Newborn Essentials to Celebrate Milestones (GIVEAWAY)

*This is a sponsored post on behalf of Babies “R” Us and Pampers. As always, all thoughts, opinions and statements are my own. Plus, I include some great must-have baby items that I recommend to new parents that you should check out in the article.

Having a baby is one of the most exciting, wonderful times of your life. From the first feeding to the first night home from the hospital to the first steps, every milestone is not only important but amazing.

My baby brother and his adorable wife are experiencing what it is like to be home with newborn baby right now. Last week, they had their first little bundle of joy and have been home with the little guy less than a week.

While they are still riding the wave of adrenaline from the excitement of it all, they have already figured out that there are many baby essentials that make the whole process easier. How did they figure it out so quickly? Well, it doesn’t hurt to have one of the most well-known baby gear experts as your sister!

I teamed up with Pampers and Babies “R” Us, the nation’s premier baby products retailer, to do a little shopping for many of the things that they will need for their first few months with the little one. The new parents had already received all the big ticket items such as car seat, stroller, playard, bouncy seat and swing at their baby shower a few months ago, but I wanted to make sure they had the day to day essentials for those newborn milestones.

Earlier this week, I journeyed to my local Babies “R” Us to pick up some of the products that are on my must-have list for all new parents.

Since this was a trip to grab essentials that may not have been on their registry, I headed straight to the breastfeeding section. My sister-in-law is nursing the little guy and I knew that the process could be tricky at the beginning for her. It’s not always a beautiful thing when your breasts leak right through your shirt when you hear another baby crying as you are standing in the line at Starbucks. It happens, believe me.

I recommended that she leave the nursing bra pads off her registry and put it on her personal shopping list because it is always a little awkward if your dad or work buddy is left with breast pads on your registry.

I grabbed her a box of Medela Disposable Nursing Bra Pads and Medela 100% Cotton Washable Nursing Pads so that the Starbucks incident that may or may not have happened to me doesn’t happen to her. 🙂

A nursing pillow is definitely a must-have for me on any new mom’s list but I wanted to grab my sister-in-law a second one that would make her traveling to and from all the relative’s houses with the baby that much easier. The Boppy Travel Pillow was tossed in my cart!

Next, I headed to the bottle section. Sure, she is breastfeeding but she has made the decision to also pump and have dad feed the baby with breastmilk in a bottle from time to time. I knew right away that I was going to grab them some Dr. Brown’s bottles.

Here’s the thing – my brother was the WORST baby. Sorry, buddy, but you were! Unfortunately, he had very bad colic and cried a lot. If Dr. Brown’s bottles were around back in 1987, maybe things would have been better as they are one of the BEST bottles for colic!

So, just in case his son has some colicy tendencies (I figured it is better to be safe than sorry), I grabbed a set of bottles, a great Dr. Brown’s bottle brush (yes, this is absolutely needed!) and a Dr. Brown’s Dishwasher Basket to hold all the pieces that Dr. Brown’s bottles come with. The pieces are worth it by the way!!

It didn’t hurt that they were on sale because I’m a bargain shopper!

The JJ Cole Collections Pacifier Pod also made it in the cart because as any mom knows, those seconds trying to find a clean pacifier with a hysterical baby are crucial. Hang one of these stylish pods on the outside of your diaper bag with a paci in it and you’ll always know where one is. See, why it is makes my must-have list?!?

My brother and his wife are disposable diaper parents like I was. Since new parents end up changing a newborn like 9 times a day, I knew I had to grab a pack of Pampers. New parents can never have too many diapers! Believe me, they will appreciate it!

Plus from October 4^th thru 24^th Babies”R”Us customers will receive a free $10 Babies “R” Us Gift Card with an in-store purchase of any two Pampers value boxes . That is a deal you will want to jump on!

My only advice is that if you are giving a new mom diapers, make sure to mix up the sizes. I grabbed size 1 because I knew that the baby wasn’t wearing the newborn size and they didn’t have a huge stockpile yet.

Layette was next on my list. Until the umbilical cord falls off, I swear by the long sleeve side snap shirts. I grabbed a 3-pack of those and a pack of basic short sleeve bodysuits that are great for layering in cool weather.  Long sleeve sleepers made the cut too because while you think you may be dressing your little one in adorable outfits every single day, the reality is that they will live in cotton sleepers most of the time.

No scratch mittens and socks were added too! The mittens not only keep the baby from scratching himself but they keep random strangers from grabbing his hand and passing a junk load of germs to him. I didn’t want my brother to deal with the first cold milestone too early. Since most newborns don’t wear shoes, they will need plenty of socks especially going into winter.

A newborn essentials shopping trip wouldn’t be compete without a Sleepsak wearable blanket (it’s a great reminder to brand new parents that NO loose blankets in the crib) and a SwaddleMe. Since my brother is a nervous, new dad, I thought the SwaddleMe would take away some of the pressure of getting the swaddle done just right for the baby.

Babies “R” Us has a large section of baby toys but since I was shopping for newborn essentials I grabbed a cute Skip Hop Stroller Toy and headed to the book aisle.  The store has all the best baby books and I always encourage new parents to read to their babies as much as possible. I grabbed one of my favorite books Guess How Much I Love You.

To round out my shopping trip, I scored an adorable Skip Hop diaper bag that was on super sale and headed to the check out.

With my savvy shopping, I was able to get all this for just over $200. Not bad, right?!?

Just in case you are curious, here is the lucky, little guy that this shopping trip was for!

Don’t forget that October 4^th thru 24^th Babies”R”Us customers will receive a free $10 Babies “R” Us Gift Card with an in-store purchase of any two Pampers value boxes!

Since Babies “R” Us doesn’t want my new nephew to be the only lucky baby, they are giving one lucky winner a $200 BRU gift card AND a Pampers Baby Fresh Wipes tub (64 count).

CONGRATS to our WINNER –

Entry #467 – Becky S.

HOW TO ENTER: Rafflecopter is back for this one!

A blog comment is the only mandatory entry! Baby Gizmo friends don’t just stick with “mandatory” though, right? We are overachievers! So, there are additional (optional) entries you can get.  But let us warn you – make sure you actually do the entries! If you click on “leave a blog comment” on the Rafflecopter widget – make sure you actually leave a blog comment. We check! If you don’t do the actual entry – it doesn’t count! You won’t win. We’ll both be sad.

* Giveaway STARTS now and ends at 11:59pm EST on Friday, October 18, 2013. (US residents only on this one, folks!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Since this was a sponsored post, I was given a $200 Babies “R” Us gift card for my shopping trip and compensated for my time of sharing my must-have newborn essentials with you. As always, all thoughts, opinions and statements are my own.