Moms and Dads please come in - registery help

Like was said...Don't forget diapers and older clothes. They will outgrow the cutsie new ones in a minute and you will be left with nothing.

Do you know sex? Something for room? Spit rags, High chair, car seat, stroller, diapers, How often do you want to wash? More clothes less often washing. Don't get that diaper pail thing....just throw them out. I have seen way to many of those not used or used to the point that diapers are all over the floor because apparently no one thinks to empty it. Did anyone mention diapers? Think out to a year or so and get clothes sippy cups, etc.

Edited by saling4 2010-05-29 5:53 PM

first off, congrats and good luck!

lots of burp cloths and bibs. if your baby is a spitter like ours was, you will go through 12+ bibs a day.

also, get a lot of Dreft stain spray, the stuff is magic.




Edited by 7ducati 2010-05-29 6:00 PM

a few more tips after thinking about it for a few more minutes:

-gerber brand onesies run really small. carters brand are pretty much right on.
-look for a "sleep sheep" stuffed animal or a seahorse one that has the light up belly. they really help our daughter go to sleep.
-get lots of A&D (to prevent diaper rash) and Desitin (to get rid of diaper rash if your baby gets it)


my daugther is 7 months old, so we are just going through all this too. let me know if you have specific questions, if I can't help, I'm sure my wife can.

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Forget all the "cute" clothes for when they are little. Onesies are all you will use 90% of the time. Plus they grow really quick. lots of diapers for diffrent sizes. congrats and good luck

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crib, changing table, stroller, diapers, car seat, etc, you are going to need all kinds of stuff.  I know alot of people don't like the gift certificate thing but I think it works great with a new born.  ask for gift certificates to Babies R Us or another retailer you like.  It's really nice to go in there and pick out exactly what you want for the baby and not have to worry about exchanges or returns.

Loved the monitor. I never had kids, but we got custody of my wifes oldest daughters little girls (6 weeks and 2 yrs) 7 years ago. It was like being in combat where you hear every little sound....I was amazed how I could be sleeping and a little waaa and I was on the way.

'nother thing. If you haven't already, go online and sign up for some freebies. Parents magazine, pampers.com stuff like that. Our daughtrer is four and we still get coupons for pampers and the free can of formula every now and then.

Good suggestions so far. Don't stress out though. You will find that you have all you need plus a ton when the time comes.

Dr. Browns Bottles were good. There are a lot of parts but they do seem to work. We have a 2 story house so we have a changing table upstairs and a Pack and Play downstairs to put the baby in sometimes and change here on too. It has a removable changing table.

Everything is about convenience except for sleep feed changing and transport. Get the best you can in those areas I think.

I have 5 kids and am a minimalist type parent.
We had a lot of cloth diapers, receiving blankets and a couple of slings/baby carriers.  It is nice to have some bright colored toys for when they get older and if you are having a big shower register for good carseats - Britax, a nice stroller (Bob) and a highchair that you won't need until the baby is 9 months or so a vibrating/bouncy seat is also nice while you make dinner, do chores etc.  I would also recommend some kind of co-sleeper so you can have the baby close at night.

Things I got and never used - disposable diapers, diaper genie, swing, playpen, pacifiers, bottles, Bumbo - actually we used the Bumbo once.

I say go for nice big ticket items and encourage people to chip in rather than ending up with a bunch of cheap crap you don't need and won't use.

ETA:  We liked the side snap shirts so you don't have to pull over the baby's head and allows the umbilicus to heal.


Edited by KeriKadi 2010-05-29 7:33 PM

Which is all stuff that we have and continue to use.   

You might want to consider a website like www.naturalbabies.com to register along with Babies R Us.  This way if you want anything natural minded - ie cloth diapers, sling etc. people have a place they can buy it for you.  They have a nice online registry.

Everyone is different in their needs likes/dislikes just like anything - some folks have all the tri gadgets, some people get by with a regular watch and road bike.

Again, I am a minimalist and I know that - we didn't need many 'things' when it came to babies and try to keep plastic out of the house which is tricky with little ones.

