What Would I Have Changed on My Baby Registry?

When you find out you are expecting your first baby, you are filled with so many emotions and thoughts. You start to plan everything out from the nursery to your birth plan, but along the way you have a big job to complete and that is…your BABY REGISTRY!

Do you remember how you felt when it was time to complete your baby registry?

If you are a first time mom, how do you feel knowing you have a big task heading your way?

I still remember the day we created our baby registry and I am excited to partner with Pampers for this blog post, to take a trip down memory lane and share with you some of the changes I would have made to our baby registry. I remember feeling so excited thinking about our baby registry and all of the amazing baby items I was going to add-on.

We picked a day for Dan and I to go out and complete our registry at Babies R Us and I think it was about 2 or 3 days before, I realized I had no idea what to add to our registry. Instantly I felt so unprepared and overwhelmed! I didn’t know which items were essential items and a must have on the list and items that would be more of a luxury item. How do you pick the right bottle? What kind of lotions would your baby like? How do you know which breast pump would work best for you? Is there a pacifier that’s best for babies? Do you add diapers to your registry and if so, what size diapers do you select? I had so many questions and so little time to research. I tried to do as much research as I could in those 2 to 3 days, with comparing different brands for many of the items and in the end when I wasn’t sure I selected multiple brands for the same product.

I always wondered if I was the only one who felt that way because when I saw other couples scanning their items they seemed like they knew exactly what they were doing. But after Pampers recently completed a survey, they found that more than half (56%)of moms who created a registry felt it was more overwhelming than they expected. After reading this, it makes me feel better knowing I am not alone and there are other moms out there who have the same thoughts as me.

To make it a little more of a challenge, we decided to keep the gender of the baby a surprise until delivery, so we had to pick out all gender neutral items. There were a lot of gender neutral items to select, but I have to admit, it wasn’t as fun as it would have been to know the gender and have the ability to select specific items. One of my regrets with our baby registry was focusing on items such as clothing and blankets that we could have waited to get after Emily was born so we knew her gender and could buy accordingly.

It would have been smarter for us to keep those items off our registry and select more of the essential and practical items. At the time I didn’t think of it, but now looking back a few years later it would have made way more sense to do. If you are like me and feel you have some regrets with your registry, we are not the only ones. From the same survey from Pampers, 62% of moms have regrets about their baby registry – and of those who do, the top regret is that they didn’t register for enough practical items (47%). I would have never guessed the percentage was so high and it makes you wonder if they felt overwhelmed by the whole thing so it was easier to register for the basic items like clothing and blankets.

What would be a practical item though? I feel like that could change from person to person. A swing would be perfect for one person, but to someone else it would be unnecessary and the same could be with a bassinet or even rattles and pacifiers. One item that I know would be an essential item for parents and the baby would be diapers and wipes and you know they are going to be used everyday for the next few years.

When I think back to our registry, I believe we did add diapers and wipes on, but it was a small box of both and we said one of each. I don’t know why we didn’t think to include more diapers on our registry or even different sizes of diapers and it’s funny when you think about it because out of all the items we had registered for diapers and wipes were the two items we used the most. 

Another statistic from the Pampers survey shows just how common it is for moms to think they should have added more diapers. The survey found that 88% of moms wish they had included more diapers on their registry. This is such a high number and I think this comes from the experience after having the baby and realizing how big of an item diapers and wipes are for a baby. 

If I could go back and change some things with our registry they would be to hold off on registering for items such as clothing, bibs and blankets and to increase the amount of diapers we registered for. I know we would have needed clothing right away for Emily so adding on a few to our registry makes sense, but I would have only added on the basics to get us by until we found out Emily was a baby girl and we could go out and buy all the cute little outfits! I would have also started researching and comparing products way before we planned to go out and register all of our items, so I was more prepared and hopefully wouldn’t have felt so overwhelmed. 

I also wanted to share a great idea for those of you who know the struggle with diapers and are looking for a gift for someone that is both practical and useful. We talked about it in one of our last blog posts and that is the Amazon Subscribe and Save program. I won’t go into all the details, but it’s basically a monthly diaper subscription, where you set up your account and have diapers and wipes delivered to your door on the same day every month. This would be such a great gift for new parents or even parents with multiple children and you could have the subscription go as long as you want. 

There are so many baby items to consider when creating your baby registry. Although it may feel overwhelming, it is so exciting and a good chance to learn all about the items out there. It also means you are that much closer to meeting your new little baby!

I hope you found some useful information today and with the changes, I would have made to my registry. I would love to hear your experiences when you created your baby registry or your thoughts and feelings if you are creating one for the first time. Please share and leave a comment below!

Thank you again to Pampers for sponsoring this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own and we only work with and partner with companies we have used prior to being contacted.