The Efficient Minimalist Guide to the Well Designed Baby Registry
The Efficient Minimalist Guide to the Well Designed Baby Registry
Of all the pregnancy ‘tasks’ we tackled, building the baby registry was the most overwhelming for us (seriously). As I mentioned in our first and second trimester pregnancy guide, Chris and I hate wedding showers and baby showers for ourselves. We find them uncomfortable and cringey since it’s a forced expectation of gift giving. We’d prefer you give gifts of any kind only if you really feel like it. We love giving gifts to people we love. But reversed? Cue discomfort.
In actuality, a registry is sort of a necessity since it can help prevent clutter from coming into your home, and help guide well-intentioned friends and family towards what you will actually use. So with a little forcing of the hand, we built our baby registry on Babylist for the virtual family baby shower we were thrown. Based on the messages we’ve received, I know several of you are actually in this same place: registry building mode–and have asked a bit about what made our list.
Our choices are based on a few things: we want products that can be purchased once and used throughout growth and time for one kid in an effort to reduce waste. While there are other options that exist that are more expensive than the the ones we chose, we only needed them to hold one kid, for that kid’s time in that phase and then hopefully give or donate them to someone else who needs them. If you are someone who plans on having a larger family, it might make sense for you to invest a little bit more and upgrade so you can continue to use the same items with future kids. It was also important for us to pick items that were well made (notice several of these items are Scandinavian…) and wouldn’t cause us headaches or frustration through silly breaks. We wanted items that were neutral that fit our home style (you know how you walk into some people’s homes and their kids have taken over in rainbow vomit?).
While we did include a few ‘fun’ totally not necessary items that were adorable for people to see, I didn’t include them here because they’re just that–not necessary. Here’s our guide to why we used Babylist for a registry and the ‘big’ items we picked after research for those of you who are also building registries.
Note: I’ve edited this article based on 7 weeks+ of usage.
Why we registered on Babylist:
There are so many registries so I think the most important consideration is where the majority of your items will come from. For us, we asked for several items that were from small stores or foreign stores (Scandinavian). Babylist uses a plugin, not unlike Pinterest, that makes it easy to add items directly from your browser to the registry and organize them with notes. It also pulls, if applicable, multiple store and price options for the gift giver so they can take advantage of best price or any loyalty options they may have with stores. 60 days out from your listed ‘due date’, Babylist also gives you 15% off anything remaining on your registry that they stock within their website.
The other nice thing about this platform is you can also use their categories of ‘for the parents’ to add things like gift cards to local restaurants. Or, even ask for ‘favors’ (for example future non-COVID babysitting) from people.
The Most Important Question: The Stroller and Car seat
Okay, listen. If you’ve never had kids before, this section will make things so easy for you. Why? Because we spent days trying to understand car seat and stroller jargon. I had my friend explain car seats to me over Voxer to help us figure out what all this terminology about convertible vs compatible vs adjustable was all about.
The stroller and the car seat are two ‘big’ gifts on the registry.
Do you want your car seat and stroller to be a system? Or are you okay if they don’t work together? For many people, an integrated system is ideal. It means you can move the kid from the car container to the stroller using the same container. (Also as a side note: it makes me laugh that 90% of big registry gifts are “things to hold your kid in”.) When you’re shopping for a car seat or stroller it may say for example–“Nuna compatible”–and that will refer to a brand or system that works with the product. We decided we didn’t need them to work together since, due to a winter birthday in a region with ice, mixed with a lovely blend of COVID, realistically the first several months will contain significantly less outings than typical. We opted instead, for a system for a car seat that is a one-time buy that will grow with them from newborn and convert through 8 years old (seriously) and a separate stroller that will grow with them as well (the model we chose holds kids up to 40 pounds). The car seat will stay in the car and the stroller and baby wearing harness thingy will be our primary ‘movement’ holders for the first several months.
Do you want your stroller to have the ability to add a second seat? This is another big decision that will drastically narrow down your options. Since we are only having one kid, this selling point was not important to us and allowed us to ignore some of the even more expensive models.
