This post is sponsored by Moonlight Slumber. However, all thoughts, opinions and my love for the products are all my own.

When I was pregnant with my first, I had no idea what to expect. I really felt like I was going into a situation blind and with my hands tied behind my back. While I was over the moon excited about our baby girl, I was also scared to death. Being responsible for another little human can be terrifying! What if I messed up? What if I did something wrong? I was full of questions and fears.

My daughter is now three and we’re pregnant with baby number two. I can honestly say that experience is the best teacher and both my husband and I feel much more relaxed and better prepared this time around.

While each baby and experience is different, going through the newborn stage once before taught me so many tips and tricks that I’m looking forward to utilizing with baby boy this summer.

Always put a clean diaper underneath the dirty diaper when changing.

I learned to do this the hard way. I think we only had Madison home from the hospital for a few days when she pooped all over the changing pad in the 2.5 seconds it took me to switch the dirty diaper out for the clean one. By keeping the clean one underneath the dirty during the change keeps your prepared for any unexpected messes.

Buy a Quality Changing Pad

During my first pregnancy, I just purchased a basic changing pad. At the time, I didn’t realize the importance of investing in a quality changing pad. Over time, our changing pad began to sag, stained and did not safely secure on the changing table. It became more of a safety hazard than a tool that was meant to help make our lives easier.

For baby number two, we decided to do our research and ordered the Moonlight Slumber Changing Pad with Plush Cotton Cover. Moonlight Slumber created a quality changing pad that contains no cardboard and was built to not sag. This changing pad is encased in a water resistant, easy-to-clean, medical grade stitch polyester. It’s water, stain and odor resistant. It’s easily sponge cleaned and is able to survive all of babies little (and not so little!) messes. This changing pad is also hypoallergenic and contains no indentations or areas that could cause germ entrapment.

White Noise Helps Baby Sleep

When I first brought my daughter home, I actually believed newborns could just sleep whenever they were tired. The joke was on me, this did NOT happen. Babies are used to the constant white noise of the womb. A fan or a white noise machine can provide baby with the rhythmic pattern that they’re accustomed to in order to sleep better, This also helps muffle noises from outside of their room, helping baby sleep longer.

Put Blackout Curtains in Baby Room

When we moved to Alaska, Madison was only 6 months old. It was also the middle of summer when we were receiving about 18 hours of sunlight a day. This wreaked havoc on our daughters nighttime routine.  The sun was not setting until around midnight and my daughter just wanted to stay up and party with the midnight sun. But Mama and Daddy are not about that life. We invested in blackout curtains for Madison that helped immensely – and to this day, still do! While we will be living in Massachusetts when baby boy arrives, we will still be purchasing blackout curtains for his nursery. Closing the blackout curtains helped Madison realize it was time to sleep. The dark room gave her less distractions and helped her sleep better. Who doesn’t need more sleep?

Invest in a Quality Crib Mattress

Nobody wants an uncomfortable mattress, including baby. I’m so excited to have the Moonlight Slumber Baby Bluebird Crib Mattress for baby boy! The safety, value and quality in Moonlight Slumber mattresses is unmatched.

Baby Bluebird Crib Mattress is Greenguard Gold Certified and Certipur U.S. Certified (no off-gassing). It also has a removable (and washable!) plush cotton cover that can zip on/off. It’s also toddler approved if you couldn’t tell!

This mattress has dual firmness to make the transition from baby to toddler much easier. The Baby Bluebird mattress has all the amazing features of the popular Little Dreamer baby mattress by Moonlight Slumber plus these incredible upgrades: airflow core, cool gel memory foam, quad rail construction and removable cover. There is also a lifetime warranty of manufacturer defects.

Baby Bluebird also the innovative airflow nest with cool gel memory foam to effectively regulate sleeping baby’s body temperature. A comfortable baby, is a sleeping baby!

Butterfly Nursing Pillow

A quality nursing pillow can really help make the nursing process much easier for you. The Butterfly Nursing Pillow helps your little one achieve the perfect latch with positioning wings that adjust the height.

Even if you choose not to nurse, a nursing pillow is still a must-have! The butterfly nursing pillow can be a great support tool for supervised tummy time with baby or to help support baby to sit up. As you can see, my toddler loved practicing this with her baby doll.

Always Carry At Least Two Extra Outfits in the Diaper Bag

With an infant, you should always expect a blow out to happen when you leave the house. I’m not going to say it’ll happen every time, but it’s better to be prepared for the worst than to not be prepared at all.

Create a Routine

My daughter seemed to thrive after getting her into a routine. While it can be hard to establish a routine with a newborn, little things like feeding after naps or giving a bath before bedtime will help your little one associate what to expect.

Keep Track of Feedings and Wet Diapers

During the first few weeks of life, your little one is going to have a lot of doctors appointments. Along with those doctors appointments will always come the questions regarding how well your baby is eating and wetting diapers. By writing this down as it happens, you’re able to give the doctor an accurate answer and notice an issue before it gets worse. There are several apps that can help you keep track of this as well!

Let Others Help You

Parenting an infant is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Don’t be afraid to let others help you! As a new parent, our self care often takes a backseat to baby, but it’s important to remember that you need to be taken care of as well. Allow others to help you, even if they just take baby off your hands for ten minutes so you can shower alone.

I hope these tips and tricks help make the transition to parenthood a little easier on you! For more information to help you with comparison shopping and choosing a crib mattress or changing pad, click here.