An online lifestyle magazine for Christian women
If you’re an expectant first time mama, you have a very important task before you: setting up your baby registry. I remember feeling totally overwhelmed by this task. I was texting multiple mama friends and searching online to figure out what things you actually need on a baby registry.
While the advice I received was helpful, there were still some items that I registered for that I didn’t end up using, while other items got a ton of use. I decided to list the most common items you might register for and share what I actually used and what I didn’t.
Keep in mind that everyone’s must haves look a little different. If I didn’t get use out of something, I explained why so that you can determine if something I didn’t use is actually a necessity for you. Take my advice with a grain of salt, but I hope that this is helpful as you determine the things you actually need on a baby registry.
Obviously, a stroller and car seat are both essentials. When your child is very little, having a car seat that can snap into your stroller is so helpful. We also registered for three car seat bases – one for me, one for my husband, and one for my mom. That way, we didn’t have to reinstall the base whenever we switched cars.
I also recommend picking a stroller with three wheels, rather than four. When you are maneuvering your stroller with one hand, the three wheels are much easier to use. You’ll also want a single handle, rather than the two handles you might find on an umbrella stroller.
I found we got a lot of use out of our play saucer in the months before my daughter started walking. I was able to let her play safely in her saucer while making dinner, throwing in a load of laundry, or cleaning up. I picked one that had a saucer that didn’t let her feet touch the floor – this kept her from walking and moving the play station across the room.
I don’t think a walker is totally necessary. Your baby will learn to walk without it. However, we were gifted a beautiful walker, and it got a lot of use. For a while, I would place Alexa in her walker and lay out her toys on the couch so she could have the sensation of walking and playing independently. It was a lot of fun!
When your baby is very young, having a play mat can be super helpful. We didn’t use ours as much as our walker and play saucer, but we still got a decent amount of use out of it.
We actually didn’t use our baby tub at all while our daughter was an infant. We ended up just taking her in the shower with us – she was afraid to be left alone in the tub. However, she is one and half now, and we’ve recently started using this little tub for bubble baths. She loves it! I like that we don’t have to use as much water as we would filling the entire tub.
We registered for lots of soft baby towels and wash clothes, and they were definitely put to good use. I don’t double use any of mine – I always pick a clean one for each use. So we went through lots of them.
This helps you dump water over your baby’s head. Truthfully, you can just use a regular cup and skip this item. We used it, but it just wasn’t absolutely necessary.
We used Dreft while our daughter was an infant, which is a special detergent formulated for babies. But lately, at one and a half years of age, I started just using unscented detergent for all of our laundry, including hers. I haven’t had any issues with skin sensitivity.
A diaper cream spatula was recommended to me by one of my best friends, and this is high on my list of things you actually need on a baby registry! It allows you to slather diaper cream on your baby without getting it on your hands. Highly recommend! This still gets a lot of use.
We have a diaper genie, and honestly, it smells so bad! We started stashing it in the garage to keep the smell out of our nursery. Also, so that we don’t go through the bags as quickly, we only store poopy diapers in the diaper genie. Wet ones go in the kitchen trash. I don’t think a diaper genie is absolutely necessary – just don’t keep your poop diapers where you can smell them!
If you don’t have a stationery diaper changing station, I recommend a diaper caddy. That way, you can store everything you need in one place and carry it to where you want to change the diaper.
Of course you need a changing pad! I didn’t have a changing station, so I kept one in our house, one in our diaper bag, and one at my mom’s house.
My daughter was in daycare for about two months, and during this time my bottle sterilizer came in clutch, because I was pumping all day. It was nice to clean the bottles and pump parts without having to run the dishwasher. If you are pumping or using formula, I recommend this to help you keep up with the bottles. If you plan to be a stay-at-home mom and aren’t pumping as often, you may be able to get away with hand washing your pump parts and putting your bottles in the dish washer.
Burb cloths are handy, but I actually used to just pack swaddle blankets in my diaper bag instead of burp cloths. I like that they can be used as burb clothes or blankets, so they have multiple purposes.
Our daughter used to spit up constantly, so cloth bibs were always worn to protect her outfits. Rubber bibs are great for six months when you start feeding solid foods.
We still use our video monitor to watch Alexa at night, and it’s so handy. Also, if she wakes up crying, I like being able to check if something is wrong and decide if I need to intervene or let her cry it out.
We had one of these, but I rarely used it. I preferred the video monitor.
We have a cute monkey shaped sound machine that plays music or white noise. We still use it every night! However, you don’t absolutely need a sound machine. You can use a tablet and find white noise videos or baby sleep music on YouTube.
This is a must-have when babies are little. They can startle themselves awake without one. We used ours until about six months.
If you are breastfeeding, I recommend a nursing cover. I always felt more comfortable nursing in public if I had one. Sometimes my daughter would play around with it though!
I had two nursing pillows and they were very nice, but honestly, I probably could have skipped this. A regular pillow works exactly the same. It’s really a preference.
You’ll definitely want to use baby silverware for feeding your child. At six months, we used baby spoons. Now, we use toddler spoons and forks.
I loved my baby carrier! We got so much use out of it, and I can’t tell you how many antique stores this allowed me to walk through. Keep in mind: they can do a number on your back. I have back problems, and I actually went to physical therapy specifically for the purpose of being able to carry Alexa, both with and without her carrier.
I’ve heard some minimalist mom bloggers say that regular clippers work fine. They do, but I feel more comfortable with the tiny ones. Clipping baby nails was scary for me, and I was less nervous with the baby clippers.
Make sure you register for extra crib sheets – I’d say about three should do the trick. That way, if an accident happens, you have a dry sheet and don’t have to wait for the sheet to be cleaned.
Personally, I rarely used this, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need it. In the two months my daughter was at daycare, I never used my bottle warmer because I would just breastfeed her while she was home. At daycare, they used their own. After she was out of daycare and at home with me full time, my daughter started to refuse all bottles and would only breastfeed. So I really didn’t need the bottle warmer.
Something I regret is that my first pump was not a hands-free pump. Pumping is already a huge commitment, and if you are holding the pumps in place, it’s that much worse. I switched to a hands-free pump and it was so much better. However, as mentioned earlier, my daughter stopped taking the bottle and I stopped pumping.
Some people recommended that I get a manual pump to catch any milk that leaked out of one side while I was feeding from the other. I ended up not needing this – I didn’t have any leakage. I wish I had waited to buy this until I knew I needed it. It could be really handy for some moms who have a problem with leakage, though.
My daughter refused pacifiers, and we never needed them. You’ll probably receive tons of pacifiers, even if you don’t register for them. You can definitely try them out, because many babies like them.
We have so many teething toys, and my daughter rarely ever used them. I think this is unusual though. We rarely caught her experiencing any discomfort around teething. You probably should have some teething toys on hand in case you need them.
I registered for a bunch of these and didn’t end up using them, because I never leaked. But I’m sure they come in handy for some.
I think this would come in handy if your child doesn’t have a full head of hair. My daughter has always had hair, and I found that I preferred to use a comb to detangle it. The baby brush just wasn’t working for us.
This is my personal list of things you actually need on a baby registry. Are there any must-haves that I missed? What did you get a lot of use out of? Share your tips in the comments!
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