Bare Minimum Items to Have Before You’re Matched
If you’ve ever wondered what to buy before adopting a child, you’re not alone! Should you splurge on ALL the baby things or lay low until you’re matched?
Many adopting mamas wonder if they should register, throw a baby shower and be fully prepared with a well-stocked nursery. Other mamas don’t want to go “all in” for fear of the long timeframe (i.e., seeing an empty nursery day after day), or chance of a failed match.
Whichever side you resonate with, I’ve got you covered. For the purpose of this post, we’re going to focus on bare minimum baby gear to keep you “street legal,” per se! 🙂
Here are the 9 items I have personally used and highly recommend having on hand before you bring home your precious little bundle.
Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no extra cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Infant Car Seat + Mirror
Ok, so obviously they won’t let you leave the hospital without a car seat. This is the first baby item we splurged on during our wait. You could feasibly get a call at midnight the month you go live and have to rush out the door. There’s no way around it. This is absolutely something you should buy before adopting.
The infant car seat we bought was the Chicco Keyfit 30. Mine was used for my son (who’s now 4) and is currently being used for my daughter (now 18 months). Two kids later, and I still highly recommend it.
It’s super sturdy, safe, easy to click in and out of those handy dandy carseat strollers, and mine still looks brand new.
While we’re on this topic — grab a car seat mirror too! When I was a brand new mama, I took my very first solo car ride with my week old baby to……
Wait for it……
Starbucks.
It was terrifying, but this tired mama needed a latte. That little mirror helped me see that he was actually okay and not {fill in the blank for all the worst-case-scenario things new mommies are imagining}.
However, my mirror was pretty awful. It never stayed in place and was extremely hard to strap to the seat back (over and over again, year after year). If I had to do it all over again today, this is the mirror I would snag in a heartbeat.
Crib
Perhaps you already have your childhood crib you lovingly refinished, or your sister’s kiddo’s hand-me-down crib. Or maybe you have nothing yet because you’re a little afraid to take the leap.
Just like a car seat is a must-have, a place for your baby to sleep is also something you should buy before adopting.
We used a Rock ‘n Play for our firstborn. He slept in that right next to our bed for the first 6 months of his life. It was perfect! Unfortunately, those have since been recalled for being unsafe. I was pretty bummed about this after we adopted our daughter.
You can replicate the same bedside setup we had by buying a portable crib and setting it up in your bedroom. Babies wake up a lot overnight, and sprinting to the nursery, bleary-eyed and in the dark, isn’t ideal for sleep deprived parents. I’m one of those moms that prefers to be really close to make sure my tiny baby is okay (anyone else always check for breathing? No? Just me?) but you can certainly have baby sleep in his or her own room from the beginning if you’d like.
Added bonus: Portable cribs are just that — portable! This will come in very handy if you are adopting your child from out-of-state.
Extra added bonus: A portable crib can double as as changing table and play pen. If you live in a two story home, it’s a bit much to go upstairs for every diaper change. We used a portable crib for our changing station downstairs. It was brilliant!
The Graco Pack n Play Portable Seat and Changer is the one we have and LOVED the removable/reversible changing pad! It was also super easy to travel with. Two kids later and this thing is still going strong.
>>>>> Side bar: Did you know that Amazon has a baby registry program now? Yep! It’s free, you have an extended return period, they have e v e r y t h i n g (because, well, it’s Amazon) aaaaand you get a surprise baby gift for signing up. I wish I had known about this when I registered 5 years ago. Okay, please carry on! 😉
Big Stack o’ Onesies
I had very few baby clothes, and when packing up to run off to the hospital, my sister wisely told me that two onesies was simply not enough. Hmph. She claimed little ones were capable of multiple blowouts and/or potty incidents and/or spit up incidents right from the start.
It turns out she was right. I needed triple the amount of clothing I had packed. Anyone else hate it when their big sister is right? 😉
In my defense, I had Anxious New Mom Brain. We had just been chosen less than 48 hours before. EEEEEK!!
Having a set of 10-15 onesies on hand is a good idea. And bring several of them to the hospital. You’ll need a lot more once you bring baby home, but this is a great starting point.
While you’re grabbing onesies, get several footie jammies too. Again, our goal isn’t to go overboard, but to buy these staples before adopting to save a little stress should you get the call unexpectedly.
