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Here is the 5th part of our baby registry checklist guide, Health & Safety essentials for your baby registry.
If you found this page and want to see the other parts, here are links to each:
- Comprehensive Baby Registry Checklist (this is long, the broken down “parts” are below if that is easier to read)
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 1: Clothes
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 2: Feeding
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 3: Bathtime
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 4: Diapering
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 6: Bedding
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 7: Baby Gear and Travel
- Baby Registry Checklist Part 8: Nursery and Toys
Supplemental Posts:
- Create Your Own First Aid Kit and Baby Medicine Stash
- Save Money on Your Remaining Baby Registry Items
Health & Safety Essentials You Are Going to Want
I would suggest you go through this then take a look at the Fridababy bundles to see which ones you want. Some of these items will be included in those bundles. I would consider the Bitty Bundle of Joy or the Big Bundle of Joy for sure. We have the Bitty Bundle of Joy and everything in it is super helpful and contains some things you will definitely either want or need.
Another good one we have is the Sick Day Essentials Kit.
Baby Monitor
Yes, if you have nerves of steel I am sure you could go without a baby monitor. I mean, our parents didn’t have video baby monitors and look at us? BUT, if you are like me chances are you will stare at it while your baby is sleeping to make sure they are okay.
We have the Nanit and love it! It tracks her breathing all night and if there isn’t any movement for 20 seconds (babies hold their breath sometimes, 20 seconds is longer than they would though) it alerts our phone and starts beeping loudly in the room. We have only had this go off when we forget to move the Nanit sleepwear out of the camera’s sight when she isn’t wearing it.
Nanit gives you insights into how your baby is sleeping at night with stats like how many visits the baby had throughout the night, their sleep efficiency, sleep onset, and how long they slept. You can also now get sheets that allow Nanit to measure how tall your baby is getting. We don’t have these, but it is kinda cool.
We bought the set with the wall mount and the multi-stand. This way we could mount the monitor above her crib and have another stand for when we travel. This doesn’t mean you have two cameras, but the cameras are easy to detach and bring with you.
The only downside is that you need to purchase breathing wear. But, this is so worth it to track how your baby is both breathing and sleeping at night. I would suggest just using the breathing band that should come with your set to start out with. We bought the sleep sacks from them for different ages/sizes and I felt they never fit for very long. They are also a little thicker than we needed for a sleep sack. Oh, and our baby would slam her feet down so much more in the sleep sacks than she would with some footed pjs on with the sleep band.
But hey, all babies are different. Just don’t go crazy with sleepwear until you know how your baby likes to sleep.
Thermometer
Yes, there are so many types, but a touchless one is so convenient.
The only thing is, a rectal thermometer gets a more accurate reading. So you may want to get a rectal and a touchless, that way you can use the touchless as your “regular” thermometer then follow up with the rectal if you need to.
Here is an inexpensive touchless one that is highly rated, and here is a rectal one from Fridababy.
Nail Trimmers
Get a set that comes with a nail file, or you can try the dremmel kind. I use the nail clippers from Fridababy and LOVE them. They have a little cut-out so you can see what you are trimming, but they are pretty sharp, so watch out! The Fridababy nail clippers also come with a nail file, which is what our friend has been successful with when it comes to trimming her baby’s nails. I on the other hand feel like I am going to sandpaper my baby’s finger. So I stick with the nail trimmers and only use the file if there is a rough spot.
If you buy one of the Fridababy bundles check if thee come in your bundle. We bought the Bitty Bundle and it came in there.
Nasal Aspirator & Nose Care
Your hospital may give you one of the bulb ones. Ours gave us one but I was terrified to use it for our baby’s nose. Instead, I ordered the Fridababy snotsucker, which honestly seemed disgusting until I tried it out and realized that no, I’m not going to get boogers in my mouth.
We also ordered the 3-in-1 Fridababy picker. We found that the snotsucker was nice for getting the, uh, stickier or runnier boogies out. But, the picker was better for when our baby had dried boogers. Worried about putting something in your baby’s nose? This tool is designed to prevent going in too far, so you don’t need to worry. It also has a part that can get earwax out of their little ears, something to get under their nails if they get something stuck under there, and a “general” tool. We have only used the nose and ear parts because we keep her nails trimmed and I don’t really know what the general tool part would help with.
