Disclosure: I was provided a copy of Newborn Necessities in exchange for this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

With the birth of Lil Miss, they had us keep track of when she ate, how much she ate, when she dirtied her diaper and by which means she dirtied her diaper.

They had us do the same thing with the prior to deliveries and had I actually been packed and prepared for my scheduled c-section, I probably would have remembered to bring the book. Unfortunately, because Lil Miss decided to join us a few days early, I was sorely unprepared and forgot the book so I wasn’t able to use it at the hospital, but have used it since coming home.

Are you a new or expecting parent? Do you know someone who is? If so, this book is for you. There are many items you will need to get ready for your baby, and Newborn Necessities is one of those things. As soon as your baby is born, your doctor, midwife, nurse, and/or pediatrician will ask you to keep track of his or her feedings and diaper changes. Make it easier on yourself by writing it down. Using the charts provided in Newborn Necessities will help eliminate common feelings of stress and anxiety associated with, When did I last feed the baby? Is he/she eating enough? When was their last bowel movement? This book is designed for parents by parents. It is intended to make your journey into parenthood a little bit easier by providing you with easy-to-use charts to document this information. It is a quick, compact, and easy-to-understand way to chart this information, thus leaving you more time to spend with your baby and catch up on your sleep! Jennifer Cigale lives in Boca Raton, Florida, with her spouse and two children. As a new mother, she developed these charts for her own use and was soon sharing them with friends and family who were also starting families. She holds a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy and has used her education and training as an occupational therapist to identify problems and develop working solutions for her patients.

The book is divided into two halves:

Feeding Facts

The feeding facts work for breast fed or bottle fed babies.

The chart is set up to write down the time you start feeding, how many minutes they spent at the breast or how many ounces they ate from the bottle, plus a place to put comments (maybe a comment on which breast you started nursing on first to help remind you for the next feeding).

Diaper Facts

The diaper facts allow you to keep track of dirty diapers.

The chart is set up for the time of the dirty diaper, along with a box for pee or poo, and any comments.

This book not only comes in handy those first few weeks of a newborns life when trying to ensure baby is getting enough to eat, but it also comes in handy when baby is sick.

With two big siblings (one of them school aged), Lil Miss caught her first cold within her first month. I was worried about dehydration (as I always am with any of my children getting sick) and was able to keep track of her eating habits and diapering habits to ensure she was staying hydrated.

Another bonus with this book is that we were able to keep track of her bowel patterns. She has had an issue with only going poo every four to six days so I was able to keep an accurate record of when her bowel movements were and noted the consistency in the comments. I was able to bring the book into her pediatrician’s office to show the doctor her bowel pattern and help determine if there was a problem (which fortunately there wasn’t and she now goes every other day or every other two days – yes, I know, TMI, but if you’re a parent, you get it!)

This is definitely a “baby shower gift” go-to for any parent whether new or experienced. You can purchase Newborn Necessities on
for a great price and any gift recipient will thank you for this handy tool!