Sleep-Deprived Mum Buys: Baby Essentials I Recommend (and Some I Regret)

In December 2024 I became a mum (it still feels crazy to say this).

I’ve bought every single thing that promised to make my life easier. Help him be less gassy, help him sleep more, help me make feeds faster… Everything. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t.

Now I get asked for baby product recommendations all the time, so I’ve decided to write my best baby buys into a little blog post. Use it if you’re an expecting mum, a new mum who desperately needs a nap or shopping for a baby shower!

The Amazon links on this article are affiliate links. I’ll be matching and donating all the proceeds from any sale on this article to Greater Manchester Rape Crisis, a charity that’s very close to my heart.

My top 5 recommendations

There is a whole article below, but if you just want to skim this, these are my top recommendations:

1. The book  Your Baby Week By Week - ➡️ Read my review

2. Tommee Tippee UV steriliser - ➡️ Read my review

3. The Rockit Rocker - ➡️ Read my review

4. Bright Starts rattle and ball - ➡️ Read my review

5. Swaddle suits - ➡️ Read my review

And here's the baby stuff you shouldn't buy.

Books

Weird category to start with, but stay with me. There is A TON to learn and reading is one of the few comfortable activities when you’re super pregnant.

• Your Baby Week By Week - This is the bible for newborn care. I cannot overstate how much this helped me. Seriously get this right now. Get the paper version, because you’ll be reading and rereading one chapter at a time. I have followed their method of teaching my baby to sleep and he sleeps all night. Get this. 

• Cribsheet - It’s a research-driven book about parenting. This book collates research in a way that makes me feel like a good mum and empowers me to make decisions. I listened to the audiobook after my baby was born, but expecting mums can pick it up before having the baby to feel more prepared. 

Breast pain and feeding a baby

• Hot&Cold Breast Therapy Gel Pads  - You might not choose to breastfeed (or you might not be ableto), but your boobs don’t know that. Boobs hurt. Back hurts. Use this for cold/hot therapy to relieve pain and encourage milk letdown. 

• Milk catchers - Leaking milk all over the place in between feeds and pumping sessions made me feel awful. It felt wasteful, I felt dirty, I hated it. I didn’t try these milk catchers, because I learnt too late about their existence, but I wish I had used them. No waste, no awful wet PJs.

• A good pump - Even if you plan to breastfeed you'll need a pump too. There’s many types, but I can strongly recommend a round pump that goes in your bra, so you can get on with life as much as you can while you pump. Don’t get a big hospital one. Don’t get one of those that pop out of your shirt. This is the pump I used. The app is super reliable, the shape is really comfy. There are wireless options but you need to start each boob separately and they're bigger. 

• A steriliser - I use the Tommee Tippee UV steriliser. It's perfect. Quick, no mess, small, kind of stylish. 10/10. I’ve tried sterilising tablets, but you have to dry stuff manually. UV sterilisation is quick, safe, effective, super easy to manage, takes up less space, and can be used on heat-sensitive stuff. 

• Nuby RapidCool - A midwife recommended this one. You shouldn't make bottles in advance (it's unsafe) and you need to let the milk cool for like 40 minutes. I use the RapidCool for the hot shot method: 30mls boiling water, mix the powder, top up with cooled boiled water. Or you can just cool down any bottle on the RapidCool.

• Formula dispenser - At 3 am, in full sleep deprivation, you won't remember how many scoops of formula you've added into the bottle. Plus, the scoop gets super sticky from the steam, throwing off the quantities, which are meant to be precise. Pre-portion your milk in these for peace of mind. The one I have is a little column of 4 dispensers all screwed on top of each other. We call it “the cow”. 

Sleep aids

I bought every single piece of nonsense that promised to put my baby to sleep. I made some really questionably expensive purchases that did not pay off. This is what worked for me.

• The Rockit Rocker - Someone bought it for me. I wouldn't have bothered otherwise. Blessing from the heavens. May your Rockit always be charged. We used to put our baby to sleep in the pram’s bassinet with this thing on to rock him and this was SO EFFECTIVE. Just buy it, seriously. I wouldn’t have listened to this recommendation and I would have been very wrong. 

• The Zed - By the same brand as the Rockit, it vibrates to soothe your baby (just like a car ride does). It's not a miracle cure, but it helps our little man stay asleep longer.

