Author Linda Meadow reminds new parents to take their time and figure out what their needs are when the first baby comes. Most parents jump right into a nesting phase when they have their first child, and learn quickly their mistakes. Take your time to figure out what the essentials are. All you really need right off the bat when having a baby is a car seat, a place for the baby to sleep, diapers, and wipes. The rest you can learn as you go.

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- All you really need when the baby comes is a car seat, because they won't let you out of the hospital without it, a place for the baby to sleep, which is usually not even a crib, because they're too small for it, it's a bassinet of some kind or the pack and play with the bassinet on top, diapers, and wipes. You really can take your time and figure out what your needs are, so if you're realizing that you're going upstairs and downstairs all the time, maybe the bassinet should just stay downstairs, and you can have the baby sleeping in a nap nanny or something else like that upstairs. You don't have to really commit to what kind of stroller you need in the beginning, because often you're just really carrying that car seat around, and you don't even bother to pop it in a stroller, if you're not walking. When you go to the pediatrician, you end up carrying that car seat around. When you go to the market a lot, you end up not even wanting to deal with the stroller, and you just are carrying that car seat around. I mean, I always say that you don't even really need to have a crib right away, because they're too small for it, so often times I know people go through their nesting phase when it's a new baby, but often times you make mistakes. So I find that it's best to figure out just those couple of things you really need, and then once you kind of get used to having the baby home, you can figure out what else you need.