how-to-build-your-first-baby-registry

How to Build Your First Baby Registry

Are you overwhelmed with trying to figure out your baby registry? Are you on a mission to find the best and most non-toxic baby items to set your baby up for success? Then you’ve come to the right place! In this post, I am going to share my top tips and tricks for creating a baby registry that is not only non-toxic, but is also filled with items you will actually use, and not ones that will end up sitting in your spare closet.

First Things First

Before you add anything to your baby registry, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Expecting your first baby is an exciting time, but it will also come with its adjustments. The way your typical day goes now will be vastly different once baby arrives – obviously, right? I am sure a lot of people are telling you this. But, I say it only because some of the things you need to consider for your future day-to-day will impact what you include on your registry.

Baby Registry Must-Haves

There are a number of items you will want to add to your baby registry no matter what. For instance, you’ll want to include:

Above are the links to my favorite registry must haves. For more suggestions check out The Ladenbod List.

Baby Registry Must-Skips

  • Diaper Genie: We just use plastic trash bags for dirty diapers and take them out as needed.
  • Diaper Changing Table: Our nursery set came with a diaper changing topper for the dresser. I set it up with the intent of using it as our go-to diaper changing location, but I never ended up using it. Instead, I put together diaper changing stations, either in a pack n’ play like this one, or on our bed.
  • Hatch Sound Machine: This was great in theory, but I have never found it to make a difference in helping my kids fall asleep or stay asleep. There is also the concern of possible EMFs or other frequencies from machines like this that could disrupt baby’s sleep.
  • Small Stroller Fan: We live in Texas and I take my kids for walks almost daily, and yet I have never used one of these. I’ve seen other people use them, but I personally have never used the one that I got from my registry.
  • Portable Changing Station: Again, I am sure many people use these types of items, but I haven’t used ours. I have found that it is just as easy to have a small bag stocked in our car with diapers, wipes, and a towel.

Questions to Consider

A lot of the items on your baby registry will be based around how you answer the following questions:

Where will your baby sleep?

The answer to this may change as your baby grows, or your plan now may completely change with baby’s arrival. But you need to decide if you expect your baby to sleep in your bed with you (also known as co-sleeping, which is perfectly safe when done properly), in a bedside bassinet, or in a crib. The answer to this will determine if you need to buy a crib, a bedside bassinet, or just use your existing bed. Keep in mind that many bedside bassinets are typically a temporary sleeping situation. When I was considering buying one, I found that most of them have a weight limit of 20 pounds. Once baby exceeds the recommended weight or age for the bassinet, you will need to choose another sleeping arrangement.

When I was pregnant with our first child, we got a full nursery set with a crib, and I thought we would use our portable play yard as a bedside sleeper. But, we ended up co-sleeping that first week, and never looked back. To this day, we co-sleep with all three of our kids. However, when I was pregnant with our second, I did purchase this bedside sleeper. Its max weight is 50 pounds instead of 20 pounds, and it can serve as a regular crib and play yard as well. Unfortunately, our second never wanted to sleep in it, and he co-slept with us from day one as well.

Up until our youngest son’s birth, we never used our crib. I think I had two or three successful naps in the crib total between our first two kids. What we didn’t realize until I was pregnant with our third was that the lowest setting on the crib was the exact same height as our master bed. This allowed us to take the front panel off of our crib to create an extension for our master bed, which has been a complete lifesaver for getting some additional space. I would recommend looking for a crib (this is the crib we have), with a removable front panel if you’d like to give this a try yourself.

Items to Consider if You Plan on Co-Sleeping:

Items to Consider if You Do Not Plan on Co-Sleeping:

  • Bedside bassinet: A lot of people love the Halo Bassinet.
  • Crib: I highly recommend looking for one that is Greenguard Certified. This ensures the product will not bring unwanted VOCs into your home. An added bonus if it is also FSC Certified!
    • You can find Greenguard Certified cribs and nursery furniture from places like Pottery Barn Kids or Babyletto. A quick google search for “GreenGuard Certified Crib” is also a great way to find one that matches your nursery decor.
  • Organic cotton or linen crib mattress sheets
  • Crib Mattress
  • Crib Mattress Protector – see link above for other mattress sizes

Depending on the sleeping space you decide on, there will be different linens and other items to add to your baby registry. For a full list of my favorite bedtime items for baby, check out The Ladenbod List.