Do you want a travel stroller or do you want a jogger or a standard? Probably our other biggest WTF moment when looking at terms and watching reviews, was the automatic up-sell by stores saying that the best stroller for everyone was the heavy duty stroller. That means a stroller that’s bigger, heavier and doesn’t fold down as small. If you watch reviews, they use a lot of language about ‘comfort’ etc for the kid in the stroller and to be honest we just kind of laughed- because I seriously doubt the kid is going to file a three star review and complaint if it doesn’t feel like a luxury sedan for a 45 minute walk. This feels very in line with our sentiments about how many of the articles online during pregnancy are aimed with guilting purposes that you’re ‘not a good mom’ or not doing enough for your kid. True, a travel stroller will have more articulation points so it can collapse and those are possible ‘break’ points eventually. But for us, we wanted a compact stroller we could store in our mudroom, but also could accompany us in carry on for an airplane. We don’t want a jogger (so huge and we are not runners anyway) since we live in an area with brick/pave/cobble and if we decide to go on hikes, we’ll just wear the kid (see child wearing harness reference).
The Stroller: Baby Zen Yoyo+ Stroller in Black and Taupe- USAGE UPDATE AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS: It’s an excellent stroller. It’s easy to open and close (I break it down after every usage, twice a day) and takes up minimal space for those who don’t have garage or mudroom footprints to store a large stroller.
The Carseat: Graco 4Ever DLX All-In-One Convertable Car Seat : USAGE UPDATE: I’m very pleased with this so far. We’ve transferred it between cars, adjusted the belts for growth and it’s all pretty easy actually. I love that in the coming months/years we can keep using this system.
The Bouncer: AKA “Where Do I Put My Kid Down?”
This product was the most recommended product to us through conversations we’ve had with people with kids whose opinion we trust, articles we read, etc. Eventually, you realize you have to set your kid down somewhere so you can, you know, use your hands. This product works from newborn-age through two and has different positions that work for rest and play. It’s transportable (so we can take it into the garden, to other people’s houses, from the office to the kitchen to the living room etc). It’s machine washable and -this is harder than you might think-not rainbow plastic. It’s Swedish (bless the Swedes) and neutral.
The Bouncer: BabyBJÔRN Bouncer Balance : USAGE UPDATE: This is an essential. We use it often and move it all over the house, from the garden to the kitchen to the living room. It’s easy to clean and doesn’t look horrible in our space.
The Baby Carrier/Sling
There are multiple ways to wear it. It works with kids 8 pounds to 33 pounds (again, another buy once use for years). This is our intention for walks for the first several months (and why we decided with the stroller/car seat situation also we had no need for them to integrate). Sure this sling isn’t that “eco-mamma bird” vibe people on Instagram love to show (which I don’t want anyway) but Chris and I can both use and wear this and it provides proper weight distribution and support. We joke that I carried this kid for nine months so he’ll take his turn after that. But really…
(Chris note here: but mine sh*ts everywhere, not the same)
The Baby Carrier: BabyBJÔRN baby Carrier One Air : USAGE UPDATE: We use this for walks every time (he’s still too small for the stroller) and have even used it when doing photo shoots. We have both worn it and it works well, although if you are petite, you will have to do a lot of strap adjusting to get the weight on your upper back vs waist. So make sure you do that before wearing!
The Play Area
It’s not plastic. It’s aesthetically pleasing , easy to store, made from wood, and we can use it with the bouncer or with a blanket. Also high contrast colors like black and white are preferred. Apparently babies can only see like three feet away for a while.
Modern Baby Play Gym : USAGE UPDATE: Fantastic. It’s the perfect height and level of interest after a few weeks. He loves the high contrast, it’s not noisy, looks great, and even the cats like it.
Changing Area
Since we absolutely did not want to buy a changing table, we bought an antique dresser and will place a changing pad on top. The dresser will store all necessary items from clothes and beyond.
