The best deals on the baby gear I recommend to my friends

This time last year, I was pregnant with my first child and extremely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of decisions to make. Should we buy a rocking chair or a glider? Which bassinet should we get? What how-to book, white noise machine, or magical schedule would make a newborn sleep? I spent a lot of time asking friends, searching Reddit, and reading blogs to try to figure out what things I would actually need — and then which specific products to buy. 

I did not exhaustively test every product against the competition (having a baby is very all-consuming), but I can tell you what gear I frequently use and love with my son, who is now eight months old. A lot of these products get nice discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so it’s a great time to shop if you’re expecting. 

Before we had our baby, I planned to be a chill parent with a chill baby who would sleep well without needing expensive gadgets. This went out the window very quickly when I got a baby who hated being still and wanted to walk or bounce 24/7. First, we bought this Norwegian gadget called the Sleepytroll to attach to our bassinet and DIY ourselves a cheaper Snoo. It soon rocked itself to death, its motion gradually weakening over time. After a particularly rough few nights, we broke down and bought a used Snoo on Facebook Marketplace. We would have saved money spent on our original bassinet, the Sleepytroll, and small sleep sacks if we had just bought a Snoo to begin with. 

The Snoo is a smart bassinet that plays white noise and rocks your baby, ramping up the intensity if your baby keeps crying. I have heard from friends that it does not work for every baby, but when it works, it really works — and you have truly magical moments when it successfully puts your baby to sleep. You can control the intensity manually and get nice sleep logs in their proprietary app — though Snoo’s parent company, Happiest Baby, has come under fire this year for introducing a new subscription fee of $19.99 / month for the main app functionality after nine months. While infuriating, I was so desperate for sleep that I still would have bought a Snoo. Also, look out for return policies; some parents prefer to buy their Snoos from Amazon to avoid Happiest Baby’s steep $199 restocking fee.

If you plan to travel a lot, you may also want to invest in a portable crib or pack ‘n play. We went with the Guava Lotus, which came recommended because the mattress sits on the floor and doesn’t have a weight limit — meaning you can use it longer. It’s very easy to set up and collapse, secures the crib sheet safely to the supports, and has a nice carrying bag with backpack straps.

When your baby grows out of the Snoo, white noise is still an incredibly effective sleep aid. We set up an old Sonos One in our nursery, but as the “White Noise Baby Sleep” playlist has completely wrecked all of my Spotify recommendations, you may want a standalone white noise device instead of a Bluetooth speaker. We got this rechargeable little puck for traveling, and it works well and charges on a standard USB-C cable. 

If you plan to travel a lot with your baby, have a small car, or live in a city where you’ll be frequently using mass transit, you should consider getting the Doona as your main infant car seat and stroller. It is an incredibly light all-in-one car seat with stroller wheels that fold into the seat itself, so you can easily transition between sidewalk, car, train, and plane without carrying a separate stroller that you need to gate check or shove in your trunk. It’s expensive, but the build quality feels great, it rides very smoothly, and once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy to transition between modes. My only complaint is that it’s easy to accidentally lock the wheels while walking. And because of its small wheel size and lack of hand brakes, it is best used on sidewalks and flatter terrain.

There are lots of stylish baby carrier options out there, but we were sometimes walking our baby four-plus hours per day, and so we prioritized ergonomics over style. We have and love the Beco 8, which puts the weight on your hips like a backpacking backpack and has a shoulder strap. It has a newborn insert for very small babies that can be removed as your baby gets older and can face forward and a nice little sunshade that can snap onto the shoulder straps. 

In the first few months, I also used a Solly Wrap as the Beco 8’s hip support was too close to my c-section scar. It’s pricey for what is essentially just a long, soft piece of fabric, but I found it very easy to use and great for getting things done around the house while my baby napped on me. Around three months, though, my baby got too heavy and squirmy and I preferred the additional support of the Beco 8.

Any old backpack can become a diaper bag, so you don’t necessarily need to buy anything new. We got this Skip Hop backpack because its squat shape gives it more carrying capacity and makes it easier to find things. It has plenty of space for diapers, wipes, spare outfits, burp cloths, toys, and bottles; and has beverage holders on either side that can accommodate adult water bottles. I do wish it had a chest strap for hiking, but if you will mostly be using your diaper bag with a stroller, it can clip to the handlebar and is a solid pick. 

If you plan to pump or formula feed, it’s nice to have an easy way to warm bottles. Our baby will drink room temperature bottles, but he definitely prefers nicely warmed milk. (Who wouldn’t?) This warmer sits on our counter, looks reasonably nice, and works well.

My favorite changing table accessory is the OXO wipe dispenser, which has a press-to-click open that enables you to grab a wipe with only one hand. This is critical when dealing with the dreaded blowout. I also remember to properly close it far more often than a regular wipe pack, so I don’t accidentally dry out the wipes.

The weirdest and best baby gift I received was a set of baby bum spatulas. I was initially skeptical, but these are amazing for applying Aquaphor or Desitin during diaper changes with a lot less mess.

Because this is The Verge, I’ll stick to toys with batteries. These have been my son’s favorites — music, in particular, is a big hit with him. Any musical toy may eventually drive you insane, but these cycle through enough tunes that I am still dancing along to them with our son.

As first-time parents, we were nervous about getting the exact right bath temperature. We happened to have the very nice Thermapen One in our kitchen for cooking and baking, and hijacked it for our first several months of baths with our newborn.

This is the only baby hat that has ever stayed on my son’s head for more than three minutes, and we now own it in every size. It’s cute, it’s warm, and something about the construction helps it actually stay on — especially compared to the stocking-style hats that seem to scrunch off immediately.

We were a little mystified about why the ubiquitous BabyBjorn bouncers are so expensive, especially the $60 toy bar accessory — but our son loved it. The cover is washable, so we just bought one on Facebook Marketplace for $100 that had the toy bar included. Especially in the first six months, our baby would spend at least an hour a day in his bouncer, contentedly watching the action and bouncing while we ate meals and caught up with friends. 

When it came to baby-proofing our house, we had a bit of a conundrum: how to keep our baby in but let our elderly cat out to her litter box and food? We found this nice option with an adjustable cat door from Babelio, which seems to make some of the more popular baby gates on Amazon. We have three installed now. They were easy to install on both stairs and doorways, and they work very well. They open and close easily when you grip the two buttons on the top and bottom of the handle, and the door can be propped open at a 90-degree angle after our baby is in bed.

A glider is really nice for nursing, soothing a fussy baby, and establishing bedtime routines. After testing a few, we really preferred the smooth motion of a glider to the tipping feeling of a classic rocking chair. We splurged on the Babyletto Kiwi, which has an electric recliner function, and it is awesome. We intend to use it in an office afterward, though, and it might not be worth the money just for a nursery. The performance fabric has held up well even after some epic spitups.