Go anywhere to register for a baby and receive a massive list of must have products for your forthcoming bundle of joy. And I admit it, I bought into the hype. Not so much because I felt like I *needed* everything on the list, but because I was excited and wanted my baby to have everything. I received a lot of very nice gifts at my shower, and bought a ton more. Amazon loved me and my UPS driver hated me by the time everything was delivered.
But what does a baby really need? Honestly, nothing more than a car seat (assuming you are in the US, where you can’t legally leave the hospital without one), diapers, milk or formula, somewhere for the baby to sleep, and clothes.
That list makes for a short and boring blog post, however, so instead I’ve compiled a list of everything I registered for and what I think about it all. I’ve included links to a lot of the items I mention because it was easy to copy them off of my registry, and if you are interested it saves you having to Google in most cases. They aren’t affiliate links, so it isn’t like I’m being paid to promote these products or anything - I’ve linked them for convenience only.
First up: Things for the nursery.
Lurking on internet message boards, I often saw people posting pictures of the nurseries they had put together for their little ones. Some of them were quite extravagant, and while I knew that anything beyond a crib was just a bonus, I am my mother’s daughter. Side note story that I don’t remember happening, but have heard so many times I might as well have been standing right there. When my family moved into the house my younger brother and I grew up in, my mom decided to decorate my brother’s room in a Pound Puppy theme. Pound Puppy sheets, curtains, pillows, etc. This was 1987, so he was 4.5. The way the story is told, my brother was led to his new room to see it for the first time. And instead of being thrilled, he looked up at our mom and said, ‘Don’t you think this is a little overdone?’ If that isn’t proof positive kids really don’t care what their room looks like, I don’t know what is. But did any of this stop me? Nope. I know full well my son does not care at all what his room looks like. But I love it.
I selected the Kidsline ‘Jungle 123’ theme for the room. And I now possess just about every product available in the line. Didn’t buy the bedding set, because I didn’t want the bumpers or the quilt since I knew neither was safe to put in the crib. And ended up not getting the dust ruffle because it was almost impossible to find available for purchase separately, and the places that had it charged an insane amount for shipping and/or had very poor customer service. Other than that, here is what is in the nursery:
Graco Freeport Classic 4-in-1 Convertible Crib, Espresso with Kolcraft Pure Sleep Therapeutic 150 Crib Mattress and matching Graco - Freeport Changing Table, Espresso and a host of sheets:
All generously purchased by my mom, along with the Kids Line Musical Mobile, Jungle Walk (the 123 received poor reviews), the Fisher-Price Rainforest Waterfall Peek-a-Boo Soother, and a Carter's Keep Me Dry Waterproof Fitted Quilted Crib Pad, White. (The Quick Zip sheets are a fabulous idea and makes changing the sheets so much faster, but the don’t come in enough colors/patterns yet.) Also, the changing table came with a thin pad, but I went ahead and bought a Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad with Summer Infant Ultra Plush Change Pad Cover, Sage and Kids Line Velour Changing Pad Cover, Jungle Walk anyway.
That right there should have been more than enough. For any rational human being anyway. But I had to go all out. In addition to these items I purchased or registered for and received as gifts:
I also made some wall art using clipart I found online that I printed and put in frames. Completely unnecessary. All of it. But like I said, love it.
I also purchased a Angelcare 4 Piece Baby Video Sound and Movement Baby Monitor System Ac1100, Gray/White. Two notes on this, 1st there is a repair recall on the model I bought - the free repair kit contains a casing for the cables to make them rigid to eliminate an alleged strangulation hazard. Second, though it is a very nice quality video monitor, the entire reason I bought it was for the motion sensor pad, I was terrified the little guy would stop breathing in the middle of the night. Obviously such a feature is rendered useless once the child is mobile. And as it turns out, that feature never got used - because the nursery? The beautiful, overdone nursery? That just had to be done and set up months before his birth? G3 didn’t sleep in it UNTIL HE WAS 8.5 MONTHS OLD!
Yup. True story. From night one at home, he slept in our room in the Fisher-Price SnugaMonkey Deluxe Newborn Rock 'n Play Sleeper. One of the cutest things and most useful things ever. It was just so easy to have him right there next to the bed, especially when he was awake every two hours or less. Once he got a little big for it we moved him (still in our room) to the Graco Pack 'N Play with Newborn Napper Elite, Vance, (which had been set up the whole time because it comes with an attached changing table) for a very short while, using a Naturepedic Waterproof Flat Portacrib Pad, 24x38 and American Baby Company 100% Cotton Value Jersey Knit Fitted Portable/Mini Sheet, Ecru or Chocolate sheets. I thought the eventual transition to the crib would a big deal, but it was actually quite anti climactic.
