Must have baby registry items

Making your baby registry can be a daunting task. While pregnant with my daughter I steered clear of creating mine for the longest time. Every time I opened up my ‘babylist’ app to get start on it I would get overwhelmed by all the choices and would immediately close it out. Telling myself I would try again later.

Overconsumption is engraved in every aspect of our current culture, this includes pregnancy, motherhood, and the newborn stage. It makes us feel that we need the newest and latest of everything, even when the current versions work fine. You have the Instagram and FB ads seemingly reading your mind, new gadgets with phone synchronizations, sleep sacks brands that have collabs with influencers. All this just for the fads to change daily. For me, this made the task of creating my registry even more unnerving. I wanted to make sure we got what we needed and that nothing went to waste.

As my baby shower began to quickly approach and friends and family constantly asking for the link to my registry I finally took a deep breath and started to sift through all the options. I spent a lot of time researching all things baby items reading reviews, comparing cost, and scrolling through reddit. My main concerns with choosing items were: the cost, the quality, how often I felt it would be used, and I tried to steer more towards eco friendly choices when possible. Pretty much everything on my registry I used at least weekly, sometimes even daily and some items I am still using almost two years out. This list is not a conclusive list, but the items I consider a MUST for first time moms. When my new mom friends and family ask what they should put on their registries, these are the items I share.

Baby List Bottle Sampler

There are a lot of different options for registries but I went with baby list and amazon. Babylist was incredibly easy to use and you weren’t limited on stores and websites. I particularly loved this bottle sampler from Babylist. I was told by a couple of friends be prepared to test out different bottles because babies can be picky. My daughter ended up having feeding issues and was unable to use any of the nice glass eco friendly bottles I was gifted. However the Phillps-Avent anti colic bottle (which was not something I had on my registry) was included in the sample and it is what we ended up using the rest of her bottle feeding journey.

Baby Wrap +Carriers

I loved baby wearing. I was gifted the wrap that I used by a friend. I baby wore my daughter in the wrap a lot. She was born during cold and flu season so it helped deter curious people and their germs. It also made grocery shopping a breeze. The car seat wasn’t taking up the entire shopping cart and my daughter usually slept on me the entire time. We also used the baby bjorn to baby wear. It is a little on the pricer side but in my opinion it is so worth it. My husband opted to use it instead of the wrap when he would wear our daughter. It’s amazing quality, my back felt supported, and you can use it when they are able to front face.

Infant Carseat Travel Systems

LIFE SAVING! Save money and your sanity by just going with a travel system off the bat. Popping the baby carrier on and off of the stroller was very easy and it made getting out of the house solo alot more manageable. We went with Graco Modes Nest, it had great reviews for the price point! We actually still use the stroller. I do suggest buying two bases, one to keep in your vehicle and one to keep in your partners, because installing and uninstalling a car seat repeatedly will have you saying cuss words.

Miss Messy Mouth Spray

This is the GOAT of all stain removers. It got out the real bad blow out stains with no problem. I’m talking the ones that were up the back and to her neck. It does have a bit of a smell, but I usually spray as I’m moving the clothes into the wash so it’s not a big deal.

Electric Nail File

This one was not on the registry but was bought shortly after the first few nail care sessions. This made it so much easier and a lot less scary to do nail care. There is a light on the head of the file and several different file attachments. It also includes an attachment for adult nails which is nice.

Tubby Todd All Over Ointment

My daughter has eczema. Although it has gotten a lot better as she has gotten older we struggled in those early moths finding something that wouldn’t break her out. We eventually found Tubby Todd which cleared up her baby acne and kept her eczema at bay. I tried to switch once to the lotion her pediatrician suggested because it was cheaper but it broke her out terribly. I switched back immediately and have stayed loyal since. We even keep a jar at grandma’s house.

If you want to check it out I do have a link you can shop with here

Huckleberry App

My daughter struggled with weight loss her first few days of life. So we had to triple feed and were at the pediatrican daily for weight checks. That is probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. I found out about the Huckleberry App during this time and started to use it to track her feeds, it made it easy to report to her doctor how often and how much she was feeding instead of having to work through my severely brain fogged memory. We opted not to sleep train but the app also allows you to track sleep frequency and length and will use the data you input into the app to recommend wake windows and when to put your child down for naps and bedtime. Two people can log in to input the data which was great. I can’t recommend the Huckleberry App enough.

Sleepsack

Right off the bat my daughter hated being swaddled, so we ended up in a sleep sack when she was about a month old. Our transition was probably a lot easier than other parents being she basically decided to be done with swaddling herself. But I have heard multiple friends discuss how much easier their transition out of swaddling was with the use of a sleep sack. It was a consistent part of our nigh-time routine so when she became a toddler she would grab her sleepsack to let us know when she was ready for bed. She no longer uses it (she decided that on her own too) but I do think that her sleep was a lot better than it would have been without a sleep sack. There are tons on the market varying in cost, size, and thickness (TOG). We opted for a 1.0 TOG and used it year round. We used the gunamuna sleep sack which is a little on the pricer side at $55.00, but it was so soft, they had cute designs and matching onsies and they run a little larger so I felt like we really got our monies worth.

EASZZZ Baby Night Light

I was gifted this by a co worker, she sung its praises and I saw why after the first use. It is the perfect size night light and you can control the brightness pretty easily making it perfect for middle of the night feeds and diaper changes to help keep baby under-stimulated and sleepy. You charge it via USB port so you don’t have to worry about batteries. I wish I would have thought to bring it in my hospital bag instead of having to use the bright overhead lighting in the middle of the night. If my friends and family send me their registry and this isn’t on there, I get it for them anyway