Outlet Covers
While your baby won’t be mobile for a while yet it is nice to get these sooner rather than later. My husband and I didn’t order them before our baby was here and quickly realized that the wall her changing pad is on has two outlets right above the changing pad height. So we ordered outlet covers to cover up the outlets.
We ordered this box of 50. Because wow, you really don’t realize how many outlets you have at “baby height” until your little one is getting ready to be on the move.
Cord Wraps
This is something that you could wait on, depending on your situation. We decided to get these early because our room has curtains and our rocking chair is next to the window. We keep the cords wrapped up so that we don’t have to worry about our baby getting ahold of them while we feed her somehow.
Vitamin D Drops
*If you are breastfeeding. Formula fed babies will receive vitamin D through the formula.
For some reason I hardly saw this on any other baby registry checklist.
This is the vitamin D drops we order. These are made with natural ingredients and are free of nasties. They are also pretty popular and have been sold out for weeks so if you do breastfeed your baby you may want to order two in the beginning to make sure you have enough and don’t have to worry about them being sold out. I think we are on our third or fourth bottle at four months?
Gasspassers
There are a few different options for these and they will save you a few rough nights.
We have gripe water and these Windi gasspassers. The gripe water we picked is natural, free of nasties, and has lemon balm and chamomile to help baby relax as well. The Windis are these plastic little, uh, tubes that you use to help your baby relieve gas. Although, be aware that sometimes it isn’t just gas they end up relieving…
Yup, you have been warned, but don’t let that deter you. We find the Windis are better at making our baby feel better faster than the gripe water.
Fever Reducer
This will help for when your baby gets a fever. We have infant Tylenol for this, and thankfully haven’t had to use it yet. Whatever you get run any medications by your pediatrician, you may need dosing information from them as well. For example, our infant Tylenol says to get a dose recommendation from your pediatrician.
With something like this I would use the given syringe to measure your dose instead of a medicine pacifier.
Necessary, but Not Needed Right Away
Baby Toothbrush
We ordered two different types, one being that banana toothbrush I am sure everyone has seen, and the other being a finger brush. Although, I am considering getting this one to use too since it is a training toothbrush and shaped differently.
We ordered them early and have been playing with them with our little girl so she gets used to the idea of having them massage her gums.
Something else you can use while they are still too young to use toothbrushes is sterile gauze. You just get it a little wet, cover your finger, and rub their tongue and gums. Babies can have milk residue on their tongue (which can look similar to thrush), and this can help you remove it for them. We do this every night with our little girl since she doesn’t have teeth yet, but it isn’t something you have to do. We just do this to keep our baby’s mouth clean and get her use to the idea of brushing.
Baby Gate
Once your baby gets mobile you are going to want something to corral them and keep them from wandering into areas they shouldn’t be.
Like the stairs.
We haven’t set up our baby gates since our baby isn’t crawling yet. You can order these in so many sizes, so you need to measure your spot you plan on putting these up to make sure you get the right size!
Toilet Locks
This is something you can definitely wait on. You won’t need them until your baby is on the move.
Ok, so you need to remember to babyproof your bathroom. So, to prevent you having to fish toys out of the toilet, baby touching the inside of the toilet or baby drowning you have two options when it comes to the porcelain throne.
- Get those door handle babyproof locks and always remember to close your bathroom doors. (There are different kinds of these so you will need to get the kind that works best for your door knobs)
- Get toilet locks.
We are getting the toilet locks because we aren’t confident in remembering to always close the door. Plus, when it comes to safety I would rather go overboard with babyproofing.
Table and Furniture Corner Pads and Bumpers
As someone who fell as a baby and almost jabbed their eye out with a table, I am 100% getting these.
Yes, it may not go with your design style, but I’m not joking when I say I have a scar so close to my eye that you can’t even tell they aren’t touching.
We are ordering a pack of these clear ones when our baby starts crawling. We also have a fireplace so we will get a bumper for the ledge/bench of sorts. You can also use those bumpers for furniture that has sharper edges.
TV Anchors
This only really applies if you don’t already have a wall-mounted Tv.
Furniture Anchors
If you have something you are worried about your baby pulling or pushing over, you can get some of these.
