If you’ve had a baby, you’ve been there- staring at the wall of nipples and bottles at the baby super store, in a daze. I clearly remember total confusion- which brand? which style? how many? I was going to nurse so I wanted to have a bottle a nursed baby would accept… and this was just the start of it. It is a crazy maze of figuring out what you need, how much and which are the best brands. There are a lot of unnecessary products out there that prey on new moms’ insecurity and inexperience with babies. Back when I registered, my best resource were my friends who had babies. I asked tons of questions and used their reviews to help me decide what to get. Even so I fell victim in the store and registered for a slew of things we ended up not needing.
My sister in-law is expecting her first baby, and I am trying to help her make her way through the process of registering. There is a lot to talk about so I am just going to hit on the major items here and offer advice on researching the real necessities. First you need a good list of what you’ll need. I found two good ones, one is a basics list and the other is the everything and then-some list. The basics list is a good guide to your absolute needs, but leaves out some of the nice extras that make your life easier, and the everything list is a good complete list but still includes a few things you can do without. Like the canopy cover, the peek a boo cover- I don’t even know what it is? Again talk to your friends and family and have then look at the lists with you and X off some other things you won’t need.
Once you figure out what you need off the lists start checking reviews online and from friends regarding some of the big ticket items and do safety research on car seats, cribs and strollers. Here are some links to guides that may help with your selections: Strollers and a Brief Review of ‘07 Strollers
Strollers are an item that has a huge variation in price, style and functionality, it is a good idea to take one for a stroll (if they’ll let you go around the block- do it!)
Elitecarseats.com has a very good selection of car seats and strollers with lots of advice in choosing the right ones. A list of Top Car Seats and links to lots of Car Seat Questions.
Crib and Bassinet Reviews, Crib Buying Guide and a Baby Furniture Guide to help decide what best suits your needs.
More Useful Reviews on Baby Products including the best baby carriers, activity toys, playards, bottles and more.
As always- please feel free to comment with your suggestions, resources and ideas on how to make the best choices registering for your baby.
Good luck and happy shopping!
My advice would be to register for a few different types of bottles to have on hand. We are currently going through some feeding issues and I have had to run out several times and buy different types of bottles to try out. For some reason I had assumed that my baby would like Avent so now I have bunch of them sitting around unused. I would have been smarter to get a couple to start off with until I determined what he would like best.
That is very good advice. My daughter was ok with the Avent bottles, but I have heard so many people have to test out many before the baby find one it likes. And it will save you from running back and forth to the store with a new baby.