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Pennsylvania Babies
Registry Questions
Hi everyone! I'm getting ready to register in the next week or so and I have been doing lots of research. I was wondering if some of your current moms could pass along some recommendations on the following:
Stroller
Baby Monitor
Swing or Bouncy Chair
Car Seat
I appreciate any feedback. Is there anything that you registered for but don't really use? And my final questions...does everyone register at babies r us? Anyone do an online registry with a company not in PA? Successful?
This whole process is so overwhelming and I feel like I'm going to be frustrated so any advice is welcoming. Thanks ladies!!!!!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Registry Questions
Hi Lesli!
I found the registry to be very overwhelming as well. I won't recommend products, as I haven't used them yet. I know you're looking for feedback from Mom's who use their stuff with their babies!
What I can tell you is that when I was trying to consider car seat, stroller, swing, etc. I took feedback not only from friends, but read the reviews on the babies r us website. I'm not sure if you have done this yet, but some products have many many responses with pros and cons. I found this to be very helpful when making choices.
Also, I registered at other sites as well, but most people just bought stuff from Babies R Us. It was helpful for me to keep in one place. Plus, I got a lot of gift cards to BRU. I was able to put the gift cards together to purchase the more expensive items that I didn't get from my shower.
Once you start, you'll be fine. I know how overwhelming it can seem in the beginning.
Good luck!
Stroller/Car Seat - I got the Graco Metrolite travel system and I loved it. It comes with SnugRide car seats which, at least at that time, were among the most highly rated. They're also the lightest ones, which helps if your child gains weight as quickly as mine did! I can't imagine having him in a heavier carrier. In fact, I stopped carrying him in the carrier before 6 months for that reason. And the Metrolite stroller is great. So many people ditch their travel system strollers because they're too bulky but I still use mine all the time and prefer it to my lighter-weight umbrella stroller. The only thing that I don't like about it is that it requires two hands to fold it up - I don't know if that can be avoided, but it's very hard to do it while holding a baby.
My monitor came from The First Years but the model isn't made anymore. I think it does a great job.
Swing - we had a Graco Lovin' Hug and it was great, but I think most of it comes down to design and features. We did need to use ours for six months, so some of the "baby" swings wouldn't have worked for us in the long term.
But I agree - the reviews on the BRU web site are very helpful. Good luck!
I absolutely dreaded registering. This is what I did...I bought the book "Baby Bargains," which is WONDERFUL. It goes through the baby products you need and those that you don't need, and gives lots of consumer feedback. HIGHLY recommend. I read that book, and made a list of what I needed and the recommended brands for each product. I then did my registery online at BRU based on my list. It was so easy, and I didn't have to be overwhelmed by the products in the store. So far, I am pleased with all of my baby products, all of which came from recommendations in the Baby Bargains book.
I did not get a travel system, as I knew DD would be born in September and I knew that by the spring when it was actually warm out and I would be going more places, I would want a more lightweight stroller. I did get the graco stroller frame (SnugRider) to fit the carseat (Graco Snugride). That was really convenient, lightweight, and not nearly as expensive as a travel system. I spent the money saved on a Maclaren umbrella stroller, which I will be able to start using in the next couple months. I have a Fisher Price bouncy chair, and a Graco Lovin Hug swing. I have the Graco iVibe digital monitor.
The only thing I registered for but don't use is the microwave bottle sterilizer. I just wash the bottles or run through the dishwasher. I use everything else. There are things a lot of people register for that aren't necessary, such as a bottle warmer or wipes warmer. I don't have either or them.
My friend also registered at Buy Buy Baby online. She didn' t register at BRU. I just thought it was more convenient for me and everyone else to register at BRU.
HTH!!! Good luck!
I took my friend who had a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old at the time when I registered. She was very helpful giving advice on how much of what to register for. If you have a friend or relative with little kids, I'd recommend taking them along, then going back with DH to finalize some stuff.
My stroller and car seat are the Graco snugride - so I just have the frame that the car seat clips on, not the travel system. I find the car seat easy to use, we have a base in each vehicle, which makes things easy, and the stroller frame thing is very light and I was actually able to put it in the trunk today one handed. I don't think you can open it one handed, though.
