Hey guys! This is a continuation of my post on baby registry must haves, you can find Part 1 here! This post is going to cover baby clothes and bigger baby gear you’ll need. My goal for baby is to not spend excessively but to have what we need to make life with baby a little easier and to get everything at the lowest cost we can!
We will start with baby clothes. I can’t tell you how many times I would be sorting baby # 1’s clothes only to discover he had things that he had never even worn… this stuff still had tags and he couldn’t fit into it anymore. So, we’ve definitely taken a minimalist approach to stocking up on clothes for # 2. I also have kept reminding myself that IF we discover that there are more things we need we can always pick them up later.
When it comes to size, this can be tricky, especially for a first baby. With your 2nd, you can usually go by how much your first baby weighed and 2nd babies are typically just a little bit larger. This isn’t always the case, so don’t be upset if you are totally off and baby comes out some random size that you weren’t expecting… each baby is different, but usually how large your first was can give you an idea of where to start. With # 1 we really shopped too big and a lot of his clothes were large on him for the first month or so (he was only 6 lbs. 8 oz.) and we really could have used a few more newborn items. My advice for this is… if you buy NB clothes and 3M clothes, the 3 month items will fit eventually if baby comes out smaller. If you are concerned about wasting money on newborn items, you can always hold onto receipts, but this way you really can’t pre-wash anything on the off chance that you might want to return it, which is a pain.
For me personally, I would buy about half of what’s recommended in newborn sizes and just do a little more laundry for the few weeks/month that baby wears that size… because it won’t be very long probably. Then, I would get the recommended amounts of everything in 3M to have, knowing that he will wear it all eventually even if not at first. Once you have newborn and 3 month clothes, you can also start stocking up on larger sizes if you’d like and your budget allows for it. Remember to consider what season you’ll be in and what the temperatures will be like for the larger sizes when your little one reaches that age.
To know how much to buy, I really love this infographic. (It’s a pin, so you can pin it for later!)
This recommends if you have access and can do laundry every other day you can purchase 7 onesies or rompers, 2 hats, 5 pairs of socks, and 4 sleepers or sleep gowns. These are the basics.
Then, if expecting a winter baby, add a winter coat, 2 pairs of slippers or shoes, 3 more pairs of socks, 2 sweaters, and 4 pairs of pants.
I think this is the perfect amount of basics to get you started. When it comes to WHERE to shop, I prefer Carter’s clothing for my kiddos over any other brand, and you can get Carter’s stuff cheaper at their outlet stores, and I’ve also found them at TJ Maxx and Kohl’s for great prices.
Okay, so that covers clothes.
For the nursery-
You are obviously going to need a place for baby to sleep. Bassinets and other things like that are totally optional and if the budget is tight, I would just go with a crib. We did this for baby # 1… his crib was in our room for the first 3 months and then we transitioned him to his room. The transition was easy because he was already used to the crib, which is a win! You’ll see a trend on this post that we love Graco items. I feel like they give you a great value for not as much money as some other brands, plus they’ve been around FOREVER.
We started with this crib for baby # 1- the Graco Freeport Convertible Crib
You will likely also want a dresser for your nursery, and I HIGHLY recommend finding one second hand because for some ungodly reason, nursery dressers are EXPENSIVE. For baby # 1 we took the media chest that came with our bedroom furniture and turned that into his dresser and for baby # 2 we are opting for one of these ClosetMaid Cube Organizers
Now, for a changing table. If you want one, by all means do get one, but we did not miss it with # 1 and do not plan to buy another for baby # 2.
However, there is one item we did not have with # 1 that we DID purchase for # 2 and it is this glider. I missed having one and knew I wanted one for this baby. I love this glider from Stork Craft
Next for your nursery you need bedding for baby! For bedding I love these sets from Circo at Target. They’re less expensive, they don’t include the bumper (a lot of places charge a lot for this item and they’re actually not safe). These sets also have matching mobiles available if you want one, but they’re totally not a necessity.
Now, I don’t believe in having NO bumper because little ones can easily get their limbs between those bars in the crib, so we opted for the BreathableBaby Mesh Crib Liner
I also recommend two waterproof crib pads for nights when baby’s diapers leak (two so you have one while one is washing) and about 3-4 spare crib sheets too. We also make a point to get 3-4 extra blankets for whatever- putting in the stroller, laying on the floor for baby to play on, etc… you can usually always find some cute ones that will match your bedding and TJ Maxx always seems to have some of these as well if you don’t care about matching.
Also, I know people LOVE swaddle blankets for newborns.. but I’ll be honest the BEST swaddle blankets we found were the couple we brought home from the hospital. 😉 I have not found anything comparable to buy so if anyone knows of anything please share!
Another non-necessity for us that a lot of people buy is a pack n play. We won’t be buying one right away for baby… it may come in handy this time since we will have big brother running around too in case I need to put baby in there to get things done, but with # 1 we rarely EVER used it and he actually hated staying in it.
Another great item for new babies (not new, new babies) but probably 1 month + is going to be an activity gym/playmat
Bigger toys such as walkers and bouncers won’t get much use until 6-7 months plus, so I don’t consider this a necessity at first, but they can be helpful later on. This same thing goes for a high chair. We are not in a hurry to purchase one this time around and will probably pick one up around 3 or 4 months for this baby.. whenever we get ready to start spoon feeding him cereal to start.
Okay, now we have some bigger gear that baby will need. Again we love our Graco products and have gone with a Graco stroller & car seat again this time around. We have our old stroller that is still just fine but we’re debating a double stroller and haven’t decided if we’re going to spring for that or not yet. We did buy a new car seat though because we sold our old one since we didn’t have anywhere to store it when we upgraded to the forward facing seat. We went with this seat from Graco- the SnugRide Click Connect 35 Infant Car Seat. Graco has a range of car seats priced anywhere from $100- $200 so there are some less expensive options available.
When shopping for a stroller, it’s going to depend on what brand car seat you go with. You want them to be compatible so you have a travel system, or you can buy a travel system that’s already put together!
Don’t forget an extra car seat base if you have 2 cars.
Okay, and finally for the fun stuff- we purchased both a swing & a bouncer for baby this go around. I will say this, we had a swing with baby # 1 that was low to the floor and I made sure to get one this time that sat higher up. Not only does this help right after delivery to keep you from all that bending down, but as baby gets heavier it will make things easier, too. We went with Fisher Price for these options. They have so many cute styles available, but we went with the Snugapuppy design for both our swing
Okay, and the LAST item that I can think of that would be on my necessities list would be a nursing pillow- whether you are nursing or not! They’re a great place for baby to lounge and great for tummy time, and they make bottle feeding easier and more comfortable, too. We used a Boppy for baby # 1 but I think this time around we’re going with the Leachco Cuddle-U Nursing Pillow
And that is it, ya’ll! All of the necessities that you’ll need for baby & to be sure you include on your registry. Do you have anything that you considered a must have for your little ones that I haven’t included? Please share in the comments!
This was truly helpful. Every other list I’ve seen included things that parents can honestly live without! This list is perfect, 10/10.