Another comment about sleeping - G2 and I took a child care prep class through the hospital. The only thing we seemed to be masters at was swaddling. I was so impressed with us. Then G3 was born, and unlike the doll, he squirmed! And could break out of regular swaddles in about three seconds. Way to go, the one thing we were good at...turns out we weren’t. So the Carter's 4 Pack Wrap Me Up Receiving Blanket, Sunny Safari and Brown/Sage Circles got repurposed, and instead we used Kiddopotamus SwaddleMe Microfleece, Small, Sage, Summer Infant SwaddleMe, Sage, Large, and Summer Infant SwaddleMe 2-Pack, Monkey Vine, which worked like a charm. This also leads me to mention the most overrated baby product of all time: aden + anais Muslin Swaddle Blanket 4 Pack, Oh My. Everyone raves about the stupid things. I returned the ones I bought. I don’t understand what makes them so special. Overpriced pieces of garbage as far as I’m concerned.
Moving on to the bath stuff. First I should mention one of my first time mom what was I thinking ideas. In my infinite wisdom (ha!) I somehow had it in my head that my child would exist in the nursery for the first several months of his life, and this would include at bath time. I had delusions of giving my yet unborn bundle of joy a bath in his room, changing him into his pajamas, and putting him to bed. Riiiiight. Because there is nothing at all illogical about toting the water to the baby tub from the bathroom, then back after the bath. Hello genius. Bathrooms exist for a reason. Anyway, that obviously never happened. Instead, we put this adorable tub Fisher-Price Precious Planet Whale of a Tub in the actual bathtub. (Novel concept, I know.)
Here are some other bath related items:
Skip Hop Moby Bath Kneeler, Blue - Originally I figured we wouldn’t need this until the bathe the baby in the nursery days were over. Instead it has seen use since day 1. Excellent cushioning for the knees. Machine washable too.
Spasilk 10 Pack Soft Terry Washcloth, Yellow - Should have returned these. I suppose they could get used at some point, but really regular washcloths are fine. That’s all we have ended up using. I can’t even comment on the quality since they are still unopened.
Spasilk 3 Count Soft Terry Hooded Towel Set, Yellow Ark - I could probably say the same about these. I’m sure regular towels would be just fine, but they are just so darn cute so we use them all the time.
Skip Hop Tubby Bath Toy Organizer, Sky Blue - It does not stick to the side of the tub like it is supposed to, so we will have to mount it to the wall at some point. For now we just keep the toys (Sassy Bathtime Pals Squirt and Float Toys) in the whale tub. Once he outgrows it we will worry about the mounting, along side the Skip Hop Soapster Foaming Soap Dispenser which is just adorable. The Babies R Us Cushioned Bath Mat and Skip Hop Bath Spout Cover, Whale are also laying in wait for when the baby tub is outgrown
As far as bath products we use the Burt's Bees Baby Bee Getting Started Gift Set, Baby Magic Gift Set, and for our world travels the Johnson & Johnson On The Go Essentials Gift Set. Poor little guy has such terrible skin (we can thank his parents for passing the eczema gene to him), but these products don’t aggravate it. Oddly, with repeated use things like Aveeno (formulated for eczema sufferers, allegedly) do.
Transportation issues. Obviously the law makes us have a car seat. Originally I wasn’t going to ‘waste’ money on an infant seat and just use a convertible with infant insert from day one. However, then Britax ran their free ride promotion where you got the seat free with purchase of the stroller. Planning on having more than one child, and relatively close in age, I wanted a stroller that could convert to a double, so I bought the Britax B-Ready Stroller, Black. Love it. Huge, but handles like a dream. Lots of storage in the basket underneath, but for easy access to smaller items I recommend adding the Britax Stroller Organizer, Black. (For as much as the stroller costs, it really should be included in my opinion.) As I said before, during the promotion we got a free infant car seat, so we chose the Britax Chaperone Infant Car Seat, Cowmooflage. And for as much as I was against it, it is very nice to be able to move the seat between the car and the stroller without removing the baby. We also picked up two Britax Chaperone Infant Car Seat Base Kit’s. Not necessary, we use the seat just fine in other people’s cars just fine, but with the base the seat is literally ready for legal road use in about two seconds. Open door, set set in base, done. Sooo easy. (Also, for anyone who says you can’t have a baby and a two door car - IS LYING! I am still driving my first baby, a ‘99 Escort Coupe, and can honestly say the lack of 4 doors is a 100% non issue.) And our small child has not outgrown the