And just like that it’s been a year!! Little Sebastian celebrated his first birthday and it honestly hasn’t hit me yet that my little baby is 1. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was leaving work to go straight to the hospital to give birth! To celebrate completing the first year of motherhood, I’m sharing the last baby must haves post for the first year.
Being a first time mom with little to no help from family, I wanted to help other moms who may not have the help from family either. I never had help creating a registry, so I bought everything without knowing if I actually needed it or not.
For the past year I’ve been sharing items that Sebastian has been loving every 3 months and things that I’ve been using to help new moms not spend unnecessary money. You can find those previous baby must haves posts here:
Baby Must Haves for the First 3 Months
Baby Must Have Items: Months 3 – 6
Baby Must Have Items: Months 6 – 9
So I’m finishing up Sebastian’s year with another baby must haves post: months 9-12. A lot of the items we’ve been using the past three months are the same as the items in months 6-9. But these 15 items have been Sebastian’s favorite along with mine the past 3 months.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means that I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you
Baby Must Have Items: Months 9-12
T Shirts
For the past 9 months, Sebastian has mostly been wearing bodysuits. I tried having him wear t shirts a few times (makes diaper changes and clothing changes 100000x easier), but because he didn’t know how to crawl the right way he would get rug burn on his belly as the shirt slid up. Now that he’s got crawling down pat, majority of his tops are t shirts and it’s made motherhood a little easier.
I originally bought these shirts from Amazon because I wanted to tie dye a shirt for him and it was cheap. I was shocked at how good the quality was espcially for the price, so of course I had to go back and order more. Besides this shirt only being less than $5, it also comes in over 35 different colors!
Another place I’ve been buying Sebastian’s shirts is Target. Target has the cutest graphic tees and start from $4.50 for a basic one and $8 for a licensed graphic tee. Tee’s are a great baby must haves especially when they’re cheap because these little guys are always getting messy.
Baby Bike
Sebastian actually got this bike as a Christmas gift this year when he was 6 months old, but didn’t start using it until recently. This bike is great for when babies are starting to learn to stand up on their own because it helps with their balance. It comes in two different colors and assembly is super easy. What I love about this bike is that it’s super lightweight and it’s small making it easy to travel with. Now that Sebastian can stand on his own, he loves to ride around the living room showing off. Hoping this bike will help him walk sooner like some of the reviews say!
Baby Xylophone
I just want to start by saying I can officially play the “Bella Ciao” song from Money Heist on this thing and if you havn’t watched Money Heist on Netflix yet…. OMG.
I think I enjoyed this toy more than Sebastian did when he first got it but once he understood that every time he bangs on a note sound comes out, he’s been loving it. There are so many xylophones on the market for babies but I love this one because it’s sturdy, it’s loud enough for baby to be entertained but not too loud to drive me crazy and the stick easily attaches to the bottom of the toy so it doesn’t get lost. Also- how cute is the design??
Little Tikes Cozy Coupe
Sebastian also got this as a gift for Christmas but only started enjoying it recently. Unfortunately our apartment is too small to really get use out of it indoors but once the weather started warming up he loved to go for a ride outside. This car came un-assembled but was pretty easy to put together and is lightweight which made it super easy to carry down 3 flights of stairs. You can use the car with a removable flooring underneath so baby’s feet don’t drag or you can use it without it so they can walk with the car. Taking this car on walks is so easy because of the convenient handle on the roof- no more bad backs from bending over!
Touch & Feel Books
I’ve been trying to incorporate reading time into Sebastian’s schedule but found difficulty in having him pay attention for the whole book. I heard sensory books are great to keep baby’s attention so I decided to pick up this book. Just by showing the cover to Sebastian he wanted to see more. Each page including the front has a different texture that makes reading fun and the book is filled with bright colors and big words. After successfully reading this book not just once but TWICE while Sebastian sat on my lap, I picked up the other varieties of this book. If your little one is having difficulty sitting down for a book, these touch and feel books are a baby must have.
Leapfrog 100 Words Books
While we’re on the subject of books, we’ve been loving this interactive book by leapfrog as well. Although this book is intended for kids 18m+, Sebastian loves to press the buttons to hear the different sounds. He may not understand some of the words that are being said but the more he hears the same word, the sooner he’ll be able to repeat the words. I’ve heard many times from friends and relatives that Sebastian speaks a lot for his age and I truly believe part of the reason for that is because of this book.
Pop Up Activity Toy
I hate getting frightened by someone and I hate surprises so I’m a little shocked at how much Sebastian loves it- I can randomly pop out of nowhere to scare him and he won’t stop laughing. Sebastian couldn’t get enough of this toy when he first got it. There are 5 different “buttons” on this toy that will pop out a different animal when you press or twist it. At first he had issues using these buttons so I would press or twist them and he would push them back down. Although he still has trouble twisting one of the buttons, he still spends so much time playing with this toy.
Litle Tikes 4 in 1 Trike
By far our most used item the past few months. We actually purchased another similar version of this by Doona. Honestly, I think they’re both the same thing. We only have the Doona because my boyfriend thought it was the coolest thing ever (im convinced he likes it more than Sebastian). Our doona folds so easily and has a handle making it easy to travel with and rides smoothly. The parent handle can steer the trike if you lock the baby handle and along with the harness there’s also a safety bar that goes around the baby. You can remove the parent handle from the doona and easily turn it into a toddler bike.
