What's the one thing as a first-time Mom that you couldn't live without?

[hyzenthlay]

Lanolin! 

I needed that for me while breastfeeding and it was also great on the drool rash that my second child was prone to.

[Sophia]

Yeah, The Happiest Baby book was a lifesaver.  Who knew that lullabies do nothing for a screaming baby?  I didn't until I read the book.  Although by Trial and Error I had figured out that Judy Collins singing Dance Little Baby (pretty loud) did work. 

[Slartibartfast]

Yeah, The Happiest Baby book was a lifesaver.  Who knew that lullabies do nothing for a screaming baby?  I didn't until I read the book.  Although by Trial and Error I had figured out that Judy Collins singing Dance Little Baby (pretty loud) did work.

A harmonica blast two inches away from their face does the trick, though.  (Thank Babybartfast for that piece of knowledge - she's constantly wanting to interact with Bittybartfast.  Oddly enough, she's actually pretty good at making Bittybartfast stop crying when she's fussy for no good reason, mostly by doing loud and sudden things which I would have otherwise assumed would make babies cry harder!)

[Bijou]

My mother...and my sisters.  And Carter brand anything for the baby to wear.

[Hollanda]

AngelCare Baby Monitor. When DS is ill, I need to know he's breathing ok. You can hear it from the sensor pad. Only issue is when he moves off the pad it beeps intermittently and I have to get up and go to move him. But it's a small price to pay for piece of mind.

[joraemi]

I had a night light that attached to the side of the crib and was sound activated.  If the baby woke in the middle of the night, this little gem would turn on and play music for 20 minutes with a soft light that back lit a little scrolling scene.  It was great when we were helping the babes learn to sleep through the night around 6 months or so and was just cool before that!

[Piratelvr1121]

We didn't find this out until our 2nd, but there's a burn cream called Resinol.  You can buy it behind the pharmacy counter.  It works so great on diaper rash, it's not even funny.

Oooh really? May have to look into that. We've used Desitin and Butt Paste and they make it better, but it doesn't disappear.

[MamaMootz]

Onesies. You can never have too many onesies.

And we found this stuff in WalMart called Bag Balm for diaper rash. They use it on cow udders, apparently. But DD had a horrible case of diaper rash after she got very very sick and had the runs and that Bag Balm not only cleared up the rash, it stopped more stuff from getting on there. I swore by it.

And the bouncy swing. And when she was very little, one of those Bjorn baby things that you strap over your shoulders and she rests on your belly. She would just go right to sleep for hours in that thing.

[rain]

  I haven't read all the replys - but something I really could have used was someone to help with the house work (I was excited when I was able to wash 2 whole plates)  {DH worked long hours and did as much as he could}

[Nox]

My real answer is "help". Because it's hard to have too much of that, especially for a postpartum mom.

In terms of material things that you can give at baby showers, I really loved my Miracle Blankets (http://www.miracleblanket.com/) for swaddling. My little Houdini couldn't get out of those until she didn't need swaddling anymore.

[Hillia]

I had a great sling called a Nursling (I don't see them online any more).  It was wonderful, a big unstructured piece of fabric gathered into a shoulder/neck strap.  Put it on, slip DS inside, and he's cocooned snugly against me to sleep.  As he got older, I could reposition him so he was sitting or lying against me depending on what he needed.  All the way up til he was about 4; I used the sling to support him when he rode on my hip.  I loved that thing.  I had him close to me all the time, totally hands free.

[stkatie00]

A couple of things I forgot to add:
Agree that Happiest Baby on the Block is great, but I would recommend the DVD over the book.
Also, my new go to for baby showers/new baby gifts: the "O-Ball." My twins still love them at 10 months. All my mom friends have them, and pretty universally, they are a favorite toy once the kids hit 2-3 months. They come in all sorts of colors, and are easy to pick up, chew on, and can keep a baby occupied for quite a while.

[Emmy]

Rock and play by fisher price.  It was an angled baby bed that you could rock and it was easy to move to move to different rooms.  It made it possible to take a shower and keep an eye on DD at the same time.  DD often needed to be rocked to sleep and she slept much better in that than on a flat surface. 

I also have to say Miracle blanket.  DD would always escape the swaddles so this blanket really helped.

I have a book called Baby 411, but any informative baby book is good to have on hand.  I'm glad I read it before DD came along so it was quicker to look up issues when she was here and I had no time for reading.

I have a Chicco car seat and base.  The car seat snaps in the base, it is so easy.  It would be worth getting an extra base to put into any cars in which the baby would ride on a regular basis.  Apparently car seats are really hard to install correctly (I followed the directions and still got it wrong according to the safety inspector).  Having a car seat base in any car the baby uses regularly would mean it could be installed once correctly and it would be quick and easy to transfer baby between car and safe.

[still in va]

Rock and play by fisher price.  It was an angled baby bed that you could rock and it was easy to move to move to different rooms.  It made it possible to take a shower and keep an eye on DD at the same time.  DD often needed to be rocked to sleep and she slept much better in that than on a flat surface. 

I also have to say Miracle blanket.  DD would always escape the swaddles so this blanket really helped.

I have a book called Baby 411, but any informative baby book is good to have on hand.  I'm glad I read it before DD came along so it was quicker to look up issues when she was here and I had no time for reading.

I have a Chicco car seat and base.  The car seat snaps in the base, it is so easy.  It would be worth getting an extra base to put into any cars in which the baby would ride on a regular basis.  Apparently car seats are really hard to install correctly (I followed the directions and still got it wrong according to the safety inspector).  Having a car seat base in any car the baby uses regularly would mean it could be installed once correctly and it would be quick and easy to transfer baby between car and safe.

Emmy, that's the same carseat system that my son and DIL have for my grandson.  they have two cars, bases in both, and they just pop my grandson into the carseat and put him into whichever car is doing the daycare (or grandparent-care) run that day.  it's fantastic!  they also have the stroller base that fits the carseat.  i went shopping with my DIL a few times when the baby was smaller.  the carseat sat on the top, facing her.  now i get it on the days i watch the baby, and i was surprised to find out that under the carseat (on our shopping trips) was a full-sized regular stroller, that is so user friendly that it's even easy for me to use with my wiggleworm grandbaby.

[MrsJWine]

Another thing on Happiest Baby: it supports a method of parenting that we just weren't into, but the information is still so, so, SO useful. So if you've heard about it and think they might not like it, it's worth its weight in gold just for the info on baby-soothing.

As for baby carriers, unless you have a really strong back, look for one with good back support. I hated the Bjorn so much that I wanted to burn it. Seriously. It was completely worthless after about the first month. I have another one (Ergo) that I can still comfortably carry my 35-pound toddler in for a decent amount of time. It puts most of the weight on your hips instead of your back and shoulders. There are a wide variety of carriers out there that work that way, so the Ergo is not the only way to go. It's just the one that I really love.