infant seat yet, so we have gotten much more use out of it than I ever imagined. (For cold weather we add the Jolly Jumper Arctic Sneak A Peek Infant Car Seat Cover Black, which keeps him nice and toasty. To continue the free stuff from Britax story, they also had a promo where if you bought five items from a list (stroller, car seat, carrier, small accessory, large accessory) they gave you a free convertible seat. And since the just the UPC was required for getting the free seat, the free infant seat counted as one of the five items! So we bought the stroller, got the infant seat for free, bought a Britax Baby Carrier, Black (probably a couldn’t live without it item, G3 LOVES being worn by dad), and the Britax Baby Carrier Seat Extender Insert, Black for the small accessory (haven’t needed it yet, but soon) and the aforementioned base for the large accessory. Filled out the paperwork, and about four weeks later a brand new Britax Boulevard 70-G3 Convertible Car Seat, Onyx arrived at our door for eventual use in G2’s car. (Also cracks me up the G3 is in the name of the seat.) Sweet! At some point I was planning on buying a Britax Marathon 70-G3 Convertible Car Seat, Cowmooflage for my car, however, we now own a Cosco Scenera that I picked up at Walmart for next to nothing that we use for travel. And I love it. The awesome cow print may still sway me to buy the Marathon eventually (hopefully on clearance) but I’m in no rush. And speaking of travel, I also got a First Years Ignite travel stroller that is fabulous for the price tag. Used it all over cobblestones in Northern Europe and it worked great. Other items related to transport - Britax 2 Pack EZ-Cling Sun Shades, Black to keep the sun out of his eyes in G2’s car, JJ Cole Urban Bundleme, Stealth, Toddler stroller cover once he graduates to the real seat in the BReady (I suppose it work with the Ignite as well, but we’ve only used that in warm weather), Jolly Jumper Snuggle Cover for Soft Baby Carriers - Black for the carrier, and the Moby Wrap Original 100% Cotton Baby Carrier, Black. I had such high hopes for the Moby, but G3 never took to it, odd since he loves the regular carrier so much. I really like it, so I’m hoping when a future child will enjoy it.
On to diapering. I love the Earth. My office doesn’t recycle, which I think is criminal, so I haul home all the recyclable materials and put them out with our stuff. I am a firm believer in reduce, reuse, recycle. Back in the day I helped my junior high earn the Earth flag. Gave a speech to the entire school at the flag presentation assembly. Etc. However, I refused to deal with cloth diapers. Sorry, way too gross for me. So we decided to try the Big 3, Huggies Little Snugglers Diapers for Newborn, Big Pack, 76 Count, Pampers Swaddlers Diapers Size 0 Giant Pack, 140 Count, and Luvs With Ultra Leakguards Jumbo Pack Size Newborn Diapers 38 Count (Pack of 4). None of them leaked, but Luvs had little absorbent beads that would pop out of the diapers, so we actually ended up returning them. G2 felt that Pampers were a little bit better fit for the little guy (I could never tell the difference) so we went with those. Several sizes down the line when the cost cost a little out of control, we actually switched to Meijer brand diapers, and they work just fine. (I have heard that the smaller sizes aren’t as good, and they don’t have the immensely helpful color changing line that lets you know when the baby is wet. (On an older child it’s easy to tell, on a newborn not so much.) We also used Pampers Sensitive Wipes 12x Box with Tub 768 Count , and then switched to Meijer wipes as well when those ran out. Oh, and another note about the wipes. I had to have a Dex Products Travel Wipes Warmer. Had to. (Actually, I talked myself out of buying both a travel one and a standard sized one - I almost bought both.) I figured I wouldn’t want cold rags on my behind, so why would my poor baby? Yeah. It has never been used. Ever. Not once. Child does not care. Eyeroll at myself. I’m not always a poor judge of necessity though. I put Sassy Baby Disposable 200 Counts Diaper Sacks on the list, and out of everything, that is the one thing G2 deemed unnecessary. I bought them anyway. And we use them for every dirty diaper change. Doesn’t eliminate the smell completely, but definitely masks it, and they are just so darn convenient. We bought some Desitin Rapid Relief Creamy, 4 Ounce (Pack of 2) and Aquaphor Baby Healing Ointment, Advanced Therapy, 14 Ounce Jar (Pack of 2) to have on hand, but for as bad as his skin is, that is the one thing he really doesn’t have trouble with. We each also have our own diaper bag, mine is the Skip Hop Duo Deluxe, Black and G2’s is Okkatots Travel Baby Depot Backpack Bag - Black. (Logic of having two, each of us is responsible for our own - no arguing over who forgot to pack what!)
