This is the second post in a series on what a baby needs. You can find the first HERE, and I will post the third part on this site some time next week (UPDATE: It’s now HERE).

I want to start by reiterating what I said in my first post. This list is meant to be a reflection on the bare-bones things that a baby needs. This is not an exhaustive list of everything that may be nice or convenient to have for a baby. I understand that based on your lifestyle or parenting choices and even based on your own health needs and the health needs of your baby, your own list of what is necessary or desired may vary greatly from my own.

However, if you’re living on a tight budget, if you reside in a small space, if the thought of mountains of baby gear (most of which is plastic) being sent off to landfills gives you shivers, or if you strive to live in a minimalist fashion, this list will give you an idea of the few things that you need to have ready when a baby comes along.

If after the baby arrives you decide that something else feels like it would be helpful, by all means get one (parents need all the help that they can get, especially during those early times when sleep is so scarce).

My intention with this post is not to say that it’s wrong to have more stuff than this, but simply to help you to make conscious decisions about the things that you bring into your home. Marketing professionals are making tons of money by trying to convince you that somehow your baby will be negatively impacted if you don’t have a ton of material objects for her use and care. However, that’s simply not true.

Aside from lots and lots of love – I firmly believe that you can never love a child too much, a baby doesn’t need much.

Wonderfully, you can start out with a few bare-bones things and then expand beyond that on an as-needed basis; it’s not like baby gear is difficult to locate or obtain (at least not in most places). If you approach preparing for a baby in this manner, hopefully you won’t end up with a house full of things that you later realize that you really don’t need.

Here are the 5 things I think a baby truly needs:

1. Baby needs milk, ideally breast milk. This means, until you have to be separated from your baby for one reason or another, your baby does not need breast pumps or bottles. Yes, breast pumps can be helpful for increasing your milk supply, if that’s necessary (I used one to increase my milk supply with my first son). And it’s true that not all women can breast feed. However, these are eventualities you can deal with if they happen to come up. Most women can successfully breastfeed, and you can easily obtain a breast pump, bottles and/or formula if or when you happen to need them.  My point is not that you won’t ever need these items, you very well may. My point is that there’s no need to stock up on these items before your baby’s arrival. 

   Breastfeeding not only provides the ideal food for a baby – nature knows what it’s doing; breast milk is also extremely handy. Breast milk is built in, always available, always at the right temperature, and contains every bit of necessary nutrition perfectly formulated for your baby’s current needs. It’s also a lot cheaper than formula, if you’re trying to keep costs down.

   As a note, if you’re heading back to work soon after your baby is born, a double electric pump is definitely something you will want (Hurrah that they’re now covered by most health insurance plans!!). But if, or for the time that, you’re at home with your Baby, pumps and bottles are not something you need to have on hand.

2. Baby needs a carseat to ride safely in the car. Unless you live a car-free life (if so, way to go!), you’ll need one of these.  We chose a small convertible carseat that fit well rear facing in our older, compact car. It held my son rear facing until he was three. At that point we turned it forward facing, and he rode in it that way until he grew too tall for it (about a year later).  I didn’t buy a typical infant seat that could be carried around, as I wasn’t planning to carry my Baby in his car seat (I used a baby carrier (first like THIS then like THIS) instead). Infant-specific car seats can only be used for a short period of time. A convertible seat was a longer-term investment that we knew we would use for a few years.

3. Baby needs diapers. Unless you’re going diaper-free – truly, fantastic for you if you can do this – you’re going to need something to keep yourself from getting wet all the time. We used cloth diapers, and found them easy and gentle on our babies bums. There are a ton of disposable options, some greener than others, if you don’t want to use cloth. But you’ll likely want something.

4. Baby needs a carrier. A baby carrier makes it so the baby gets the closeness [s]he needs, and you can get things done at the same time. While wearing your baby in a carrier (I recommend a wrap for newborns, and something like THIS for bigger kids), you’ll essentially have 1.5 free hands; not quite full use of both hands, but close.  Baby wearing is amazing. I wore my little ones for most of the day from their births until they were ready to sit up and be more independent. Of course both boys had time to play on the floor and to practice moving and such, but for the most part they wanted me to hold them.I found myself regularly using my carrier until they were about two, and even after that I used it periodically (for example, while on a long walk or a hike). A carrier met their needs for being held while also allowing me to move around, both inside and outside of the house, and get things done. It even allowed me to breastfeed on the go. I loved my wrap, and later one that can be used as a front or back carrier, but other people like different types of carriers.

5. Babies need some clothes to keep warm, but not too many. Honestly, I found that I didn’t dress either of my boys in clothes for the first several weeks of their life. Aside from when we drove my oldest home from the hospital (my youngest son was born at home, so there was no need to dress for a car ride), my boys wore diapers and were skin to skin with either me or my husband for their first weeks outside of the womb (mostly while snuggled in their wrap).  I fully understand that most people clothe their children all the time (my family teased me relentlessly that my son would show up to school wrapped in a blanket).  But in my experience, even if you want to dress your baby every day, you likely don’t need to buy any (or certainly not many!) small baby clothes.It’s very easy and inexpensive to find quality, used baby clothes either as hand-me-downs or in thrift stores, as babies outgrow them extremely quickly. We found a week’s worth of clothes were plenty. And if we went through more than one outfit in a day, which definitely happened, we just did laundry a bit more frequently. As a note, baby clothes are so tiny and cute that people love to buy them; you may end up with more than you need simply from the generous gifts of family and friends.

I’m having trouble coming up with other things that are a Baby actually needs. To continue this discussion with a slightly different tack, next week I will post a list of things that most people think they need for a baby that either we did without or we would have done without had someone not given the item to us.

What things do you think a baby needs? Did I miss something essential? What would you add to or subtract from this list?