How to Build a Baby Registry, According to Parents Who Are Pediatricians
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WhenKurt Bjorkman, a pediatric cardiologist in Grand Rapids, Michigan, sat down with his wife, Sarah, an OB/GYN, to make their firstbaby registry, they had the same overwhelming feeling that parents without years of medical training and a deep understanding of children’s health typically face. “It was so easy to have decision fatigue and anxiety about if we were going to get all the right things,” Kurt recalls. But today he is a dad of three (ages newborn to 4), and between discussions with his patients and his own hands-on time at home, he has mastered the registry process. The small cadre of baby products he has both meet his and his wife’s exacting medical standards and suit their children’s various proclivities.
While speaking to him, I wished I’d had his input when I was building my own baby registry. I spent a lot of time picking out kitschy stuff (the “Grandpa Says I’m a Yankees Fan” onesiewas a must) and stylish nursery furniture (I loveNurture&’s The Glider), but selected many of the more boring baby things (like pacifiers, bottles, and diaper cream) somewhat haphazardly and omitted other essentials entirely.
Over the past few weeks, I called many more pediatrician parents and quickly discovered an untapped resource for registry wisdom. Each advised approaching your baby registry with an overarching philosophy — one suggested thinking of the registry in the same categories that doctors focus on during well visits (nutrition, elimination, sleep, safety, and the social structure of the family), and another said to keep one question top of mind:What will make life easier for you?
Here are 16 things you should add to the list no matter what.
Update on June 29, 2026
We made sure all of these items are still in stock and correctly priced.
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This diaper rash cream from Germany contains shea butter, lanolin cream, and zinc oxide, and Andrea McKennon, M.D., a pediatrician withNight Watch - Pediatric Urgentcarein Stone Ridge, Virginia, and mom of three, says it resolved her son’s diaper rash overnight. Her mother-in-law originally recommended it to her.
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While infrared forehead and ear thermometers are convenient and a rectal thermometer may sound scary to use, it’s still the best and most accurate way to measure a baby’s temperature, saysLaura Romano, D.O., a pediatric hospitalistat Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, who has two kids of her own. “A fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit is a medical emergency in newborns less than 2 months,” she says. “You do not want to be relying on bad data.”
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Register for any sort of nasal-suctioning kit “for the inevitable first cold” and pair it with a saline-solution spray to attract the mucus and drag it out, advisesDiane Arnaout, M.D., a pediatrician mom in Fort Worth, Texas, who is the author of the forthcomingHiccups: A Pediatrician Mom’s Guide to Surviving Your First Year of Parenthood. She says that electronic sets work well, eliminate the ick factor, and “help parents not get a ton of virus in their body.” Jennifer Peterson, M.D., a mom of three who works atBalance Pediatricsin Phoenix, says that when a baby has RSV, suctioning their nasal congestion can even help prevent hospitalization. “You will not believe how many babies I see in the hospital that improve with just a good suctioning,” she says. Don’t buy a “booger sucker” with a closed bulb, as it can be very difficult to clean.
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“Frankly, there is not much to do with a newborn,” says Allison Kuipers, M.D., a pediatrician withBluebird Kids Healthin West Palm Beach, Florida. An exception, she says, is flipping through black-and-white picture cards: “Newborns are not quite interactive yet and spend most of their energy on eating, but one activity they do enjoy viewing is black-and-white high-contrast cards.” She says she’ll always remember the Christmas evening when her newborn son was looking at Chunky Deli pasta cards: “We had our hearts melt each time he focused on a piece of pasta and tracked the card side to side.” When using contrast cards, Kuipers recommends holding the baby in your lap and holding the cards about 12 inches away as you point at the image, discuss its content, and move it side to side to help your infant start tracking. “They can also serve as a distraction during tummy time, giving your infant something to look at while they exercise,” she adds.
