When you have little to no time to prepare for bringing a baby home- what do you really need? What should you have on hand?
In our experience, the first kids we had in our home were twin 2 year old girls.
SO
What we had:
A pack and play
A car seat
A high Chair
Some toddler toys
A changing pad
The first thing we needed was a second car seat! We also got a baby monitor. In our small house, it wasn't totally crucial for the 2 year olds but we were glad to have it. We ended up needing all those things x 2... only for those girls to go to a family member 5 days later. We were glad we borrowed many things so we could return the duplicates when the girls left.
Then, fast forward a year and we find out we are matched with a Newborn baby girl. This was a little different because we were adopting her so we didn't feel like borrowing items was the best choice.
What we needed earliest-
Infant car seat- Can't leave the hospital or get home without it!
A baby swing was essential for our very needy, fussy baby. This was how she slept most of the time. You might want to consider a basinet or cradle as well.
Formula- if you can, get whatever the baby is used to. It's expensive! Ask for samples in the hospital and the pediatrician! We also found that store brand was totally acceptable and Target often has sales where if you spend $75 or $100 you get a $20 or $25 gift card! If you have no notice, you really can't do the whole "Adoption Nursing" business, even if you wanted to. If you're fostering, you probably shouldn't be going that route anyway.
Some clothes (we were given basically all we could imagine needing, we didn't buy any initially!)
Self securing swaddle blankets- a MUST for newborn babies. I also recommend the HALO brand because you can unzip just their legs for middle of the night diaper changes.
Diapers and wipes. You really should not be waiting till after the child is home before you are getting yourself some diapers. If you need this list, you probably haven't had kids before... therefore diapering is probably going to be a learning game. You use a LOT of diapers in the beginning!
Bottles- In our experience, our baby wasn't coming from nursing so she really had no nipple preference and basically the cheaper ones were just as good to her. We used Avent and Evenflo. The Avent are more common and easier to find the nipples than the Evenflo. Having plenty of bottles is essential with a newborn or else you will be washing bottles ALL THE TIME. Have at least 8.
A few burp cloths. Plain cloth diapers come in multi packs at Walmart for pretty cheap and they're really the most absorbent and soft!
This list looks a lot longer than what I felt like we had! We ended up getting SO MUCH given to us that we were glad we didn't buy everything we needed before she came! We had a baby shower after our daughter came home as well.
If you have item specific questions, I'd be glad to answer as best I can! Ask away!