Having every intention of breastfeeding my child, I never considered the possibility that he would be a lazy nurser. But that’s what I got. No interest whatsoever. At his first drs appointment he had lost more than acceptable amount of weight, but I was determined to get him to drink my milk, so I turned to my Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump with On the Go Tote, that I already had because I planned to return to work. For the next 12.5 months (yup) I was a slave to that machine. I even bought a Medela 9 Volt Lighter Adapter - Medela 67174 and a Bebe Au Lait Nursing Cover, Mint Chocolate to be able to pump milk in the car. (The Simple Wishes Hands Free Breastpump Bra, Black, XS to L also proved invaluable.) Worth saying twice. 12.5 months. I hated it. It was hard. It was painful. It was time consuming. It controlled my life. Finally being done was amazingly liberating. But I don’t regret it for one second, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. And I am incredibly proud that I did it. I wanted to give up, many, many times. There were tears. A lot of them. Still worth it. I used the Playtex Drop-Ins System Breast Milk Storage Kit, along with the Playtex Baby Drop-Ins Premium Nurser Newborn Gift Set and Playtex 100 Count Bottle Liners Drop-Ins, 4 Ounce (as is a theme with me I switched to Meijer brand eventually). I have a Playtex 3 Pack Baby Drop Ins Nurser, 8 Ounce, and Playtex Drop-Ins Pre-Sterilized Soft Bottle Liners, 8-10 oz. 100 ea, but though he ate constantly, it was never much more than five ounces at a time (which, interestingly enough, the 4 oz liners actually hold, go figure that one out). The Munchkin Deluxe Dishwasher Basket was also a great help when washing bottles and pump parts. (I suppose my My Brest Friend Deluxe Slipcover, Green,
My Brest Friend Deluxe Pillow, Light Green, and My Brest Friend Inflatable Travel Nursing Pillow in Green Paisley will just have to wait for the next baby.)
Baby Gear/Activities Top Five Countdown (Note: of course after I bought all this a Snugamonkey version of it all was released...I wish I had that stuff instead. So cute!!)
5) Fisher-Price Rainforest Open-Top Cradle Swing I’m told I loved my swing. I’m told most kids love their swing. My kid loves the (free!) swings at the park. This expensive monstrosity? He hates it. Screams if you go near it. Better luck with the next kid, I suppose. Used: Hardly ever
4) Fisher-Price Rainforest Melodies and Lights Deluxe Gym Could take or leave this one. It’s okay, but by the time he really showed interest in the toys hanging from it he was mobile enough to leave its confines, so it had a very short useful life. Used: 3-6 months or so
3) Fisher-Price Rainforest Bouncer Also a relatively short useful life, but used more often than the gym. If he hadn’t outgrown it it probably would have keep his attention for longer. Used: 2-8 or so
2) Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo Almost the winner. By a wide margin. Even before he understood the jumping aspect he liked to stand in it. Used: 3 months to present (over a year!)
and the winner, and something I didn’t know existed until he was six months old
1)Chicco Lil Piano Splash Walker He loves this thing. Took him about two days to figure it out, and there is no stopping him now. I have since found out the reason I hadn’t heard about it is that they are banned in some countries, and not too popular here. Some nonsense about delaying walking and kids falling down stairs. I’m fine with him being slow to walk if that ends up happening (time will tell), and we have a Cardinal Gates Stairway Special Gate that makes the stairs thing a non issue.
And finally, a few quick notes on health stuff and feeding beyond milk:
Health-
Philips 2 Pack AVENT Soothie Pacifier, Green, 0-3 Months - fabulous until he discovered his thumb, then rejected
Nosefrida Baby Nasal Aspirator with 4 filters and 20 Additional Filters - gross, but quite efficient
2-in-1 Professional Clinical RY210 Large LCD Non-contact Infrared Thermometer - Forehead - way better than sticking a thermometer in the poor angels posterior in the mama’s opinion
Itzbeen Pocket Nanny Baby Care Timer, Green - decided I didn’t need it - time means nothing when you are barely functioning, and after all, there’s an app for that. So I returned it.
Summer Infant Dr. Mom Brush and Comb Set - Used from birth. There is an old wives tale that really bad heartburn in pregnancy means the baby will have a lot of hair. Totally true in my case. (Aside, how did I get to be 30 and not know that Tums taste like Smarties?)
Little Remedies New Parents Survival Kit : Baby's First Year Essentials - Love! Especially the gas drops. Very gassy child we have. Even now.
Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether - Ended up with a bunch of teethers, he never really uses them. He likes to play with this one though.
Feeding-
Graco Blossom 4-in-1 Seating System, Vance - an excellent choice. Very versatile.
Babies R Us 5-Pack Bibs - Jungle Animal - Cute and a necessity
Munchkin 6 Pack Soft-Tip Infant Spoon - Perfect for his little mouth
Munchkin Feeding Set, 15 Pack, and Munchkin Two Snack Catchers, - waiting for him to get a little bit biggerSo there you have it. Pretty much an exhaustive list of everything I could think of. Hope someone out there finds it interesting and/or useful.
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