When you’re a new mom, everything can feel overwhelming, from late-night feedings to the seemingly never-ending dirty diapers to your own physical recovery (to, as of late, the added stress of a pandemic).

As Sadie Stein, a writer, Strategist contributor, puts it — is so vast that there’s a “specialized product for anything you’ve thought of and have not thought of,” it can be easy for new moms to become further overwhelmed by well-intentioned but unnecessary baby gifts. So to find things that new moms actually want, we surveyed new and seasoned mothers about the stuff that they say really helps make the transition into motherhood a little smoother, including lots of things for her and a few things for kids that, in turn, will make her life easier.