We’ve also got to talk about the trashcan. Sure, most articles will say order a ‘diaper genie’ but trust me, there’s something a million times better out there that we’ve used for months for our house: the Townew trashcan.
This started after Chris tried a Litter Genie for cat litter at someone’s house whose pets we were watching. It’s a kind of clumsy system and requires some knotting and to be honest what seems like something inefficient instead of just a standard trash bin. The Townew trashcan is a rechargeable bin with an automatic lid open and close to seal in odors but the best part is with the touch of a button whenever you decide, it seals itself, you take out the totally sealed bag, and it starts a new bag for you. No knotting, no adding the bag. It’s so beautiful and I love it so much. So now, we’re getting a second one for the nursery.
Townew Self Changing Trash Can : USAGE UPDATE: If you’re looking for a practical yet kind of ‘luxe’ gift to give, make it a trash can. This trashcan. It’s a glorious treasure. If you look at the cost of replacement bag rings, you might think “Hmmm- not worth it”, but after emptying the bin 3x a week for 8 weeks, I replaced it for the first time. It also does a great job keeping odors in.
4 Sided Changing Pad USAGE UPDATE: We use this on top of an antique dresser that will stay in his room post diaper needs. It’s perfect and we use liner covers thon top that make it easy to throw in the wash and rotate out. I’m still firmly in the belief that you do not need an actual changing table.
The Bathtub
Some people say skip the baby tub and use the sink, but our kitchen sink, even though it’s amazingly deep and huge, is premium real estate for us since we work with food. That kid is not going in my sink.
Boon Soak Tub : USAGE UPDATE: If you don’t have a kid friendly sized tub and don’t want to use a sink, this is perfect. I wish it wasn’t as big as it is in terms of storage but it works well for what it needs to be.
Pacifiers, Bibs, Feeding Things etc
I won’t touch on all of the theories here with child feeding- you do you, but I did want to share some brands and aesthetically pleasing items for if and when you decide you need them.
Mushie Danish Bowls and Plates
Natural Rubber Pacifiers USAGE UPDATE: Buy several. Put them everywhere.
Clothes
Over and over again we heard a few things: kimono style for the win and ZIPPERS GODDAMNIT. Basically any newborn item goal is: change the baby but don’t you dare wake the baby and also “you are severely sleep deprived and tiny snaps at night are a no-no”. Our plan with clothes is to basically buy a few sets of onesies in different month ranges from stores like Uniqlo, H&M, Zara, etc and not even bother with anything remotely adorable for several months. Again…where’s this kid going (Is he dating? Who is he trying to impress?)? Since we’re staying home for the foreseeable future with COVID, our focus is just inexpensive basics at first.
As another note: swaddling is also a major topic in nursery items. We’ve heard lots of good things about one particular sleeping swaddle that encourages sleeping through the night with reduced opportunities for a startle reflex (it’s a thing where babies scare themselves with their own movements…I do it too and I’m in my 30’s so I’m wondering if I need a sleepsack?).
HALO Sleepsack Swaddle : USAGE UPDATE: BUY THEM. We have one in micro fleece and within a week bought a second one in cotton. We use these multiple times daily and during the first two weeks, he essentially lived in these. We are using a Snoo sleeper and got the advice to double swaddle using the Snoo bag PLUS one of these. Game changer.
Kimono style side snap onesies
Other Adorable Stores and items
Now that we covered the actual things that will be useful and what feel like are ubiquitously listed as ‘necessary’ on registries, you can look at fun adorable things. Our general guideline is we like items that are natural materials. Basically….not loud and plastic and requires batteries. The bottom line with these is they are not essential. But damn are they cute.
Song of the Tree and other beautifully illustrated books
Anything from our 2020 kids gift guide or 2019 kids gift guide.
If that sounds like you, you’ll love these stores too for your registry:
More than anything, remember you can always ask for the basics and figure the rest out as you get to know your kid. Existing ‘essentials’ lists for registries out there totally did not fit what we believe in (Excess? Unitaskers?), so we did what fit us!
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