Will you breastfeed, formula feed, or a combination of both?

This one can be a touchy subject for some people, but I will go ahead and say that I personally did not breastfeed my children. I wanted to, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to. So, I had to go on the hunt for a formula that was not filled with the standard American ingredients list. Stay tuned for my upcoming post, Let’s Talk: Organic Baby Formula.

It goes without saying that your decision to formula feed, breastfeed, or combo feed will impact your ideal registry items.

Breastfeeding

If you plan on breastfeeding, you need to decide if you plan on pumping and storing excess breastmilk. If you plan on doing so, you will need to look into a pump and breastmilk storage containers. Many people use specialized plastic bags that allow you to write the date and time on the bag. A benefit of these bags is that they usually hold a specific amount of breast milk and, because they can lie flat, you can store more milk in your freezer. If I had been able to breastfeed and pump, I would have used glass jars in place of plastic bags or containers. While you may not be able to store as many glass jars in the freezer, I am a big advocate of glass storage containers over plastic.

There are numerous pumps on the market. You can pick from pumps that plug into the wall, rechargeable pumps, and even wearable pumps. To find out how to get a breast pump for free or at a discount through insurance, see the first link below. In addition to an electronic breast pump, having a manual breast pump like a haakaa is also very useful.

To make your breastfeeding experience as comfortable as possible for you and your baby, many women suggest a support pillow. There are several breast feeding support pillows on the market and I would recommend looking for one that is made of organic cotton or linen. Your baby will spend a lot of time with you on this pillow, so you want to make sure he or she is surrounded by a non-toxic environment. Cotton is one of the most heavily sprayed agricultural products, so choosing organic cotton products will ensure your newborn baby is not being exposed to chemicals in the cotton or the dyes.

Because I didn’t breastfeed, I have not personally used the pillow I linked below, but I have purchased several items from Naturepedic, including our crib mattress, and all of the cotton mattress protectors in our home. This breastfeeding support pillow is made with GOTS certified, organic cotton. It is MADE SAFE® certified and the core is made of non-GMO sugarcane instead of polyurethane foam.

Items to consider adding to your baby registry if you plan on breastfeeding:

Formula

If you decide to formula feed or do a combination of both, you will want to add glass bottles and a bottle warmer to your registry. I have been using the same glass bottles for all three of my kids. While there is a risk of them breaking if they fall, the glass is surprisingly resilient. With recent studies coming out about the amount of microplastics in what feels like everything, the last thing we need is to warm our baby’s formula in a plastic bottle.

To get straight to the point on formula, my absolute favorite European offering is Jovie Goat Milk Formula. For more information on my favorite formulas, check back soon for my upcoming post, Let’s Talk: Organic Baby Formula.

Items to consider adding to your baby registry if you plan on formula feeding:

Will you use cloth diapers or disposable?

If you plan on using disposable diapers, I highly encourage you to check out my post, Let’s Talk: Non-Toxic Diapers. There you will find my top 4 favorite non-toxic diapers that you can order online or find in stores.

I did not use cloth diapers; I liked the idea initially and I bought some to have as a back-up option in the event that I changed my mind, but in the end, I decided to stick to non-toxic disposable diapers. I am not a huge fan of laundry and didn’t want to add even more laundry to my plate with a newborn in the house. The most common suggestion for cloth diapering is to have between 20 and 36 cloth diapers. This is enough – depending on the age – for three days worth of diapers, assuming that you are doing a load of dirty diapers every other day. If you are looking to go as natural and non-toxic as possible, I would recommend giving cloth diapers a try. For some cotton diaper suggestions, check out The Ladenbod List or my post, Let’s Talk: Non-Toxic Diapers.

