*Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. These are all items I used frequently and enjoyed as a new mom! If you use these links, I make a small commission from your purchase at no cost to you.
During my pregnancy for my firstborn, I was so excited to put together a baby registry for everything my baby would need. I scoured Reddit threads and TikTok videos to learn best product recommendations, so that I could be ready for when my baby arrived. I found that the best way to learn what I truly needed and what works best is to learn from those who had done it themselves recently. And sure enough, the recommendations I got from close mom friends and family were the ones I rarely saw on social media posts or recommendation lists. So here are my favorite baby registry items that I use regularly for my baby even today 9 months later.
Although this product was not on our baby registry itself, it was a great alternative to a product that was – Miss Mouth’s Messy Stain Treater. Our baby was unfortunately blessed with the gift of producing frequent blowouts – and I mean frequent. There was a point where I was going through 4+ onesies a day since the morning bouncer session would induce an explosive blowout. As much as I wanted to use the cute stain remover spray, baby messes just required something more heavy duty. This stain removing spray never let me down. From blowouts to solid food messes, it has always kept my baby’s clothes looking clean and fresh.
Whenever something stains my baby’s clothes, I spray a generous amount and let it sit for a couple hours before washing with the rest of the load. Despite my baby’s frequent blowouts and messy solid sessions, one bottle of this (only ~$3!) usually lasts us around 2-3 months, which is a great value. Highly recommend.
Now, I know this is one of those items that frequently tops must-have baby items lists. As much as I didn’t want to put something too obvious on my list, I do honestly use this everyday. I, too, thought paying almost $100 for a machine to play sounds that I could easily play on my phone was silly, but I found that using the Hatch is preferred to a phone for several reasons. 1) It plays no other noises (I learned that the hard way when my phone went off while playing brown noise and woke my baby from a much-needed nap). 2) It allows you to actually use your phone for other things while contact napping. 3) It can be remotely controlled from your phone if baby is sleeping in another room.
The new Hatch Baby Sound Machine has a new cute design but mostly similar features to the Hatch Rest+. I would note that it doesn’t have a backup battery and needs to be plugged in, so it loses some points in portability. Overall, I would recommend getting a Hatch! It’s super functional even without the subscription and became an everyday must-have item in our baby’s nap and sleep routines.
As a first-time mom, cribs feel like the place to splurge with all the cute cribs marketed on social media that cost over $500. After doing some research, I found a brand named daVinci that sells cribs with similar designs as some of the more expensive brands but at a much more affordable price point. I got the Hunter crib in the shade Honey, but daVinci has many different designs and colors at different price points, so you can find one that works for you.
After using this crib for months, I can say it is well-built, sturdy, and looks simple and clean in the nursery, which is all we really need from a crib.
4. Sleep Sacks
Sleep sacks are essentially wearable blankets for little ones, as loose blankets are not recommended for safe sleep by the American Academy of Pediatrics. As a resident of a year-round warm climate, sleep sacks are less used for warmth but more as a signal of nap or bedtime. Starting from a young age, a nap or bedtime routine always ended with putting baby in the sleep sack. After consistently doing this, the act of putting on the sleep sack always induced sleepy yawns and eye-rubbing from our baby. I would recommend checking the TOG (thermal overall grade) of the sleep sacks on the market and find what would be good for the temperature of your home.
This is a must! I use this at every diaper change. We never had a separate changing table but simply stored this diaper changing pad with the rest of her diapers and wipes. When we needed to change diapers, we laid this out on the bed, the floor, the couch, anywhere really, and it protected the surface from any messes that came from the diaper change. These are easily cleanable and make diaper changes so easy wherever without having a separate diaper changing station. I like to pack one in our diaper bag as well for any diaper changes outside the house and find it very useful to protect baby from any dirty changing stations.
After some stinky encounters with kitchen trash cans that were used to throw diapers away, I knew I wanted some type of trash solution for our baby’s diapers that would trap in the smell without being too expensive. We decided on the Munchkin diaper pail, despite it being less popular than the Diaper Genie or the Ubbi, but I’m so glad we did! We usually change baby’s diapers in our room, so we keep the diaper pail in our room, and I have never been bothered by any sort of unpleasant scent. This diaper pail has a function that essentially spins the top of the trash bag to trap in the scent whenever it is closed.
The only downside of this product is that the refill bags that come with it are quite expensive if using everyday. I was able to figure out a way to use the regular trash bags we buy from Costco in this trash can, and it still works well to trap in the odor!
These are some of the baby items I use everyday. I hope this list is helpful to you as you prepare for your baby’s arrival or as you search for some products that are solutions to your everyday baby problems. There are times when preparing and purchasing baby items feels like “the end” where you need to get the best, most expensive products to feel like they will work. At the end of the day, all these are tools to help you – to clean better so you have more time to enjoy time with your baby, for your baby to sleep better so he/she is healthy and happy… So, I hope these tools can clear at least one problem off your list of things, so you can better enjoy your time with your little one.