Today’s Hint: Register for Diapers, Wipes & Other Basics

If there’s one thing you really need when you’re about to have a baby, it’s diapers (Baby Bargains recommends having at least 500 to 600 ready to go from the get go).

So that’s why when I was putting our baby registry together, I included diapers on it, along with wipes, baby shampoo and diaper rash cream, among other required basic newborn necessities, and today’s hint is that other expecting parents do the same.

“Take the diapers off your registry,” my mom kept urging me. But I kept these items on our list long into the postpartum period because they are what you really need when you go through about 10 diapers, and at least a dozen wipes, a day. As my friend Alison, who I learned this hint from when we were both expecting and discussing our registries, put it: “People might as well buy me things I really need.”

Of course, just because you put these kinds of disposable items on your registry doesn’t mean that people are going to buy them for you. While diapers are already acceptable as gifts at baby showers (think diaper cakes) and Heloise recommends a diaper-themed shower for “the mom who has everything,” diapers don’t seem to be a preferred baby gift.

No one bought any of the basics off of our registry and eventually, I listened to my mom and did delete them from our registry (all except the now way-too-small diapers that I still have on there for some reason).

My hope, however, is that if more expectant parents start including these essentials on their lists from the get go, buying the basics as gifts will become the norm.

What’s your take on registering for the basics?