New Baby Checklists

When Olivia was born, Erin and I set out on the daunting task to accumulate all of the items good parents need to have on hand to give baby a proper welcome. Well, left to our own imaginations, the list grew to enormous proportions. It seemed overwhelming when we tried to envision the amount of stuff we would have to buy.

Of course, there were a lot of folks that wanted to pitch in and purchase things as gifts for us. But, half of them wanted to tell US what we needed and the other half wanted us to tell THEM what we needed. We were confused. Where to start?

Well, I decided to see what resources the internet could provide and found that there were many suggested checklists to be found. Some of the better ones are referenced below. We have listed them in the order in which we ranked them. Our favorite down to our least favorite.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/new-baby-basics-1105/overview/index.htm

http://www.expectantmothersguide.com/library/EUSnursery.htm

http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/essential-baby-products-basics-twomonths.htm

http://www.dadstheword.com/baby-checklist.htm

http://www.uhealthy.com/baby-kids/baby-checklist.htm

Do you know of a good checklist that can be found on the web? Do you have items in mind that should be on "everyone's" checklist? Feel free to share it by posting a comment.

We can’t vouch for the other content on the sites. Some of them are definitely aimed at telling you what items you need, and then providing you with a convenient means to purchase their products to fill those needs. There are many other lists out there. But, we found these lists to be basically in line with what we found we actually needed during our first month or two after taking Olivia home.

Things you might be able to nix from these lists:

* Bottle warmers (hot tap water works as well without the risk of “hot spots”)
* Any bottles that say they are easier for baby to hold. These things are impossible to clean.
* Too many outfits for the 0-3 month size. They outgrow them faster than you can change them. It makes you feel guilty when you aren't able to show off all of the outfits. And please don't make a habit of dressing your baby in ill fitting outfits just because they are cute or new.

Things that few lists include, but we think are essential:

* A baby cabana (or equivalent) These little tents allow you to continue enjoying outdoor activities without worrying so much about bugs, sun exposure, etc. - See our review here
* A baby carrier or sling carrier. You will want to keep baby close and secure without wearing yourself out. - Find out about "baby wearing" here

One final note, do use a registry. The very idea of a registry seemed pretentious to me at first. But, as we talked about it, it began to make more and more sense. When registries are created using realistic expectations and good planning they make things easier for everyone invloved. Tips on creating an effective registry in an upcoming post...