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I don't have any of my own, but I am a nanny! From my experience with my nephew, the papasan shaped swings are amazing. That being said, my two girls that I nanny hate swings. Go figure.
Also - I can't remember if you said if you were having a boy or a girl! - I've heard that those pee shields are a waste of money and to just use a wipe. Lol. From two people, I've heard that the Summer Soothing Spa bathtub is another waste of money..
Realizing how negative I am -
I love the bumbo seat! And white noise machines are fantastic. Shh-ing for a long time leaves you spitty and thirsty. 
ETA - The video monitors are the most amazing - albeit unnecessary - thing ever. I really loved being able to see if she was just screaming because she was angry she was in her crib, or hurt herself (or god forbid lost her binky!). It also helped me catch her in the act the first time she escaped her crib (in silence!), pooped in her bed, etc etc.
My baby is 12 weeks old and I can't live without a noisy fan (or you could get white noise machine as PP said), a night light so I don't have to turn the light on at night, and the Angelcare monitor (I went with deluxe version because the heat in our house is really random so it's nice to see temp), the boppy pillow, and our swaddling blanket. They sell the swaddle thing that is fleece but it's too hot for my baby so we have a really thin blanket my grandma ordered online somewhere that is especially for swaddling. Also, my boy loves his swing!!!
I never used my boppy. The baby swing was a TOTAL lifesaver. If you can get one that plugs into the wall, it will save you some money because they eat up batteries pretty quickly.
My favorite newborn items: SwaddleMe swaddle blankets, Aden and Anais swaddle blankets, footed Sleep n' Play outfits that snap or zip up the front (so you don't have to put anything over baby's head or worry about socks), bouncy seat, Aveeno baby wash and lotion, hooded towels, Bordeaux's Butt Paste, and Born Free bottles.
Swaddling blankets, life savers! I loved our Boppy too, but I don't think you'd need one if you're not breastfeeding.
I never used the baby monitor. I think they're better for people with big houses or who go outside to smoke often.
Absolutely LOVE:
My LO is only 13 weeks old so I have a limited view but so far my favorites have been:
We don't have a ton of stuff so everything we have we pretty much use or are starting to use as he gets older.
My baby is 5 months old. Here are my FAVORITES:
-Breastfeeding Pillow: My BrestFriend Deluxe Nursing Pillow. Better than the Boppy. Stays in place and has pocket to hold cell phone, wipes or anything else you might need
-Places to park your baby: Boppy Newborn Lounger. She would lay and nap on this thing and it doubled as a support pillow for when I was holding her while sitting on the couch.
-Clothes: Footed PJs from Gerber/Carters/Circo. They are cheap, and usually on sale somewhere. And get the ones that ZIP UP as opposed to the ones that snap at the bottom (much easier for diaper changes)
-Chair (another place to park the baby): Fisher Price bouncer vibrating chair Comfy Time. We decided to try this one out before getting one of those really expensive swings. Luckily she liked this one and it worked fine. It's a little garish looking but she loves the little hanging toys.
-Carrier/sling: Baby K'Tan carrier. We also have the Moby Wrap or Sleepy Wrap, but K'Tan was easier to figure out.
-Stroller: We use the Graco Snugride for carseat/lightweight stroller. It is a little lighter than the Chicco Keyfit. For our big stroller, we have the Uppa Baby Vista which is AWESOME. (we live in a big city so a heavy duty stroller is essential)
-Random: Nosefrida, aka 'the snotsucker'. I was skeptical. But my baby had a lot of stuffy noses early on and those syringe balls weren't cutting it. This was the most highly rated one on Amazon and Diapers.com and it works.
There haven't been too many items I've hated but here is what I think is overrated:
-The Nap Nanny Chair. Expensive, bulky. My kid preferred the entertainment of the vibrating chair better.
-Woombie Swaddle or Swaddleme Blankets. (the straight jackets for babies). She would get all twisted in these and her little hands would stick out the top when trying to escape. A regular blanket worked just fine.
