“mommy marketing,” luxury baby products, & registry etiquette | Internet Analysis

I'm having my fourth in five years. Even though we knew we wanted ours quickly, I have gotten rid of more baby stuff every year. Im down to the crib and sheets, diapers, clothes, and a baby sling. And a regular bakpack for a diaper bag. You really don't need anything else (if you're nursing) for the first 6 months. Then a high chair and sippy cup.

i am not a mom so excuse my rant in agreement with the registry thing but i gotta do it

My cousin (not even my blood cousin, lifelong fam friend—moms bffs daughter—whos like a sis) recently had her first baby. For the baby shower I spent hours on that registry as I could tell she had. the registry had expensive options but I could filter the cheaper ones. surprise surprise, most of the cheap ones were gone already. So i search the exact midrange price items on other sites and found them a bit cheaper at target or amazon! Then what she did too was say “bring any size diaper pack to win a prize!” to ensure everyone brought diapers (so smart.) so i bought wipes too and told her if they were not to any prefered sensitivies that i included the gift receipt to swap them out. I also made sure to mark the physical items i bought elsewhere as “purchased” on her registry.

Turned out when she opened the gifts, a good chunk of the ones from yes,her blood family, got her, were surprises. she would go (as nicely as possible) “Oh.. what’s this?!” And it would be something i knew was not on the registry. her sister made sure to make a comment to one of the ppl who bought tons of outfits saying “Oh my gosh •laughter• she’s gonna grow out of them so quick!” ..I had to cover my mouth. And last but not least, the people who OF COURSE, did buy with the registry but thru amazon— and didn’t fucking mark it as purchased. So how many bath toys of the same style did she get? at least 5. how many teething rings of the same style? (I marked mine as purchased, apparently the other 3 ppl did not.) It just makes no sense to me.

Maybe it’s because having a child scares the crap out of me and I would want safety survival comfort necessities above all else, but for me it was easy to go for the necessary stuff. I went straight to teething and bath stuff, bottle cleaning stuff, carseat related stuff (all of which were on reg) and got way more joy out of that lmao. I know not everyone is like that, i know people love baby clothes. But it felt soooo much more useful (especially if u know my cousin n her health well enough to know she isnt as wealthy as the rest of them) to get the needs more than the decor/toys. and if so.. get it from THEIR DAMN REGISTRY AND MARK IT AS PURCHASED LOL shes about to have a baby and you want her to go to target with a return slip???? imagine if her babys father or her mom wasnt in the picture, she would have to do that all alone. thats why a registry even matters. so that yall dont have to run to the store within the first week of having a newborn lol

I was a teen mom. I just threw everything into my school backpack. Id say designer stuff is worth it only if you plan on having 3 plus kids cause it will last longer and look nicer. Babies are babies for such a short amount of time.

My grandparents, my mom, and myself were talking about what to get my cousin for her baby shower. I said since we are talking about doing a group gift we need to pick a high priced item she needs like a mattress. Grandparents and mom said I want to do something cute. I said we can with sheet sets and stuff. I finally convinced them to get her Graco highchair.

Just wanna say congrats on your baby! I have an almost 5month old and I love it 💜

I'm glad the algorithm knew I am pregnant and showed me this. These are my thoughts but I felt a little guilty which I didn't think I would. breaking down the excess and lack if neccesity of these items or event really helped me.

I hate the stigma around second hand/hand-me-downs. I grew up getting clothes from older relatives and sending them down the chain. And if they couldn't be sent down you know what we did/still do? Donate. Any item that is still useable gets donated to the correct place. Including toys, clothes, electronics, storage, ect. I hate when people look at you weird when you say you shared the same hight chair with multiple older relatives and its STILL being passed from kid to kid. My mother borrowed my aunts breast pump (sanitized) and it got passed to another relative after!

We should normalize giving money as a gift, too. If you don't wanna buy from the registry, give them the money you would have spent, so they can buy what they need. I hate the stigma around giving money, with some people thinking it's not very thoughtful or whatever. Money is incredibly thoughtful, and incredibly versatile, especially if the parents to be are on a tight budget

My baby shower was on my property (I live on a farm!) And my sister rented tables and chairs. It was a lovely event. We had about 15-20 people as well and girls only and no kids (to save on food $) we decorated with balloons and flowers.

As a first time mom, almost everything I got for my baby was hands-me-down or bought second-hand save for a few important items like the car seat. I didn't even set up a nursery because in my country they recommend having the baby sleep in the parents room during the first year to reduce SIDS anyway.
I saved so much money I was able to afford more time with my baby before being forced to go back to work, which I think is more important for a baby than a fancy stroller or couture diaper bag 🙂

The part about trying to be in your underconsumption era while being a new mom hit so hard. I'm 7 mons postpartum and have bought more clothes in the past year than I did from 2019-2023.

Ok but the baby brezza milk maker is a life saver 😅

i'm eager for that video on gift giving. i just had a brush up with my mother where she wanted to get me something (that i didn't want) for my birthday, and she kept trying to cajole me until i snapped.

That’s a cute puppy dog you’ve got back there 😍

The best diaper bag I have and use consistently is actually the “free” one I got from Kaiser Permanente after I gave birth 😂

Hope everything with your baby it's perfect💜💜💜💜💜

Hatch Sound Machine and Baby Brezza Formula dispenser are essential in our house. We got a Baby Bjorn bouncer second-hand from friends that we like a lot. Getting items on FB Marketplace or from friends/family is ideal. Those other high-priced items listed at the top are not really needed in my opinion.

Congratulations on your baby! I just had my baby girl in July, I was NOT prepared for the amount of mental labor it took to create a registry. I thought it would be super straightforward, but like you said it takes so much time and research for every little thing! I was even researching for over an hour about what kind of towel/bedding materials were best for baby 😅 I will say that having baby girl has been way more easy going than preparing for her arrival. You will do great with whatever you have and she will love you just as much no matter what brand you buy things from. Congratulations again 💗

In order to get your family and friends to use your registry, you need to select a wide majority of items that are cheap or very cheap.
Only your closest family want to buy something expensive.

[Edit : You also want to choose items that are meaningful. People want to offer a present that lasts, they won’t gift wipes or nappies unless they’re washable. They are more likely to buy a cute toy or piece of clothes from your registry than baby shampoo.]

Real talk though…the Tripp Trapp chair is actually worth it. Baby can sleep in a dresser drawer or a lil box but that chair is still going strong for my 4 and 7 year olds.

A note about the registry from a mom of 2: while I agree that guests should absolutely stick to the registry if they don't have kids or haven't had babies in the last two decades, sometimes other young moms in your circle will have stumbled across something that they found really useful and it can be nice of them to get you that item (though preferably after checking to see if you've already been given something like that or thought about that item and actively didn't want it). Sometimes, as a first-time mom, you just don't know what you don't know

I did make a registry for myself and didn’t tell people I had one and asked for cash only for my baby shower. It was very helpful!

Got 90% of my baby stuff second-hand, the rest I bought on sale, that helped save tons of money. The one good thing about living in Finland is that we do receive free essential baby stuff from the government. Companies also have small giveaways of sample diapers, bottles, and baby care products. We don't have a baby shower. It's just not normal for my culture and myself. It's more normal in Asia for the parents to shop for whatever they need and they will get straight up cash as gift after the kids are out, I consider that way more practical than having to make a baby registry and hope people will respect the list 😋