Things I Wish I had Put on Our Baby Registry
Things you don’t think about that come in handy for baby.
We’re six months into this whole baby thing and I’m realizing there are a ton of things I wish we had registered for or watched out for to buy beforehand. Some of this is due to our lifestyle (we have family around the country and we also like to travel) and some is based on the season, but here are a few things you may not think about that you want to register for and have ready.
- Sunhat. We bought this white one so that it was reflective of sunlight. The lightweight fabric is great and it’s adjustable. While we bought this originally for a beach vacay, we’ll use this for walks and playtime in the warmer months.
- Travel Bassinet: I LOVE this Brica travel bassinet. We used it all the way up to five months (we have a petite baby who didn’t roll a ton, so if you have a bigger kiddo you might push it in size, but honestly, you’ll probably be just fine.) This held up really well and fits in a large rectangular suitcase. We used it for almost three weeks total for vacations and travel to meet family. We’ve also used it for daytime naps when we’ve had family gatherings at my parents house. It’s much easier to move around than a pack and play.
- Swim Diapers: You only need a few reusable swim diapers, but if you think you’ll be doing swimming of any kind (beach or pool, outdoors or in) get a few swim diapers that are adjustable. They can grow with your kid and be flexible based on when you’re ready to use them.
- Stroller Bag: Think you’ll do travel of any kind? We got a stroller bag to protect our stroller from rips, snags, and tears by the airport staff. I highly recommend it.
- Car Seat Bag: This one we got has backpack straps AND wheels. We ended up needing both to get around in the airport. Car Seat bags are great too because you can often throw in some last minute items in and around the car seat.
- Magic Merlin Suit: After the swaddle, we transitioned to sleeping in the Magic Merlin Suit. Sometime in the next month or so, we’ll start to transition out of that, but it’s been amazing for us! I see people selling them used on Facebook Marketplace a lot, but for timing we ended up buying one ourselves new. I love it! It was worth every penny.
- Toy Gym: We got one given to us as a hand-me-down, but I would buy one myself if I had to. This thing was great. I had been eyeing the Montesorri wood-style ones, but the one we got was like this one and was washable AND lightweight. Our newborn loved to look up at it, and now our 6 month old loves to wiggle and roll on it. We moved ours from room to room and even took it on a roadtrip with us (so the lightweight factor was key!). It even worked well for us to use our travel bassinet under it and drape a light blanket over when we needed to make a “dark room” on the go for baby to fall asleep – supervising of course.
[If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the STUFF, like we did, you might appreciate our experience of what items you actually need and how many (with real quantities) of those items worked for us.]