• Ewan the Sheep - We’ve removed the sound machine from the sheep and we use it separately. The shushing function still makes a huge difference for our baby today. The red light promotes melatonin production and recreates the womb environment. Don’t bother with the plushie, just pull the machine out. 

• Swaddle suits - A swaddle suit will keep the baby swaddled up and stop them from waking themselves up with the startle reflex. They’re safe, since they follow the Lullaby’s Trust Safe Swaddling Guidelines, but you need to take them off when they show signs of being ready to roll.

• This triangle thing - It’s supposed to be a tummy time toy. It has two sides, one is high contrast, the other is very interactive. We have had this in Robin’s cot for months, and he always falls asleep staring at his “fishies”. I own two, because I fear that if we ever lost one, he’d never sleep again.

Fun & toys

Babies learn by playing, so toys are SUPER important for their healthy development. Buying baby toys is the best, but do keep it slow at the beginning so you don’t waste your money on stuff they won’t use. 

Newborns don’t need much, since they are essentially a very high stakes Tamagochi. You’ll be fine with some contrast cards or a contrast book.

At 2 months, you should get them a baby gym so that they can start exploring the world and grabbing things. After that, it’s toyfest. Especially when they learn to sit (around 6 months) and they can play with more complex stuff.

• Lovevery - I recommend this very strongly. It’s not cheap, but to me it’s completely worth it. It's a subscription service that sends you new toys for your baby every 2-3 months. They are all designed to fit their developmental stage and follow Montessori principles. They always come with a little booklet that teaches you how to play with your baby at each step. Some of my baby’s favourite toys come from this box.

• Bright Starts rattle and ball - This is the first toy Robin really liked. The bright colours and the easy grip really helped him discover his hands too and it was so awesome seeing him practice reaching for things and grabbing effectively. He loves this set. Other mums I’ve recommended this to say the same. And it’s not expensive at all. Stellar purchase. 

• Captain Calamari -  This is so loved by all babies that doctors recognise this instantly when you go into their office. My baby used to be obsessed. I own two, just in case they ever discontinue it. 

• A baby gym with a piano - I really love the Baby Einstein one, because you can change the piano position. Robin has used it in the kicking position, tummy time position and sitting position. It actually really helped him learn to sit up and he loved the lights.

Don’t buy

• A Haakaa. It’s a silicone manual pump. It has genuinely done nothing for me. I found it quite impractical and would be replaced by the milk catchers I mentioned above. 

• A Perfect Prep machine. They’re  are against the NHS guidelines. A lot of people don’t quite get why and buy them anyway, so here’s the TL;DR: there is bacteria in the milk powder. It needs sterilising. The hot shot of milk has been shown to come out at different temperatures and not actually sterilise your baby’s milk. They’re unsafe and honestly, not worth the effort. Use hot shot method using the Nuby RapidCool or some cooled boiled water (this is what they use in hospitals).

• A nest bed. They are advertised to be used “under supervision at all times”. The truth is they’re just not safe and pose serious suffocation risks. They are supposed to make your newborn feel “cuddled” and contained, but a swaddle suit does the same thing. Pass.

• Purflo bed. It’s the only “nest bed” in the market that’s actually safe for sleeping. I cannot believe I spent 125 quid on this! No difference whatsoever. None. Nothing. So expensive! 

• The Windi Gas Passer. If you ask me if I’ve ever used it, I’ll deny it. Early motherhood is a desperate time.

• Anything by Frida Baby. I’ve had the medicine pacifier, the snot sucker, the anti cradle cap kit, the baby cleaning 3-in-1 thing and heaven knows what else. Cheap cheap cheap plastic. Ineffective. They literally do nothing. I feel actually scammed by the quality of this.

• The Owlet sock. Parents are divided over this one, but here’s my take. The Owlet sock needs to be taken off every once in a while. Newborns, the ones most at risk of SIDS, sleep with unpredictable patterns so either you have it on all the time (not healthy) or just for their night sleep (defeats the point). I bought mine and returned it unused. If you do choose to buy it, don’t spend £300, wait until they go on sale for either Prime Day or Black Friday to get £100 off. 

I’ll keep updating this as Robin keeps outgrowing half the stuff I swore we needed. Stay tuned for my future regret purchases!