The Realistic Baby Registry: Things You’ll Need (And Actually Use)
The holy grail, the thing that will set you up for success in so many ways…your Baby Registry! If you are planning on having a baby shower, which I highly encourage, you will want to be smart about how you plan out your baby registry.
There are so many things that are needed when it comes to babies and then others that are more ‘cute’ than convenient or you would think would be convenient at the time, but then never actually use. So, let’s cut through the bullshit, shall we?
I know you want to be prepared and feel like you need literally all of the things, but you really don’t, and when you are past certain stages in your baby’s development, you’ll be wondering what to do with everything and taking stock of all the things you didn’t end up using.
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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. The information in this post is for informational purposes and does not constitute medical advice in any way. I am not liable for any damages resulting from using the information in this article. Please consult a doctor for your medical advice.
Sources for Baby Supplies:
Baby Clothes Train
Having a baby can be very expensive, especially when it comes to everything you need to care for them. My suggestion, get things second-hand where you can. Now, obviously, there are certain things that need to/should be bought brand-new like nipples, pacifiers, diapers, wipes, etc. You get the point.
But there are so many things that you can use second-hand. For one, clothes! Baby clothes are adorable and so freaking expensive for them to wear for literally months to sometimes weeks at a time and then can no longer fit into.
I got extremely lucky in this regard. A good friend of mine started a clothes train with other moms.
She coordinates with expectant mom friends and those who already have kids, organizing who needs clothes for what ages.
Each mom utilizes the clothes from the train and ends up contributing more clothes from gifted/purchased clothing they acquire.
Only the clothing that is still in good condition gets passed on and with all the different moms being involved there is a variety of outfits and styles.
I didn’t have to buy ANY clothes for my kid and won’t for at least another year or two (besides the random cute holiday outfits and matching pajamas for Christmas that I just had to get!)
I do not know why more people don’t do this. It truly boggles my mind. I encourage more people who have a friend network of babies/kids to start one. It’s a game-changer!!
Donations from Mom-Friends
I also had several amazing friends who donated so many of their baby things to me. Tap into your friends who have had kids (and are done having kids) and see if they have any baby stuff that they are looking to get rid of.
It felt so good to be able to pass along the things we didn’t end up needing or what we no longer had use for to the next mom-to-be. It’s such a great feeling to pay-it-forward, especially after I was so lucky to have such an awesome network of people contributing to my baby needs.
Purchasing from Second-Hand Sources
You can always shop second-hand as well from places like Facebook Marketplace, Once Upon a Child, or other second-hand stores to find cheaper options instead of buying everything brand-new.
You may be surprised how many people are out there that you didn’t realize are within your own network and happy to contribute. Whether that be by donating or inviting you to be a part of something like a kid-clothes-train.
The Advice: It’s Abundant
There are so many different blogs out there with their own lists of what is needed. That’s how I originally built my own after all. That, and suggestions from other moms I knew.
Now, before you dig into this list, know that every baby is different and so is every mom (Sometimes I think they forget to include that part. Mom’s aren’t all built the same either). There will be some things that worked well for one person’s child and may not work for yours. Or you may prefer certain products or ways of doing things over others’ suggestions.
This is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a great thing. You’re figuring out what works best for you and your baby.
People will want to offer their advice and opinions on this topic, solicited or otherwise. Not every source or piece of information needs to be taken. You get to choose what is right for you and your child.
But, be polite. People want to share, they want to help, and sometimes when it’s not wanted or needed. Be graceful in how you handle these situations.
Thank them for their advice or point of view and move on. Nobody is holding you to taking that tip about only using the vegan-anti-germ-catching-made-from-silk-worms-in-Peru swaddle blanket (I just made that item up, if you couldn’t tell).
If that worked for them great. If you want to try it out, go for it. It’s your choice and you don’t have to tell them what you choose. That’s your own business.
There will also be an immense amount of information and advice that you will get from others that will be very helpful. Just stick it all in your metaphorical back pocket for safekeeping.