Cabinet Locks
Yup, you are going to want some of these to keep your curious baby out of cabinets and drawers. These are something you can wait on and get when your baby shows signs of starting to become mobile. You don’t need to put them on every cabinet or drawer, but at least the ones with dangerous things for your baby. Like under your sinks, cabinets with chemicals in them, junk drawers, etc.
We are putting them on any cabinet or drawer our baby can reach.
Baby Iron Supplement*
*If you are breastfeeding this is something that around four months you should talk to your pediatrician about. They may give you a prescription that also has vitamin D in it so you don’t have to keep ordering the vitamin D drops.
This is important because at about four months the iron your baby received from you has run out. Formula fed babies don’t have to worry about this, but breastfed babies do.
Not Necessary, but Nice to Have – or Depends on Your Situation
Cool Mist Humidifier
- Ask your doctor or pediatrician if they think a humidifier would be a good idea. There are studies out now about them not really helping sick babies. And if you don’t clean them well they can do more harm than good.
You want to keep the room that the baby sleeps in at 30-50% humidity per experts. If it is too low, your baby’s skin and nose will get dry. Too high and gross things like mold and mildew start growing.
We have only used our cool mist humidifier during the winter because the heater dries out the air a little more.
You may live in an area where this isn’t an issue. You can always hook up your baby monitor (if it lets you know the humidity in the room) and see what the levels are. If they start dropping as the seasons change, consider getting a humidifier to help keep your baby from getting sick.
If you decide to get one, get one that is easy to clean, automatically shuts off when it runs out of water and works with the size of the room you have. But yes, huge emphasis on easy to clean! You need to clean it regularly to keep dust, bacteria, etc out of it!
We have the Fridababy cool mist humidifier and love it. You can change the direction the mist is going in, use essential oils in it (when your baby is old enough) and it also has a nightlight. As far as cleaning it it isn’t the easiest, but we love the nightlight on it and don’t have any complaints.
Dehumidifier
Chances are you know if you need a dehumidifier. But don’t go too crazy, a room that is too dry can make babies stuffy and dry out their skin. I don’t have a recommendation on these since we don’t have a dehumidifier.
Air Purifier
Getting these is totally up to you, we decided to get some because we are obsessive, have pets, and recently moved into a house we are about to renovate. So, you know, there was about to be all kinds of lovely things flying through our air if we didn’t have these.
Originally we thought about getting plants to purify our air, but finding some that were baby and pet friendly while being available near us was… difficult.
So, instead we bought a few air purifiers for our house. My husband spent days researching air purifiers and picked out which ones we bought. The ones we bought are pricey, so if you want an air purifier you are welcome to do your own research for less expensive options if you want! We have a few things we dont compromise on, and health related items are one of them!
We bought this kind for our bedroom, where the baby also sleeps. When she moves into her own room we will buy one for her nursery as well. These also have a little blue light they emit so it can be like a little nightlight.
For the other living spaces we bought two of these larger ones, one for downstairs and one for the main floor. These are a little big, but they work so well and you can hide them! Seriously, I can hear the one on the main floor kick in the moment I start burning food. But no, they are not obnoxiously loud. Especially the little one.
Medicine Pacifier
A lot, if not all, of the medicine you get for your baby will have a syringe to give it to your baby. These are usually something you just aim into the baby’s cheek to dispense the medicine. These work fine, but in my crazy over obsessiveness I bought this medi-pacifier to help with any medicine we needed to give our baby.
We did try using the syringes that came with medicines we had, but we bought and they usually made a bit of a mess. Our baby would “spit” it out. The medi-pacifier made medicine delivery so much easier and our baby loved the pacifier. We now only use this medicine pacifier to deliver medicine to our baby.
Don’t Need
A Baby Specific First Aid Kit
All of the ones I have seen look like they have cheap parts. You are more than welcome to get a baby first aid kit, or you can do what we did, buy the parts you need.
Teething gel
Orajel and other “teething gels” with Benzocaine or Lidocaine aren’t recommended for teething pain anymore. Our pediatrician suggested just wetting a clean washcloth and putting it in the freezer to create something for the baby to chew on and soothe their gums.
That’s the end of health & safety essentials part of our baby registry checklist guide. To go onto the next part click here.