Nope, not a nanny, though that would be fantastic! My smart speaker is as close to live-in help as it gets in my house. But I don’t know how people parented without one!

Seriously, I can give her directions while I’m stuck on the couch under a baby for hours! I’m making my shopping list, listening to podcasts or audible books, she will even play nature sounds – which was incredible when my kids slept best during rain storms!

Alexa can reorder diapers/wipes/wine and set a timer for when I need to leave for an appointment (I have serious mom brain).

My favorite way to use a smart speaker in labor and delivery: parents can open the Alexa app and drop in on their kids at home just like using speaker phone! They can drop into the kitchen speaker during breakfast and say good morning to their kids at home while they’re at the hospital having a baby! It’s so great for labor, because the birthing person knows everyone is ok. Also great for the kids, because they’re too young for phones but still get to say “good night” each night.

Stay with me on this one. Not every breastfeeding mama eats, breathes, lives organic. I think even those of us that try are somewhere on an organic —— diet coke continuum depending on the day, week, or who’s house we’re at for the holidays. It shifts and fluctuates. *Points for trying.*

This is not on here because I think everyone should push organic or assume a level of crunchiness when one finds out that a friend plans to feed her baby breastmilk. Truly, no one knows what she’ll need the most. Maybe she and baby will click and get it easily and just love to nurse in their fav chair with their fav pillow. That is our hope for them!

Either way, she obviously wants to do right by her baby and try to give her new squish the good stuff. She is going to love anything thoughtful that supports her on this journey! Seriously! It’s a brand new wilderness out there. Maybe she’s never made milk, she definitely can’t practice this skill to get it right, and who knows what others will think of her (but she’s trying not to care). Encouraging her and acknowledging her hard work is tremendously supportive!

I’ve added this organic deodorant, because it’s great! I love its smoothness and scent, tough to find in the oil/natural deodorant lineup in my opinion. Also, most infants spend a lot of time under, in, and around the armpit region. New mamas do not, however. (Did I shower yesterday? oops) This deodorant is safe for baby’s sweet little head when she snuggles up under mama’s arm, and it’s yummy enough for mama to remember to apply it for a little pampering in those early weeks. (And yes, deodorant application is pampering when you’re in the trenches as a new parent.)

Wear That Baby

More Skin to Skin Makes More Milk!

Technically, this isn’t JUST for the nursing mama, but it’s so important that it made the list. I recommend baby wearing to All Mamas! I don’t mean get super crunchy and wear your baby, while topless, recycling toilet paper, and burning the bras. I just mean that sometimes baby won’t be put down and during those five day, clingy, fussy benders, and mama’s gotta pee! It’s nice to be hands-free sometimes. It almost feels like a break! Some babies just don’t like swings, or not yet, and they want to smell mama always. A soft wrap or a ring sling keeps baby close to mama, warm, and snuggly, and she can eat a sandwich and take a walk while hands-free! It can be so great.

A Robe

A robe seems so simple, right, but it can be incredibly useful and meaningful! I was gifted a robe by my mother and my mother-in-law when I had my first baby. They were so wonderful, because they were the only clothes I wore for weeks! I loved my nursing tanks and camis, and the robes were the finishing touch to my crazed mama look 🙂 Days melted into nights and nights looked an awful lot like the days – a robe suited for wake or sleep! It covered my back when I needed access to the front – or the baby did really. It also felt cozy when I really needed a hug.