My swing is borrowed from the friend with the two little boys - it's Graco and it has 6 speeds and music. It's battery operated. DD really likes it, but i think she'd like almost any swing.
I have a FP bouncy seat, I'm not sure which "friends" line it is - it has the frong, snail, and turtle on it. DD doesn't love it - she has to be just fed and in a clean diaper to spend more than 5 minutes in it. And I think the toy bar scares her a little - especially the musical frog, which is the only toy you can't remove.
Good luck!
I might sound like a lobbyist for the travel system association, but I swear I'm not, I just wanted to throw this out because when you're registering, you tend to focus on newborn stuff, but not down the road stuff. I found it very handy to have the travel system for the "in-between" stage. When he could ride in the stroller in his car seat, but he preferred to be in his stroller sitting up. So, for example, if we went somewhere and he was sleeping, he could just be popped out of the car in his car seat without waking him. But then if he eventually woke up and realized what was going on, he wanted to ride regular-style in the stroller. So at that point, it was easy to pop the seat back in the car and let him ride forward-facing in the stroller. It was those months (maybe months 4-7) that I really appreciated having the travel system.
And depending on how your registry goes, you might want to put stuff on there for further down the road too - convertible car seats, safety gates, portable booster seat, backpack carrier, etc. And if you have the space, it helps to put together all the stuff before the baby is born. That way when baby is three months old, you just have to pull the exersaucer out of the basement and put him in it, you don't have to worry about assembly. Same with the jumperoo, high chair, stroller, etc. Makes life MUCH easier!
Stroller: ?We have the chicco cortina travel system for our stroller that we registered for. ?I debated on a jogging stroller because i thought i'd want one for working out, which i really just intended for light jogging or walking. ?I did not register for it, but still ended up buying a jogging stroller. ?My advice would be if you want to get a jogging stroller, I'd get a jogging stroller that you can put your carseat in and that has a swivel front wheel. ?(You can take down the different car seats from the shelves nad try them out in the jogging strollers to see how they could fit! ?Dont be afraid to test out the different strollers!) ?Also its a good idea to practice collapsing the stroller so you know how to do that!
Baby Monitor: ?not sure if you were thinking of a video monitor, but for us just a regular monitor works fine! ?I think we have the fisher price lights and sounds monitor. ?I can hear Eli's every movement no problem. ?As far as him being a really tiny one and worrying about him i dont know, whatever you worry about, we had Eli in a bassinet until he was like 3 and a half months old, so he was mostly done spitting up at night because he was sleeping through the night when we finally put him in the crib.
Swing: ?Eli was NOT a swing baby, but I know alot of people really like the cradle swings because it simulates the movement babies like to be rocked in better. ?I knwo that Eli loved the rainforest bouncy seat, but not until he could start to interact with it (when you pull the various knobs and what not, it makes sounds). ?The one we have is just a plain one but it was great when Eli was a really small baby because he would sleep in it and I could sit him outside in it.
Carseat: ?I loved our Chicco carseat. ?The only thing I was bummed about is that ours only holds infants up until 22 pounds, but the new ones hold up to like 30 pounds which is nice. ?Usually by 20 pounds they are ready for their?convertible?carseat. ?
Okay I hope that helps!?
Obviously have no first-hand experience, yet, but we registered for the following, based on Baby Bargains as our first resource and mom-friends as a second. Baby Bargains truly is worth its weight in gold; we registered in less than 40 minutes because we had everything picked out before we stepped foot in the store.
Stroller: Graco Metrolite, since its middle-of-the-road as far as weight goes, has adjustable handles to fit DH's height and works as a travel system with our car seat.
Baby Monitor: Summer Video Monitor. While it doesn't get great reviews in Baby Bargains because of audio/video feedback, two friends also in single family homes in suburban Dauphin county have this monitor, and it works great with no issues. Another friend outside Philly has the flat-screen model (clearer and in color, but more than double the price), and hers works great, too.
Swing or Bouncy Chair: Graco Swing and FisherPrice bouncer/rocker. The first because of good reviews and the low price (I couldn't justify spending over $100 on a swing that is used for such a short period of time; I don't need it to swing 8 different ways and play 15 sounds). The second because of great reviews and the fact that morphs to last well into toddler-hood.
