My 7 essential newborn baby items

April 9, 2025

Family, Newborn

April 9, 2025

I was a newborn photographer in Richmond for years before I ever became a mom, so going into motherhood, I thought I had a good idea of what the essential newborn baby items were. However, it wasn’t till I was in the thick of first time motherhood that I realized which products really worked for us and helped us through the early days.

Here are some of my absolute essential newborn baby items!

SwaddleMe Swaddles

Topping the chart of my essential newborn baby items, we have SwaddleMe swaddles. Swaddling a squirmy baby is TOUGH. I loved having these Velcro swaddles for the newborn days, they made nap time and bedtime so much easier! The little Velcro patches are small enough that they aren’t super loud or tough to open in the middle of the night.

We used these for about the first three months until she began rolling in her bassinet. To prepare Josephine to drop the swaddle, we would leave her arms out of the swaddle during naptime but kept the Velcro around her tummy so she still felt the support. Then we transitioned to sleep sacks and her crib, all in one weekend!

Essential newborn baby items | Close up photo of a baby's toes wrapped in a muslin cloth by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

Essential newborn baby items | Photo of a sleeping baby wrapped in a muslin cloth with his arms stretched out by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

4Moms MamaRoo Sleep Bassinet

We loved having the 4Moms MamaRoo bassinet in our room for the first few months. It has the ability to emulate three out of the five S’s to help calm a baby down and get them to sleep (Swaddle, Sound, & Sway – as for Suck you can use a pacifier and Side, you just don’t worry about yet – haha). Although it’s not automatic, like the Snoo, it can still do all the same things. We didn’t use the motion feature every night, but it did help us stretch out the time between early morning feeds by rocking Josephine back to sleep once we got the OK from the pediatrician.

It’s a much more reasonable price point than the Snoo, and I didn’t miss the automation. As a new mom, your senses are so tuned in, you’re likely to wake up even if they do start to stir and all it takes is one quick tap of a button to get the rocking motion going. I HIGHLY recommend.

Essential newborn baby items | Photo of a sleeping baby holding his mother's hands on each side of his head by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

Hatch sound machine

I really enjoyed the tap to turn on feature of the Hatch. It’s something we still use to this day as a nightlight and sound machine. It’s portability is awesome, especially when you want to keep the light low during a middle of the night diaper change!

Essential newborn baby items | Photo of a mother smiling as she holds her newborn baby wrapped in a muslin cloth by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

Essential newborn baby items | Photo of a mother looking down adoringly as she holds her newborn baby wrapped in a muslin cloth by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

SkipHop Moby 3-Stage Whale Bath Tub

Hear me out – this is the tub you need. With this guy, you don’t need to fill the entire tub to submerge the tub/bath seat, so you’re saving water and it’s a lot easier to keep at the right temperature for a newborn. You can also bathe the baby on the shower floor, which was really helpful for us. This would especially be a clutch item if you didn’t have a bathtub in your house. We have so many fond memories of Josephine’s early baths in this tub.

Essential newborn baby items | Closeup photo of a newborn baby sleeping with his hand under his chin, wrapped in a white muslin cloth by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

Baby Bjorn Bounce Seat

This seat was a game changer when I needed a few moments to myself, just to fold some laundry or have a snack. We had the extra toy bar, and it was so cute to watch Josephine swat at the little wooden toys. She would get so excited when she started to make the connection that she was moving them, herself! Bonus points – these essential newborn baby items are easy to wash – just take off the liner and throw it in the wash.

Essential newborn baby items | Photo of a family of four sitting on a bed. The daughter is sitting on her father's lap looking mischievous while her mother holds their newborn baby boy wrapped in a white muslin cloth by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

Essential newborn baby items | Photo of a family of four sitting on a bed. The daughter is sitting on her father's lap while the mother holds her newborn baby boy. The entire family is looking down adoringly at the baby, by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

Ergo Baby Carrier

When I was on maternity leave, we went on several walks a day (otherwise my dog would pee in the house). When I didn’t want to go through the effort of getting the stroller down the deck stairs, I would throw on the ergo baby carrier and take Josephine on a walk. I found this to be the easiest one to throw on (Baby Bjorn Air wraps are close second essential newborn baby items). I started keeping one in the car and one in the house so I was never without. Josephine wasn’t always a fan of the stroller and who doesn’t love extra baby snuggles!

Essential newborn baby items | Photo of a little girl standing next to her mother and smiling. The mother is holding the little girl's hand and patting her hair with the other hand, by Richmond Newborn Photographer Jacqueline Aimee Portraits

MagneticMe pajamas

Nothing is better during those middle of the night feeds than a pajama that is quick and easy to open. I loved MagneticMe pajamas for this reason! No buttons or snaps – they’re so easy! Plus, the organic bamboo fabric was great for Josephine’s sensitive skin. We still love wearing them to this day, making them not only essential newborn baby items, but toddler as well!

Newborn Baby Items – Honorable Mentions

Without going too deep into newborn baby items for feeding, these are two must-haves depending on which path you choose!

Silverettes – These are a must for breastfeeding moms. They saved my boobs and made our early days of breastfeeding so much easier!
Baby Brezza – For those opting for formula, I have heard wonderful things about the Baby Brezza!

I also asked my clients what some of their favorite items were. See below for their recommendations!

Kimono gown – “We loved the way this gown easily opened to do skin to skin or diaper changes. We used the ones from Colored Organics.”
Tripp Trapp Newborn highchair seat – “Makes cooking and eating your meals with a newborn so much easier. The newborn seat reclines or can be sat up a bit if baby is awake. Plus, the Tripp Trapp chair grows with your little one all the way through childhood!”
SnuggleMe pillow – These are also great tools to have when you need to set baby down – supervised, of course!

What am I missing? I would love to know your essential newborn baby items – drop them in the comments below!

Whether you’re planning your registry or already snuggling your little newborn babe – I hope that sharing my essential newborn baby items was helpful! I would be remiss if I didn’t say that my final choice on the list of essential newborn baby items would have to be photos! I adored having professional photos (taken by someone else because this mama was tired) of my baby girl throughout her first year, and I would love to help make that happen for you, too!

Learn more about booking a newborn session

Here are some more resources for parents with newborn babies and little ones in Richmond, Virginia from the blog!