Several of our very good friends are expecting brand new bundles of joy later this year. We have come up with a list of things that they should definitely include on their baby registries. Anyone who plans to buy baby gifts in the near future should take a look at this list first. These are our favorite baby items; we still use most of them every single day!
- Digital Camera – to preserve every precious moment. They grow so fast! Take as many pictures as you can when your baby is happy; you can always delete the blurry or blinking ones later. Don’t forget to get some photos of Mommy and Daddy, too! Print copies of your favorites, or better yet, e-mail them to friends and family! We use the Canon Power Shot S80 right now, and have used several from the Sony Cybershot series in the past. We bought our Digital Cameras from Amazon.com.
- Diaper Champ by Baby Trend – for all those dirty diapers. This diaper pail is similar to the Diaper Genie, but it can use plastic bag for a liner. This saves money on buying diaper pail refills, just use those grocery bags. It’s not airtight, so it only minimizes the smells. I don’t think any diaper pail out there can completely eliminate dirty diaper stink. We just empty the pail once a week in the winter, and twice a week in warmer weather. We bought our Diaper Champ from Babies R Us.
- BabyBjorn Baby Carrier – for being close to your baby while keeping your hands free. Our kids both loved snuggling with Mommy and Daddy while riding the Bjorn. We like it because it allows us to walk around, work on the computer, and even vacuum or eat while carrying our little ones. They are especially good for getting baby to sleep when she’s fighting her nap time. We bought our BabyBjorn Baby Original Carrier in City Black from Target.
- Car Seat Carrier Cover – for keeping baby cozy and dry in their infant car seats. Ours is reversible, with a warm fuzzy side and a water repellent side. We used ours in the wintertime with a just light jacket because the cover itself keeps baby nice and warm. In the spring, it blocks the wind and also protects from the rain. Once in the car or inside the house, the cover can be easily removed without waking up baby. We bought our Eddie Bauer Special Edition Goldbug Reversible Fleece Infant Car Seat Carrier Cover from Target.
- OxiClean & Spray N Wash – for keeping baby’s clothes clean and stain free. I wish I knew about these for my older son. Some of his baby clothes were so stained that I couldn’t even use them for his baby sister. Now I pre-treat all stains with Spray N Wash, soak heavily soiled clothes in OxiClean and water until laundry day, then run the washing machine with a scoop of OxiClean and a scoop of unscented powdered laundry detergent. We use the high efficiency detergent because we have a front loading washer, it’s supposed to minimize the suds and save water and energy. We buy Ultra Plus unscented He powdered laundry detergent from Sears and our OxiClean and Spray N Wash from Target or Costco. See also Top 10 Laundry Tips for Children’s Clothes.
- The Car Child View Mirror from The First Years – for keeping an eye on the little ones in the back seat. This is an adjustable mirror that clips on to any car’s rear view mirror. The driver or front seat passenger can watch everyone in the back seat without constantly turning around or adjusting the main mirror. This is both convenient and safe for all involved. We bought our Child’s Rear View Mirror from Babies R Us.
- Kiddopotamus Bibbity Bib – great for those toddlers learning to self feed. This unique bib has a little pocket to catch all the food that would have otherwise ended up on the floor or in the child’s lap. Our son has learned to take his spoon and just scoop his dropped food out of there and back on to his plate! The bib is made of a soft plastic, so it can be wiped clean or washed and dried along with baby’s dishes. It also rolls up nicely for travel. We bought our Kiddopotamus Bibbity Bibs from Kohl’s.
- Symphony-In-Motion Mobile Geometric Shapes by Tiny Love – provides 15 minutes of classical music (either Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart) while giving baby some colorful and black and white toys to look at. Since our little one is not sleeping in a crib yet, we put hers above her bouncy chair so she can entertain herself while Mommy is in the kitchen cooking or washing dishes. We got our Symphony-In-Motion Geometric Shapes Mobile as a baby shower gift several years ago, but similar ones are available on Amazon.com.
- Sing Me to Sleep Soother Pooh by Fisher-Price – a musical nightlight great for bedtime. The toy is made up of plush Winnie the Pooh & Piglet dolls dressed in their pajamas laying on a pillow. The pillow contains a nightlight and plays about five minutes of lullaby music. With each different song, the music gets quieter and the light dims. It even comes with a remote that has three different buttons, allowing parents to skip to baby’s favorite song. Our son has made this part of his sleeping routine for the last 2 1/2 years. When he was a baby, he used to kick it on when it was at the foot of his bassinet. Now he calls it his radio, and turns it on by himself before naps and bedtime. We got our Sing Me to Sleep Soother Pooh as a baby shower gift; they are still available on eBay.
- Large Lap and Burp Pads by Especially for Baby – also known as Quilted Multi-Use Pad. These washable, waterproof pads are great for protecting mattress or changing tables from spills, spit ups, or leaks. We also use them as changing pads whenever we are not at our changing table. They have saved us from lots of embarrassment when changing diapers on other people’s couches, beds, and carpeting. Though they weren’t on our registry, we got ours as a baby shower gift from another mom who just discovered for herself how useful they were. The Especially for Baby brand is exclusive to Babies R Us, but I’m sure there are similar items at Target, etc.
We hope you found this list useful. What are your favorite baby items? We’d like to know. Please feel free to post your comments below.
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it may sound funny, but it’s all true! don’t forget to backup all of those digital pictures on a nice external hard drive. it’s really a drag when your hard drive crashes and you realize you haven’t taken any backups.
Great idea Neal! And thanks for the reminder, the last backup I made was about a month ago. All those precious memories are irreplaceable.
If you don’t want to buy an external hard drive, you could just burn all your photos onto cds and then store the disks in a safe place.
Backup? Who does that? Just kiddin’! Better to be safe than sorry!
This information will be fabulous for the next baby shower I need to buy a gift for. Thanks a bunch!!