-Cutesy precious baby outfits. Don't get me wrong, I love these and they are adorable. But the reality is that your baby is going to be spending most of her first few months indoors at home, either eating or sleeping. I feel badly. We got so many cute outfits that she outgrew before she got a chance to wear them.
I am making a list based of the "baby bargins" book and all your input. Thank you so much ladies! This info is so helpful
My Favs :
I LOVE the My Brest Friend Nursing Pillow...I have the boppy too and it doesn't even come close for me for feeding. I may use the boppy when she is older to let her sit but right now it is sitting in our spare room. The brest friend gives me a little back support, a spot to rest my arm and best of all I don't have to reposition her a million times.
Pump In Style by Medela is amazing if you are breastfeeding...I am a SAHM but I've already been able to store a ton of milk by using this
Aden & Anais swaddling blankets are great...the large size makes swaddling much easier!
Fisher Price My Little Lamb cradle & swing is pricey but amazing...she loves it and we use it every day, a TON a day
Moby wrap carrier for newborn age is great and good for skin to skin time too :)
Burp Cloths ( I really like the terry cloth ones best)
Recieving Blankets ( I like the ones carters has, they are large and soft too with cute prints)
Pack n' Play with bassinet feature and changing table (AMAZING! We are using this as our room in bassinet and it works perfectly! and the one we bought has storage under it too!)
@absolutbettie: How old was your baby when she tried to escape the swaddling sack? I have 1 halo sack so far and I hope my baby isn't an escape artist.LOL
@MsMamaBear: my baby started bustin out of the woombies from day one home from the hospital! we had both the plain zip-up ones and the more complex velcro/swaddle types and her hands would be tucked under her chin and peeking out a few minutes later for both. i think what she wanted the whole time was just to suck on her thumb which still comforts her like nothing else, it's amazing (yes i know it may end up being a bad habit we're gonna have to break her from eventually!). so for her, sucking was more comforting than swaddling. so the swaddle sack was preventing her from getting to her little thumbs. we have friends who swear by them, so i know they work for a lot of babies!
I just wanted to say that although we don't have kiddies yet, this is a very helpful thread!
I'm also a nanny, and my favorite thing EVER is the ergobaby carrier. I'm not sure at what point they're big enough to use it, but its easy and fantastic. No obnoxious stroller to get out and put away, and the littlest of the kids I nanny still rides in it easily at like...20 months.
We have an ERGO carrier and love it as well. We've been using it with my 4 month old for a couple months now. They have an infant insert you can get for it if you want.
@absolutbettie: Oh,ok. Hopefully it works for mine, although him/her sucking their thumb is just so cute sounding!
What we didn't like:
Boppy pillow - doesn't fit around my middle, so my baby would always slide down and I had to keep adjusting it. I use it as a prop for my LO and to support my arms sometimes, but it is basically just a very expensive pillow.
Soothie Pacifiers - My LO didn't take to pacifiers very well, but these were too heavy to keep in his mouth. (Although he's only 7 weeks old now, so maybe they'd be better when he's bigger.
Dr. Brown's bottles - I'm breastfeeding and am a DD cup. The nipples on these bottles were way too narrow and my LO would try to take the entire thing in his mouth and then get frustrated.
Travel Lite Crib - Great product, but is way too small for our huge baby. Does not fold up smaller than a full size pack and play.
Swaddle Me blanket - My LO outgrew the small one fast, but the large was too big. Also my LO can bend his arms in it and it doesn't keep him still enough. The fleece is too hot.
Safety 1st OnBoard Carseat - love the carseat and that it goes up to 35 pounds and has more leg room than most carseats. The issue is that it isn't compatible with any other brand, like the infant seat adapter for BOB or Baby Jogger strollers.
What we do like:
My Breast Friend - used a friend's a few times and loved it! It was way better than the boppy for breastfeeding, but I ended up not being able to feed my LO when he was laying flat, so we didn't buy one for ourselves.
Tommee Tippee pacifiers - my LO loves these. they stay in his mouth better and I like that I can hook a cord to them to keep them from dropping on the floor.
