Most moms, especially new ones, tend to buy all sorts of baby supplies, which are often complicated and expensive. But the truth is, you will only need very little but of course, buying few extras is always a good idea. Below is the checklist that can give you great ideas of what you will need before your baby will come out – other nice extras may be purchased afterwards.

Nappies. A newborn child will need his or her nappies changed at least 10-12 time a day. Therefore, you may want to buy enough nappies to keep your child going for for at least first few days or so. If you opt for nappies that are reusable, you should have at least one packet of disposables handy also. Remember, you will be needing baby wipes and/or cotton wool when changing a nappy. Also, a changing mat, changing unit or table is highly recommended.

Babygros. Newborn child can live in their few days with three to four babygros and really don’t to wear anything else. Few baby gros or all-in-one sleepsuits handy will be very enough. However, you may add also a vest to keep your baby warm during winter months, or a cardigan over the top if it is very cold.

Baby vests/body suits. Buy at least three to four vests, also called as body suits, which are very essential for a newborn child. It is best to select ones that have envelope necks and poppers underneath. Wear it under your child’s babygros, or if the weather is very hot, a vest may be all your child needs to wear.

Others. You will also need other supplies like one or two blankets to wrap your baby in; one or two cardigans to make and extra layer; an all-in-one warm suit with poppers beneath the legs (very functional if your baby is born in winter months); Moses basket or cot (except if your child id more comfortable in bed); a mattress or crib bedding that fits the basket, cot or crib; cot sheet and cellular blankets, or a bottom sheet and a baby sleeping bag; baby bath supplies and other newborn bath support (you can use a baby bath tub or any safe washing up bowl); a couple of small soft towels; a rear-facing safe car-seat for your baby (if you want to travel with a baby in tow); a pram, pushchair or buggy that is suitable for newborn child that can provide a lie-flat position; nursing bras and breast pads if you want to breastfeed your child; and of course feeding bottles, teats, bottle brushes and other essential items that are used in sterilizing your baby’s feeding supplies.

As earlier said, few extras are always best and so family and friends of the new parents may give additional baby items as their baby shower gift or Christening gift. They can put together numerous supplies like baby clothing, toys, feeding supplies, layettes and even gifts for mom and dad inside the basket. They will only add a bit of decorations… and a baby gift basket is created. These items are available everywhere, so go ahead and grab a shopping cart and may you have a baby shopping day!

Babies are the youngest members in the family and yet, demand a lot of attention and care than others, especially when it comes to their food.

Four to six months of age is the time to prepare the baby to take solid food, since milk alone would not suffice to offer all the nutrients needed for the growing baby. This is the time to introduce various tastes to the baby in very small quantities, say, one teaspoon each.

Some babies catch up with the new taste but some, refuse to do. For such babies, it is better to blend the solid food with a familiar taste of milk before offering it to the baby. But the most important fact is that the baby is intelligent enough to decide upon the choice and taste of the food and if one taste or type is most repeatedly offered, the baby gets used to only that taste and refuses to take other types of food. So, it is a good advice to introduce all types of food to babies at this stage, namely, carrots, spinach, and a porridge containing vegetables and proteins that would form a healthy solid food.  

There cannot be an iota of debate over the quality of food that has to be given to the baby. Needless to say, baby food has to be the best, containing high nutritional value and free of toxins. All these can be combined together, if the baby food is made at home.

More over, the baby food that is prepared at home costs nearly a fraction of the price of that purchased readymade from the grocery. Even the most popular brands of baby food may not be as healthy as the food prepared at home. This is due to the fact that the majority of the baby foods add thickening agents and chemically modified starches and even some steroids that dangerously reduce the nutrient level of the food by more than half.

There is the environmental factor also in preparing a baby food at home. Every baby food is packed in a jar, bottle or package that is harmful to the environment, not to mention the disposable diapers. If such things are avoided, we can create a greener atmosphere.

Since the ingredients in a home made baby food are prepared by the parent personally, it ought to be fresh and clean and there cannot be a compromise on that. In fact, preparing baby food at home is not a strenuous task.