The Registry: Getting Down To The Nitty Gritty
Now down to the coup de gras, the Baby Registry list of the things you will need and actually use. Again, it’s your choice if you decide to take this advice. This is a list of items that I found were needed, very helpful, actually useful, and provided convenience more than once.
I’ll link the ones I’ve used before and recommend, and share any helpful tidbits, and our experiences. Let the fun begin!
Feeding:
– This one is a guilty pleasure for sure, but what a time saver, and when you are tired momma, your best friend.
– I breastfed my babe for about 9 months. I started supplementing with formula around 7 months and used this up until he was just past one year old.
– Essentially, it’s a Keurig for bottles. It has settings that when you press a button will fill to a certain amount of ounces with the exact amount of water and formula needed. It mixes the water and formula as it makes the bottle and at the right temperature for baby. GAME-CHANGER!
– Screw the nipple top on, give it a good quick shake for good measure, and you’re ready to feed baby.
– The fastest tool to handwash your bottles, which you will be doing often!
– I got two drying racks for my bottles and baby things. One was for bottles and the other looked like fake green grass that I used for extras and everything else.
– This helped me to keep all the parts organized, which made making a bottle even more efficient. And once we were done with bottles, I used it to further organize my medicine and toiletries cabinet.
– I preferred the Dr. Brown bottles. I tried a couple of others, but these were the ones that came out as the front contender.
– I tried both the narrow and wide versions. I ended up ditching the narrow ones. I think since I was also breastfeeding, it wasn’t as much of a shock switching back and forth from breast to bottle.
– Don’t go overboard on the amount. I think max by the time we were done with bottles, I had 10 in total that we used on the reg. 6-7 were in the regular rotation and 3 were kept in the diaper bag for outings. You want just enough that you don’t have to constantly be washing bottles.
Bottle Nipples in Different Sizes
– Stay ahead of the game and just get the different flow levels as your baby advances their feeding game.
– If you are looking for a fast method for sterilizing, this sterilizer does the trick for slightly bigger loads of bottles than disposable bags. I felt more comfortable with this option and the disposable bags versus a boiling pot of water and I wasn’t yet ready to put the bottles in the dishwasher.
– I would suggest the ones that have a plastic back for when they are smaller and drinking bottles. I preferred cloth bandana-style ones once they were just for catching drool.
– These were by far my favorite burp clothes. They absorb so much!
– At first I wanted cute ones that would go with baby’s clothes, but I soon realized this wasn’t the move. These muslin ones are white, go with everything, and are the superheroes when it comes to soaking things up.
– These are for when they start eating human food. I got this set of three. They are super easy to clean and are great for catching the food that falls out of their hands/mouths.
– Trust me. You don’t want your kid picking up the bowl or plate and banging it against the tray sending food flying everywhere.
– If yours is anything like mine, they will still be able to get it off the highchair tray if they work hard enough, but we don’t have to make this easier for them with no suction.
Soothing/Medicinal/First Aid
– Don’t go crazy on getting a bunch of these or all of the same one. These are the ones that my kid used the most, but these others worked as well from time to time and are supposed to be better for not causing issues with their teeth if they do end up still using a pacifier when their teeth start to come in.
– My kid wasn’t a big fan of the pacifier and ended up kicking the non-habit by 3 months old.
– I have to credit my mom for this one. In the first couple of weeks, my kid got gas bubbles that were not making him a very happy baby at all. I knew about Gripe Water from my experiences with my sister’s kids, but you weren’t recommended to use it until they were about a month old (I believe they updated this since then and can now use it as early as two weeks old).
– The Mylicon drops can be used right away for gas relief and it works great.
– I eventually switched over to using the Gripe Water and it has its reputation for a reason. It works for gas, colic, fussiness, and hiccups. Um, yes, please!
Baby Healthcare and Grooming Kit
– I got this kit because it was a great all-in-one that provided basic healthcare tools such as a thermometer, scissors, tweezer, etc. It also had grooming tools like a nail grinder (this was a big one for me, I was terrified at the idea of trimming my kid’s nails), comb, brush, nail files, etc. It made it easy to travel too, knowing I had everything conveniently in the one case.