I had a "pack and play" style playpen that I took to the gym with me while I worked out.  No gym in my area has a day care.  It was useful while I did jazzercise and while I did spin class.  I also had a swing that was portable and I took it with me when I visited grandparents/friends.  As was already mentioned, get a nice breast pump if you wish to breast feed.  I ended up with a hospital grade pump (electric) that worked well, and also bought a manual (Avent Isis maybe?) that worked very well also.  Baby toys are nice.  It was nice to have a diaper bag full of colorful safe toys that kept my babies happy in church.  We rotated toys to keep the babies interested.  My husband and I both love to read so we started a library of beautiful books while I was pregnant.  We read to them a lot starting at birth and they both love to read now too. 

Congrats to you, I wish you the best!

jami 

Forget the wipe warmer- waste of money.  Definitely get a swaddler of some type.  Lots of peeople like the miracle blanket.  We just use a large blanket wrapped tightly.

Congratulations!  Many good suggestions here so far.  We also used the side snap shirts in the beginning while the umbilicus was healing, then switched to the onesies.  We did use the diaper genie for about a year, but at that point it just became way way too stinky from months of poopy diapers being in it (even lysol would not help).  

I suggest the book Baby Bargains to help you in deciding what you want to register for.  It gives good info on lots of baby products (at least it did when I used the edition 7+ yrs ago).

I also second the good car seats (britax).  I would not go crazy with tons of diapers in the beginning because you will find that certain brands fit some babies better than others.  My daughter was a Pampers girl, and my son is a Huggies boy.   

 
 
Agree- wipe warmer is a waste of $$.  However I didn't find the need for a swaddler.  If you learn how to swaddle correctly that should be just right for baby.  We used the regular receiving blankets and they worked just fine.   

Baby carrier back pack.  Not immediately useful but soon will be.  My kids loved riding in ours.

Also, do not get a Baby Bjorn, they are awful for an infant's hips.  I love wearing my babies and currently own a mei tai, a ring sling, and a Storchenwiege woven wrap.  Moby wraps are good but cannot be used once the baby gets bigger.

I just had my son 4 weeks ago...I would say DIAPERS...and more diapers ...Newborns / size 1 / size 2 ...a TON of wipes.....also FORMULA! lol if you are planning on FF .....they say don't stock pile just incase the baby doesn't like it but you could always return it. The baby also sleeps in those gowns with gerber pants...and bibs we have so many but it seems like we go through 10-15 a day....also if you are bottle feeding we have been using Playtex ventair standard and LOVE  them...the baby has had no problem with gas....we use our swing, bassinet everyday...honestly most of the time he loves sleeping during the day on his changing pad ( we have it in the tv room floor)....stroller....

at the baby shower....you will get way to many blankets, to many burp cloths, to many toys, if you are having a girl way to many clothes....

Honestly we didn't ask for to much stuff at the shower that we didn't use. 

One thing we did that I think you would like is that babies aren't to be put in jogging strollers till around 6-8 months...but we asked for one and 3 people went together and purchased it for us.

First and foremost: Congrats!!!

We have five kids and I think it is REALLY important not to let the shopping industry make you think you need all this stuff!!!

For all five kids we never had any crib except a Graco Travel crib. Never have had a changing table, never had a diaper genie, wipe warmer, etc.

Don't buy into the hype, unless you have a lot of money and really want to. The ideas about diapers, wipes, A&D ointment, spit up rags, onsies--all great ideas in my opinion but you can save yourself, and you relatives, 1,000's of dollars if you want to.

Fun times for you ahead!!! Soon you'll look back and wonder if your life even had meaning prior to kids!

I'm not a mom, but at my age, I have lots of friends having babies and have thrown a lot of showers.  They all pretty much agree on the gifts they want/don't want:

Wants:
Diapers in all sizes
Wipes
Diaper cream
Baby shampoo
Baby lotion
Burp cloths
Bibs
Pretty much anything like the items listed above that gets used on a daily basis - getting duplicates of these things are fine
A Boppy pillow - all of my friends have one and use it regularly

Don't Want:
Formula (I have had several friends whose babies needed a certain type of formula - so they ended up with a bunch of formula they couldn't use and had to give away)
Too many newborn clothes
Toys (unless they have registered for them - an overload of stuffed animals are pretty but useless)
Nursery decor items like picture frames (again, unless they have registered for them)

If you have multiple friends giving you showers, I would suggest that one give you a diaper shower (where guests bring only diapers as gifts).  It's easy for guests to shop for and you get something you will actually use.