11 Essentials for Your Second Baby Registry
What do you even need for a second baby? Is it tacky to throw a baby shower every time you get pregnant? Are you ever going to be able to sneeze three times without peeing a little?
Motherhood the second time around comes with a lot of big questions, but one thing that should NOT be a big deal is your baby registry.
If you didn’t plan on having another baby and threw everything out, you might as well just start at the very beginning and register for everything all over again.
But if you have clothes and few relics of the last baby you raised into toddlerhood stashed away, there are only a few things you really need to ease the transition from one kid to two. Here are some must-have essentials that’ll help you keep up with two kids.
Lillebaby Baby Carrier
Having more than one kid means the possibility of being outnumbered, and that’s scary AF. If there’s one thing that will save your sanity and allow you to clean up after one while breastfeeding the other, it’s a baby carrier.
I particularly love Lillebaby’s carriers because they’re like Joovy’s strollers — tough, built to last, and designed to be comfortable for parents to use.
Lillebaby’s carriers are ergonomically designed to be safe for babies from newborn to toddlerhood. They support healthy hip development for babies with good neck control over six months old in the front-facing out position (for short periods of time).
They also include a lumbar support panel that reduces back pain for parents with bigger kids and an extender belt for plus-size parents.
This baby carrier will last you well into toddlerhood and was the key to my sanity with babies one and two.
Jujube Be Right Back Backpack Diaper Bag
Jujube diaper bags are the luxury cars of the diaper bag world, but at a totally realistic price point. For what you get, they’re well worth the investment — metal hardware, crumb catcher compartments, and wipe-clean fabrics that LAST.
The Be Right Back backpack diaper bag by Jujube is no exception and is big enough to hold everything you need for 2+ kids, without utterly overwhelming your shoulders.
New Caboose UL Double Stroller
We’re not afraid to toot our own horn around here when the time comes, because helping families deal when more kids come along is what Joovy does best.
The Caboose UL Sit and Stand stroller were made for parents of growing families. When you’re not having twins, you need a double stroller that can accommodate a big kid and a baby at the same time.
The Caboose UL features a five-point harnessed front seat for babies six months and up, a bench seat for toddlers, and a standing platform for big kids.
With a 90lb weight capacity and all the bells and whistles of a brand-new minivan, the Caboose UL is a must-have when baby #2 comes along.
Go ahead — ask me how I know.
Hatch Baby Rest White Noise Machine
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after having two kids three years apart, it’s that getting one to sleep while the other is awake is some kind of a miracle.
A white noise machine is absolutely essential if you ever want your baby to nap. While most babies will fall in line and adapt to all kinds of noises, there are still going to be times when the chaos of an older sibling breaks their precious REM cycle.
Do yourself a favor and invest in a solid white noise machine, like this one from Hatch Baby. It has a built-in nightlight, two-way audio, and is even rechargeable, so you don’t have to worry about dangling cords.
Shop Hatch Baby White Noise Machines
For Big Brother: Little Hippo Mella Time to Rise Alarm Clock
I lost my mind a little when I had my second baby because at that point, I had TWO kids who were waking up at 5 am every day.
Nature is cruel.
But what really saved my sanity and gave my preschooler better sleep was using a time-to-rise alarm clock. What I discovered was that my son really didn’t know that he was waking up at an inappropriate time.
He couldn’t tell time, he was awake, and so he just assumed it was time to start wandering downstairs for his morning cartoons.
This alarm clock by Little Hippo was a game-changer. We programmed the light to turn green at 7 am, when it was okay for our son to be up for the day and explained to him what the lights meant.
After about a month, he fell into a routine with it, and proudly came bounding down the stairs every morning, exclaiming, “Mommy, I woke up at the green light!”
Music to my ears.
Shop Little Hippo Alarm Clocks for Kids/a>
Joovy Room2 Playpen
You’ll be really, really shocked to see how quickly your baby and older child become competitive for toys and real estate on the living room floor. When squabbles break out (as they almost certainly will), it’s helpful to have a safe space for a baby that’s alllll his.
I LOVE our Joovy Room2 playpen. We got it for our second baby, even after never using a playpen for our first, and it was a game-changer.
What we found is that oftentimes a baby just needs some physical boundaries before he can understand verbal cues. With plenty of floorspace and 360 degree views of everything around him, he doesn’t feel like he’s missing out, and nobody’s getting beaten over the head with a rattle.
Everybody wins.
Another Baby Monitor
When we had our second baby, our older son was three. We assumed at that point a baby monitor wasn’t a big deal.
Until our three-year-old started sneaking out of his bed and roaming the house.
We found that we really did need two baby monitors — at least until our preschooler could be trusted to stay put when we put him to bed.
Get another monitor or at least another camera for your wifi monitor setup.
A Meal Subscription Service
Cooking with one baby is hard. Cooking with a baby and other kids around? You get a medal just for putting a frozen pizza in the oven.
One indispensable service that you can treat yourself to postpartum with your next baby is a meal delivery service. It’ll enable you to eat healthily and get the nutrients your body needs while recovering, and also ensure your family eats well (despite you being too tired to remember to take the plastic off a cheese stick).
Trifecta Nutrition is a cool meal delivery service that offers organic ready-made meals that are prepared fresh and delivered to your door for less than the cost of eating out (and with higher quality ingredients).
If you can swing it in the grocery budget, it’s well worth the investment to stop meal planning after baby #2 (or three. Or four).
Laundry Sorting Hamper
One thing that really bugged me when I added another child to my family was that one of them was in the mud and sweating in jiujitsu while the other was spitting up on everything and pooping on my dress.
Separating laundry became an act of clothing preservation, and since we’ve started doing it, we’ve avoided more stains and mildew than I care to think about.
Get a laundry hamper that allows you to sort your laundry, and then sort it by laundry routine based on what’s actually on it — the unspeakable in one category (poop-splosions, burp cloths, and pee-soaked sheets), delicates in another, work clothes in one, and everyday wear and wash in another.
Convertible Infant Car Seat by Clek
I never did the infant car seat thing. They can be awesome for some families, but for us, it just felt like one more stage and one more thing to buy.
Clek makes great car seats, and this convertible infant seat is no exception. It’s durable enough to be used again if you have another baby, rear faces until your child is 50 lbs, and is built with an ultra-tough steel and magnesium sub-structure.
Get the Clek Foonf Convertible Car Seat
Relax: You Were Literally Designed for This
There is no one right way to do this thing. Parenting comes with a lot of manuals, and almost none of the advice is one-size-fits-all.
Parents of multiples will tell you that the transition from one to two is harder than any other leap in growth your family makes. It’s absolutely as hard as you think it is, so take our advice: do what you’ve gotta do to be a happy parent.
Buy the gear.
Get a massage.
Let your kids destroy the living room while you laugh on the floor with them.
You’ve got this, and at the end of the day, a couple of meals or a baby carrier isn’t asking for much.
