Baby Nursery Essentials + Checklist

First time parent and creating a nursery for your baby?! Today we are sharing a nursery checklist of everything your baby’s nursery needs!

As the twins due date is getting closer we have been working on gathering supplies for their nursery. We have had lots of questions on what we decided to go with in the nursery so we thought we would share with you all the details of what we got as well as create a nursery checklist while we are at it! For our nursery we will have two cribs/bassinets, but for the list I just went with 1 of everything.

At the end this month well start to put the nursery together. Our guest room will be turning into the girls nursery. We have a few guests coming to visit this month, so once the guests are out, the girls room will take over 😉 I am so excited to put it together. Currently we have baby stuff hiding all over the house in different closets and even the garage!

As you are putting together your nursery inspiration, consider putting a lot of the items on your registry. Then after your baby shower you can use see what you still need and even use some gift cards to get some of the items. If putting together a nursery seems to overwhelming, consider stopping by Pottery Barn Kids. We learned they have free nursery design services that seem pretty neat.

Alright lets dive into the nursery checklist and why we picked out each item for our twin girl nursery.

Crib

For Jake and I picking a crib was the hardest part of buying nursery furniture. The color and style can really determine the room, so we would recommend picking this out first! There was some purple bedding we really wanted, but it didn’t go well with the brown cribs. We decided we liked the cribs and so went another route with our bedding plans.

Crib Mattress

Picking a mattress can be hard, especially if you are purchasing it online. We ended up going with a less expensive option but had really great reviews! The mattress is square on the corners so it supposed to not move in the crib and stay nice and snug which is a nice touch too.

Crib Bedding/ Waterproof Mattress Cover

Plan on getting 4-5 crib fitted sheets and a waterproof mattress cover. Its super popular these days to just do a crib sheet, and thats it for bedding. To be honest, I think that looks super cute and is safest for the baby. We wanted to girl-up the room a bit so we went with a crib skirt, blankets, and a bumper. When we start to put the girls in their cribs after their time in the bassinet well take out the blankets, bumper, etc. But we wanted to add a cute flare to the room during the first 6 months that I can enjoy looking at while nursing and changing diapers.

Swaddle Blankets

Swaddle blankets are so cute to me! I am so excited to wrap our girls up in these! When I was asking around, a brand that kept coming up that everyone recommended was Little Unicorn!

Bassinet

So this is something not everyone opts in to getting, but after reading about the SNOO bassinets we knew we had to get 2 of them. There are lots of bassinets out there, but these ones are different. They are recommend for the first 6 months of a babes life to help them sleep train. Since these bassinets are not the most cost effective there is a rental option that could be nice. We debated renting, but knew we wanted to have more kiddos down the road so ended up buying them. Some other great options could be a Dock A Tot or Halo swivel bedside bassinet for the babes first few months.

Baby Blankets

It was recommended to me to get 4-5 baby blankets per kid. I don’t think we will get that many blankets because that is a lot! But we did get a few different blanket options to hang over the cribs.

Dresser

A dresser with babies I keep hearing is a must! We went with one that had smaller drawers vs. long drawers because with 2 babies in my arms I knew I needed to be able to open a drawer one handed. To help organize, we also picked out some small divider baskets to go in some of the drawers. We are planning on putting the changing pad on top of the dresser and filling the top drawers with diaper supplies. For the girls dresser I wanted it to match the cribs but not be to matchy matchy, so we got a white one with legs that match the cribs.

Changing Pad

There are lots of great changing pad options. After talking to lots of mamas we decided to go with the Keekaroo Peanut changing pad. There are a few reasons why. With the Peanut there is no need to have changing covers, it is a soft wipe off type material. If the babies have an explosion and poop gets all over, you can wipe the poop right off, or even hose the changing pad down. It is a little more expensive then your typical changing pad, but you don’t have to buy covers and it seems like it will last a long time if you are planning on having more babies.

Rocker/Glider

This was something we debated about having in the nursery. I have heard great things for nursing and having a rocker so we decided to get one. We also wanted a cozy place to snuggle with our girls during late nights, so it seems like a great option. A bed, or couch could be a good option to depending on your room set up/situation. The rocker we got is a green velvet! I wanted to do leather so it could easily be wiped off, but the velvet was so fun we decided to go that route.

Accent Pillow

Adding accent pillows is such a fun way to spice up the room. I even got a few to go in the cribs to add some color. The babies will of course never sleep in the cribs with the pillows in there, but I wanted to add some color and woodland forest fun 🙂

Bookcase/ Books

Reading books is one of our favorite things to do each night as the girls are growing in my belly. We want to continue that tradition as the girls grow up. Bring on the books! This bookshelf online seems to match the cribs so I hope in person it does too!

Rug

Depending on your floors you may or may not want a rug. For us we wanted to add more color and girl up the room a bit so a rug was a good option. We went with a purple textured rug.

Toy Basket

This isn’t a necessity but can sure add some cuteness and functionality to a nursery. We saw this cute fox one and thought it would be so perfect for the room!

Wall Decor/Wallpaper/Accent Wall

Adding a decorative wallpaper or colored wall really adds a lot to a baby nursery. It can really tie in the entire room and help add the final detail to a space. We wanted a sweet and soft wallpaper so we decided to go with a woodland one. Well probably just do an accent wall, but haven’t decided which wall in the nursery to do yet!

Art/Pictures

What’s a nursery without some art??! We were looking for some fun woodland creatures for the girls room and found the cutest prints on minted! Well probably order a few from their to go in the nursery. I loved the way the prints looked and how you can pick out what color frame for them too!

Sound Machine

Have you ever used one of these?!? They are pure magic! You can even find ones with night lights on them too! There are lots of cool ones out there, but I picked this one because the reviews and price both seemed good!

Video Camera/Monitor

There are so many options for these! Cameras you can view on your phone, handheld ones, walkie talkies, so many options! After asking around I still had no idea what kind we wanted to get! We have some kind friends that work at Owlet and got us monitors and cameras, so that was really awesome! They also recommended getting walkie talkie to leave one in the nursery and have one with us as we go around the house!

Organizing Baskets

These are always handy to have around. We bought some thin baskets to put in drawers. For the closet we bought larger baskets. It is nice for everything to have a place and an organized spot!

Baby Clothes Hangers

If you got a dresser, you can put all the baby clothes in it, but if you are like me and like to see clothes hanging, baby hangers a must. They are so cute and tiny too! We went with velvet ones to help hold the clothes on the hanger. These come in all colors, but of course we choose pink 🙂

Trash Can/Diaper Genie

A lot of people opt for a diaper genie but I decided to go with a simple trash can. I have heard mixed reviews on a diaper genie, but have heard they get the job done. We already take out dog poop outside everyday, so we figured the poopy diapers will go into that routine too 🙂

Laundry Hamper

Poopy clothes, dirty crib sheets, spit up clothes, there is a lot of exciting laundry that comes with cute babes! We are going to have a laundry basket in the twins closet to put in dirty items.

Journal

I got 2 journals so I could have one for each girl. For me, I need simple and easy so I got little 5 year journals that only have a few lines to write in each day. Last year I started a 5 year journal for myself, so I thought this would be easy to incorporate ones for the girls. My mom kept a baby journal for me and it is something I really treasure! Its fun to look back on and see the memories my mom had with me! I am so excited to do this for our girls.

Safety Plugs

This is a random one, but one I thought could be really important for when the babies start crawling around. These would be great to put throughout the house but especially in their room or where they will be playing.

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Well thats a wrap for our nursery essentials! I can’t wait to start putting together the girls room! It will be fun to see it all come together! Thanks for stopping by today, hope you have a great week!