First-time parent checklist: What you need for your newborn (and yourself)

Navigating the world of motherhood can be both exciting and overwhelming, especially for first-time parents. With so many options available, it’s easy to feel lost in a sea of baby gear and gadgets.

Several of my friends are having babies this fall and through the winter — and buying gifts for first-time parents is on my mind a lot right now. Here are a few smaller gifts on our millennial friends’ baby registries that a Take Care-approved women’s doctor and new parents alike swear by:

• Nutrafol postpartum for women is a daily hair growth supplement to help women who experience hair loss during their postpartum journey. Dr. Navya Mysore, primary care physician, women's health leader, and mother, told Take Care: “After I had my second child, I was losing a lot of hair — Nutrafol was really helpful.”

• Munchkin’s stroller fan. Especially useful if you’re having a baby in the summer, but it might come in handy before the baby’s even here — one mom we talked to said she strapped it to her hospital bed while she was in labor at the hospital to keep herself cool. 

• Bodily’s Everything Bra is designed to be so comfortable and versatile, it can support you from pregnancy through breastfeeding — this is also one of Dr. Mysore’s favorites.

• Braun’s no-touch thermometer. “Best thing ever — my husband uses it on everyone in our house, every day now,” one mom said.

• The SwaddleMe swaddle blanket is perfect for newborns. This swaddle blanket creates a cozy, womb-like sensation for babies, soothing them into sleep.

• Hello Bello’s diaper subscription is a "set it and forget it" diaper delivery service. Perfect for new parents, each diaper subscription comes with seven packs of diapers and four packs of plant-based wipes. Their diapers prevent leaks and absorb quickly.

• Frida Baby’s electric snot sucker. “When I was pregnant, my mom Reddit group tried to tell me I needed to buy a manual NoseFrida, which lets you suck the snot out of your kid’s nose,” one mom told us. “That grossed me out so much — but Frida Baby’s electric version does it for you. Babies can’t blow their noses, so this will come in handy as soon as your kid has a cold — which for us was almost immediately.”

• The Beis diaper pack is a diaper bag without the bulk. Wear it like a fanny pack when you’re on the go but not trying to lug around a gigantic diaper bag the size of checked luggage. 

• Olababy’s electric nail trimmer. “Their nails come out like claws!” one mom told us. “With an electric nail buffer, you don’t have to worry about snagging the skin around their nails.”  

• The Frida upside down peri bottle is Dr. Mysore’s essential postpartum recovery tool for vaginal deliveries. With an ergonomic design, Frida’s peri bottle comes with an on-the-go waterproof travel bag to prevent spillage.

• The Ollie Velcro swaddle. “We got so many cloth swaddles with cute designs, but we never used them because the Velcro swaddles from Ollie were so much easier to use,” a dad told us.

• For c-section births, Dr. Mysore recommends Frida’s C-section recovery band to support your stomach, pelvis, and back while protecting your healing incision.

Every product and service listed in this section is independently chosen by us, Take Care’s highly discerning editors Maya and Eliza. We have two rules for our recommendations: We only recommend things we’d use ourselves, and we don’t earn a commission from these links — we just want you to have the best of the best. No, seriously.