What goes on in the mind of a parent to be? Emotionally, nothing can completely prepare you for becoming a parent. Every person’s situation and experience is unique. But gear wise you can and should prepare. Strollers, car seats, playpens, swings, bouncy chairs, play mats, sleep hammocks, teething rings, bibs, burp cloths...babies seemingly need a ton of accoutrements. But what are the key things to consider even before the baby is born? We invited lifestyle bloggers and Instagram profiles Amanda Panahi, Anja Forsnor, Emily Ödmark och Trude Falch Belland for a discussion on their experiences on this subject.
Over a nice breakfast we talked about the kind of thoughts and expectations they had during their first pregnancies. What purchases did they make ahead of time, what do they wish they hadn’t bought, and what where they happy that they did buy?
The Pram or Stroller was uniformly the first thing brought up, but the discussion quickly veered in new directions.
“I bought so many dummies and bottles ahead of time, and then it turned out my daughter didn’t take to any of them”, Amanda Panahi tells, adding that they are in fact being used now, but by her daughter’s dolls. Anja Forsnor agreed saying that she “bought both a dummy and a dummy clip for my daughter Lily. It turned out the rubber ring of the clip was a lot more interesting to chew on than the actual dummy”. Pacifiers seemed to be a lot less significant than imagined before birth. “At least don’t buy a lot of the same. Get one and see if your child is interested or not. If they don’t, then buy and try another model”, Emily Ödmark concluded to the agreement of everyone. Soothers, dummies and pacifiers can be great, but it is far from certain your kid will take them.
On the other end of the spectrum we, to our surprise, found blankets.
Wash Cloths and a Changing Bag where other investments they where all happy that they’d made. Although Anja added that she originally didn’t need an actual changing bag. “I just had a small bag that I filled with nappies and wet wipes”. But after a short while that became insufficient and she had to get a larger one.
The general conclusion reached in the lively discussion was that the most important thing to focus on preparing are hygiene related items. You’ll quickly realize that’s where you need more than you’d imagined. Clean bodies, towels and wash cloths where in short supply the in first weeks.
So, setting up a well-equipped changing station is good advice, and so is making sure you have a portable version of it (unless you want to spend months not leaving the house). A functional and large enough changing bag with a changing mat solves that.
The fashion forward Stockholm mom that’s not afraid to share both the joys and burdens as a parent. When Amanda isn’t on maternity leave, spending time with her daughter Chloé she works as a fashion buyer at H&M. You can find her inspiring and empowering instagram here.
Lifestyle adviser, health editor, author, entrepreneur and mom to Lily. Supermom Anja is inspiring us to be healthy, aspiring parents daily via her instagram, which you will find here.
Mother of two, entrepreneur och top blogger at Vimedbarn. With a love for baby products, interior design and fashion Emily shares here daily family life. Get to know Emily here!
Freelance photographer, interior stylist and mother of five! Trude always has several projects in progress and with her Instagram, My Vintage Home, she inspires us daily with tasteful vintage décor. Click here to see more of Trude’s everyday life.