I’m going to be blunt. Half of the items you register for when you first become pregnant will not get any use.
A few weeks after your baby arrives and you’ll soon find yourself using a core group of your favourite gear. Perhaps some swaddles, a specific brand of wipes, a baby wash, feeding pillow, and a few other essentials. Some of the carefully chosen onesies will sit unused either because your baby grows out of them before they can be worn or the material irritates their super sensitive skin. Your baby may even cry every time you put them in their bouncer chair. You might prefer a sling over an infant carrier. Until the time comes, you really have no idea what will work. Plus, what worked for the first kid may not work for the second.
That’s why I almost always skip the baby registry and go my own way. I prefer to gift the new moms in my life all the things they don’t know they need until they do. Living rurally makes these things extra precious when you can’t just whip over to the 24 hour grocery or drug store to get them.
Mama’s you know just what I mean, right?!
The items that go in my baby shower gift are the ones for when you are parenting by fire. My gift is the one that my friends thank me for at the shower and quietly tuck away into their bathroom closet until the middle of THAT night when their baby is can’t stop crying from the pain of a gassy tummy or a new tooth. Until the night their baby keeps waking up from a stuffy nose that makes them snore like their father.
This is when my friends remember my gift – an enormous box of natural pharmacy items that you need in a pinch. And then the texts come the next day.
How did you know? I didn’t think I could survive another sleepless night and then I remembered you gave me…
Because I had that _____, I didn’t have to go out in the middle of the night
and always Thank You!
The Baby Shower Gift Box Your Friends Don’t Know They Need
Everything on this list can be used for years beyond the baby stage. Mix and match them depending on your budget.
- Saline Drops: relieve dry stuffy noses
- Nipple balm: for anyone breastfeeding this is a must to get you through the sore nipple phase
- Booby Tubes: supporting breastfeeding moms
- Down there spray: down there took a beating and this is the stuff to help, or a herbal pouch or two for the bathtub.
- An aspirator: to safely remove nose gunk!
- Chest rub: to help your baby breathe easier when they have a cold or flu
- Nose wipes: to gently clear runny noses
- Baby Nail Clippers: their nails are so tiny and it’s scary to clip them for the first time – I leave this one to DH!
- A thermometer: one that can be used without waking the baby
- Quietude: a homeopathic remedy to help your little one sleep when they are restless, nervous, or experiencing nightmares
- Cocyntal: to relieve gassy tummies and colic. This works so well and is the one my friends always mention as a parenting life raft!
- Camilia: soothes pain from teething and your emotions when they feel better!
- A baby pain reliever, dye-free
- And if my budget allows….a humifider: Helps provide relief for coughs and dry indoor air
Depending on my budget, sometimes I’ll even add in a humidifier. If you live far away from most of your friends like I do, you can package these all up and send them a DIY Baby Shower in a Box.
What’s on your baby shower essential list? What couldn’t you live without through parenting by fire?
a passionate recreation coordinator by day, crazy farm mama of two by night. i live outdoors: growing my own food, camping and hiking with my border collie with two active kids in tow. when I’m not writing, I’m experimenting with recipes, and crafts – or anything else that might keep the monkeys entertained.
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