Shopping
Baby registry: what gets used, and what sits in a cupboard
Standard lists run to forty items. The first weeks need about ten. The rest is optional, and nobody tells you.
Paul · August 10, 2026 · 5 min read
Nobody has an incentive to tell you to buy less. That is why registry lists are so long.
Here is the honest version, written by people who sell nothing.
What genuinely gets used, from day one
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Six to eight newborn bodysuits, not fifteen
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The same number of sleepsuits, opening at the front or side
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A safe place to sleep, with a firm, correctly sized mattress
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A car seat suitable from birth
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Somewhere to change them, at a height that spares your back
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A few muslins, which turn out to be for everything
Honestly optional
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The bottle warmer, unless you want it
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The dedicated baby bath, a sink usually does
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The musical mobile, which they will not look at for weeks
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The steriliser, absent a specific reason
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The second pushchair, before wearing out the first
A baby does not need forty sleepsuits. The shorter the list, the more useful it is to people who want to buy you something.
One size up
Get a few pieces in the next size, not only newborn. Some babies never fit newborn at all, and finding that out at the hospital is not the moment.