If I could Redo my baby registry

I had a TON of baby showers before Mr.Bennett was born.  I was absolutely overwhelmed by the number of amazing gifts I was given and I am forever appreciative of all of the love and support we got at such an exciting time in our life...

But I had NO idea what to ask for, and since I had no idea what to ask for, my registry ended up with like a million products, and half of them were not even useful!

I had been working with infants for the year before I got pregnant, and while I was pregnant. So I thought I had it all figured out!!
I knew which kind of diapers I preferred (Huggies,  and still do!) I knew which bottles I liked best, I knew that I wanted him to use a pacifier, and what diaper rash cream I preferred,
but once I actually got into motherhood my opinion on these changed DRASTICALLY!
hello! I LOVED feeding babies with Dr. Brown bottles, but thats when I wasn't the one washing all 500 parts that it has!


so here are the products we asked for, and the products we SHOULD have asked for! I will also add the products we did get that we LOVE and couldn't live without!


What We Asked For:

 We got one of these carriers, it wasn't this one exactly, but I believe it was something like $20 and honestly it worked, (I know it doesn't hold their legs in the best position ever, but I honestly didn't wear him in a carrier all that often, mostly just for shopping and such) it was fine, nothing special, but my son grew FAST, and by the time he was 5 months old, he couldn't fit in there, and honestly, by the time he weighed about 15 lbs my back would hurt SO bad wearing this thing! The cheap carriers do not keep mom in mind when they make them! maybe its just me, maybe I need to work on my back strength, but after about 5 months we ended up buying an ergo, and have NEVER looked back!

What We SHOULD Have Gotten:

WE LOVE OUR ERGO! My chunky man can sit in there all day totally comfortable, and its comfortable for me too! plus how cute are the little whales?! yes it did cost us something like $120 but its worth every single penny! We use it to travel, shop, WORKOUT, everything! he is so much more secure in it, plus it has the waist strap to give extra support to me! I also love the hood, because Bennett usually can't fall asleep if there is a whole lot of activity going on, but toss that hood up and he will fall right to sleep! the shoulder straps are amazing (although they can get kind of toasty, its still worth it!) they are so thick and comfortable, and its super easy to adjust so Eric and I can switch between us super fast!



What We Asked For:
swaddling blankets, If you have read/watched Happiest baby on the block (WHICH YOU SHOULD!) you know how important swaddling is to a happy baby, that being said, I packed my list full of blankets, but babies are good at getting out of those blankets, no matter how well you swaddle them!!

What We Should Have Gotten:

AMAZING! they come in just about every color and design under the sun, and they adjust for a growing baby (although they do have a few sizes too) Bennett lived in these for the first few weeks/months! and I give them 100% credit for why he was such an amazingly easy baby!

he absolutely loved his SwaddleMe

What We Asked For:

  

Don't get me wrong, I actually absolutely love Dr. Brown Bottles, They are excellent for babies who spit up or have a lot of gas, colic, and I honestly say have a couple, I always use these bottles at night, when I really don't want him having bubbles in his belly, or spitting up, but these are an absolute pain in the ass to wash (excuse my language, but its ridiculous ABSOLUTELY ridiculous!)  no only do you have to wash like a million bottles with a newborn (they eat every 2-3 hours!) but you have the bottle, the nipple, the ring, the little vent thing and the straw!!! the vent and the straw have little nooks and crannies to get into! Its just a mess, I ended up throwing half of them away, because id put off washing the bottles so long, that the milk would start to get nasty (sorry thats gross, but I had a new baby, I did not have time for all that!)

What We SHOULD have got:

medela is a very basic bottle, as basic as they come (no venting!) and so with that, you have to sort of, remove the nipple from babies mouth, every so often to let the air back in (imagine drinking out of a water bottle, how it crushes in as you drink the water, well these don't crush in, so eventually the nipple like collapses) however, these are too easy to wash! they are nice and little (especially at first, when they are only drinking an oz or two, to wash an 8 oz bottle just drives me nuts) these are also awesome if you have a Medela, pump, these are great for pumping right into, storing the milk in the fridge, and then just sticking a nipple on and it being a bottle!

We did pick a couple products that we absolutely love! and so you have to put these on your list! They are, in my opinion the best products at the best price!

PUT THESE ON YOUR LIST:

So I actually got the "snugapuppy" instead of the bunny (they are the EXACT same thing, just the animal is different)  but I guess amazon is not selling the puppy right now (although the puppy is way cuter) we LOVED this product! It can swing side to side (which babies love way way more than front to back) and it has different songs, and you can adjust the volume, you can also adjust the speed of the swing! and it actually doesn't take up that much space (we live in a shoebox and found enough space for it!)  The seat of the swing also adjusts, from laying back to more of a sitting up position! just all around a great product!

I thought this was one of those stupid products, that you would only use for like a week, and never use it again, but I have to say we LOVED our bumbo (Bennett did sit up at 3 months on his own, so it really did feel like we only used it a week or two, but they were blissful weeks!) I am fairly certain this product is part of the reason Bennett did learn to sit up so early (although there is no actually study that shows that to be true) I think it gave him the motivation to learn! You can also use the Bumbo as a bath seat BRILLIANT! and they have tray tables you can add too! We also loved it because Bennett hated tummy time, but was starting to get a flat head, and although tummy time is important, and we still pushed him into having it, this gave him even more time off of his head!

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our travel system! I love having a jogger, even if we never actually go jogging, it just feels like a smoother ride! it also has a little spot for your cellphone, as well as an obvious cup holder! the bottom basket is huge! which is a great plus and I love that the carseat just clicks right in there! All of the smaller strollers we have tried out, felt like the handle was kind of low? and im short, so im not sure why this is, but this handle is at the perfect height!  We did eventually get a smaller stroller, for quick trips and what not, but if you plan to actually go out side with the stroller (even as little as walks) this is a wonderful stroller! also when we first had Bennett, we had a small call, the stroller did fit into the trunk, but even if you car is even smaller, the front wheel comes off and so does the tray to make it even more compact! this is not to say its not a big stroller, it is, but thats what makes it great! we also love the carseat, I mean a car seat is a car seat, it keeps him safe, it does make him kind of sweaty?? and I saw other people had the same issue, but he doesn't seem to mind it one bit!

This was HANDS DOWN the best product I decided to buy! I exclusively pumped for about 5 months, but I also had a chronically low supply, so I was hooked up to my pump for 8+ HOURS a day! this was such an amazing product, I had tried a couple other pumping bras, but the little holes for the pump would get stretched out, and one of them the zipper broke right away, this bra is AMAZING it totally adjust to anyone, and even adjusts to how close, or far away, your girls sit from each other! This was the best best best product ever, so if you plan to pump, even just occasionally, GET THIS BRA!

Is there any products you would add to this list?? anything you couldn't have survived without? anything you got, that you didn't need?