Baby Registry Items to Bypass

My son is now 20 months old. I'm past that baby stage and onto toddler hood. When I was registering for my son ( who is my only child as of now, so therefor, my first), I followed the advice of the few Mom friends I had at that time, and also the advice of Babies R Us, the store that I registered at. Now, I love Babies R Us. Even though my son has basically outgrown the store, I still enjoy browsing around at all the adorable clothes and baby products. That being said, there is so much to choose from when you are going to be a new Mom. Where do you start? What do you get and what is not needed?

Now it's my younger sister's turn. She is pregnant with her first, and I recently took her to Babies R Us to help her with her registry and I found myself saying things such as "this was wonderful," or "you need to get this!" But I also found myself saying "you really don't need that," a lot. Here are some of the items that we can live without:

Plush and expensive baby blankets.
I got a few expensive baby blankets at my baby shower and they were beautiful! I would lay them down on the floor and allow my son to have his tummy time, spreading out some toys for him to try and reach. And then...splat! He'd spit up. There goes that expensive baby blanket...down the laundry shoot again. By the time his spitting days were over, the blankets would be a bit frayed and some of them would even have a stain or two, no matter how quickly I got it in the laundry (and when you're a new Mom, you know it's hard to get those clothes immediately into the laundry at times!). I found myself keeping a few of the blankets on shelves in his closet so I wouldn't ruin them, and taking out the blankets I got for a dolor or two. They worked just as well and I didn't cringe when my son would spit up on them, yet once again.

Expensive baby clothes.
Of course you have to have a few absolutely adorable outfits to show your baby off in, but for the same reason as above, I kept the expensive outfits to a minimum. Not only was there spit-it to worry about, but babies outgrow their clothes entirely too quickly. I still have clothes that have tags on them!

A highchair.
When I was pregnant, a girlfriend of mine swore up and down that her highchair was the best purchase she could have made. I just wonder why. You shouldn't place your child in a highchair until they are able to sit by themselves unsupported which tends to happen sometime around six months. By the time I would have placed my son in a highchair, he would have had the trunk stability to sit by himself in a booster seat as well. So that's what we did. We began with the Bumbo (a product that has been recalled, but that I absolutely LOVED!). We would place him here and feed him some solid foods when we were not at home. When we were at home, we would place him in a chair that actually had two bars protruding out that attached to the table itself. He was high enough that he could reach anything he needed and close enough to the table as well. It also had a seat belt, so we knew he was safe. Once he outgrew this chair, we placed him in a regular booster chair of sorts. A chair that strapped to the adult table chair and had a tray of it's own. At first we used the tray, but we soon learned that pushing his chair up closer to the table resulted in his eating right there with us...even at a young age. Goodbye bulky highchair! Hello little safe booster chair that you couldn't even see when the chair was pushed under the table. Definitely the alternative for us...cheaper (cost us less than $20!), less bulky, safe. We'll use it with our next baby, too. To eat, to paint, to play play dough, to color, etc. Any table activity. It's the way to go.

Jumperoo.
I've had Mom's who have sworn that this was also an amazing product to have, that their children loved it. If you want a jumperoo, then go for it! Working in early intervention, though, I've learned that they are not the best for gross motor development. Children tend to jump on the balls of their feet, when really, then should be flat-footed as best they can. When jumping so much on the balls of their feet, they develop those muscles and in turn, make it harder for them to use the muscles that are needed to be flat-footed that help you learn to stand, walk, etc. Exersaucers have the same issue. Did I place my son in an exersacuer? You better believe it! I needed my shower and this is how I got it! I'd place him in his exersaucer in the bathroom with me and ahhhhh....a splash of hot water down my back! My moment's peace! Until I would open the shower curtain to make sure he was okay, that is! The key to this is moderation. If in an exersaucer, make sure your child's feet are flat, place the setting down low enough that they can bend their knees. And use it only a few times throughout your day, and not as a babysitter. Jumperoos look like they can be a whole lot of fun, but my son did well without one. The floor is the best place for your child to be, helping them to learn how to use their muscles.

A bassinet.
If you're going to have your child sleep in your room with you, I'd most definitely recommend a co-sleeper instead of a bassinet. It's got the same idea as you can have your baby closer to you, but it's so much more practical. A co-sleeper rests on the side of your bed and has belts that extend under and to the opposite end of the bed to clasp on for safety. That way you can't move the co-sleeper. It's secured to the edge of your bed, and closer to you. When my son would wake for a feeding, I'd roll over and could easily pick him up, without even having to sit up. With a bassinet, you'd have to reach over the side to pick your child up (okay, this is staring to make me sound lazy...but anyone who knows true sleep deprivation understands me here!). The co-sleeper also folds up very much like a pack-and-play would, so it's compact and portable if you need it to be.

A bottle sterilizer.
I breastfed my son, but would often use bottles, not only for my husband to feed our baby, but also once he started daycare part-time. I bought a bottle sterilizer but very soon found it up on the top of a shelf. There it would stay until we packed it away. If I really wanted to sterilize my bottles, I would place them in boiling water. Setting up the sterilizer, etc. just proved to be more of a pain than anything else. It didn't seem to make things easier...just proved to add to my workload as a new Mom.

I'm sure every Mom who is out of the baby stage has their own list of must-have's and have-not's. For anyone expecting a child, I first want to congratulate you! I hope this list can help.