– I have been very lucky that I haven’t had to use either of these often at all, but I had them on hand for when I did need them. Be sure to consult your doctor before using either of these.
Teething
– This teething toy comes highly recommended by several sources for a reason. It’s amazing. But one caveat. It squeaks, so if you have a dog they might think it’s a toy for them, like my pup did (more than once). Thankfully I caught him every time before he could do any real damage.
– Great for teething and as a toy. It’s easy for them to grip, perfect for them to gnaw on, and pretty compact which makes it great to throw in the diaper bag and have on hand for when you’re out and about.
Mommy’s Bliss Organic Little Gums Day/Night
– Organic mild ingredients that are safe for your baby, benzocaine/sugar free, and provide them relief. It also comes with one tube for day and one for night.
Breastfeeding
– If you have health insurance, you should be able to get your breast pump through your insurance. There is a company called Aeroflow that works with your insurance company to provide you with a pump for free and they will also prompt you to get free breast pump parts regularly when your parts should be replaced.
– If you don’t have insurance or don’t want to go with this route for whatever reason, this is the model (Luna Double Electric Breast Pump) I used.
– It was compact, lightweight, strong, and not super noisy. It was easy to tote around and travel with.
– This one is called Nipple Crack and I used it religiously, especially in the beginning of breastfeeding. It helped to soothe and protect my nipples.
– Your nipples aren’t used to all the sucking and saliva (or maybe they are, no judgment here – I wasn’t so lucky)
– These are great for storage, have fields for tracking date/time/ounces, have a tear away tab for easy pouring, and have a patch that changes color to let know if the breastmilk is at the right temp for baby.
– I love this item so much that I got two! I would keep one in the nursery and the other in the living room, the common areas where they were most needed.
– It is a lifesaver for your back when breastfeeding and rocking your baby to sleep.
– We still use these and my baby is now 16 months old.
– It’s also great for babies to relax on and use for tummy time!
– These are great for absorbing when your breasts leak and they will.
– They are machine washable and you will be wearing these daily, so depending on how often you’ll be doing laundry, plan your amount accordingly. You don’t want to be caught without them.
– This one is great for catching the runoff from one breast, while baby feeds on the other instead of wasting that extra breastmilk on a breast pad.
– This one is a game-changer! Get your hands back when you’re pumping and it works as easy access for breastfeeding as well.
– I got a few of these and lived in them.
Bathing
Baby Baths (baby-to-toddler/blow-up)
– This baby-to-toddler bath is perfect for, you guessed it, newborns, but it also continues to accommodate them as they grow!
– This ducky bath is the perfect transition between the newborn bath and the open bathtub.
– I was worried about the open bath and even bought a little seat to try (which I never ended up using) because I found this blow-up bath we got from my baby shower that I had forgotten all about. My son loves it!
– These bamboo ones are durable and soft.
– Great for bath time or cleaning up messy babies from their meal once they start eating people-food.
– Err on the side of caution with sensitive-skin body wash.
– My baby ended up having eczema and it’s been a battle. Going this route right away, just in case, is the smart move.
– The lavender-scented, nighttime baby lotion is divine smelling, but be sure to also get a sensitive-skin lotion to be safe and use on a more consistent basis.
– This one is the same great bamboo quality that is super soft, very durable, comfy, and has the cutest hood with the dual purpose of protecting baby’s wet head and making them look ridiculously adorable.
– Help your baby battle cradle cap with the plastic bristle brush that helps to gently scrub the flakes free and the comb that helps to pull the flakes from their hair.
Nursery
– Work smarter, not harder with this easy-to-put-together and adjustable crib that grows with baby into a transitional bed for toddlers, and a big-kid bed for preschool/elementary ages.
– Babies leak in a lot of different ways. Protect that mattress! Comes as a two-pack.
– Sheets for the crib mattress that are cute, durable, and good quality.
– Tip: layer the mattress protectors and sheets, so if baby has an accident and you have to strip the mattress, you’re already set up with another sheet and mattress protector underneath because those things always tend to happen in the wee hours of the night/morning, when you don’t have the energy to strip and recover the mattress.
