Mom to be

Know all about our baby needs!

First start with the free online subscription of Babycenter or
americanbaby. Also do not forget to subscribe babycenter and
Americanbaby magazines for free upto 1 year. If you google for free
magazines you can also find offer for Parents for a very minimum cost and sometimes
they offer them free.
Before you welcome your baby this list to make sure that you have all the required
things.

Baby names

Deciding your baby's name is very important as your baby will be recognized by this name. You can look for your baby's name in social security website

New born shopping list

Car seat and stroller or a travel system
5 body suits
6 pairs of socks or booties (you can lose them easily)
blanket sleepers (for winter babies)
1 outfit to bring baby home from the hospital
1 sweater
1 gown (babies usually feel comfortable in it ) Bassinet or crib
Baby mattress (always buy a firm mattress)
3 fitted sheets 2 to 4 nursing bras
nursing pads
boppy pillow (you might need it during breast feeding and later you can use it to
give tummytime to your baby)
Breast pump (medela pump in style or Ameda purely yours work better for fulltime
working moms)
lanolin-based nipple cream (ask your nurse for it in the hospital after delivery)
lot of diapers
Changing mat
baby wipes
Baby lotion
Baby wipes
Diaper rash ointments
baby lotion (Cetaphil works best), soap, baby hooded towel

Feeding your baby

If you are planning to breastfeed your baby then you might consider buying breast pump as pumping helps in increasing milk supply. Newborn babies might fall asleep before feeding completely and this could reduce your milk supply. Hence you might consider pumping in between feeding to empty your breasts completely to increase supply. Hospital grade pumps are good and you could rent it at your hospital store for few weaks. Many lactation consultants also suggest taking fenugreek tablets for increasing milk supply. I bought fenugreek tablets from Wholefood market. However, they are bit expensive when you have to take 7 or 8 pills per day. Therefore, you could buy fenugreek itself, available at Indian grocery stores, and soak it overnight and drink the water in the morning. You can also make paste of soaked seeds and have them 1/2 teaspoon a day. You might also I'm also visit La Leche League local Leader and make many friends at LLL Group meetings.
If planning formula feed then register online with Enfamil, Welcomeaddition (Similic) and Verybestbaby (Nestle goodstart) to receive valuable coupons and free gifts from them. Buy 7 to 8 bottles if you are planning exclusively to formula feed. Dr. Brown and evenflow's ventair are good bottles that I would recommend.

Baby Toys

Different baby toys are available in the market. I think musical mobile and baby gym
are the two things that you need for your baby in his or her first few months. Also
buy few rattles to attract your baby. Many parents also buy swing and for their baby. After 4 months you might consider buying a highchair and a jumperoo. My baby really likes to jump. She spends nearly 3 hours eacg day on that jumperoo. Some babies, who prefer to use their hands more, like Exersaucer. You can buy Evenflo Exersaucer Mega which is cheap and got good reviews at Target and Amazon. To buy baby toys you can go to any local stores like Target, Babiesrus, Toysrus,Baby
Depot (Burlington Coat factory), walmart. Sears, JCPenny and Macy's also keep some
baby items. Walmart has many baby gyms and other toys collection for less, which
you could buy online and use site to store option to save the shipping cost.

Safety is the most important issue when we are using any product for our little ones so do read and write your own reviews for products that you use for your baby at http://babyproductsreview.blogspot.com/

Some good baby websites to answer your questions regarding your baby's growth are:

http://www.drgreene.com/

http://www.drsears.com/welcome.page

http://www.kidsgrowth.com/

You might also consider buying books like What to Expect the First Year by by Heidi
Murkoff (Author), Sandee Hathaway (Author), Arlene Eisnberg (Author) and The Happiest
Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp (Author).