What's On My Registry

Having a baby is overwhelming at the best of times, and as a first time mom there is A LOT to learn, purchase and figure out. With the help of my Baby Ready Checklist I knew exactly what we needed and what to ask for. But little did I know that was the first hurdle.

When creating my registry, I found myself not being able to stick to one store with choosing all my desired items. I kept flipping from store to store depending on the brand and availability of the items I wanted. By the end of all my researching and hunting, I was left off with 4 different registries and incredibly stressed out because I didn't know which ones to share. Some only had 3 - 4 items on it while another one had over 40! But I also wasn't willing to give up those off-shoot items. That's when I discovered babylist.com. On this site I was able to link all of my registries in one place, and also show the different links of the product available at different stores. Having all my items allocated in one place made both my life as well as my guests lives much easier.

Below I have compiled a collage of items which I had selected on my baby registry as well as a brief description of why I chose certain items.

I didn't want too many toys, so the ones we asked for we're educational or had a purpose to them. Educational toys are important for your babies brain development, and using letters and numbers in the bath would be great for early on in the bath to grab and squeeze and later on to learn numbers and colours. We also asked for baby float. Living in Alberta we do not have many options for swimming - especially in the winter, however, we do have a trip planned to Jamaica when baby is 6 months so this is an item I will want in the future.

When it comes to health and safety there are a ton of items in the market, but the few I wanted to highlight are shown above. For the Tylenol/Gripe Water/Probiotics etc it is good to have on hand and hope to not need them. As for the humidifier, make sure you purchase a cool mist humidifier, warm mist humidifiers need to be cleaned more often and are more prone to bacteria growth.

Thankfully Skip Hop has a whole line for bath time, so items can all match - I selected the entire line. We have a deep tub, so it was important for me to have a kneeler so that I could be comfortable during bathing. Also we only have a rain shower head, so the bath waterfall rinser was a 'must have' for us. I also recommend the Burt's Bees Baby products. From what I have been told, babies do not use up much product, so having quality product is a justifiable expense!

Feeding was something that I had the most difficult time to select. There are thousands of products in the market, and not knowing if I would be able to breastfeed or not made it a very confusing time. With that being said I decided to get 3 glass bottles and a handful of storage bags so I would be prepared on both fronts. The Haakaa is a great tool for breastfeeding mothers, when baby nurses on one breast, place the Haakaa on the other, it will collect any leaking milk and prevent waste.

I was very lucky that many of our larger nursery items were gift from friends who no longer will be having children, so we had our crib and my dad and step-mom gifted us a recliner, and my very handy husband built the change table topper. So organization was the main concern when creating the nursery section of our registry. I want to have everything organized and ready to go during early mornings and sleepless nights.

If you only ask for one thing - ask for diapers. Newborn babies go through 6 to 10 diapers a day, so needless to say you will need a lot of them. My husband threw a huggies and chuggies party where we received over 10 boxes of diapers in different sizes. If this is something you're able to do I highly recommend it - as its geared towards men the party is generally low key and easy to host. To go with the diapers I asked for baby wipes and the diaper genie refills (we purchased the genie beforehand off Facebook marketplace). Wet dry bags are also important to add - these are not only good for diapering but also if there is an outfit that gets a blow out or spit up on it, the wet dry bag keeps the soiled items separate in your bag.

When it comes to clothes I would strongly suggest keeping the items limited on your registry. People love picking up little baby clothes for new moms, so you will get a ton of clothing anyways. I put a few pieces on my registry so people know the style and aesthetics that I like. With that being said I asked for accessories which I specifically wanted. For my baby shower I received the accessories I registered for, and those individuals also bought clothing to match them.

Something that is often looked over are travel items. Buying the car seat is the big typical item that everyone purchases and then forget about the small additional items that are also needed alongside the car seat. In this section I also included some hand sanitizer, especially during COVID-19 it's super important to have clean spaces and clean hands for your little baby. And finally, mama get your self CUP HOLDER!! you will not be disappointed.

And the final category is general baby gear. These are items which could fit into a couple different sections. I want to start off by pointing out the high chair, although it is a huge expense, it is not something you will need at first. Realistically, high chairs are not needed until 6 months - so there is time to save up and do some extra research to find a good quality yet affordable one. On this list, the items I want to highlight are the Soothe & Go Giraffe - this is a portable sound machine. If your lifestyle is anything like mine we like to travel and visit friends houses , so we are not always home, and having a portable sound machine will be very useful. The second item I want to highlight is the Jolly Jumper Bassinet Stand. We will be using this stand with our Uppa Baby Bassinet, I recommend saving your money and buying the affordable option so you can splurge somewhere else.

I hope this listened visuals were helpful for you to narrow down what you need for your new bundle of joy! Happy shopping!

Sandra Iwona

Written August 2020