Car Seat: Graco SnugRide (infant) and Britax Roundabout (convertible). Both come highly recommended in Baby Bargains, and the second was recommended to me by a mom of three -- she's loved the Britax for years.
And FWIW, I registered for most stuff at BRU, but also on amazon.com for stuff I knew was cheaper there than in-store.
Good luck!!
Obviously none of this stuff has been used yet...
Stroller - We went with the Chicco Cortina Discovery - it's a little bit pricier but it's the only one I didn't see a bad review on about the wheels falling off or someone being pissed off about something. We played with it at the store and it went up and down very easily.
Baby Monitor - DH wanted video, I wanted something handheld so we could easily carry it. Only one fit both those so that's what we registered for.
We registered for a swing and an activity center type thing. I just think these things are hit or miss on if your kid likes them or not (from what I've heard)
Carseat - got the travel system with an extra base. We'll worry about a bigger one when we need it.
We did babies r us. I love Buy Buy Baby (went to the one in NYC last wekeend and there's one down around Baltimore) but I just think that's too much of a pain for people to worry about buying online. I do plan to make a trip down to the one in Baltimore at some point..they had a lot of cute stuff that I hadn't seen at Babies R Us but we didn't want to lug it around with us in the city.
Go early to BRU! I set up the registry online and still had to wait 20 minutes to get a gun. The registry people are talkers and give you a ton of stuff that they go through piece by piece.
Registering was overwhelming but I loved researching all the products (the geek/shopper in me, depending on how you look at it). I found the BRU reviews helpful too.
Stroller: Even if you get a travel system I'd still get a snap and go of some sort. They're about $50, SO small, and PERFECT for running errands. I love that I can open and close it with one hand, it's very light, and it fits just about everywhere. For our next stage 'mall stroller' we have a Maclaren. Very lightweight and easily maneauverable. We didn't get one that reclines and I hope we don't regret that. We bought a Mountain Buggy jogging stroller. Jill and Dawn loved their's and I loved them too. DH and I are both really glad that we went with it. It fully reclines so you can start using it with a newborn, it is such a smooth ride... not even bumpy over gravel really, and steers with one hand.
Baby Monitor: Summer hand held video monitor. LOVE it.
Swing: Fisher Price Papasan something. It swings both ways. I'm an idiot and didn't realize that it wasn't reclined fully until recently. I love it even more now...so does Ethan.
Bouncer: I would get one that actually bounces. We have this one:
https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3160407 and Ethan loves it. The toy bar overwhelms him so we took it off for now. We also bought this one:
https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2861767
It would have been PERFECT for the newborn stage when he was almost too small for his other bouncer. It snuggles them in. It doesn't bounce though.
Carseat: We have a Graco snug ride. My advice would be to get an infant that adjusts in the front. Ours has a strap at the bottom that you can pull to tighten it and a button to push to loosen it. I've heard great things about the Chico ones too.
TTC since Jan 07. Dx with PCOS Jan 08
First, I?d highly recommend buying the newest version (8th Edition) of Baby Bargains. This version is brand new out this month. I would have been clueless about registering without it, and I have to say that I haven?t been disappointed with a single thing that I?ve gotten as a result of that book. Like Ambrandy, I also read this book, picked out what I wanted, went to the store to make sure to try out things I was unsure of (stroller) and then registered online at BRU. This saved me a lot of stress and I didn't have to drag DH to the store.
Stroller/Car Seat ? I agree with rlthomas here. I also got the Graco Metrolite travel system and love it. If you get this travel system, I don?t think that it is necessary to get a ?snap n go? type stroller frame. The stroller itself is lightweight, and like rlthomas mentioned, you can either snap in the carseat or put DC in the regular part of the stroller. This came in handy a lot! We also have the SnugRide car seat that came with the stroller. Basically, I agree with everything that rlthomas said on this.
