Fall 2017

Baby’s First Registry By Joanna Clark

Amid the lackluster maze of diaper wipes, butt pastes and burp cloths, sits a soft, sweet bit of whimsy. It’s a baby bathrobe. And an expectant first-time mother, cannot resist. Raising her almighty registry gun, she points, she scans, and in a few short months, it’s hers.

Across the country, expectant couples buzz through the aisles of baby stores, gushing over the impossibly tiny clothes their first child will soon fill. A shadow crosses their path, and they see it: The Chair. A behemoth on risers, framed with a halo of starbursts, balloons and cardboard medals of acclaim. They pause. Surely a chair that expensive, with that much praise is worth it, right? They point, they scan, and in a few months, it’s theirs.

You can probably guess where this is going. A new mom has yet to use the baby bathrobe — “I don’t know who I was kidding,” she later mused — and the couple’s newborn absolutely hates The Chair.

The fact is, for soon-to-be first-time parents, it’s difficult to know what you’ll use and how you’ll use it. So, to help expectant couples navigate the registry process, Gift Shop asked new parents what they wish they’d known beforehand — things they should have registered for, things they can’t live without, and things they didn’t know existed.

The Swedish-manufactured NoseFrida fits smartly into all three of the above categories. Invented by doctors, it’s a natural, hygienic nasal aspirator that has many parents giving the bulb syringe the boot. The NoseFrida’s innovative design and simplistic approach has landed it on plenty of top-ten lists, including The Today Show’s Stuff We Love: 10 Smart Products for New Parents segment last year.

While you can’t register for sleep, you can register for the next best thing: a better sleep for your baby. Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit — invented by a sleep deprived mom, herself — provides just that.

“When Will was about three months old and transitioning from the swaddle, he had trouble napping in his crib. I was lucky if he’d sleep for more than 30 minutes,” said Maureen Howard, founder and CEO of The Baby Merlin Company. “But if I took him for a walk in the stroller, he’d sleep like a rock. This became a puzzle I simply had to solve — as a mom, and as a pediatric physical therapist.”

Maureen eventually solved the puzzle, creating what she appropriately dubbed The Magic Sleepsuit. Like a car seat or stroller, The Magic Sleepsuit gives babies the cozy, contained feeling they need to fall asleep. And with multi-layered fabric to muffle twitches and movements, it helps them stay asleep longer.

In the age of Pinterest and showers galore, it’s no surprise we found a way to romanticize the gifting of diapers. But eventually, even the prettiest diaper cakes turn to — well, you know. And when they do, you’ll want to dispose of them properly. Enter, the Ubbi diaper pail.

Made from powder-coated steel, the Ubbi diaper pail holds and traps odors of up to 55 dirty diapers.

It’s compatible with any standard trash bag, making it more efficient and convenient than competing brands.

With entire warehouses filled to the brim with more than we could ever possibly want or need, it’s no wonder the registry process is so stressful. But if the enormity of it all weighs heavy on you, take one father-to-be’s advice: head toward the socks.]

“It’s impossible to look at those teeny, tiny socks and not feel your heart melt, just a little.”