Since I’ve been pretty open about all things concerning first-time parenthood, I’ve had a lot of friends–and friends of friends–reach out to me with various questions. Yet, the question I receive the most is this: What should we register for?
I get it, because I was in a full-on registry panic, too, before Finn was born. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m crazy about researching The Best of everything. You want to know what computer to buy? What island oasis to book? What Korean BBQ restaurant to try? I’m usually a good person to ask, as I spend hourrrrrrrs online, Googling reviews and blog posts and discussion forums, searching tirelessly for The Best Thing Ever. (By the way: this is a great way to waste your life, induce a lot of unneeded anxiety, and piss off your other half.)
Nonetheless, I can usually be counted on to source the good stuff. And when it came to creating our baby registry, I took on that project like it was a full-time job. There were whole weeks of my life lost to asking, “Uppababy or Baby Jogger? Vista or Cruz?”
We followed a lot of the checklists online, too, registering for all the standard goods. Some of the things we registered for ended up never even being opened. Some things we waffled over are lifesavers, now.
So, let’s break it down. Had we to do it all over again, what would we keep, what would we ditch, and what would we add?
What would we keep? This isn’t an exhaustive list, as we registered for–and were gifted–lots of useful things. Here are some of the things that have been the most useful:
- Burp cloths. YOU NEED ALL THE BURP CLOTHS. There were never enough clean. We loved these.
- Sleepsacks and swaddles in varying sizes and configurations. Finn relied on this to sleep well, and he outgrew them pretty quickly. (I’ve written more about those, here.) Currently, Finn is wearing this one.
- Bottle warmer. This is one of the things that people are really divided on, but I’m super happy we went for it, and we still use it several times a day. We have this Boon one, which is super easy and streamlined.
- An expensive and high-quality stroller. We went with the UppaBaby Vista, which was a lot of money (to us, anyway), and we haven’t regretted it for a single day.
- Lots of baby body wash and lotions (good organic ones–not J&J).
- A good sound machine. This is one of our must-haves. We sleep with a sound machine, and Finn sleeps with one, too. His is turned all the way up. He’s a great sleeper, and we attribute a lot of that to this little contraption. This is the one we have.
- Stuff for a breastfeeding momma: nipple creams, pads, nursing bras, pumping supplies. It ain’t all about the baby. Momma has needs, too.
What would we ditch? (Please don’t be offended if you bought us any of these things. We asked for them, after all.)
- Bibs. Finn has worn a bib twice in his life. We have approx. 30. Enough said.
- Baby shoes. Guess what? Babies don’t wear shoes. I, apparently, didn’t realize this.
- Onesies in sizes over 12 months. At that point, we wanted Finn to wear real clothes, and he has a tons of onesies he has hardly ever worn.
- Blankets. This is the one gift pretty much every single person will buy you, like it or not. You will end up with enough blankets to keep your kid’s entire preschool class warm.
- Bathtub. This is going to be controversial, as I can see how a lot of people would use a tub regularly. However, we ended up showering with Finn (we still do) and he only used his tub a dozen or so times. We didn’t have a lot of space, and it’s an eyesore. Next time, we’d do one of those cheap baby-sized sponges or something collapsible.
- All food-related things. When we were preparing for Finn, we hadn’t yet thought through our plan for introducing solids. We registered for a gazillion baby food things: mashers and squeeze bottles and cookbooks. Then, we decided we wanted to do baby-led weaning, and he ate purees twice. TOTALLY wasted.
- All of the parenting how-to books. HA! You think you’ll have time to read? You’re so cute.
What would we add? These are some things we ended up buying, ourselves–and something we wish, in hindsight, we’d asked for.
- More clothes that are actually clothes. Friends’ kids started sporting cool jackets and jeans and sweaters, and Finn was still in onesies. “Oh, we need like–real clothes,” we realized at around 6 months.
- A full supply of all kinds of baby meds: cough medicine, Tylenol, Motrin, etc. This stuff is expensive, and we go through it pretty quickly. Gripe Water was particularly useful in the first few months.
- A diffuser and lavender oil. I’ve talked about diffusers, before. We’ve used a diffuser with lavender oil since the day Finn was born. I swear by it, and I’m convinced it is one of the reasons he sleeps so well. This oil has lasted us since the day he was born.
- EZ PZ silicone eating mats, as they are used twice a day in our house, now.
- Organizational stuff: baskets, crates, and drawer dividers. Baby stuff is plentiful and small–you’ll need to wrangle it. These are great for organizing tiny clothes in a drawer.
- Gift certificates to local photo studios. Baby portraits are expensive–but they are also SO important. I also wish we would’ve done a family photo session when Finn was a newbie. These are gifts that will last forever.
- Rock ‘n Play. Just sing the praises of the Rock ‘N Play gods, already. There’s no denying their power. We resisted and ended up buying one ourselves–at 3AM during one of the first weeks of Finn’s life. Never looked back!
Of course, there are lots of other little things that made our lives easier, but these are the things that jump out–the items that were useful. Or were totally NOT useful.
New babies bring with them a ton of stuff. And, ultimately, you’ll realize that you don’t need as much as you thought you did… but try telling that to a new momma, prepping her first registry!