Although I don’t own this Little Tikes Trike, it has great reviews and I’ve heard from friends that they love it. In fact, this little trike offers a basket underneath to store things and a cup holder/tray for parents. If you want to “stunt” on people and if you have an extra $300 to spend, I’d get the Doona (we’ve been stopped so many times by curious parents saying how cool Sebastian’s trike is) otherwise i’d 10000% recommend getting this one from Little Tikes. If we had to get one all over again it would definitely be this one.
VTech Learning Walker
I’ve mentioned this in my last baby must haves post and I’m mentioning it again in case you haven’t had the chance to get it yet- this is a baby MUST have item. I thought Sebastian loved this toy when he was 7 months but he’s been using it more now than he did before. He has yet to walk on his own but he loves walking around with this toy especially now that he can confidently stand on his own. It’s only a matter of time that this little guy will be walking.
Activity Mats
Purchasing this item gave me the biggest trip down memory lane. It feels like it was just last week that I purchased his first activity mat for tummy time. I have videos of him playing on his tummy time activity mat and he couldn’t even keep his head up for more than 2 seconds!!
Now Sebastian will climb ANYTHING possible- I’ve had to remove multiple toys from his play area because he would use it to climb. I didn’t want him to climb on his toys because I don’t want him to get hurt but I still want him to be mobile and climb around to help with his motor skills- so I purchased this mat.
This set comes in 5 different pieces and although it looks like a lot, you can choose to use some of the pieces instead of all 5 if you are short on space. Sebastian loves climbing on this almost more than climbing on our coffee table. The quality is great and will last a while, the material is super easy to clean and I love that I can change up the pieces so it’s like a whole new toy.
Building Blocks
I’ve seen these blocks multiple times but always thought it was for bigger kids. If it wasn’t for the fact that we got this as a gift, I probably wouldn’t have bought it until Sebastian was a little older. To my surprise he loves playing with these. These are big enough for him to hold comfortably and easy to stack and unstack. Although he doesn’t know how to build anything with these, he finds it so fascinated when they’re stacked on top of each other and loves to tear them apart. A great toy for those fine motor skills!
Baby Pools
Sebastian loves bath time so much that sometimes I’ll give him two a day if he’s acting up and I need something to calm him down. With the weather getting warmer, I picked up some baby pools for Sebastian to splash around in. If you don’t have access to a pool and live in a warm state, this pool is definitely a baby must have for summer.
The first baby pool we picked up was this mushroom one. It was a hot day and we were headed to my dad’s house and with the pandemic going on i couldn’t find a baby pool at any store. I went on Facebook market and found this brand new mushroom baby pool and picked it up on the way to my dads. Sebastian was so excited about this pool that he didn’t even let us dress him in swim shorts first! This pool has a cushioned bottom so you can use it on a hard surface (like we did) and has a cute blow up mushroom that baby can hold. This pool is perfect if you have a small backyard or even a bigger balcony (for those living in an apartment) but since we live in an apartment with a small balcony, we decided to leave this baby pool at dad’s for when we were there.
I found this smaller baby pool on amazon and decided to pick it up to keep at our place. This pool is super small but fits baby comfortably and for only $15 it does the job well! We have an extremely small balcony and this pool fits it perfectly. Like the other pool this too has a cushioned bottom and was easy and quick to blow up. I think this pool will also be great to bring to the beach to keep Sebastian cool. And for the winter months this serves as a great ball pit!
Ready-To-Eat Meals
Sebastian has always been a good eater since he was 4 months old, but recently he has been making feedings a nightmare for us. I’ve miraculously found something that he will eat without giving us issues (maybe he just hates my food??).
I’ve been buying these Happy Tot meals and there hasn’t been one that he doesn’t like. On most days I’ll give him whatever we are eating, and if he doesn’t like it i’ll try not to stress too much about it. Babies going into toddlerhood usually give a hard time with eating, but will never let themselves go hungry. So if he doesn’t eat what I make, I let him go back to it whenever he is hungry. But on days I’m running late on making dinner and he needs to eat asap, I’ll give him one of these and he’ll love it.
These meals are a great baby must have if you need to travel with baby- they don’t need to be stored in the fridge and they can be consumed at room temperature. I leave one in our diaper bag so we don’t have any public melt downs. You can pick them up at the grocery store or you can buy in bulk from Amazon. They are all organic, are non-gmo, no sugar and depending on which one you get are high in protein. Sebastians current favorite is the Beef & Quinoa Fiesta!
Boon Snug Straw
Last but not least on our list is this universal lid and straw. At our 9 month checkup our doctor suggested we start getting baby off the bottle. I thought this was going to be harder than it was because I was told it was near impossible to get me off the bottle when I was a baby. To my surprise it was so much easier than I thought! We rarely used a sippy cup (again, doctor recommended against it) so instead we used the 360 cup from munchkin and this boon snug straw.
This Boon Snug Straw comes in a pack of 3 so we keep on in the diaper bag for when we are out. The rubber silicone cap can fit almost any cup which is so convenient and the straw is thick enough to get liquid out but not too thick that can cause choking. This cap is also spill proof but the only downfall of it is if you put pressure on the cap when its on a cup, milk will squirt out of the straw. I don’t see us using this thing for long but it’s such a great tool to transition baby from a bottle to a cup!
These are the top items we’ve been using the past three months- all which I’ve recommended to a friend who’s been loving them as well. I’m always shopping around looking to try new baby gadgets and sharing them on my instagram. Follow me at @bykatviana to see what items I’ve recently been purchasing for my now TODDLER! Hope these 15 items help make motherhood a little easier for you mamas. Let me know if there are any items you think I’ve missed!
xoxo
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