5 First-Year Baby Essentials—With a Surprise Twist
Clever baby products that pull double duty and help make everyday life easier.
By Babylist Team
When you’re shopping for baby gear, multifunctional essentials are always a win (think: everyday gear that pulls double duty or packs up for easy travel). These first-year essentials from Boon all feature a surprise twist to help you get more bang for your buck.
A Bottle Brush That Doubles As Decor
Countertop baby gear isn’t often known for its aesthetics, but bottles gotta be washed! With babies needing to eat several times a day, cleaning tools, bottle parts, cups, and pumping gear usually become permanent countertop fixtures. The four-piece CACTI Bottle Cleaning Brush Set hides in plain sight, cleverly disguising itself as countertop greenery, with holes in the vase to drain the water and prevent mold build-up.
And when you do need to leave the bottles and parts out to dry, this unique drying rack looks like a patch of lawn (you may be sensing a theme here) with flexible blades of “grass” that keep even the tiniest supplies upright. The vented bottom allows for air circulation while the removable tray collects excess water to avoid countertop puddles. Plus, it comes in four different colors to match your kitchen decor.
A Bottle That Converts to a Sippy, Straw, or Snack Cup
With all that talk about bottles, it’s less often discussed how quickly your baby will start using cups! This clever silicone bottle system grows with your little one, with ingenious accessories that convert it from bottle to sippy cup, straw cup, and even snack cup. Translation: less gear taking up space in your cabinets.
As a bottle, it also combats one of the biggest blunders: too much airflow, which can lead to increased gas, colic, and overall fussiness. The silicone pouch collapses as baby drinks, without using any straws, valves, or vents to reduce airflow (which means fewer parts for you to clean!). The silicone can be boiled, sterilized, microwaved, and frozen, and the soft material won’t get damaged when it inevitably gets thrown on the floor.
A Seat That Can Slide Under The Sofa
Babies need a place to hang out when you’re not holding them, but swings and bouncers can take up precious floor space. This sleek bouncer accomplishes the same goal, but with a much smaller footprint, and no batteries or cords. And when you’re not using it? Lift the legs to flatten and it can be stored under furniture (it even comes with a carry tote to take it out and about without it getting dirty or damaged).
Instead of electronic movement, the SLANT bouncer uses baby’s natural movement to provide a just-right amount of motion. There are also two height positions for younger and older babies, depending on how much head and back support they need. And best of all: The machine-washable fabric easily slips off for simple cleanup after spit-ups and blowouts.
An Inflatable Bath Tub for Everyday Use
Most baby bathtubs are designed for use in one place: the sink, the tub, or on-the-go, but the PUFF+ Inflatable Baby Bather does all three. The soft, absorbent microfleece cover has swaddle wings to keep baby warm and cozy (so you don’t need additional washcloths to cover them).
When bathtime is finished, you can toss the cover in the washing machine and dryer, or hang the whole tub up to quickly dry on its own. This tub also inflates and deflates in seconds for travel, and comes with a storage bag to protect against rips and tears. P.S. When baby is ready to upgrade from sink mode to standard tub, this suction toy set is a fun twist on traditional bath toys, mixing water play with a bit of engineering (while encouraging water to stay in the tub).
A Dishwasher-Safe High Chair
High chairs get quite messy, and they aren’t always the easiest to clean (so many corners and crevices!). Lots of high chairs have dishwasher-safe trays these days, but the GRUB high chair has a leg—er, seat—up because you can pop both the seat and the tray right into the dishwasher for a quick clean before baby’s next meal.
This chair also gets high marks for being able to easily adapt to baby’s size and your dining area, with an adjustable tray and height (so you can use it at the table or countertop) and a five-position footrest. It also converts to a chair that can hold a toddler up to 50 pounds.
Any time you can find gear that does its job well and grows with baby is something to celebrate (it’s even better when it does it with a touch of whimsy like the gear above). Want more multifunctional essentials like these? Check out the complete lineup from Boon.
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