– Instead of having a separate dresser and changing table, I combined them and added these changing pads to the top of the dresser in baby’s room and my room, making it a multipurpose piece of furniture.
– Tip: choose a dresser height that doesn’t have you crouching over to change a diaper. It’s horrible on your back.
Organizer for Diapers, Wipes, Creams, etc.
– I got these organizers for all the diaper-changing things, creams, ointments, and bulb syringe to go on the dresser top as well.
– This amazing gadget is a noise machine that is also a night light that changes colors and plays different sounds to soothe baby.
– I’ve been told by friends of mine that their kids used this machine well into their school-age years.
– This monitor is safe from others to tap into because it doesn’t connect to your phone.
– It has a hi-def video feed of your baby with night vision mode.
– It also has an excellent range with a great battery life between charges.
– These minky blankets are super soft, the perfect size for wrapping baby up, traveling with, and super duper cute!
– I hung about half of my kid’s clothes and put the other half in the dresser. This pack of hangers was the perfect amount for us and came with sizing circles to organize the baby clothes by size.
– Don’t go overboard here. Just get a pack of swaddle blankets and a pack of these swaddle sleep sacks that easily swaddle baby with Velcro flaps.
– My baby wasn’t big on the swaddling for long and I had an abundance of both of these that didn’t get used.
– If your baby ends up being a swaddle-lover for a longer period, you can always get more later, if needed.
– Comfort is key here. You’ll spend a lot of time in this chair. Choosing one that comes with an ottoman for your feet will help with the comfort level.
– I went fabric over wood. No creaking and more comfortable for longer periods.
– This was a lifesaver. This helped to soothe my baby and rock him to sleep countless times.
– You will also want to have multiple contraptions to soothe baby and this one comes as a combo with the swing and as a bouncer that vibrates, saving space and mom.
Travel /Car
– Your survival pack for traveling with your little one. You’ll want something that is not just cute, but practical.
– Here is the one I chose. I went with a backpack-style bag with a neutral look (so it would go with everything), but also had all the features I wanted including:
– Insulated 3-bottle holder
– Side pockets for diapers and wipes for easy access
– Multiple pockets on the outside and inside
– A partition for the inside to keep things organized
– A back zipper access panel to the bottom of the bag so you don’t have to dig
– And comfortable straps!
– I’m a huge fan of the Graco brand because of the quality, durability, ease of use, and cute designs/patterns.
– This one comes with a changing table. This became my changing station/storage area/napping area for the living room for convenience.
– Not to mention it’s easy to break down and travel with.
– I utilized two different ones. The Boba Wrap and the Baby Carrier.
– The Boba Wrap was perfect for skin-to-skin, having baby nap on me while I did house chores or worked.
– The Baby Carrier is for easier in-and-out situations or long hauls that allow a little more airflow.
Nursing Cover/Baby Car Seat Cover
– Perfect dual-serving product that helps to cover you or your baby up in public, along with keeping them safe and warm when traveling.
– This one is perfect for traveling. I kept it attached to the car seat and it was amazing for soothing babe in the car or when we were out and about.
– I love this one! It’s perfect for travel and I actually still use this on a daily basis for diaper changing in the living room.
– I love my stroller and I was lucky enough to have it gifted to me by a good friend, but the car seat I got didn’t work with it until I scoured Amazon for the right adapters.
– If you end up in a similar situation, make sure that the stroller is compatible with your car seat. My friend purchased her stroller off of Facebook Marketplace and the brand ended up not supporting adapters for other car seats.
– If you want to skip the hassle and get a set that’s already completed, this one is the same brand as my stroller. The one-handed collapsible feature is awesome and it handles like a dream!
– If you are just in need of a great car seat, this is the one I got that I absolutely loved.
– Even with tinted windows, the sun still beamed through my back windows, so I got this mesh, magnetic sun shade for the side the car seat was on.
– They have cameras that you can set up and view the monitor from your dashboard, like this one. They are pretty cool.