Monitor ? again recommended by Baby Bargains, we got the Sony Baby Call Baby Monitor. You can get it with either one or two receivers. It is great because it is apparently one of the only ones that has a ?voice activated? setting so you don?t have to constantly listen to static. On this setting it only kicks on it baby makes a noise. Another great thing is that it has like 27 different channels, so you?re bound to find one that doesn?t have static (if that?s a problem, but we haven?t experienced it ever!)
Swing - we had a this travel swing by Fisher Price. DS hated the swing until he was like 4 months old, then he outgrew it around 5 months because he started trying to sit up in it. I'm glad we didn't spend a lot of $ on this. Same goes for the bouncer. We had this one also by Fisher Price. DS liked this a lot more than the swing. The only thing that I didn't like was that the toy bar toys hung down too far and bumped into his legs when he got a bit bigger.
I also recommend this bathtub. I didn't realize how much I liked it until we used another one when we visited my parents.
I know you didn't ask about this, but I HIGHLY recommended getting these towels that you can find for cheap on this website. I got one as a shower gift even though I hadn't registered for it. When I first saw it, I thought it was hideous. It thought that the ones that you see everywhere with the hood in the corner were so cute and registered for those (like everyone else) It turns out that they barely dry anything and DS outgrew them way too quickly. Even when he was a newborn I loved this towel. Now that he's bigger, I searched and searched to find them online for a reasonable price so that I could afford to buy a few more. This website was the best I found.
I remember when I registered I spent weeks on the BRU website reading reviews, also amazon and baby bargains... what a process !!!
Stroller - I have a peg perego pilko p3 - I love it !!! It's relatively small, very smooth ride and I was able to use it as a travel system with the graco snug ride - and they matched pretty well. I think the only negative comments I had ever read about it was that the underbasket was a bit small, but I never had a problem. I agree with Rachel, whatever you end up getting, make sure you can use the car seat and the stroller as a travel system, its the easiest thing to do with a young baby.
I also want to recommend registering for a good umbrella stroller. As Connor has gotten older there are times I found that a small stroller would come in handy and I didnt have one. I bought a cheap one at BRU last week and hated it, my mom ended up buying me a Maclaren Quest online - it was a 2007 model so we got it for $100.
Baby Monitor - I have a Sony Babycall with the voice activated feature. I would highly recommend it. The voice activated feature keeps the monitor from having a ton of static all the time, and I also dont hear every single noise that he makes at night.
Swing - We have the Fisher Price natures touch papasan swing, I think they changed the pattern on it, but its the one that cradles the baby and can swing in two different directions. Connor loved it - only place he would sleep for the first month and then the only place he napped until 9 months.
Bouncy Seat - We have the bobby bouncy seat. Connor never really liked it so it didnt get much use. My cousin actually is having twins and I bought her this one off her registry, it has a lot of features that I like - especially the fact that it can be raised up and down . I will probably be buying a bouncy seat with more activities for the next baby - like the fisher price planet earth series (or whatever its called)
Car Seat - like I said, for a carrier we used the Graco Snug Ride. I liked that it was light and the highest safety rated, but the foam that makes it so safe also makes it really warm. I always thought Connor was too warm in it over the summer. We have a Britax Roundabout Convertible, I like it, but I wish I had gotten the bigger one, the marathon. Just because he looks a little cramped in this one.
Hope that helps - I'll try and think of anything else that was good or bad
This is the one my cousin registered for:
https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2864758&fromRegistryNumber=65279319&product_skn=390197
I also just noticed on her registry that they are now making snugrides that hold babys up to 32 inches and 32 pounds so they can stay rear facing in it longer - definitely a good improvement. Connor had grown out of his by 8 months.
I wanted to pop on quick to say that the BEST gift we got was a video monitor.... it is so helpful to watch them if you want to... I can check to make sure that they are breathing with out actually hovering over them... if you are not paranoid like me it is still nice to be able to see the baby and know that they are okay...
good luck.... the easiest thing to me was to register then adjust in on-line....
Here's my 2 cents. I definitely agree that registering can be overwhelming, but don't be afraid to put it all on the registry. Looking back, I really don't think that I thought too far ahead with things we would need throughout the 1st year, so by the time we bought some things, Andrew wasn't able to take full advantage of it. You can always return it to BRU if you change your mind.
