5 Tips for Curating Your Baby Registry

To say there is a lot of baby gear on the market is an understatement. It’s an absurd amount. Walking through Buy Buy Baby actually gave me anxiety when I went in to work on my registry. As a first time mom, trying to figure out what you really need can feel like such a daunting task and cause unnecessary stress. Where do you even start?! And, before you know it, friends and family are asking where you’re registered because they’re just SO excited to shower your little nugget with lots of love. I learned the hard way – I would just add stuff to my list so I wouldn’t forget (pregnancy brain was real!) with intentions of going back and editing down later. I figured no one was searching for my registry before baby shower invites went out, right? WRONG! While I am so thankful that we have such generous relatives, we ended up with a LOT of stuff we did not need and were not necessarily easy or possible to return.

There is so much tension in our world right now and, while I cannot take that away, I CAN help ease a new mama’s anxiety by making the overwhelming baby gear market more manageable. Control what you can control, right? So today I am sharing 5 tips for curating your baby registry or creating a baby gear shopping list. I also have a TOTALLY FREE breastfeeding gear printable guide to give you too! Details at the end of this post. 

1. Narrow down your choices by CATEGORY. Do your research and product comparisons one category at a time. Each category has SO many options –don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to dive into them all at one time. For example, research strollers one day, car seats another day, feeding gear on another day, and so on. Just do it in chunks to make it more organized and manageable.
   
   
2. Decide what FEATURES are most important to you. There is a TON of quality baby gear on the market, but you need to decide what features you deem to be a requirement. This helps narrow down your search so you don’t get distracted by all the other shiny gear that is trying to call your name, but won’t actually meet your needs. For example, when I was stroller shopping, I knew I wanted a stroller that could convert to a double stroller because we are planning to have kids relatively close together. I didn’t want to get a single only stroller, just to buy a double stroller shortly down the line. This cut my search down INSTANTLY! In a blink of an eye, I was deciding between only TWO strollers: The UPPABaby Vista and the Nuna DEMI Grow. I ultimately decided on the Vista due to the basket size and configurations when turning it into a double stroller, which were some secondary factors that were important to me.

3. Cut out the NOISE. Moms LOVE giving recommendations to their soon-to-be mom friends and family...or strangers they meet at the grocery store (I swear…this happened to me). But this can be both a blessing and a curse! It can make shopping for baby gear even more confusing when you’re hearing that basically everything on the market is amazing and you need to get that one that THEY have, or that the one thing you have your heart set on was awful for someone else. While I’m in no way telling you to ignore advice from your loved ones, find a couple mom friends who you really trust and tune in to THEIR advice on baby gear. These friends should share similar likes, dislikes, lifestyle, etc. as you. When evaluating your baby gear choices, these are the couple of friends who you can bounce ideas off of, ask questions, and really value their opinion and feedback. There is no better review than the review of someone you absolutely trust. Tune out all the rest and really listen to what these select few in your life have to say.

4. If you are registering, use ONE registry. I started off with registries on Amazon, Buy Buy Baby, AND Babylist. Don’t ask me why, since you can add ANY and EVERYTHING onto Babylist! I was nervous about using Babylist exclusively for some reason, but having 3 registries was so much to manage and it got really confusing. Eventually, I tried to streamline everything onto Babylist and make my other registries private to make it easier on myself – and it was a game changer. I wish I had just done that from the start. Babylist is awesome because it is a one stop shop for any and everything – you can add ANY item from ANY website to your Babylist registry! This means you are not limited to what one store has to offer – you can really curate your registry to EXACTLY what you want and need.

5. Use the HIGH/LOW METHOD. This is how I shop for my wardrobe and it absolutely applies to baby gear as well. There are certain pieces that will have longevity that I invest in for my closet (a great leather jacket or pair of boots, for example). Then there are other fashion pieces that are trendy and probably only relevant for a season or two. I tend to go the more affordable route for those fashion pieces and create an outfit with that high/low method. The same applies to baby gear. There are a few pieces that you may want to invest in and spend a little more because you want them to have longevity, such as your stroller, car seat, and baby carrier. There are other things that baby won’t use for very long, such as newborn sized clothing and swaddles, so go the more affordable route for those!

Okay, now you are equipped with all the tools you need to curate the perfect baby registry STRESS FREE! If you want to take it a step further, I have a TOTALLY FREE breastfeeding gear printable guide just for you! It takes the guesswork out of the world of breastfeeding gear and tells you the EXACT products you actually need! I registered for so many breastfeeding products that I did NOT need and DIDN’T register for things I actually DID need. You don’t need a lot of stuff – you just need the right stuff to make your breastfeeding journey as easy and enjoyable as possible. Products featured in this guide are not endorsed –these are actual products that I have loved and other breastfeeding mamas I know have loved! CLICK HERE to get this FREE guide directly in your inbox!