Since the immunity of the baby is in its initial stages, they are easily prone to diseases and hence it is the ultimate duty of the parent to take utmost care in maintaining hygienic and healthy atmosphere to the baby. This includes sterilizing all the things that come into contact with the baby. The taste and food given to the baby at this stage greatly influence their health even at their adult stage, which emphasizes the need for a healthy baby food.

There is absolutely no dearth of choices as far as baby shower gift ideas are concerned. However, you need to base your decision on the practicality and usefulness of the baby shower gifts and you should make sure that the gifts selected by you would be useful to the parents-to-be as soon as the baby is born. Given below are a few common and time-tested baby shower gift ideas.

Baby Clothes

There are several items of clothing that are required by a baby as soon as it enters this world. You can select many practical items such as undershirts, sleepers, blankets, diapers, socks etc. However, you must select only such types that are easy to put on and remove from the baby. There shouldn’t be many buttons or snaps as these can be annoying at times for parents.

Baby Health Items

Since the health of the baby is of paramount importance, baby shower gift ideas in the field of health products would be ideal. You have a large choice in this field as you can find many such items in the stores. Such gifts include baby wipes, baby powder, q-tips, lotion, baby safety pins, scissors, nail file, baby thermometer, diapers and diaper bags, and hydrogen peroxide used to clean the umbilical cord.

Baby Feeding Items

One of the most practical baby shower gift ideas is to give baby feeding products. There are many such items to choose from, such as feeding spoon, bottles, bibs, baby formula, bottle holders, bottlebrush set, bottle sterilizers, breast pump, tipper cup, nipples, baby burp towels, bathrobes and plastic baby dishes. You should include plenty of similar brushes if you are including a bottle brush set. The feeding items could also include emergency baby food or formula supplies.

Bath Products

You should also consider bath products as baby shower gift ideas because they would be very useful baby shower gifts. Some of these items could include towels with hoods, baby lotions, soaps, shampoos, baby brushes, bath toys, washcloths, anti skid bathtubs, baby bath supports, etc. When you choose bath toys, you should make sure that you should only choose those toys that are appropriate for the age of the baby.

Baby Room Products

The other great baby shower gift ideas include baby room products. In this category, you can look for items such as wall pictures, stuffed animals, nursery lamp, dresser, changing table, piggy bank, bouncy seats, furniture, picture frame, ceramic items with the baby’s initials and gift certificates. You can also look for various types of toys that might be of interest to the baby.

The pregnancy of the mother-to-be needs to be celebrated as it is an important phase in the lives of the parents-to-be. Baby shower is such an occasion when the friends and relatives are invited to be a part of the pregnancy celebrations and they bring with them baby shower gifts for expressing their happiness and congratulating the expectant mother. You should try to devise unique baby shower gift ideas so that the gifts that you give are useful to the parents as well as to the baby. They will always remember you when they use your gifts.

You may have heard of first time parents who frantically sterilise everyone and everything that comes within a 10 mile radius of their baby, only to find their bundle of joy trying to eat dirt in the garden. What is within the parents control is the nutrition of their children at home and the education on food which they will take with them to the outside world.

A parent’s role in their child’s nutrition begins much earlier than most think. First and foremost know that we are what we eat, so be mindful of who you choose to have children with on all levels. Most of us understand the effects of hereditary illness, but foods and pollutants that a parent carry can cause damage to their children.

Three months of preconception care should be observed by both parents, it has been said that the soul of a child is here three months prior to conception. To help fertility and general well being, alcohol, tobacco, pollutants and stress should be avoided and vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and exercise increased. If these practises, as well as prayer, mediation, reading or relaxation time (if you enjoy these things) can be established before the child is born, they will become a part of your life and something you can always do as a family. There are also herbs that can be taken by the mother before during and after pregnancy to help stabilise her hormones and therefore avoid pre natal depression or severe mood swings. For example, Raspberry leaf tea helps fertility in both parents and is helpful to the mother throughout the pregnancy from easing morning sickness to the waters breaking. (ALWAYS check that herbs and essential oils are safe for use during pregnancy.)