Stroller/Carseat - We bought a travel system from Graco. Andrew was big from the get-go, so our system really worked for us. We still use the stroller for walks and some day trip events. I highly advise getting a 2nd base for any infant seat if you and DH will be transporting the baby separately (for us, DH drops Andrew off at daycare and I pick up). It would've been such a pain to constantly have to re-attach it to my car everyday otherwise.
I would also register for an umbrella stroller right away. There will be times when a smaller stroller is much more convienent when baby gets older. I used mine for shopping trips, beach/vacation, and amusement park trips. We bought a chicco model, and so far, I like it.
Baby Monitor - This was my savior in the beginning because Andrew slept in his crib from his first night home. He never slept with us in a pack-n-play, bassinet, or co-sleeper. It worked out so well for us as we never had to deal with transitioning him to his own room, etc. He's STTN since he was around 3 months old, too. We were both afraid that we wouldn't hear him if he did wake up, but our monitor worked well for us. We just had the FP lights and sounds monitor...the lights helped to wake me up so I didn't have to have the volume up too high.
Swing - Andrew loved his swing when he was younger, so we used it all the time. We had a graco one, but I forget the model/info. on it. I really like the smaller swing/boucers that came out b/c of the smaller size. Now that we can't use our swing, even with the legs folded, it takes up a bit of space.
Bouncy Seat - We had a FP papason seat. This was one of my necessities when Andrew was an infant. I would put him in here in order to shower most days and go the bathroom. It played music and vibrated, which he loved. I would def. make sure you have something like this, as it didn't take up too much space and you could take it with you.
Convertible Car Seat - I would seriously consider registering for a convertible seat right away. Even if you have 1 before you need it, it will help when it comes time to transition baby to it. We had to run out and buy 2, and they're not cheap. We have an alpha omega 3 in 1 and an eddie bauer 3 in 1 (they're both the same thing, but different patterns basically).
Other things I would look into putting on your registry: pnp, high chair, bumbo seat, boppy, jumperoo/bouncer, playmat, toy chest/box, safety gate...if I think of anything else, I will certainly pass it on! GL and try not to get too stressed with it!
I'm going to pass along the advice *just* given to me LOL!
First, I did my research on Consumer Reports. My number one thing for carseat was safety - we are going with the Chicco Keyfit 30, it got the highest ratings on consumer reports. It also goes to 30 lbs. For the convertible, I'm going with the Evenflo Triumph - It tied the Britax roundabout for #1, but got better ratings for safety while the britax was better in ease of use. Not to mention cheaper
By the way, if you want me to look up anything on CR for you, just let me know.
Monitor - Number one thing was to be a DIGITAL monitor. That's how you cut down the chances of interference. The Graco iMonitor Vibe came highly recommended by several friends, so it is my registry pick as well.
For swing, we are buying ourselves, not on our registry. We are getting the fisher price starlight papasan from Walmart - it runs on batteries or plugs in, which was my number one concern. Not to mention, cheaper than anywhere else, with free site to store shipping. Also, the padding is removable and machine washable. We bought a bouncer on clearance, the eddie bauer bouncenette, which will also double as a travel bed in the beginning - it has a zippered netting around it, which will definitely come in handy for us.
For our stroller, DH had asked for a jogger with inflatable wheels. (Most are aware I have an 18yo SS, so DH had to deal with those TEENY wheels from the early 90s strollers that got stuck in everything!) I call this stroller a faux-jogger - it's technically and "all terrain" stroller. So we decided to make our own travel system. We are getting the Jeep Liberty Stroller, which is compatible with the Chicco carseat, so it will act as a travel system with the infant seat, but then will be just a stroller later on.
We are registered at Target and BRU.
First off for stroller and car seat you might want to consider a travel system if you will be useing the stroller early on.
I got the graco safe seat for my car seat and love it. Its on the big side but he can be in it up to 30lbs.
His swing is a graco. I forget the type but it was $99 at bru. I love it because you can adjust the seat so he can lay in it when he is little and its more like a chair for when he is bigger.
I hated our baby monitor it was a fisher price. It so loud that I woke up to every little noise he made in his sleep. We only used it for a week now we don't use any monitor. His room is next to our and we both wake up easy.