Things to Stock Up On Before Baby: Before you bring baby home, there are a few things you should stockpile while you still have the flexibility to go to the store. Having these non-baby essential household items on hand will make it so much easier to care for your newborn and rest and recuperate after birth.
THINGS TO STOCK UP ON BEFORE BABY COMES
Jump ahead to...
Believe me, with the sleep deprivation that comes with having a newborn, you want your house to run as smoothly as possible, so stock up before you have your baby and save yourself the trouble of running out! Having an ample supply of these non-baby household items on hand will make sure that even if you aren’t getting any sleep, you aren’t going to run out of these dailiy necessities!
✅ Make sure you don’t forget to STOCK UP ON THESE postpartum must-haves–they are absolute lifesavers!This list contains everything you need to help speed postpartum healing!
*This post contains affiliate links at no additional expense to you see my disclosure policy
Related: 21 things to do before you give birth tooand print outyour hospital bag checklist for baby!
HOUSEHOLD ITEMS TO STOCK UP BEFORE BABY
Toilet Paper:
You will be home most of the time when you have a newborn, so you will be going through much more toilet paper than usual. Additionally, you are likely to have lots of guests visiting the newborn baby. Stock up on this household essential beforehand and save the embarrassment of running out!
Action item: Next time you are at your local grocery store like Meijer, grab an extra large package of toilet paper. I promise you’ll use it all!
Paper Towels:
Life is chaotic enough with a newborn, stockpile some paper towels so you know you can always easily clean up messes. These paper towels are the only ones we keep on hand in our house.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner:
Like I said above, you are going to be home a lot more often (and most likely have a lot of company!) While I usually only use this non-toxic toilet bowl cleaner (but don’t buy it here–it’s too expensive!) buy it at your local grocery store! When I have a newborn, I want my house to run on autopilot as much as possible. I put one of these in each of the toilets in our house, and it takes the pressure off cleaning the toilets as often. These ones are nice in that they are clear (I don’t want my bathroom to have blue toilet bowl water like an airport!)
Laundry Detergent:
I’ve never done more laundry than when I have a newborn. Between blowouts, spit up, and breastmilk leaking, I go through more laundry in those two weeks than any other time! Buy an extra bottle of laundry detergent so you are ready for all the laundry! This is the ONLY non-toxic laundry detergent that we use (and we’ve used it for all of our laundry for six years now!) It gets everything super clean–even diaper blow outs! Heck, if it’s strong enough to wash our cloth diapers, it’s strong enough for our clothes!
Hand Sanitizer
Like I said before, you will have lots of guests. While it is nice for everyone to wash their hands when they enter their house, many people are out of the habit. Having a big bottle of hand sanitizer nearby the baby will ensure that people see the visual reminder to sanitize before they pick up the newborn! This hand sanitizer is my favorite because it’s great for little kids too–the foaming action covers a lot of surface area. I make my kids use it every single day after coming in from school
MOM & BABY PRODUCTS TO STOCKPILE
Feminine Pads:
No one tells you after you have a baby, you will be wearing the biggest pads you can buy! Save yourself some money and time, and stock up on several boxes of feminine hygiene pads. Bonus points–you will probably want to wear these when you exercise after having a baby for a while too because, well, things need to tighten up again before you can go running without a pad! Your pelvic floor gets quite a workout during birth and will take awhile to heal. Yes, it’s the truth–but don’t worry, it gets better over time!
Wipes:
Newborn babies poop a lot. Buy a big package of wipes at Meijer, so you don’t have to worry about running out. They have every brand that you could want in their baby section (I know because I am PICKY about what I put on my baby’s skin!) This is my favorite brand of wipes, and we order this exact size because it’s cheaper and they don’t have flip tops. We don’t need the flip tops (nor do we need to pay for them) because we use reusable wipes dispensers that help us only get one out at a time. (This is my favorite wipes dispenser–we’ve had it for six+ years and it still works great!)
✅ This is my favorite wipes dispenser–we’ve had it for six+ years and it still works great! Plus, it helps us save money on wipes because I end up using fewer since a million don’t come out each time I open it!
Diapers:
Instead of buying newborn size diapers, I recommend buying size 1 diapers. Buy one box of newborn size diapers and one large box of Size 1 because you will be changing a lot of diapers once your baby arrives! Newborns often go through as many as 16 diapers a day–they poop and pee nonstop! And the last thing you want to do is have to go out to the store in the middle of the night.
✅ CLICK HERE for the easiest way to SAVE $$ ON DIAPERS (NO COUPONS REQUIRED)–Take it from a mom of four. This is the cheapest way to ALWAYS HAVE DIAPERS ON HAND 🙂 We have always had two kids in diapers, so I know how important it is to save on diapers wherever you can, and I do not have enough time in the day to be cutting out and remembering coupons!
Prenatal Vitamins:
Six months before you start trying to get pregnant, you should start taking a prenatal vitamin. My favorite prenatal vitamins are Nature Made® Prenatal Multi + DHA because they are a good value. I get mine at Meijer where I fill all my prescriptions (they have the best pharmacists!) I take these even after I deliver, while I am breastfeeding. If you want a gummy alternative, I like Smart Gummies.
Breastmilk Bags:
Once your supply comes in and you get your supply regulated (about two weeks), it is a great time to start pumping and building up a store of breastmilk. I always stock up beforehand on breastmilk bags so I never have to worry about running out! Technically, breastmilk bags and all your breastfeeding items are FSA or HSA items, so you can use your health spending account to pay for them.
Related: 21 Things To Do Before You Give Birth
FOOD TO STOCK UP ON BEFORE BABY ARRIVES
Granola bars or protein bars:
Nursing a newborn baby means constantly eating one-handed. Save yourself the stress and buy plenty of easy to eat one-handed snacks. You will have quite the appetite after giving birth!
When my youngest daughter was having trouble gaining weight after birth (it took us two weeks to get her back to her birth weight), the lactation consultant recommended I start eating a protein bar at least once a day to make sure I was getting enough protein. I hadn’t realized how little protein I was getting.
Once I started eating more, my milk supply increased, my energy labels increased, and my mental fog lifted (well most of it anyhow!) These protein bars can be expensive online, so pick up the largest size on sale at your local grocer like Meijer or you can make your own from scratch. I like using True Goodness brand (Meijer’s household brand) old fashioned oats to make my own from scratch using this recipe and I can freeze it!
Print out these free grocery list and meal planners HERE!
Frozen smoothie materials:
While you are at Meijer, stock up on nutritious frozen fruit and vegetables. They are great meals in a pinch, and having a frozen smoothie every day will make sure you stay hydrated! Frozen mango can get expensive, so I buy the biggest size of the Meijer housebrand when I am in the frozen aisle. It lasts me a few weeks. My favorite green smoothie recipe is below, it’s an adaptation of one from Simple Green Smoothies and even my kids eat it!
- Annie’s Favorite Frozen Smoothie: one cup baby spinach, one banana, one cup frozen mango, one scoop protein powder
- This is my favorite protein powder which I also like using to make protein pancakes–another great way for nursing moms to get enough protein!
Homemade Frozen meals:
If you can, make some of your favorite easy-to-reheat dinners and freeze them. You will be so happy when you can just reach into the freezer and pull out a home-cooked meal!
If you do all of this, I promise you are as well-stocked as possible for bringing home your baby!
Related:Do you have all of these newborn must-haves on hand? Don’t forget them!
