked the Playtex Baby™ Nurser® with Drop-Ins® Liners bottles. These were helpful for feeding baby the first year. They are close to natural breastfeeding and simulates the same suck, swallow and breathing patterns as breastfeeding. They are made to make the switch from bottle to breastfeeding easier. The liner collapses while the baby drinks to prevent air from mixing with the milk and getting into your baby's stomach which can help to reduce colic.


We bought these at Target. Target is so awesome as a one stop shop for baby products. I love buying clothes there and lots of our toiletry products and more. We registered there and I was happy with their selection.

4. Diapers

This one is pretty obvious but when you have a baby, you need a ton of diapers. There is not too much that you actually truly need with a baby but diapers is something that you cannot be without. I was always excited opening a package of diapers.

5. Pacifier

My cousin Diana had a baby 10 months before me and got us her favorite pacifier that her daughter used. When she found out that we were expecting, she brought me one. It ended up being Adalyn's favorite thing ever and we actually just ended up weaning her off of it this past week at almost two years old. We ended up buying about 5 more of these through her babyhood.

Adalyn wearing my dress from when I was a baby.

6. Thoughtful, from the heart gifts

We received some gifts that were right from the heart and those have so much meaning. My mom put together a box of ethnic gifts for the baby with all of her nationalities. From Poland, she got a Polish children's book. From Ireland, she got an Irish hat.  From Germany, she got a German onesie. I got this awesome box at my shower and a lot of our guests were in tears over this thoughtful gift.

7. Wipes

Just like diapers,  you cannot have enough of these.

8. Gift cards

Gift cards were so helpful because after our shower, there were still some items that I needed to pickup. We got a few gift cards that it was so helpful to be able to buy what we really needed with.

9. Books for baby

We received a bunch of books for our shower with personal notes in them that Adalyn ended up loving down the road. It means so much to me that we got these from loved ones. My parent's have a farm and we got a few farm books which is so fun.

10. All different sized clothes

We got a ton of 3 and 6 month onesies and such for our shower that I actually had to take some back because I had so many. Some people got us bigger sizes such as 12 months which was helpful for down the line so everything was not in the same size.



From 8/21-9/3, Cartwheel has a deal where you can save money on these Playtex bottles.