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Hawaii Babies
Baby Registry Advice
Hey girls, how is everyone doing?! All is well here in Tokyo - I'm almost 29 weeks along, and everything is happening so fast! We are getting ready to fly home (at 32 weeks -yikes! Yes, I do realize that that's crazy) to have the baby in Kansas City over the holidays (due Dec. 26th). I am very nervous about all of this - about flying (I'm terrified of flying) - and I generally feel completely unprepared for baby's arrival. We haven't bought ANYTHING for the baby yet, because of our limited luggage situation flying home...and because I'd much rather shop in the US for baby stuff.
SO, I am currently making my registry online at Babies R Us and Target, and wondering if there are things that you guys absolutely recommend and can not possibly live without? Is there something I should know, some awesome secret weapon mommy item that all moms need? It's hard to register online only, because I can't actually see anything right there in front of me...we want to go see it all ourselves, but alas, don't really have a choice. I'm trying to follow basic lists online of must-haves, and it is definitely helpful, but hard to picture the stuff without actually seeing it in person. It's especially hard deciding on a travel system/stroller, since we can't play with them ourselves to see which ones we like...any favorites in that department?
Anywho, any advice at all is very appreciated, if you don't mind sharing. Thanks so much!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Baby Registry Advice
Are you a walker/jogger (or like to with the baby later)? If so, then you'd probably want to look into jogging strollers/travel systems. If not, then I think it will vary depending on how much you want to spend. I'm not a runner AT ALL but I joined a mom's group that does some stroller walks at parks (some a bit hilly) so I ended up getting a BabyTrend travel system since it was one of the cheaper ones ($179) and it works great and I love the adjustable sun shade to shelter LO from the sun no matter what time of the day/which direction we're facing.
One thing I'd recommend is to join Amazon Mom for free when you're physically back in the US, and it's free Amazon Prime (2-day shipping) for the first 3 months and for every single $25+ baby transaction you make, they give you one more free month up to 1 yr total. I got 1yr b/c I ended up buying a TON of baby stuff there since they have good prices, no tax, and free/fast shipping. On top of that, there's the added bonus of free returns for 1yr on baby items (look for the note that says free returns on the item page) so if you don't like it, you could always return it for free.
Items that I personally considered must-haves were: breast pump, wash cloths (I used them as burp cloths too), diapers & wipes, crib, crib mattress, crib sheets, changing table/pad/covers, baby carrier (I love the Ergo), bibs, swaddling blankets/sleep sacks, baby bath tub, baby shampoo/wash, rectal thermometer (my hospital gave us a free one but I like the one we bought a lot better), baby tylenol, nail clippers (or small emery boards--they're born with LONG nails and they grow like mad). For long sleeve/footed pajamas, we always get zippered ones b/c the last thing we wanted to do while changing baby in the middle of the night is to be doing all these buttons. For bottles/nipples/pacifiers, you may not use them until later if you're BFing (I had some milk issues at first, so our bottles came in handy), but most people only get a few (not a huge stash of one type/brand) in case the baby doesn't like/take it. At the hospital, they gave him a pacifier but we didn't use it again until he was a few months (2 i think?) old. Oh, and in the beginning, we loved our diaper pail. Now, it's in the city dump b/c MH tossed it out a month ago. Since it's made out of plastic, it absorbs the smells and it would stink a lot--maybe we got a bad one? No matter how often we changed the bag or used baby powder to absorb it, it just got worse with time, so we had enough. We use disposable diapers and so now we just have a regular trash can and we wrap each poopy diaper in a doggie poop bag and it works much better.
Sorry that was long and I might've missed some stuff =P but HTH and GL! Hope the flight back goes smoothly as well!
My must-haves:
Carseat
Cloth Diapers and Wipes
Onesies
Sleep and Plays
Socks
Hooded Towels and Wash Cloths
Breast Pump
Breast Pads
Nursing Tanks and Bra
Extras I Loved:
Miracle Blanket or other swaddlers
Sound Machine
Twilight Turtle
Soothing Sounds Seahorse by Fisher-Price
Ergo Carrier
Swing (one that can plug-in as well as take batteries)
Flannel Lap Pads
Burp Cloths
Plush Blanket
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
Hello, I am in the midst of my registries and I found this wonderful website that I just adore. If you subscribe to her, she'll send you all her "must haves" for registry. And I used it to a T. Being a first mom, I had no idea what all was good/not good, etc......check it out!!
https://www.lucieslist.com/
Hooray Sakachan!!
