I can’t believe I’m in my third trimester with four weeks to go until our little one makes his arrival! Pregnancy has been all sorts of exciting, and honestly a little stressful at times too. The first time I walked into a buybuy BABY, I walked right out. The floor to ceiling bays of baby gear and toys was just too overwhelming to wrap my mind around. I couldn’t imagine registering in a store like that! I will say that I do love buybuy BABY (hello great coupons and free shipping). But when it comes to registering, I’m an online kind of gal.

I was so excited to stumble upon Babylist, an online baby registry that allows you to put anything onto your registry from any store! This reminded me of our wedding registry, Blueprint Registry, which I loved. It allows your friends and family members to shop around for the best prices, order gifts online and even ship them right to your house.

Now that we have had our two baby showers, hosted by sweet friends and family members, I’m excited to share my top baby registry tips with you below!

Photo: Horn Photography and Design

8 Baby Registry Tips

• If you’re in nesting mode and want to buy some things off your baby registry yourself, great! Make sure they are things that you’ll keep as you’ll likely miss your return window. Think you might be a little indecisive about the item or it might not work out for you? Try to wait until a month or so before your baby arrives. That way, you have time to take it back if you need to.
• Know that some things flat out aren’t going to work for your baby. Especially when it comes to sleeping. Some babies love the DockATot, some babies love their crib from the start, some babies love the Rock ‘n Play. Just know that your baby’s preferences are going to vary and he or she may not love every single thing. No matter how many moms swear by the item!
• When it comes to looking into reviews online for certain products, focus on the negative reviews over the positive reviews. Sometimes people aren’t complaining about the product itself. It’s often an issue with the seller, customer service or some other issue with the company. Considering something that has some bad reviews? Read them thoroughly to see if they are valid and would sway your decision.
• Refrain from putting too many baby clothes on your baby registry. That will be something that people will get you no matter if you’ve registered for it or not because it’s the most fun thing shop for and baby clothes are so cute! Save your baby registry for more practical items that would be extremely useful. You can always load up on clothes at any time, but might not always have the extra cash to purchase that baby monitor or bassinet.
• Have your showers planned strategically so that you’re not waiting until the very last minute to finish purchasing the things on your baby registry that you might not have gotten from your baby shower(s).
• Have fun with it! Along with the items that are listed as necessities, also include a couple fun things on your baby registry for your baby and for yourself. I made the mistake of being to minimalistic when it came to our wedding registry. And now looking back, I wish I would’ve registered for some of the more fun things that I thought at the time we didn’t need.
• Add the option for gift cards. Just in case somebody doesn’t feel like there is anything on your baby registry that they can get you.
• Try to think about your growing family’s needs rather than just the needs of this baby if you are planning on having multiple children. For example, you might want to invest in a stroller that will eventually accommodate two children so that you don’t have to invest in another pricey stroller just a year or two later. This is also true when it comes to getting some more gender-neutral items that could potential he be a fit for future children as well as your soon-to-be baby.

Do you have any baby registry tips to share? I’d love to read them in the comments! Explore more Mom Life posts here.