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Peterson says that glassbottlesare a worthwhile investment; using them could significantly decrease your child’s ingestion of microplastics, as even BPA-free plastic leaches chemicals and contributes to a person’s overall “plastic load.” Any brand can work, but if you’re breastfeeding, make sure that the neck of the bottle is compatible with your breast pump. “As babies get bigger, glass bottles might not be as practical when they are holding them themselves, but they can be good initially,” she says.
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This no-tech collection cup uses suction and gravity to draw milk from the opposite breast your baby is latched to during a nursing session, says Tessa Scripps, M.D., a pediatrician and certified lactation counselor atMount Sinai Health Systemin New York and assistant professor of pediatrics atIcahn School of Medicine. “It’s a way to collect the milk that’s naturally leaking out of you during breastfeeding sessions,” says the mother of two.
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“Pacifier use in early infancy is associated with lower rates of sudden infant death,” says Bjorkman. “It’s ideal to use a pacifier that is one piece and designed to limit any negative effects on oral and motor development.” Avoid pacifiers with attached toys or heavy pacifier clips, which can put pressure on a baby’s mouth. The Avent Soothie has been the Bjorkman family’s go-to for all three of their children. It’s also commonly used in NICUs and a favorite of speech-language pathologists.
If your baby rejects the soothie (it happens), order a sampler pack of other options likethis oneorthis one, suggests Callie Marshall, M.D., M.P.H., a neonatal/perinatal medicine fellow in St. Louis.
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Marshall heard about this toy from several NICU nurses who had used it with their own kids in the car. Now her younger son loves it, too. If you play the lights and ocean-sounds option, it makes a nice, soothing shushing. “We know that the shush mimics the sound of the womb,” she says.
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A safesleep sackfor a cold night is a top pick of Arnaout’s, regardless of the brand. “Sleep sacks are exactly what they sound like; sacks you can zip your baby into that act as a wearable blanket,” she says. Free blankets in a crib pose a risk for suffocation or strangulation in a child’s first year of life.
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As a certified lactation counselor, Scripps uses thisnursing pillowevery day to help new moms get into the correct nursing position. “It is durable, has a firm ledge to it that makes latching newborns feel supported, and it’s easy to clean,” she says. She also likes that, unlike theBoppy, it has a clip in the back that provides “supported comfort.”
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McKennon first learned about the Woddle smart scale when she was in private practice and looking for at-home solutions for parents concerned about newborn weight loss. You can use this to weigh your baby before and after feedings, but it also works great as a changing pad. The pad has an embedded warmer (ideal for babies who cry when they’re placed on a cooler changing table) and a nightlight, as well as a noise machine and a touchscreen tracker so you can log feedings, wet and soiled diapers, and sleep.
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“Reading to your baby, even from birth, is the most powerful way to teach and connect with your child,” says Scripps. Register for your favorite childhood books (if you don’t have your copies saved) orask loved ones to buy their favoritesfor your little one. You could also request that friends and family sign the front page of the book with a short note, which will one day make the gift even more special for your family.
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Unscented soap and unscented moisturizing cream are requirements forElizabeth Odom, M.D., a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of New York at New York-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan. As a new mom to a 7-month-old, she has found that having a short, consistent evening routine helps signal to her son that it’s time for bed. “Our routine involves a bath, moisturizing, feeding, and then off to sleep,” she says. Unscented products “keep sensitive baby skin safe,” she adds.
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When Stacy Barron, M.D., a pediatrician and mom in Denver, had her first child, she was convinced that anelectric nail filewas totally unnecessary. “And then, yes, even as a pediatrician, I cut my daughter’s skin,” she recalls of an errant clip with a manual clipper. She immediately bought an electric nail file.
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Though you can buysound machines— 50 decibels is the right setting for infants — as a stand-alone item, Barron is a fan of ones that include lights, too (“Dim orange or dim red colors are better for sleep,” she says). Like other items on this list, this product grows with your child: Barron’s daughter is 5 now, and she likes to choose her color at bedtime. “You can even teach them to stay in their bed until the ‘green light’ comes on,” she adds.
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