I second everything above that people have already listed.
In case you're looking for the actual brands, etc of stuff that people like, here's what we have:
carseat: Chicco Keyfit30
stroller: Baby Jogger City Mini (love that it folds up with one hand, great for subways)
diapers: Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive works best for us
carriers: Ergo Sport + infant insert and Moby wrap
breastfeeding pillow: Boppy (I'm not the hugest fan of it, but I got it for free from a friend, you could try My Breast Friend instead)
bottles: our favorite is Dr. Browns bc A had/has bad gas; we also tried Tommee Tippee, Born Free, and Breastflow; see which one Sakachan likes best
pacifiers: Gumdrops, Nuk and Avent; A only likes/can keep in his mouth the Avent ones. I like that they come with a cover as well
bathtub: First Years infant to toddler bath tub
swaddlers: Miracle Blanket (our lifesaver!), and Woombie
activity mat: Bright Starts with tummy time pillow
travel crib: Baby Bjorn (really light and folds up nicely into a little zippered case!)
bouncy seat: Fisher Price Rainforest something
swing: Graco Sweet Peace
toys: plastic keys! he loves them. and Lamaze toys - Freddie the Firefly, Mortimer the Moose, Jacque the Peacock, etc
I also second the Amazon Mom thing. I did my registry on there and I found the prices to be a lot cheaper than BRU as well.
Hope this helps and send me a FB msg if you have more questions!
You've got a good list above already, but I just wanted to add a few of my faves:
My Brest Friend (like waaaaay better than the Boppy for nursing, though that came in handy later for tummy time and sitting up)
NoseFrida - seriously, don't freak out, it's disgusting but amazing
Aden + Anais burpie bibs - the best burp cloths and double as a bib, worth the price
Bottles - Born Free we liked much, much better than all the others, but I think it depends a lot on the bebbeh, don't get too many at first.
Miracle blankets - truly a miracle
Ergo - 'nuff said
Diapers - cloth = FuzziBunz, disposables = Pampers Sensitive
Beaba Babycook - so awesome for making first baby foods, and I still use it all the time to steam small batches of veggies for him
Don't get a ton of pacifiers (if you end up using them) yet. We bought a lot of one kind (that everyone said they'd give in the hospital). Well, they gave him a different kind, and it turned out it was the only kind he's take (MAM). We had about 8 that we never were able to use and had to go buy a ton of the new ones.
lindsay and kaata - june 21, 2010 - lani phase II my planning bio
i haven't had time to read through the other posts but glanced briefly at them. definitely my brest friend nursing pillow over boppy - way more comfy but the boppy is just more well known/marketed i think. we didn't get a travel stroller system...when she was itty bitty i always wore her in a baby carrier and even now that she's older we have an umbrella stroller we use from time to time but that's it. i only use it occasionally for trips to the mall (but even not so much now that she is walking) and for walks around the block. we don't jog or anything so that wasn't on our list.
get the baby bargains book, it was what i found most useful for preparing for baby - it's like consumer reports for babies
just remember that what you NEED for baby is a very simple list. babies have very basic needs - food (breastmilk or formula), diapers, clothes, and TLC 
everything else is just icing on the cake and you can always get those items after baby arrives 
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I have a huge list of gear/tips that I put together for a friend... email me at mrulon at yahoo and I'll send it to you
At quick glance... Miracle Blanket - YES! Ergo - YES!
Good luck!
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
My wife and I just had our first baby. Before our first wedding anniversary I wanted a wishlist of items she wanted. So RightGift.com was created to better assist family and friends to share gift ideas for any major life event.
My wife had 4 baby showers and created a Baby Shower Event and associated Gift Registry on RightGift to share with all of her guests. She was able to add items from ANY store using the RightGift Bookmarklet web browser button.
Check out www.RightGift.com to create your free Baby Shower Wishlist!
Thanks!