Your baby registry doesn’t just have to cover the infant stage. Movers and shakers need stuff, too!
Now you’re getting into the stage where your baby is rolling, crawling, sitting, and putting everything into his mouth!
If you have good friends and family, they’ll check a few things off your baby registry for this stage, too.
These are our favorite baby registry must haves for movers and shakers!
Baby Registry Must Haves for 2017 – Part 2 : Movers and Shakers
Luckily, a lot of the gear you got for your infant will last well into the mover and shaker phase. Carriers, car seats, strollers, and most feeding helpers will translate well. However, there are a few things that your sweet infant couldn’t take advantage of that you’ll need when he starts exploring the world!
Make Your Own Baby Food
Lots of parents decide to make their own baby food for their toddlers – it’s easy to know exactly what baby is eating and it’s super easy and inexpensive to toss ingredients you already have around the kitchen into a baby food maker and have a meal ready to go.
Self-feeding comes with all kinds of fun new experiences – including yogurt hair treatments!There are plenty of options out there for appliances that will cook, puree, and even package baby food for you. We tend to lean toward contraptions that are easily portable for obvious reasons – we love to be on the go! Our favorite for this particular lifestyle is The Cuisinart Baby Food Maker and Bottle Warmer. Any appliance that will pull double-duty absolutely makes its way to the top of our list! It’s compact, easy to clean, and BPA-free.
To make your homemade food easily portable, we like the Infantino Squeeze Station. You can easily add your baby food, yogurt, smoothies, or applesauce into portable, reusable squeeze pouches. Everything is BPA-free, dishwasher safe, and it’s an affordable package. Plus you’ll save a ton of money on those disposable pouches later!
Playtime Anytime
Now that baby is moving and shaking, he’s going to be into everything, too! Providing safe, clean play options will be vital at this stage.
For babies 6-24 months, we recommend our Play-N-Go Play Mat. It’s two sided, has Velcro fasteners to keep it secure, offers a variety of play options, and can be used in many different ways! On the floor, on his highchair, in the stroller, while traveling…the Play-N-Go can go anywhere!
There are plenty of times that you’ll want to keep your little one close at hand, but still give him some freedom to play and explore. Play yards are definitely the answer to that conundrum. Want a play yard that matches your busy lifestyle? We love the Jet Primo Play Yard Cabana! It comes completely assembled and easily travels with your family on all of your adventures. Keep baby entertained and safe from damaging sun rays with the sun-proof material.
Car Safety
Convertible Car Seats are a great baby registry item because they will grow with your baby – many even have an option to use them with a seat belt as a booster when your child has outgrown the harness. When adding a convertible care seat to your baby registry, look for one with heavier weight limits and a seat that matches the size of your vehicle. For us, ease of installation was a big deal because we knew we’d be transferring the seat between cars often. We chose the Evenflo Symphony for it’s safety rating and the ridiculously easy LATCH system it features.
This convertible car seat grows with your child from rear-facing infancy to shoulder belt booster in the toddler years! Make sure to look for one that has a long life as car seats do expire.Baby Proofing the House
It’s not easy to think about having to baby proof when you are still waiting for baby to arrive! But believe us, this time will come faster than you think. Making sure your baby registry has a few must-haves on the list will save you having to run out at the last minute later. Trust us, your baby will let you know what you need to baby proof if you haven’t done it yet!
Baby Gates – The most important thing to consider when choosing a baby gate is your home and lifestyle. Are you OK with plastic? Would you prefer something that permanently attaches to the walls? Do you need styled, taller, or curved gates? Are there pets to think about, too? Once you’ve decided, shopping is easy. Stores like Babies-R-Us have plenty of options available to add to your registry, and brands such as Baby Safe Homes can create something custom for your needs.
Baby Gates: Because dining room chairs aren’t really that effective!Child Proof Door Handles – Baby-proof door locks are usually bulky and unattractive. We’ve found these great KidCO side-pinch locks that are sleeker and more difficult for little hands to figure out. These will make a great baby registry item to help keep movers and shakers out of rooms they shouldn’t be in!
Better Cabinet Locks – Lots of cabinet locks are easy for children to figure out, or they can backfire and squish tiny fingers. To prevent your mover and shaker from breaking into cabinets that could house potentially harmful materials, we recommend a magnetic lock. You can keep the key conveniently high on the fridge and unlock cabinets as needed – the locks are also easily deactivated when you no longer need them!
Be sure to check back next week for our continuation of this series: Baby Registry Must Haves for 2017 (Part 3: Older Babies)
The links in this article are for informational purposes only. We are in no way compensated for these opinions, which are our own, and these items are just an example of a large variety of available options.