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I have never used the car seat mirror and LO hates the swing. Everything else that we got has been well worth it!

Swaddles and sling carriers! I had about a million of them and J would freak out anytime he was wrapped up, he haaated it.

Swaddle wraps, receiving blankets, stroller, bottles, toiletries, pacifiers, nursing pillows,

swaddles! we got SO many swaddles and sleep sacks and she just uses an A&A blanket and doesn't even need it. i washed all of them and have never used them. I'd say don't take the tags off those until you meet your baby...even if you wash all the clothes, i'd wait on the swaddles and sleep sacks. also bottles - i got a starter kit of bottles and we went through like 10 different kinds before we found one she liked.

and i didn't, but i'd say don't register for blankets (other than a pack of A&A) or stuffed animals/loveys - we got 20+ loveys as gifts, probably an equal number of stuffed animals and tons of soft blankets. apparently that's everyone's favorite gift!

I seriously used everything we got. I don't like to do laundry too often (read: lazy), so I looooved having a million blankets, burp cloths, swaddles, towels, etc. However, if you are really good at keeping up with laundry, you really don't need a ton of blankets, swaddles and towels. I think everyone needs a million burp cloths though...

As for gear, L loved everything, and we have a large enough house that it was GREAT to be able to have a designated piece of equipment for all the different areas and not have to trek things around the house. If you don't have a ton of space, it will get really annoying to have to store so much stuff.

As for the jumperoo - I found it only had like a 1-month lifespan. L didn't like it until she could sit up on her own, but then she didn't like it again once she learned how to crawl really well. It was SUPER cute when she loved it, but I was glad it was a hand-me-down and didn't spend money on it.

L never used the pacifiers, but they're small and cheap enough that it didn't bother me to have them *just in case*. Plus, we'll have more babies, and she thinks it's funny now at 14 months to pretend to use them

@Bao: Ditto - and they grow out of them so fast. I wish we had just bought toddler towels right from the start, or just bought a nice soft set of regular towels for her!

Pacifiers, bottles (we had to switch brands and it was soooo expensive!), Bumbo seat, clothes, baby towels. We just ended up using regular towels.

@rachiecakes: We use the A&A blankets for everything, even though we stopped using them as swaddles fairly early.

@spaniellove: I registered for pretty much every swaddle product on the market and used them ALL at some point. They all worked at different times for different reasons, but that's one thing I did not regret having loads of. But I just got one of everything until I knew if she liked it, then I'd buy duplicates if needed (like the velcro SwaddleMes). I'm sure I could have gotten by with less, but I would pay any amount of money for a few extra hours of sleep. I hope your baby is an easier sleeper than mine though!

@spaniellove: I don't think so because they are big enough towels you can still cover their head.

The other option is to buy used stuff. A lot of things I wouldn't pay full price for (either because she didn't love them or because they are used such a short period of time). Buying used can cut the cost down to almost 50% and you can always sell it afterwards!

Things on my used list include:
- Bumbo
- Swing (although worth it to buy new)
- Jumperoo
- Exersaucer
- Carriers (some stores even rent these)

@spaniellove: I would absolutely keep tags/packaging on everything and only take it out if/when you use it!! Even if it needs to be washed, you're going to be doing laundry almost every day anyway

@spaniellove: I would definitely recommend keeping things in their packages - maybe take out one of each item, like pacifier, swaddle, etc. A lot of babies are picky about bottles/nipples/pacifiers (mine wasn't but I have friends who have bought several different types till they found the one LO would take). For nursing pillow, I was loaned one and never used it, just kind of propped my elbows on couch cushions and bed pillows but some ppl swear by them. We have a hand me down exersaucer and both my DS have really enjoyed it but it takes up so much space.

Some things that we didn't think we'd use, we've ended up using as DS got older - bibs, we rarely used till he started consistently feeding himself around 1, now all 20+ we were gifted are super faded. The hooded towel didn't really matter as an infant but as a toddler when I wrap him up after bath, the hood is nice to have (but not essential).

Oh geez, I just washed all of our new swaddling sleep sacks last week and now I read this, whoops!

Baby blankets and towels. We got so many as non registry gifts I returned all the ones off my registry.

I wish I had registered for things for an older baby like more advanced toys and a convertible car seat. I focused a lot on a newborn and feel it was short sighted.

Swaddle because he just breaks out of them so it's better if I use a regular blanket and swaddle him myself

Cotton footed jammies- wish I had bought more fleece footed zippered jammies, they are the only thing my kid will sleep through the night in. It took me forever to catch on!

Hands down, the Moby. My son hated it and we used it maybe 2 or 3x -- biggest waste of money, ever! But again, that's one of those things you don't know until you try.

Also, we were given a lot of onesies and we didn't need as many as we received. I agree with others on waiting to buy the big things until you seem to have a need or just relying on hand me downs if possible. Our swing, bouncer, and exersaucers are all older versions but they are still safe and effective and we didn't have to pay a cent for them so if he'd not liked them it wouldn't have been a big deal.