A term I’d never heard before getting pregnant and am now intimately familiar with is “water wipes.” These are literally baby wipes that contain 99% water. Pre-baby, I just assumed wipes were soaked in water. What else would be in there? Well, you’d be surprised. Strong cleaning agents like sodium-lauryl-sulfate, ultra-drying alcohol, the same parabens we’re told as adults to avoid in our own skincare, preservatives that are known irritants—the list goes on. 

When I first learned about Coterie wipes, I was instantly impressed with the company’s transparency. They market themselves as 100% plant-based VEOCEL^TM Lyocell wipes made with 99% water and 5 clean ingredients, and to prove it they have their toxicity report placed front and center on their website. Their ingredients have been independently tested by a third-party lab and are proven to be free from 11 different types of heavy metals and fluorine. Plus, they went the extra mile to get them dermatologist-tested to ensure that the wipes are safe for sensitive or eczema-prone skin.

One more thing: many wipes contain microplastics that keep them from biodegrading for years, but Coterie’s wipes are compostable and were proven through independent testing to fully composte in just 5 weeks.

To all the parents who told me that I didn’t need a changing table, I salute you and your clearly much stronger backs, but I needed to stand up to change one trillion diapers. I set up our daughter’s nursery with a simple white one from Amazon that came with a squishy changing pad that I lovingly swathed in a buttery soft cover dotted with cute little smiling stars. 

The first day I brought my daughter home from the hospital, she peed and pooped all over that pad and I threw it in the garbage. We ended up buying a plastic changing pad which is, most importantly, wipeable.

I’m a “put everything in the dishwasher even if you really shouldn’t put it in the dishwasher” sort of person. But even dishwashers don’t completely dry all the teeny tiny little pieces of plastic that seem to come along with having a baby. Looking at you, bottles and pump parts! To keep everything from getting nice and moldy in a drawer, I’d hang it all up on this drying rack. As a dishwasher enthusiast, I’d never owned a drying rack before, and even though my daughter is now 2 and those teeny pieces of plastic are mercifully out of my life, I still stick any rogue wet dishes on this thing. It’s easy to wash, not ugly to look at, and I’m too lazy to buy a different drying rack. Anything that I can happily use for over two years makes the list.

Another thing you never think about before you have kids is how tiny their little nostrils are. So when your baby has a giant booger clogging their nose, your own finger—which you are surprisingly more than willing to pick your baby’s nose with—doesn’t fit. This little flexible plastic tool has helped my husband and I pick many a booger over the years. You can also use it to grab a piece of ear gunk. Just pop it in the dishwasher when you’re done. Actually, I’m not sure if it’s dishwasher safe, but that’s how I roll.

I had my daughter in the middle of June, so I was strolling around with a newborn in the heat of summer. I figured she was probably fine in a short sleeved onesie shaded by her stroller’s sun cover, but the well-meaning yet very judgy moms of Williamsburg, Brooklyn wanted me to know otherwise. It only took three moms coming up to me asking where my stroller fan was or gently suggesting that I buy one before I realized that this was an essential purchase. Sure enough, after I clipped one on, she seemed to enjoy walks more. Consider this an I-got-judged-so-you-don’t-have-to moment. 

When your baby outgrows the bouncer, switch over to this. I could put my daughter in here and have her spin around playing with the different toys while I cooked an entire dinner. Or ate an entire dinner. Or had a real human interaction with another person. Plus, without fail, this thing could make her poop. I don’t know if it was the upright position or what, but we called this her pooping station. Worked every time.

Once they’re older, you can take out the seat and the little foot stand becomes a tabletop, so it’s now a tiny table for my daughter to do her arts and crafts. And, the gray portion doubles as a chalkboard. They really thought of everything.