Sound Machine
Some would argue that you don’t need to buy this before adopting, but I would argue that you’ll need it pretty soon.
Babies are comforted by the sounds of the womb, which is a “whooshing” sound, along with their mother’s heartbeat and voice. Bringing a newborn home and putting them in a quiet room may be a recipe for sleepless nights.
We’ve used the Dohm Classic sound machine for years now. In fact, we bought a different (i.e., cheaper) one for our daughter and wished we had bought this one a second time. While it’s not the least expensive one, it’s got the best sound and is literally ONE button. We’ve had this sound machine for over 4 years now and it’s still going strong.
Simple, effective, and all you need.
Bottles
It’s pretty much a given that bringing a baby home means feeding them…and often! Unless you’re able to breastfeed, it’s likely you’ll be using formula. I’m not going to tell you which formula is best because all babies’ bellies are unique. However, I would suggest you grab 3-4 different bottles to try with baby to learn what he/she prefers. Each nipple and bottle are slightly different.
Our babies did great with these (classic nipple) Avent bottles. I preferred them because they were easy to hold and easy to clean. Perhaps this doesn’t matter much to you, but cleaning bottles with fancy schmancy small parts was difficult and not worth the trouble for me. However, I was blessed to not have colicky babies. If your baby has reflux or colic, Dr. Brown’s bottles might work best (and appear to be ALL the rage among some mamas). Give one a try and see how baby does!
Pacifier
This made my list because we realized how quickly we needed a pacifier only hours after our son’s birth. He had a very strong desire to suckle. Our hospital did not provide one, so our social worker was kind enough to go grab us one in order to get through the next night.
Babies have a pretty intense sucking reflex, especially the first few months of life. If you value sleep and content babies, I would strong suggest giving in to this reflex. All babies are different, but I would have a few different pacifiers on hand should your baby decide to be choosy. My son was obsessed with the Avent pacifiers and MAM pacifiers came in second place for him.
Here’s a brilliant mom hack for you. Get the glow in the dark MAM ones — you can find them here. Because your baby WILL drop it through the crib slats at 3 a.m. and you WILL be crawling around on your hands and knees searching under the crib in the pitch black room for the beloved missing pacifier. It’s a thing. I’ve done it a dozen times, and having a glowing pacifier was life changing! 😉
Swaddle
Could you buy this later on? Yes! Would it be nice to have when you come home on night #1 and your baby is having a major meltdown and you’ve tried everything else? Also, yes!
If you’ve heard of the 5 S’s from The Happiest Baby on the Block, then you know swaddling is a comfort to newborns. It makes them feel like they’re back in the womb. Don’t buy a dozen, but buy a 3 pack to have handy in the event of a fussy few hours.
Never heard of the 5 S’s? You can buy the book or DVD on Amazon. It’s actually quite fascinating! In true brand-new-parent-deer-in-headlights form, we watched the DVD late one night when my 2 month old son was unable to be soothed. Lo and behold, the swaddle trick worked!
Mittens
Who knew newborn babies had such razor sharp little fingernails? Well, I do now! Our sweet little newborn was scratching at his face in the hospital. We ended up putting tiny little white socks over his hands to protect his face, but they kept falling off.
While that was a clever little mom hack, if I could go back I’d get these tiny mittens and toss them in my hospital bag.
You’ve been warned 😉
Baby Wrap
Once we got home and began going through the motions of new parenthood and bonding, I wanted to wear my son ALL. THE. TIME. It was honestly a dream come true.
I was gifted this Solly Baby Wrap and used it so much the first few months. It was, hands down, my favorite new accessory.
I also bought (gently used) the Baby Bjorn and Ergobaby 360. I love them both for different reasons, but the Solly was used the most those first few months. The Solly or the Bjorn are the ones I’d buy before adopting. The Ergo can be used as baby gets bigger, while the others can’t, so it’s a very worthy investment too!
I truly hope this list was helpful for those of you who stand on the fence between, Let’s-have-a-baby-shower-and-do-this-thing, and I’m-not-buying-anything-yet-because-I’m-too-scared. Girl, I get it. Knowing what to buy before adopting is subjective and can feel like a scary leap.
In the comments below, let me know what you’ve purchased so far and where you are in your journey!
If you haven’t chosen an agency or attorney yet, you may gain value from this post!
Until next time…
XOXO,
Here’s a quick roundup of the items named above.
