Happy Monday, folks. Reuben is in bed, and Juno is next to me having a snooze in the sleepyhead so I thought I’d take this (potential) half hour of freedom to get typing up a post which I hope could be useful for some parents to be. I know I should be ‘sleeping when the baby sleeps’ but let’s face it, I’ve found that even second time around it’s really hard to do this and sometimes you just want to take advantage of being able to get stuff done in peace (even if that means peace and quiet to scroll through instagram aimlessly for an hour…) So for now, I shall forego a nap and share some newborn essentials with you which I have found to be completely invaluable in these first couple of months with Juno.
PLACENTA ENCAPSULATION* (gifted service)
After doing it once, I swore I would do it again! You may have read this post from two years ago where I discussed my experience of getting my placenta made into pills after Reuben was born. My lovely friend Jen from Badass Birth is no longer doing placenta remedies, so instead she put me in touch with the wonderful Janette from Sublime Birthing who runs Antenatal classes and also offers a range of placenta related services. As soon as I met up with Janette for a chat we just clicked instantly! I was so impressed with her passion and knowledge surrounding everything birth related, so I knew straight away that my placenta would be in mega safe hands with her. I was feeling a bit wobbly on the lead up to my c-section date, and Janette was very comforting and reassuring towards me which was lovely and made it feel like my placenta was one less thing to worry about.
As I mentioned in the post I wrote two years ago (almost to the week!) all of the evidence surrounding the benefits of consuming your placenta is completely anecdotal. It is really hard for me to review how they made me feel as I am yet to experience a birth without taking placenta capsules after it. But what I can tell you is I honestly felt really good after birth this time around, perhaps even better than last time. Of course I was sore from surgery recovery, that’s gonna be a given. I started taking the capsules a few days earlier than I did last time around, and I feel like my colostrum was a lot easier to express, and that my milk came in quicker as well. My post partum bleeding lasted just as long as it did after Reuben’s birth. Overall I’d say my hormones felt really level, REALLY quickly (which is miraculous because I thought I would be all over the place considering I had two babies to care for now rather than just one) I was actually able to start the process last month of coming off my anti depressants, so I guess that’s a pretty good signal that hormonally and emotionally I feel the best I’ve felt in as long as I can remember.
From a service point of view, Janette was an absolute dream to deal with from start to finish. From the cool pack and paperwork she gave me to take to the hospital, to the super speedy delivery of my capsules a few days after birth. The bag she made up for me was absolutely fool proof – which is GREAT when you have total baby brain and are in a newborn bubble and essentially just need to hand the bag over to the midwife and hope for the best. The last thing I remember saying to the surgeon before I went into surgery was “please don’t bin my placenta!” and he said “don’t worry, we’ve got your bag and instructions ready to go!”. Janette drove to the hospital later that day to collect my placenta, and delivered the capsules to me in person a few days later in a beautifully presented bag along with a couple of prints of my placenta and a cord keepsake. Juno is definitely our last baby (famous last words…) but if I ever did go for number three, I would get my placenta encapsulated again without a shadow of a doubt.
MAM 2 IN 1 SINGLE BREAST PUMP
After a rocky start to breastfeeding Reuben due to his tongue tie and me experiencing post natal depression, I was still determined to give breastfeeding another go this time around. I specifically wrote in my birth plan for Juno to be checked for tongue tie, and despite 4 people in hospital telling me she didn’t have one, it was detected a week later by chance by a lovely midwife who used to be a health visitor, when I attended a blood pressure appointment. I had a feeling this was the case as she just couldn’t latch onto my breast, and it was really frustrating for us both. So as soon as we got home from hospital I started expressing my milk and feeding it to her in a bottle instead, which was best of both worlds as she was actually able to feed while still getting the benefit of my breast milk!
My Aunty kindly bought me this breast pump before Juno arrived, it’s the MAM 2 in 1 pump which also has a connection for hand expressing if you’re on the go. The speed and suction levels on this pump are adjustable, so I was able to tinker around with the flow and settings to make it comfortable for me and get the optimum amount of milk each time I pumped. I couldn’t believe it, the amount of milk I was able to pump using this machine compared to what I used for Reuben was unreal! It was really quiet too, with a great battery life when you charged the main unit so it was dead easy to use and very portable as well. I managed to get Juno back up to just above her birth weight using my milk, which I’m super proud of. The pumping life is hard though, and it just ain’t for me. I’m not ashamed to admit I wasn’t cut out for it, and I really had to weigh up that every time she slept and I sat and pumped I could be spending that time one on one with Reuben. So our pumping journey has now come to an end, but I’m still thrilled that this wonderful machine helped me to reach that little milestone with her weight and feeding.
BABYLO CHANGING UNIT
My best friend Gemma gave me this changing unit after she had finished using it with her little boy, and OH MY GOD – it is a total game changer! In our old flat we lived on the one level, and it wasn’t until a couple of months before Juno was born that I realised going up and down the stairs while recovering from surgery wasn’t going to be ideal. We shuffled some furniture around in the living room to make it fit (I just turned it round to face the light to get a half decent photo) and although it does take up quite a lot of space it’s totally worth it. We keep it stocked up with everything Juno needs during the day, so I don’t need to climb the stairs every time she needs her nappy or outfit changed. This is really handy for when I’m alone at home with Reuben, because I don’t ever need to leave him downstairs on his own. The top section actually folds open and there’s a full size baby bath hidden under there, with a plug and a tube so you can drain it easily. Such a brilliant idea and it has made c-section recovery a lot easier. I had a little look online and you can buy this changing table for £69.99 from Smyths.
