New Mom – Maternity Essentials

Well hey, there momma! It’s high time I share with you my new mom’s must-haves! This article is going to cover my favorite products I used from pregnancy up until I gave birth. After really mauling it over, I think I narrowed down my holy grail maternity essentials! I broke down my list into, in my opinion, the three most common pregnancy needs: sleep, nutrition, and comfort! Okay, let’s do this…

New Mom Must-Haves for Sleep

I have always needed white noise or something to help lull my brain to sleep. You can imagine my excitement when I heard about this free app called Relax Melodies. Y’all I leaned hard on this app. In some cases, I couldn’t fall asleep without it. Is that a bad thing? Not sure. But either way, I used it, and I still do. This app allows you to custom pick the melodies you want to play. It has everything from an oscillating fan, laundry dryer, thunderstorms, flowing rivers… you get the idea. It was nice having this handy on my smartphone. I brought it with me to the hospital when it was time to give birth. It definitely helped me relax so I could get some precious sleep.

While on the subject of smartphone apps, I want to quickly mention this period tracker. It’s a free straightforward app that helps you track your period, fertility days, and symptoms like headaches.

If you are the kind of person who needs absolute pitch darkness to be able to sleep, I got you. I recommend this beaded weighted eye mask to block out the light! Seriously, I have been using this eye mask for years. I was kind of surprised I was able to find it on Amazon! This little gem has been a must-have since I worked the night shift. I also use it on airplanes, and I’ll stick it in the freezer to use as a cold pack for headaches.

Okay, the last essential in the sleep department is this pregnancy pillow! I’m a chronic side sleeper, and I can tell you that this pillow was invaluable to me. As your pregnant belly grows, you can use all the support you can get. This pillow helped keep my spine in alignment and significantly reduced my back pain.

New Mom Must-Haves for Nutrition

Right from the start, you want to consider a prenatal vitamin. Of course, you should always consult with your doctor before starting any supplements, I am just sharing my own personal experience on this subject. That being said, I did suffer some significant nausea during my pregnancy. One thing that helped, was switching to an iron-free gummy vitamin supplement. Under the direction of my OB, I still had to supplement iron in my diet later in the day on a full stomach. This gummy version was very helpful and delicious, which made me look forward to taking them each day.

During my pregnancy, I was still working full time and I found it hard to take small short breaks to get something to eat. The days of having large meals were fading fast as my belly got bigger and the real estate in my stomach got smaller! Large meals just made me nauseous and exacerbated my heartburn. One great way I managed this was by keeping a cooler full of small snacks right next to my desk. I could just reach over and grab something quick to eat. No need to travel back and forth to the breakroom.

I know you’re going to think I’m crazy recommending this HUGE water bottle! I’m not sure what to say other than, hydration is absolutely KEY during pregnancy. At one point my nausea and vomiting got so bad, that I started seeing stars. I eventually needed IV fluids to get my body back to proper hydration status. So what I’m trying to say is, that you need to hydrate. It’s that simple.

New Mom Must-Haves for Comfort

This category has a lot of recommendations, so I’m gonna try to get straight to the point!

Let’s talk about clothes. I know we want to try to be cute and comfortable during this special time. I really think I found some of the best stretch pants (from Kohls), jogger sweat pants, and t-shirts for that. They are affordable, soft, beautiful colors, and most importantly comfy!

As my growing tummy eclipsed the sight of my toes, the idea of tying my shoes became a joke. I couldn’t just walk barefoot or wear slippers all day since the sheer weight on my feet was too painful. So I needed something easy to slip on that provided good support! These sneakers worked perfectly to wear inside the house. Once I tied the laces on these shoes, I left them tied, and just slipped them on like a sock!

I occasionally needed to wear slippers to help me get around after a shower, a midnight visit to the bathroom, and during my hospital stay to deliver my daughter. These cute slippers were so handy for all of these scenarios.

There were times (especially when I was really nauseous) that I only had enough energy to get in and out of the shower. All I wanted to do was dry off and go lay down! Having a large absorbent robe was so very handy. I’ll admit, sometimes I would just wear my robe all day. I also brought it with me to the hospital to give birth. I loved using it in the hospital. It covered me up, but it was easy to breastfeed my baby at the same time.

Back pain was a serious issue as a got toward the end of my pregnancy. I can’t recommend enough that you get a belly band to help ease the strain on your lower back. In my case, I ended up using the Motif Medical Pregnancy Belly Band there is a tool on their website to help you check to see if you qualify for this band with your insurance.

I hope I gave you some good pregnancy must-haves to consider for yourself or a loved one.

Stay on the lookout for more posts in my new momma series!

Thanks for reading!

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Do you have anything to add to my list?

What are your favorite items or “must-haves” that you used during your pregnancy? Help another momma out and leave a comment below!