Baby Registry Essentials 2024 (What You Actually Need)

baby registry item

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What are the must have baby registry essential items in 2024?

Creating a baby registry for your new baby as a first-time mom can be overwhelming with a lot of different products being thrown your way. New moms can go onto various websites, like Amazon that have checklists for all the baby registry essentials you will need. These checklists make it more digestible for you to go through each item and decide if you want to add them. Although these checklists can be helpful for you to see all the different categories of baby items, a baby registry does not need to be extensive. Here is a list of my minimal baby registry essential items, without all the excessive items.

Compiled List of Baby Registry Essentials: My Recommended Product Links

Car Seat Stroller Combo & Car Mirror

The first thing you will need once you leave the hospital is the baby carseat. There are so many on the market. I really like the ones that are able to attach directly to the stroller like this one. The issue with this is that they will eventually outgrow this and it is EXPENSIVE. We didn’t pay for it but if you’re on a budget, definitely look around for cheaper options.

I am really enjoying the current ‘grow with me’ type of car seats. You can use this from the moment they are born for a few years as they grow. Although it is still expensive (as a lot of car seats are), I think it’s worth getting something that a baby can grow into so you’re not having to buy more UNLESS they have a recall on it. There are also some cool swivel car seats that make it really easy to get the baby or child out. I don’t have any experience with these so I won’t be recommending a specific one.

Car mirrors are also a great item that you place on the headrest so you can easily see your baby. It gave me so much peace of mind to make sure my baby was okay. She would cough and gag a lot so I was easily reassured that she was okay with the mirror.

Baby Registry Essentials: Sleeping Situation

Bassinet

We were gifted a bassinet that is swivel based so it makes it very easy for not only me to get out of bed, but also easy to adjust if she wiggled out of place. I can’t find the exact one that I have, but this one is very similar. You will probably want to get bassinet sheets. Check with your bassinet measurements but we LOVED the muslin sheets – the designs are also so beautiful.

Pack n Play

I would actually skip the bassinet unless someone gifts it to you and get a pack n play instead. You can get a higher mat to place in the pack n play that will act as a bassinet and then you lower it once they can roll or reach a certain weight. It also travels well, folds up easily, and we used it for months.

Crib

We had all three (otherwise I wouldn’t recommend one over the other), but the crib is her current bed area. When choosing one, I would consider the height (how tall are you vs how far down can you bend over). You can look at the width of the bars as well. My daughter had to learn to get her chubby legs unstuck from between the bars. We have ours because of the design – it is a convertible one that turns into a floor bed for a toddler.

I wish I had gotten a crib that had a lowering mechanism to make transferring the baby easier. My big pregnant belly makes it so difficult to put her to bed. I practically fall into her crib every time. Also, the fitted crib sheets we chose were muslin (soft and buttery) and we also got a mattress topper to help with catching any leaks throughout the night.

Clothes for Your Baby Registry

I HIGHLY recommend getting clothes a size up every couple of months so you can have them wear it when it’s big and then eventually it’ll fit them. We buy packs of clothes for her which saves more money than getting those super cute individual outfits. I would avoid hats and baby mits (because it can cut circulation).

For sleeping invest in two way zippers and if you’re worried about the babies hands getting cold then look specifically for the sleepers that have little foldable hand pocket things. As they get in a higher age group those little fold over hands won’t be there anymore. My favorite brand for sleepers is Burt’s Bees. They don’t really have two way zippers for sleeping in her current size (15 months old) though which is annoying. Old Navy is where I would get her smaller two way zipper sleepers.

For everyday wear I would buy packs on Amazon from Carter’s or any other brand that had the cutest design and cheapest option. Again, I would buy her size and then a size up so she would have clothes to grow into.

Our daughter didn’t care much for her swaddle but some babies really enjoy the feeling of being wrapped up tightly. This part will really depend on your baby, so either put different types of swaddles on your registry or try one and ditch it altogether. She preferred sleep blankets or sleep sacks as she got a little older, which doesn’t tightly wrap around the baby but acts like a blanket for added comfort and warmth.

Diaper Bag

Our diaper bag seems to just be the overall Amazon pick. I don’t have any opinions on a diaper bag. If it’s large enough then you can pack it full but I find that overpacking has always been worse for us. Pick a bag that fits your lifestyle and fashion!

Baby Diapers & Wipes

We opted to get fragrance free EVERYTHING in case she had any reactions to the fragrances. Our diapers and wipes are from Costco. I wouldn’t go crazy asking for a ton of boxes of a certain size of diaper, in case the baby is too large for it. Each baby reacts differently to different diapers so you might need to play around with them and see what fits best. The only wipes I have tried that I don’t like are the Huggies wipes because they seemed a little soapy. But that is simply preference.

Bottles & Bottle Warmer

Bottle warmers aren’t completely necessary but if you plan on using bottles it is HIGHLY CONVENIENT. Get one that will fit your type of preferred bottle. For our bottles we bought three different types but the only one that the baby was able to latch properly to (no clicking, sucking well, etc) were Dr. Brown’s. Everyone I know uses these bottles and LOVE them. I suggest to look up glass bottles, as a recent study shows microplastics are leeching into the Dr. Brown’s baby bottles. Now there are many many parts to bottles, especially to this one, but I got a bottle basket to put in the dishwasher that allows you to place the parts and wash that way. In the beginning I would soak and wash every part but that became so annoying and time consuming that I NEEDED that bottle basket to stay sane.

Also to note for bottles, the nipple ‘size’ is a number that indicates how fast the milk will come out. We used the newborn size to prevent overfeeding and now at 15 months (yes she still uses a bottle, starting to wean) she ONLY uses size 2. You do NOT need to move out of newborn size flow when the baby is older. The size again is simply how fast the milk comes out. If your baby becomes more frustrated, then I would try moving up a size. If they consume the milk too fast, I would move down. That’s my preference!

Hygiene Items

Again, everything is fragrance free that we go for in case there are any reactions. We use Aveeno soap and the scent is very light. Because it came in a pack, we use the Aveeno baby lotion as well which doesn’t have a strong scent. The nasal bulb from the hospital was too large in my opinion, so we got these instead. We really like this diaper cream to help with her rashes. It’s a medium thin white paste that isn’t too difficult to wipe off the next time you change the diaper. We also use a regular thermometer that does the job. Think about how wiggly a baby is, so forehead thermometers might be the most convenient to use.

Other Miscellaneous Items

If you are breastfeeding you will most likely need to either supplement yourself with Vitamin D or use vitamin D drops for the baby. Always check with your provider before using over the counter products or supplements. We didn’t use a baby wrap often but if you have other kids, you might find that using one allows you to become more mobile with the baby. Check out my post here about the benefits of babywearing! Pacifiers are finicky because some babies will refuse them or have a certain favorite shape or type. My baby and her cousin only used this one.

I hope this list was compiled in a way that made sense and allowed you to see what the most necessary items are for putting on your registry. Of course, you can always add more! If people plan on sticking to your registry, you can always fill it up with other items that are convenient and fun.

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