The Best Baby Hacks

Once you become a mom, you learn that there are a LOT of things that babies require. Your time, your attention, your money, lots of laundry and cleaning, and so so so much more. I learned some hacks REAL quick to save me time and money. I learned how to prevent bigger messes, and how to keep my baby from crying/fussing over preventable things. Here are some hacks that you must try if you have a baby!

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1. Puppy Pads are Super Useful for Babies

I know this sounds totally ridiculous, but it has saved me from doing so much laundry! After you give birth, they gave you these blue pads (basically puppy pads) to sit on/lay on in the hospital. They helped keep everything a lot cleaner, so I thought, why not use it for the baby too? I covered my changing table with one of those pads and I was immediately converted. When the baby would pee/poop/spit-up on the changing table, all I would have to do is replace the pad. If you have a plastic padded changing table, you have to spend time wiping down the mess. If you have a cute cloth cover on your changing table, you have more laundry to do. After I ran out of the pads from the hospital, I bought a small package of puppy pads from the grocery store and they work just as good! 3 months later, and I’m still using the same package, so they last a while! These puppy pads are great for the price, and this pack will probably last you a while. They also come right to your door from Amazon, so you can’t complain about that! Puppy pads are a great hack that all new moms should know about!

2. Put Blankets Over Swings and Bouncers

This is when a lot of receiving blankets come in handy. I ALWAYS have a blanket draped over the swing and over the bouncer to prevent any big difficult-to-clean messes. The only things you can’t really prevent is the car seat because the baby has to be strapped in. My baby had a blow-out while sitting in his bouncer once, and all I had to do to clean the bouncer was throw the blanket in the wash! It was the easiest clean-up for such a big mess. This is nice for spit up messes too, which happen all too often with my babe! I really like these receiving blankets from Amazon. The order includes several, and they are neutral colors which helps keep your house looking a little cleaner and less like a playground 🙂

3. Lay a Burp Rag Underneath the Baby While You are Nursing/Feeding Them

There have been many times when my baby has spit up before I could even pick him up to start burping him, so I started laying a burp rag underneath him when I would feed him. This has saved me from many changes of clothes, and lots of pillows being ruined. He has even had a blowout a couple of times while nursing, and the burp rag took most of the blow, so there was a lot less cleanup than there would have been otherwise! I like using these large muslin burp clothes to lay under the baby because they can lay underneath their whole body (for a long time, before they grow too much…).

4. Have the Baby Wear Bibs ALWAYS

Around 3 months my baby started slobbering like crazy. He was always blowing bubbles with his spit, and so his chin and tops of his onesies were always soaked and I felt bad because it was wet and cold on his skin, so I was constantly changing his onesies. If you want to save yourself from extra laundry, have your baby wear bibs as part of their daily outfit. I started out having my baby wear the typical cloth bibs that are round, but they slightly covered his arms, and so he was flipping the bib up and covering his face all the time. I REALLY like the bandana bibs. These ones on Amazon are great because they are neutral colors so they match with every outfit you put your baby in, and they are reasonably priced as well! I have really liked them. Having my baby wear the bandana bibs has been a laundry lifesaver!

5. Warm Up Baby’s Bath Towel in the Dryer

Just like us, babies don’t like to get out of the warm water. They don’t understand what is happening when you take them out of the tub, and they don’t like it. My baby would scream bloody murder when we would take him out of the tub and wrap him in a towel. It was the saddest thing, and it was so hard to get him to calm down afterwards. We decided to try warming up his towel in the dryer before giving him a bath. I would go grab the towel from the dryer right before he was ready to get out of the tub while my husband would sit with him (Don’t forget: Don’t ever leave your baby in the tub unsupervised!!). He seemed so much happier after his bath and was a lot easier to calm down and get ready for bed! If there are two people available, I would highly recommend putting baby’s towel in the dryer pre-bath!

6. Put Socks and Mittens in Bags When You Wash Them

You know how the washer and dryer can be sock monsters? Well if you ever thought your socks disappeared often, baby socks and mittens are so much worse! They get lost in the wash- never to be found again! I have these laundry bags that I use that are GREAT and no baby clothes ever get lost! If you buy these specific ones from amazon, make sure you put the zipper through the white stretchy loop before you throw it into the wash. If you don’t, the zipper will just come undone and you’ll think it doesn’t work, but I promise it does! I love using these! PS. They are also handy for a lot of other things you would wash (bras, reusable nursing pads, your socks, etc).

7. Put Pump Parts in The Refrigerator

If you are planning on breastfeeding, you will definitely have to pump at times. I usually pump to empty myself after each feeding, which means a LOT of washing part parts after you use them. I put the milk in freezer bags, and then put the pump parts in a gallon bag in the fridge to save myself from washing them every 2 hours. This is seriously SO handy. After my last pump of the day, I will hand wash them and leave them out to air-dry over night. Putting your pump parts in the fridge will save you a lot of time and also money (All that dish soap eventually adds up!). I have loved doing this and plan to do it forever!

8. Don’t Fold Newborn/ Baby Socks in a Ball

I’ve never met a person that doesn’t fold their socks into a ball. It is convenient and keeps the matching pairs together. Of course, I did the same thing to my baby’s socks when I was preparing for his arrival. MISTAKE. When I went to put the socks on my newborn, they would just fall off ALL the time because the calves had been totally stretched out. It was so frustrating that I just stopped putting socks on him, but then his poor little feet were freezing. I bought some new socks and didn’t fold them together, and they have stayed on my babe’s feet so much better. I would rather spend extra time hunting for the matching sock in the drawer than putting socks back on my baby’s feet all day long, or having his feet freeze. I wish I would’ve known this prior to having my baby, because I ended up wasting a lot of socks that would have been perfectly good otherwise.

9. Double Up the Sheets and Mattress Pad

When your baby has a blowout or serious spit-up accident at 3:00am, the last thing you want to do is switch all of the sheets and mattress pads. It’s late. You’re tired. Baby is crying. So here is a better way. Layer the bedding from the bottom up in this order- mattress pad, sheets, mattress pad, sheets. This way, when your baby has an accident, just pull off the top sheets and mattress pad, and throw them to the side (or in the wash) to take care of tomorrow. You don’t have to go hunting for sheets and you don’t have to remake the bed. You can thank me later.

10. Give Baby Medicine Through a Bottle Nipple

This is a genius hack. They first time I tried to give my baby medicine through a syringe, he HATED it. He was crying so hard and wouldn’t swallow the medicine and it was just a bad experience. Is your baby the same way? Probably- most babies are. Next time, try popping a bottle nipple in baby’s mouth and letting him/her latch on that. Don’t use a full bottle, because then you won’t be able to give them the medicine. Next, take the syringe full of medicine and feed it to the baby through the bottle nipple. It will work miracles! Baby might not like the taste, but it is a lot less likely that they’ll spit it up as soon as it enters their mouth!

These hacks have made my life so much easier. I am confident that I do so much less laundry and cleaning than I would otherwise. These hacks might require to spend a little extra money (puppy pads, bibs, extra burp cloths and extra blankets) but it is SO worth it and will probably save you money on laundry detergent in the long run. Share these hacks with your new mom friends, or old mom friends for that matter! These can save moms a lot of time and energy! Are there any other hacks that you know of that have made momming easier? Tell me in the comments!