– I went the route of a car mirror that hung on the back of the headrest of the seat where the car seat was and adjusted my rearview mirror to easily glance up and see him. This particular one has a night light on it to easily view baby in the dark.
– This cover easily goes over any shopping cart (that has a baby seat) that I’ve encountered. It’s comfortable for babies, protects them from putting their hands and mouths all over the germy cart, and the little pillow provided keeps the smaller babies safe from sliding around.
– Perfect for storing travel baby gear, backups of diapers, wipes, toys, umbrellas, shopping cart cover, baby carrier, etc.
– There is going to be a time when you run out of diapers in your diaper bag because you forgot to stock up before you left, or sub out wipes, etc. Having the backups in the car was essential for peace of mind and such a lifesaver in multiple situations. And having something to keep it all organized was wonderful.
– This blow-up bath is perfect for traveling and this travel air pump makes for convenient, compact, carry-on items.
Changing Baby
– I’ve tried several different brands of diapers. I prefer Pampers Swaddlers because of their quality, fit, and absorbability.
– I’ve also used Huggies Little Snugglers and Luvs, which are both good for fit and absorption, the quality was just a little under the Pampers.
– The Kirklands brand will get the job done, but not my favorite.
– The Honest brand works well enough, but I feel like they run a little small, which may be good if your baby runs on the smaller side. I bred a Viking, so these weren’t good options for us long-term.
– Register for multiple sizes!
– This Aquaphor diaper cream is a 3-in-1 formula that prevents, soothes, and treats.
– A little goes a long way and if you don’t want to get your hands covered in diaper cream, these little butt spatulas are perfect for applying this cream to baby’s bottom. This pack also comes with a travel size, which I kept in my diaper bag.
– If you have a little boy, and decide to get them circumcised, you’ll need some Vaseline.
– It’s also great for healing, can be used for diaper cream in a pinch, and is great for moisturizing dry skin and chapped lips (for baby and mom)
– Pampers has to be the winner for me here as well. Their sensitive skin wipes are my personal preference for my sweet baby’s sensitive skin. The wipes are thicker than the others, have more moisture, and more easily slide along baby’s bottom.
– Kirklands is actually a brand that I enjoyed as well for similar reasons.
– Depending on where you live and your personal preference, a diaper pail like this may be your go-to. It is convenient to have it right next to the changing table and pop the dirty diaper in it and be done with it.
– I live in Georgia and the humidity from the summer, even in air conditioning, ended up breeding fruit flies in my diaper pail that spread all over. I had to get the pail out of the house.
– Putting the dirty diapers in the regular trash can was not a good solution either. One dirty diaper stunk up the house quickly.
– I had an abundance of these doggie bags from our days of apartment living with my pup. I started using them for dirty diapers and viola! No more stink, no more fruit flies, cheap and handy resolution. I put them in all diaper changing areas of the house, diaper bag, car, etc. And of course still use them for pup when we go for a walk, hiking, etc.
Waterproof Diaper Changing Pad
– This is the one I got that comes with straps for baby and grippers on the bottom to help with them not sliding.
– Actually, I got two since I had two changing stations on the dresser top of my room and the nursery. I also got these super soft and cute minky covers so baby wouldn’t be laying on the cool plastic.
For Mom’s Sanity
– I got one similar to this one from my registry and I absolutely loved it. It is great for babies sleeping safely in all sorts of different places.
Utility Cart (c-section)
– I got this idea from my Pinterest research. It’s helpful to have everything you’ll need at arm’s length while you are recovering from your c-section (if you have one). It allows you to have everything from pacifiers to breast pumps within reach.
As far as what to do with things when you are done with them, I highly suggest donating them to friends or other people you know (unless you are planning on having more than one child…then you may want to hold onto some of these items).
It does feel good to help out the next expecting mom though, and it doesn’t hurt to pay-it-forward!
Cheers, Warriors!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and found it entertaining, educational, inspiring—hopefully, all three. Please be sure to leave any comments or questions you have in the Comments section below.
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