Register This, Buy That, Borrow the Rest
Most baby registry checklists have a hundred "essentials." After two babies, I'd call maybe a third of them essential.
Photo: Toa Heftiba / Unsplash
This is the list I actually used — what I truly needed, minus everything that ended up shoved in a closet with the tags still on. I've got a second baby now, so a fair bit of it comes with hindsight.
How I sorted everything
Three piles, not a hundred items
The hard part of a registry isn't knowing what a baby needs — that's everywhere. It's deciding what to actually put on the registry versus what you'll just handle yourself. So I split everything three ways:
Nearly all our big furniture came from friends who'd finished with it — the crib and the bassinet. It's the easiest place to save real money, and the stuff outlasts one baby easily. We repainted the crib to match the nursery — a do-it-only-if-you-enjoy-it job, not a must.
If you take a hand-me-down crib: check it still meets current safety standards and hasn't been recalled (older drop-side cribs are a hard no), and always start with a brand-new mattress that fits snugly. If you paint it, use a non-toxic, low-VOC paint made for cribs — we used FolkArt with a brush and roller — and let it cure and air out fully before the baby ever sleeps in it.
- Crib mattress — brand-new, snug fit
- Waterproof mattress protector
- Crib fitted sheets — we bought 3
- Bassinet mattress protector
- Bassinet sheets
- Glider — if you'd like one comfortable spot for night feeds
- Swaddles — the velcro kind kept ours snug
- Sleep sacks
- Crib & bassinet
- Baby monitor — we didn't use ours until ~6 months, no rush
Swaddles and sleep sacks come with a TOG rating — it's just a warmth number, and higher means warmer. A 1.0 TOG suits most rooms; reach for 2.5 TOG in a cool winter nursery and 0.5 TOG for warm summer nights.
The pricey, genuinely-useful things a registry is made for go here; the personal stuff you handle yourself.
- Breast pump — ours was a Medela Freestyle
- Nursing pillow — the Boppy gets used constantly
- Bottle sterilizer
- Starter set of bottles — we tried Philips Avent and Dr Brown
Don't buy bottles by the case in a single brand. Babies can be picky about nipples, and you won't know which yours takes to until they're here. Start with a small mix, then stock up on the winner.
The rule here is simple: register the gear, buy the consumables.
- Diaper pail — we used a Diaper Genie
- Changing pad
- Changing pad cover
- Changing pad liners
- Caddy — keeps the chaos in one place
- Diapers & wipes — start with newborn + size 1; you'll switch brands constantly
- Diaper cream
Run a diaper raffle: guests who bring a box of diapers get entered into a little draw, and you walk away with a real stash without ever putting diapers on your registry.
This one surprised me. Clothes are worth registering for — not because you need a mountain, but because it's your one real chance at a baby wardrobe in your taste. Roughly what I'd put down, mostly in 0–3 months:
- 7 sleepers with zippers — zippers, not snaps; you'll thank me at 3am
- 5 short-sleeve onesies
- 5 long-sleeve onesies
- 5 swaddles
- 6 caps
- 8 pyjamas
- Baby-safe laundry detergent
- Snow suit or bunting with mittens — for a winter baby
- The odd outfit you can't resist in a shop
Too many newborn-size. Babies grow out of it fast, and some skip it entirely — lean into 0–3 months instead.
Skip the bulky snow suit under a car-seat harness — the padding compresses in a crash and leaves the straps too loose. Dress baby in thin layers in the seat and tuck a blanket or the snow suit over the straps instead.
- One good tub that grows with the baby — newborn insert you take out later, so you're not buying a second one in six months
- Baby-safe body wash and shampoo
- Baby-safe body lotion
- Hooded towels & washcloths — they pile up on their own
The other big-ticket section, and where a registry really earns its keep. These are the expensive, heavy items — worth registering with Canadian retailers, so the price you see is the price you pay, with no surprises at the door.
- Car seat + stroller — ours was a travel system; buy the seat new, so you know its full history
- Baby carrier — we loved the Ergobaby
- A good diaper bag
A few things, and only a few. Babies are clear about what they like — give it a few weeks and yours will tell you what to get more of. Don't register a whole toy box; it fills itself.
Keep this one short. We bought a single nursery health kit that had the lot — nail trimmer, thermometer, a brush, a suction bulb. It's cheap, it's quick, and one kit covers most of it.
Every baby checklist forgets the person doing the actual work. Sort this before the birth — you will not want to be sending someone to the store on day two.
- Frida Mom postpartum kit — peri bottle, mesh underwear, pads, cooling pads, in one
- A comfortable nursing robe, and anything extra you'd like ready
Here's the truth a hundred-item list won't tell you: your baby needs a safe place to sleep, a way to eat, a way to get from A to B, and you — fed, rested, and in one piece. Everything else is a nice-to-have you can add as you go.
So sort the big things, register the clothes you love, and let the rest find its way to you. And congratulations — it all goes faster than anyone warns you.