Miracle Blanket for swaddling - My LO can get his hands up by his neck in the swaddle me blankets. The miracle blanket is a miracle, as it has an extra set of "wings" that you use to go over the arms and under the back to keep them from moving. My LO fights the swaddle when he can move at all, so this really works wonders.
Breastflow Bottles: These are awesome. They really look much more like my breast, and my LO LOVES them. I read reviews that the milk got stuck in the nipple, but there are tabs to drain it back down, so that wasn't an issue. The only downside is that I can't pump directly into them.
Baby Bjorn Active: This is a good carrier but my LO is huge, so I can't imagine carrying him in this for very long. I'd probably get the Beco Baby Gemini carrier, which is similar to the Ergo, but lets baby face in or face out.
Hygeia Enjoye Pump - love! It's got great features and has a 3 year warranty. It's rated for more than one user, unlike the Medela pumps, so you can safely sell it or give it away.
Aden and Anais Blankets - awesome. I use these for everything.
Bump. I'm thinking about a baby gifts and tired of searching for this thread 
Like list:
Clothes that dont go over head (button up front)
Aden Anaiis Swaddle blankets
burp cloths
breastflow bottles - havent tried any others but she likes these
Swing - its used as her crib right now
Slings and wraps - we have a few and diff ones and each is good at diff times
cute socks - she had poor circulation to her feet at first so even when it was super hot out she always had on socks
thin wash cloths - we use them to wipe her tush
shirts - i like these with her cloth diapers instead of covering diaper with a onsie
hats with brim - good for going out in sun
what we dont use yet:
baby bath tub - she either gets wiped down with a wash cloth or gets in shower with one of us, shes not a fan of the bath tub yet.
gerber newborn onsies - we got alot of these from people - theyre supposed to fit 5-8 lbs, she came home at 6.2 lbs and they wouldnt go over her head.
stuffed animals - she'll probably like these eventually but we got sooooooo many and several duplicates.
avent pacifiers - shes not a huge fan of pacifiers but these she really doesnt like
nail clippers - at the hospital we were told to file her nails to avoid tearing and filing works well so we havent used the clippers
cloth headbands - she hates them
I want to bump this thread, it has been great reading things that worked/didn't work.
I'd love to see some more big ticket items on here, what were people's favorite cribs, strollers, carseats (infant & convertible), pack n play etc??
I have to edit my list now that she's older. She loves the baby bathtub now and also likes her stuffed animals now (though we still have more than she probably needs) and we use the nail clippers on her now. All the stuff on my like list is still a like. Crib gets little use, we got the pack n play with newborn napper, which was great to have.
@dchokiebride3: I agree that I like my ergo. I have put a 1.5 year old baby in it and barely felt the weight difference from my newborn. If you get the insert you can use it right away before they can hold their heads up.
Also wanted to add that we loved our A+A blankets, sleep sheep for white noise, swing (goes both directions). We got the graco Lauren crib and it works perfectly done. Glad we didn't spend more on a crib.
Bump. I recently found out my cousin's having twins so I'm searching for gifts.
Look into the "Its Been" in two different colors so she can keep track of when the last time each baby was fed, changed, etc. It is a timer, you hit a button for whichever function just happened, and you can check how long it's been since the last time you did it. I got a couple off Amazon for my SIL for her twins.
@lemondrop: I just looked into it and OMG, it's absolutely perfect! I was reading all the reviews first and expected it to be $70 but it's only $17! She's gonna love it! In fact, I like it so much I'm thinking about getting one for myself as well!
I don't have a LO, but I sew burp cloths for friends baby showers. They really like the ones I make because they are super thick ( it's flannel on the outside with cotton batting on the inside). One friend said the really thin burp cloths were annoying because after one spit up, it was soaked through. So my suggestion is to buy thick burp cloths.
@Vitsippa: There are free apps that do the same thing and we found they were a lot more useful, especially when out and about.
on the same burp cloth note as @mmsva, I strongly recommend cloth diapers as burp cloths! they are PHENOMENAL.
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We are going to register this weekend.
Sometimes all the options are overwhelming.
Those of you who have babies:
What are your favorite items?
What did you get and hate or find out you never used?