ECO BY NATY* (gifted products)
A well stocked changing unit makes this little Mama happy, and the nappies we have been using for Juno (as we did for Reuben in the early months) are from Eco By Naty. After tagging them in a previous post when I shared what nappies I popped into my hospital bag, they kindly sent me a few more packs along with some wipes, nappy cream, nappy bags, and even some pull ups for Reuben too! They also sent us a potty for him, as we plan to embark on potty training in the near future but I’ll save all that for another blog post. So far we have managed to get Reuben to sit on the potty in the living room whenever he needs the toilet, but he will only do so while still keeping his trousers on hahaha. Baby steps, we don’t want to force him if he’s not ready and would prefer to follow his lead. Just keeping the potty in the living room so he gets used to seeing it around has been great, as he will go sit on it whenever he needs/has done the toilet. He absolutely point blank refuses to take his trousers off though so we shall see how long it takes for that next step… watch this space!
As for the Eco By Naty nappies, I was first drawn to the brand when I was pregnant with Reuben. I loved the idea of using reusable nappies, but couldn’t quite commit to doing so as we lived in a flat with not much drying space and no tumble dryer. So using an eco friendly disposable nappy brand seemed like the next best option. Eco By Naty nappies are made of natural biodegradable materials on the outer sheet, with 0% oil based plastic or chemicals touching your baby’s skin. This is meant to help prevent nappy rash but unfortunately Juno has had a little while wearing them. Reuben hasn’t on the other hand! I’m pretty sure they are the most environmentally friendly dispposable nappy brand on the market, and you can have a read through their certifications here.
Reuben can last all night in the size 6 pull up nappy without leaking, which is brilliant as he’s a tummy sleeper and these nappies are a great fit/shape for his body and especially for relying on at night time. Juno has only leaked in her size 1 and 2 nappies a couple of times – whenever she had just done a poo but then peed immediately after! If you have ever witnessed a newborn poonami then I don’t need to say any more. We had to size up to a number 2 nappy for her quite quickly as even from the first day in hospital I felt like they didn’t wrap around her sides and tummy quite as high as I would have liked. So maybe keep that in mind not to buy too many of the one size until you work out what fits your baby best. I know nappies have a weight guide on the side but it’s useful to take their shape into consideration as well, if they have a long torso or really chunky legs you might find sizing up to be a good idea! Both sizes of nappies we used feel really lovely and SO soft to touch, to the point that Pete was giving me strange looks one day for rubbing them on my face (they were CLEAN, promise!)
SLEEPYHEAD DELUXE+
Ahh, the infamous Sleepyhead! I never quite understood why these cost so much until I got one. They are a magical little pod for babies which keep them safely cosied up and feeling snug. You can use the Sleepyhead for sleeping, lounging, playing, nappy changing and bed transitioning. They’re also great for tummy time, as you can use the rounded bumper to prop baby up when it’s placed under their arms. Everything is machine washable too, and you can buy replacement covers for them as well with lots of different snazzy designs. This is the same sleepyhead we used for Reuben, with a little upgrade for Juno in the form of a new pink cover. The “deluxe+” is for newborns to 8 months, and the “grand” is for 8-36 months. Now, if those lovely Swedish designers could tell me where I could buy one for a soon to be 31 year old that would be grand indeed!
SNUZPOD
The snuzpod 3 is a bedside crib, which attaches onto the side of your bed to allow easy access to your baby during the night. The side panel unzips so you can have it up or down, and the bassinet lifts off so you could take it downstairs with you to use instead of a moses basket. We used a chicco next2me for Reuben, but it was actually too wide to use at the side of our bed in the new house! So, Gemma to the rescue again as she let us borrow the Snuzpod and we just bought a new mattress, protector and sheets. The Snuzpod is slimmer than the chicco, but SO much more aesthetically pleasing! They both have different height options and the ability to be elevated at one side (which is great for reflux babies especially). There are quite a few bedside cribs on the market, and they all seem to come in around the £150-250 mark. So if you’re looking to buy one I’d have a read up on the different features each have before making a decision! You might like the chicco as it’s bigger so it could last your baby slightly longer, but you may like the removable bassinet from the snuzpod because it means you don’t need to buy a moses basket (however we still have Reuben’s old moses basket, which belonged to my friend Luisa before that, so we just use that down in the living room)
So as much as all of the above are my recommendations, what works for us might not work for you and your baby! It’s all a bit of trial and error (and often expensive trial and error at that) So I hope none of these come off as unsolicited advice! Weeding out the good the bad and the ugly after having Reuben helped save us so much money when Juno came around. I’m so grateful to Gemma for giving us a loan of two ‘biggies’ which helped save us a lot of money, along with my family and friends who put towards some new things I knew I needed to buy. One benefit of having two babies close together in age is that we have been able to reuse so many things of Reuben’s, such as his car seat, isofix base, moses basket, sleepyhead, pram, and even a decent amount of sleepsuits and vests too. My lovely friend Luisa gave us Reuben’s actual cot, which was used by their little girl, and then Reuben, and in 4/5 months time it will be used by Juno as well. And since she is our last baby I look forward to hopefully being able to help some of my pregnant pals by passing on Reuben and Juno’s stuff to them at some point in the future. Be sure to let me know in the comment if there are any must haves you recommend for parents and their newborns!
This post contains press samples which were gifted to me in exchange for an honest review. All views are my own.
