List of Must-Have Baby Items!

I know so many people who are having a baby this spring and summer! To help you as you create a registry and shop, I'm listing 28 must-have baby items, and a few must-have household items. This list comes out of my experience of trying to live as simple as possible.

These must-have items are listed with the most important and useful items first.

1. Crib
2. Firm mattress
3. Water-proof pad for the mattress
4. 2 crib sheets
5. Changing pad
6. Car seat/base
7. Porter crib (no need to buy a special sheet; a regular crib sheet will fit just fine). The porter crib can double as a bassinet if you get one with the bassinet attachment.
8. Diapers/wipes (I love my bum genius diapers, which were purchased new with Katie. Chloe is now getting a good use out of them! However, it was nice to have disposibles with both girls. Katie used disposibles for about 5 months until her thighs were big enough to fill out the fuzzi bunz. Chloe used disposibles for 4 weeks or so--mostly for giving me a "break" from all the laundry. And yes, her thighs grew more quickly than Katie's.)
9. Stroller
10. Bottles
11. Bottle nipples (all stages). When I was pregnant with Katie, I just registered for stage 1 nipples. And then I learned about stage 2 (after 3 months) and stage 3 (after 6 months of age).
12. Bibs with snaps (they will last a lot longer than bibs with velcro). Make sure the bibs have a plastic backing).
13. Rubber bibs. We bought Tommee Tippee bibs about 6 months ago. They cost a bit more, but they are much more durable that the JJ Cole or other brand.
14. Bottle warmer - espeicially impt if you're breastfeeding and pumping.
15. Spoons (keep an extra spoon in the car for those outings)
16. Washable breast pads
17. Thick cloth changing pads (These can be a portable place to change a diaper and are good to cover the mattress sheet when potty training or if vomiting).
18. Covertible booster chair with tray
19. 2 Sleep Sacks, age 12 month.
20. Footed sleepers and onsies. I would recommend having at least 6 of each. In fact, I think we only had 6 sleepers from age newborn-5 months, and this worked out just fine!
21. Breastmilk storage bags (I have found Gerber to be the best. It's the most cost-effective, and the bags hold 6 ounces. Landisol and Medela bags only measure 5 ounces.
22. Diaper bag/large purse
23. A stash of motrin and orajel...you never know when you're going to need it at 3am!
24. Ear therometer
25. Winter hat with strap that goes under the chin
26. Fleece winter suit (Suits with down in them tend to be too bulky and makes it difficult to manage the carseat straps).
27. Breast pump and accessories (if you have a friend who is not using her accessories, I would recommend to borrow her horns and bottles. This way, there's less dish-washing for you!).
28. Baby clothes hangers. I started with 20, and that was enough. Of course, we got more as Katie grew, but most new outfits came with hangers.

Other Useful Household Items*Single disinfectant wipes for your diaper bag
*Coupon caddy
*A good blender for puree-ing baby food
*Baby food jars/pastic containers (buy once and keep to store your pureed baby food).
*Hanging rack to dry outer layer of cloth diapers
*Room heater (While it may be comfortable for me to sleep in 60 degrees, I think Chloe would wake up 2 or three times a night! I keep her room at 70 degrees).
*Fan/white noise. I think the fan is especially important when you have a baby and a toddler. There's no need for the baby's 3am screams to wake the toddler, now is there??
*Darkening shades for baby's room. Who doesn't sleep better in the dark?

Things I would forget if I had to do it over:* Socks - size 6 month and younger. Our kids would never keep them on! Besides, I'm a huge fan of the footed sleepers.
* Rubber pad that sticks on restaurant tables. I just ask our waitress to wipe the table in front of me, OR I use one of my portable wet-wipes.
* Shopping cart cover. Actually, I've never bought one of these. I use the wipes from the store OR one of my disposble wet wipes.
* Knitted hats. Really, these don't stay on well.
* Boppy and slip cover. I thought I would LOVE my boppy, but I've found that stackable pillows work much better because you can increase or decrease the number of pillows you use. I think a boppy would work best if you want to nurse while sitting Indian-style or if you have really big boobs.
* Matching bedding packages (moblie, valences, crib bumper, diaper stash-thing). While these are REALLY cute in the store, and while we did purchase one, I chalk it up to a waste of money. We never used the diaper-stash thing because we could only hang it in the closet. That was too far from the changing table! The valences did nothing to keep the room dark for sleeping. The moblie broke once baby could stand up and grab; the crib bumper was useful. However, I would just buy seperately from the package.