How to Register for Baby

First off, CONGRATULATIONS!

If you are reading this then I'm assuming you are expecting which deserves a big fat CONGRATS!

Life can seem pretty overwhelming and exciting right now.

I'm so excited that Kaitlyn decided to host such a wonderful series.   So if this is your first or 5th child, hopefully you can find some new advice along the way.  I have a 2 and half year old and another one on the way.  So although I'm no pro, I did make quite a few mistakes my first go round so I feel like I should share.

Let's get down to business now, shall we.

Registering!  What the heck do you need?  

I remember when my husband and I registered for our first, we were completely clueless.

So hopefully you can learn from our mistakes.

Pick at least 3 places to register.

Think, high end, middle of the road and low end.

I registered at Pottery Barn (high), Babies R Us (middle) and Target (low end)

The majority of the stuff I needed came from Target and Babies R Us... but there were a few special high end items that I registered for at Pottery Barn that a lot of the hostess' gifts came from.

DO NOT register for clothes

People LOVE, I repeat, LOVE giving baby clothes so there is no need to register for this.  I'm not talking cute shoes and outfits, I'm also talking onsies, socks, bibs, etc.   I know it may seem tempting to go straight there because it's easy to pick and choose and let's face it, they are all so dang cute.  But this is honestly a waste of time.  People will load you up with more clothes than you can imagine.

Outside of crib bedding, don't register for blankets

I love blankets!  So naturally I figured my child would.  

Which she does, but she has 2 huge drawers full of blankets.  Both receiving and fluffy blankets.

And we have honestly only used half of them.  I loved registering and getting baby blankets and I refused to take any of them back so now I have a million.

Blankets are right up there with clothes, people love giving them so don't bother.

Now that I have covered the Don'ts of registering... here are the Do's.

The following items are a must:

Stroller, Baby Swing, Baby Wrap/Carrier, Bobby Pillow, Crib Bedding and now for a the controversial one.... a breast pump.

I personally did not register for this.  I was to embarrassed to put this on a registry, but this is a definite must have for a breast feeding mom.

Now you might be a stay at home mom and not need to pump much.  But if you ever plan on letting your husband feed your child, or leaving your baby with a grandparent so you and the hubs can go to  dinner alone, then you must invest in a breast pump.

Manual, hand held pumps are a pain in the butt, but they are cheap and get the job done.

But if you plan on pumping more than twice, I'd go ahead and get yourself an electric one.

Now here is a trick.... Buy a pump from a mommy who is done having kids.  Now before you freak out and tell me how gross it is.  Keep in mind that you can buy and replace all of the parts.  So really all you are purchasing is the actual plug in pump bag.  Everything else you can buy brand new for around $30.00

So now it's up to you.  Put it on your registry or not.  But please buy yourself one of these bad boys.

It will make your life much much easier.

Well there you go.  My tips on registering.  You will get lots of things you don't need, so make one big trip and return everything you don't need and buy stuff you do.  And enjoy all the hand made sweet things everyone makes for you.  No it might not be practical, but it is very sweet and thoughtful and make with love for your little bundle of joy.