It’s true what they say- preparing for a baby is much easier the second go-round! Everything about our second child has been easier- from those first few weeks of sleepless nights to daycare drop-off and everything in between, we are starting to feel like seasoned parenting pros.
We are still using the Moms On Call parenting book for feeding and sleeping schedules, and our baby was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks. Those nighttime feedings really flew by! If you are in search of the perfect gift for a new mom- this book is a lifesaver! And they also have an app that’s pretty helpful too.
For the first baby, we used a lot of gifts that people got us, and went off of others’ recommendations or blogs for ideas for baby gear. But for the second baby, we bought a few new things, got rid of what we didn’t really use for the first baby, and became a bit more minimalist.
So here is a list of a few must-haves for your baby registry! (Including a few things we already had!)
Why we love it? It has a sleek and clean design, but is under $100, unlike its other stylish competitors. The baby can only really stay in this for a few months, so it’s worth the savings on this one.
This stroller is worth the splurge! They have them in stock at Buy Buy Baby and if you’re local to Mississippi, you can find them at Baby Supermarket. We use this stroller every single day. It can convert to support one child or two. It can hold two car seats if you have twins, or one infant car seat and a toddler seat, or the infant bassinet and a toddler seat, or just the bassinet by itself. There are so many configurations!!
Only planning on having one? Or having a baby later in life? I recommend it’s smaller companion, the Uppa Baby Cruz. It’s a single stroller. Both models have plenty of storage underneath, and it’s just a high-quality stroller that can take on rough sidewalks or gravel terrain with it’s rubber wheels (not plastic).
And this is the mesa car seat that clips into both of these Uppa Baby (the Vista and the Cruz) frames. It is sold separately. You can also get two bases- one for mom’s car and one for dad’s car. Or you can simply strap the mesa car seat in with a seatbelt if you don’t have a base. This is great for air travel or if a nanny or grandparent needs to do baby pick up they don’t have to have the car seat base.
These are my favorite swaddles for newborns becasue they are so easy to use! You just lay the baby on the open swaddle, tuck their legs in, wrap the flaps over their chest, and secure it with the velcro tabs. These swaddles come in a three-pack so you have plenty to wear while one is in the wash. These make great gifts because they sell these swaddles at Walmart, Target, and BuyBuyBaby, and they usually run about $30. I recommend bringing one of these with you to the hospital!
Once your baby outgrows the swaddles or can roll over, it’s time for a sleep sack! I found that some other brands shrink, aren’t that warm, or can be stiff. So through some trial and error, I am now a firm believer in the Kyte Baby Sleep Sack! They run about $50 a piece, but they are worth the splurge.
These Kyte Baby Sleep Sacks are made with a super soft bamboo fabric which is fabulous for babies with sensitive skin (both of mine!), and they come in three levels of thickness or “Tog.” We have one of each that we switch out due to weather or different air temperatures when we travel for things like hotels or grandparents’ houses. The one we use the most is the 1.0 Tog sleep sack, and we have 3 or 4 of these that we wash every couple of nights.
This makes an AMAZING baby gift. Kyte also makes matching pajamas that are super soft and cozy. Even my toddler still wears Kyte pajamas! They are so gentle on their skin, it’s amazing.
Also, I’d recommend starting with a size small. The extra-small is for a newborn, and we were using swaddles for that stage of sleep. A small will fit until about 6 months, then the medium is 6-12 months or so.
Ingenuity Cozy Spot Baby Activity Gym
We love this activity gym because it’s aesthetically pleasing, it’s made of strudy construction, and our baby loves interating with the variety of rattles and play things that hang from the wooden frame. If you search “wooden play gym” on Amazon, you’ll see that there are tons of pretty baby playgyms, we just liked that this one was wooden, came with a mat, and was more affordable than the other options. It also folds up pretty easily. They outgrow these pretty quickly, so we didn’t want to spend too much.
Baby’s Brew Portable Bottle Warmer
One of our most used baby items is a portable bottle warmer from Baby’s Brew. It’s so nice to be able to heat bottles easily at a restaurant, children’s museum, playground, airplane – you name it! We even will use this warmer to heat our bottles in the car on road trips as we near a rest stop- it fits in a car cupholder!
All you have to do is charge it at night, and you’re good to go during the day! There is a button on the bottom that you press to turn it on, then press it again to start warming. It has three different temperatures that you can select from, and I usually select the 98 degree one- closest to breast milk or body temp.
This product is sold with a formula dispenser or you can buy just the warmer. We found the formula got caught in the dispenser and it was difficult to use. Instead, we pre-make our bottles with water and formula beforehand at home, then we put them in a lunchbox cooler with an ice pack for the day. (We LOVE our Yeti lunch box for bottles, they fit perfectly!). That way we don’t have to mix formula on the go. We already have the bottle ready in the cooler, then just pull it out and warm it a few minutes before the feeding.
Phillips Avent Fast Bottle Warmer
The Phillips Avent Fast Baby Bottle Warmer is amazing. Seriously, a feat of technology. This is a MUST-HAVE if you’re doing formula or breast pumping bottles. We have this at our home and it’s actually pretty easy to just unplug and take with you on vacations.
It’s shaped like a big plastic cup. All you do is fill it with water, put the bottle in there, then turn the dial to the amount of ounces you need to warm, and lastly press the power button. The power button has a ring of light that slowly completes once the bottle is warm.
Then, it automatically KEEPS THE BOTTLE AT THE DESIRED TEMPERATURE!! (Old warmers used to just heat and heat and heat until you took the bottle out, which put the baby at risk for burning themselves on the overheated milk.) This way, you can toss the bottle in the warmer several minutes before you are ready to feed. I.e. Maybe when you wake the baby, you need to change his diaper before you get the bottle out- it’s not getting overheated- it’s just hanging out waiting for you.
If you choose to breast pump or formula feed, I reccomend the Phillips Avent Bottles. I love that they just have two parts- the nipple and the bottle- so they’re easy to throw in the dishwasher and clean. They come in plastic and glass- just remember that most daycares won’t let you bring glass in, so just go for the plastic.
Most importantly they come with 4 different nipple flows. Our baby graduated pretty quickly- to a size 3 at two months old- and it makes feedings much quicker, and he’s happier because he’s not having to work as hard to get the milk out. The rubber nipples are sold separately on Amazon and at Target, and they are super easy to pop in and out of the white plastic frames.
Note we didn’t love the Phillips Avent Anti-Colic bottles because we couldn’t tell a difference, but they had extra parts to clean.
We like both models of the Hatch Sound Machine- the Rest has a light, and the Mini does not. They both connect to your phone and they both have white noise options. I like the mini better because it’s small and white and it’s not as noticeable in the nursery.
Note that you can use just regular trash bags for this. And I found the steel to be more appealing than the plastic diaper pails.
These are just a few of my favorite things that I love to gift or reccomend to friends. For more preparing for baby posts, check out my articles on choosing a breast pump, best baby shower gifts, and baby health and hygeine.
See below for a full registry checklist!
Tine Murray 