In the first 3 months of pregnancy, all of the Childs organs are formed, so the mother should very carefully modify their diet to help this crucial stage and continue thereafter. Remember, 9 months of poor eating could lead to years of suffering for your child. If you do decide to give up damaging foods, do so gradually to avoid illness or bad reactions. Meats are now packed with chemicals and steroids, cigarettes contain thousands of chemical, salt and sugar cause any health problems and the resulting self inflicted problems will reduce the nutrients passed to your child. These are definitely foods you should consider cutting out or reducing. Vegetarian or vegan diets are normally advisable, but as everyone is different, if this diet produces too many bad effects, change it accordingly.

Breastfeeding is recommended as it’s linked to intelligence due to high levels of essential fatty acids in the milk, which also contains antibodies, vitamins, minerals and pure water. But it is effected by the mother’s nutrition so feed both of you well. There is a strong link to childhood diabetes resulting from allergies to the protein in cow’s milk and also beef, which affects the pancreas. Breastfeeding mothers are advised by paediatricians to avoid drink cow’s milk and eating beef for this reason. Be cautious with soy milk also as it has been linked to cancer.

Don’t think child minders, nursery and school teachers are qualified to make health decisions for your children. You are responsible for your child’s health and never think you’re being a difficult parent if you specify what you want your child to eat or more importantly not eat. Find out what school dinners consist of and if you don’t agree with them, make packed lunches or request alternative meals be put on the menus (there’s no harm in asking).

Our parents had the excuse of little knowledge of good health while we were younger, this information age should be seen as a legacy in this respect and a chance to link back to our ancestors ways of health and living, 12yr old in ancient Tamare learnt degree level information with ease, our children can be fluent in their own anatomy and the effects of food on it.”

Is lack of time stopping you? By teaching your child good nutritional habits and the benefits of good food, they can be involved in their health and older or matured children can make their own pack lunches. If you can’t deciding what to make them, teach them enough and they can tell you what they want. Let them make up weird and wonderful recipes (details aren’t important) and help them make them. This will make their food interesting to them and your life easier. If you can initially feed them good foods that taste good, they will remember enjoying good foods and ask for them again. Most of our childhood memories of good foods were as punishments and bad foods were treats, reverse that mindset in our children, let them turn their noses up to fast foods and look forward to fresh fruit salad. Don’t allow the media to tell your children what to like, make them be proud of the ways you teach them to eat and live. Four out of seven days healthy eating initially will give great results initially.

Financial constraints are there because cheap foods are normally bad foods and high prices are put on health. However, once your children know what they like, find health food wholesalers, bulk prices are surprisingly reasonable saving you weekly shopping time and money.

Become your child health care practitioner. Pay attention to their urine colour, dark strong odoured urine signals more water, to flush the system and improve concentration and may indicate other more serious problems. If skin rashes appear and you suspect a certain food, remove it from their diet and see if it goes. If you notice your children get clingy or sluggish after large meals, they may have an over worked bowel, struggling to digest a back log of food. Let them snack on fresh fruit and vegetables; this will give them fibre to help unblock their system, vitamins, minerals and fresh water (especially if it’s organic). Sugar should always be avoided as it has no real use except to cause damage. Refined carbohydrates (white bread, flour, sugar, pasta etc) only give a quick burst of energy but aren’t filling so our children are eating too much. They have hardly any nutritional value and no fibre which all lead to obesity. Whole foods (wholegrain rice, raw fruit and vegetable, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, seaweeds etc) provide longer lasting energy, fibres, protein and essential oils which all build beautiful children with healthy organs and alert brains.

Consult nutrition consultants, homeopaths, herbalist and allergy testing centres before making and appointment with your GP, see the money as an investment for you to learn about your child’s health, pay attention and get them to explain everything. The more you learn, the more you can teach your children. They will become your doctors, as every good student surpasses their teacher, and we can create a healthier generation, who will enjoy nutritional freedom from common industrialized illnesses and diseases.