Items to consider adding to your baby registry if using disposable diapers:

  • You can add the diapers you plan on using to your registry.
  • Another option to consider is setting up a diaper fund. If you are making a registry using BabyList.com, you can set up a cash fund for diapers.

Items to consider adding to your baby registry if using cloth diapers:

Clothing

I am going to go ahead and warn you: clothing should be the easy part, but it’s also the most difficult, at least for me. And when I say difficult, I mean it’s hard to stop. When you are excited about your first baby and everything looks adorable, you want to add it all! But let me tell you, don’t do that. Add a few of your favorites, but try not to go overboard, because babies grow fast! I can’t count the number of outfits I got and tucked away for when my baby was older, only to pull them out again to find she had already outgrown them. It can be disappointing to say the least.

After having three babies close together, my biggest recommendation, and what worked best for me, is to err on the side of larger sizes. As always, what worked for me might be different for you, but this strategy has worked well in my experience. My babies were all born between 7.5 and 8.5 pounds. I purchased a lot of 0-3 month clothes before my first was born, but I think she was in 0-3 month sizes for about two weeks tops. Honestly, I think she was born longer than the standard 0-3 month clothing length.

Another surefire recommendation I can give you is the zip-up full body onesie (always go for a zipper over buttons if you can, you will thank me later). Newborns get cold easily, so no matter the season, you may rely on these types of full body onesies for the first month or so. We also loved packs of body suits that snap at the bottom and can be layered with pants. And don’t forget socks if the pants don’t have any footies!

All three of my kids spent more time in 3-6 month clothing than in 0-3 month, and were consistently at least three months ahead of whatever size actually matched their ages. My youngest has grown the fastest, fitting into 12-18 month clothes by the time he was 6 months old. As I said above, everyone’s experience with clothing will be different, so just remember when purchasing clothes try to not go overboard. To be on the safe side, consider ordering a size up so that you aren’t taken by surprise when they are too big for their intended range.

Great Options for Organic Cotton Baby Clothes:

Portable Play Yards

Another item I would consider adding to your list is a portable play yard, but not for the reasons you may think. As I mentioned above, we used Graco Pack n’ Plays to set up diaper stations, and doing this has been a complete game-changer. This is a trick that I learned from my mother-in-law – who is truly a mother to me in every way – and we have used these for every baby, especially during the newborn stage.

Most play yards have at least two levels of height adjustment. The first level is either halfway up or closer to the top, and the second setting is flat on the bottom. If you have a play yard that can attach closer to the top, then you can set it up as a diaper changing station. Start by putting waterproof sheets on the play yard mattress, followed by some additional folded towels. Then, leave one half of the mattress space open for laying baby down. The other half of the mattress is occupied by a basket with all of your diaper changing necessities: diapers, wipes, washcloths (if you have a boy these will be useful), baby powder, a couple of extra onesies, and a small trash bag for when you’re done.

This set up has been a lifesaver. We use it for diaper changes, as a place to lay baby after bath time to dry off and get dressed, and we have even used it as an impromptu nap spot simply by moving the spare towels and basket.

I will say, I have found this set up to work best with the Graco Pack n’play. I love my Nuna SENA aire, but its highest setting is only halfway up the play yard. For your back’s sake, I would not recommend using that one as a changing station. Keep in mind that both the Graco and Nuna options have optional changing toppers to add to the play yards. I personally never felt like these were necessary, and I was worried baby could roll out of them.

If you plan on using your play yard in the more traditional sense – i.e. a place for confined play and napping – I would recommend the Nuna SENA aire, because, like all of their car seats, Nuna’s fabrics are all GOTS Organic Cotton Certified and Greenguard Gold Certified. For the Graco Pack n’play, you can look for organic cotton sheets or mattress cover as well.

Items to Consider Adding for Play Yards

Conclusion

I hope this post helps you narrow down the overwhelming amount of items that you’re considering for your baby registry. One thing I regret is buying or asking for certain items that we never ended up using, so I hope with this information, you can avoid unused items and maximize your registry’s potential. For more of my baby favorites, go check out The Ladenbod List. And if you have any questions, please feel free to drop a comment here or send me a message.

Tina

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