Since I’ve been a mom, I’ve realized there are some things that I can NOT live without. Yes, there are the obvious – like diapers, onesies, bottles, etc. But there were also a few things I did NOT expect to need.  These are:

Easy Food. Nourishment. Comida. 

I’ve learned that it is hard to eat sit down meals during the day. When B is at work, FW is a fussy baby. He constantly needs to be held, changed, fed, and repeat. Or maybe that’s every baby?

So some days I don’t get a solid, two-handed lunch. Or breakfast. I need to turn to snacks to keep me full in between the quick meals and these have to be easy, healthy snacks. And they have to be easy to eat one handed! Some of the snacks I’ve found helpful include:

• Ready-to-eat fresh fruit and veggies. Clean it, chop it, etc. do what you need to do to prepare it ahead of time. I’m serious. As easy as it is to wash some grapes and green beans or chop up a watermelon or celery, when a baby is screaming and you’re starving, you’re not going to want to do this. I find it easier to do when B is home – or even better, B does this for me 🙂 AND it’s so easy to just drop some pre-chopped fruit into some yogurt and eat that with some granola (yes, it can be eaten one handed – I’ve done it).
• Dried or freeze dried fruit. It’s already prepared and it’s easy to eat. Just be careful and not to get one with a ton of sugar in it. I love these freeze dried strawberries – the ingredients only list freeze dried strawberries (no added sugar) and the whole package is under 100 calories. Yes, the WHOLE package.
• Something salty. Yes, even though I have a sweet tooth, I love salty foods on occasion. I love unsalted nuts, as well as these spicy seaweed snacks. They help satisfy my salt craving without going overboard on food like chips and pretzels (which yes, I do enjoy as well).
• Nut butter. I love nut butter. Peanut, almond, sunflower- you name it, I love it. Right now I’m loving some local peanut butter from the West Side Market as well as Peanut Butter & Co crunchy peanut butter. A plus? It can be eaten with one hand, fills you up, and is an ingredient in a ton of great healthy recipes.

[If you’re breastfeeding] Stuff for your boobies :

Ha, I don’t know if I ever thought I’d write “boobies” in a blog post … but here we go!

There are a ton of random things that I’ve found useful as I’ve started my journey with breastfeeding. Besides the “obvious” (like nursing bras), here are things I’d recommend for new moms:

• Nipple cream (not optional): Buy this. Use this. You’ll be happy you did. The kind I’m loving now is the organic nipple balm from Honest Company. It’s in an easy to use jar and it works!
• Brewer’s yeast: Why do you need this? There are tons of great recipes for moms to help your milk come in that use Brewer’s yeast. So really, this is an excuse to make cookies, like these ones that my friend Reanna (from the Last Mommy Blog) made me.
• Nursing Support tea: I love tea, year round, even in the summer. And this is tea I can drink and feel good about drinking while I nurse – it has chamomile, lavender and other great ingredients.
• Booby tubes: Nursing isn’t easy. It isn’t pain free. Booby tubes (yes it’s a funny name) can be heated or cooled to provide comfort depending on what you’re needing. And they’re reusable.

Miscellaneous

• Extension cords – especially an extra long phone charging/USB cord: You may be wondering what this has to do with being a new mom. Well, especially when nursing,  I’m stuck in one spot for a while. And I am often using my phone one handed, and it starts to die. Having a long charging cord allows me to keep charging my phone while holding FW, nursing, or doing many other tasks or I’m stuck in one place for a while.
• Thank you cards: I’m so grateful that my friend Coughi bought me a bunch of thank you cards as part of a shower gift. If you’re lucky, you will have many friends and family bringing you meals and giving you gifts when your little one arrives. If you have thank you cards on hand, it could be a great way to show your appreciation.
• A Netflix/Hulu/HBO Go/Amazon Prime subscription: You’ll be spending a lot of time one handedly holding your baby or feeding him or her. I haven’t quite gotten the hang of reading and nursing or reading and holding FW at the same time, but I  can be easily watching Netflix!

Moms and mom friends- what would you add? What have you found necessary?

*Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, but some of the products mentioned were provided to me by Swanson Health. My views and comments are solely my own and do not represent those of Swanson