Of all the pressing matters on the mind of a mama-to-be, one thing on the list that should be fun can, surprisingly, be extremely stressful. That’s creating a baby registry.
According to a study conducted by Johnson’s, 60 percent of expecting parents found themselves overwhelmed by the many options of products they have to choose from when building a registry. When you’re a new parent, it’s especially taxing because you don’t truly know what you need until you’re knee-deep in parenthood. According to the study, two-thirds of parents who have a registry would like some help. Enter Elaine Welteroth.
“I think the first time around, you don’t know what you don’t know. So you have a tendency to overbuy, stress more than you need to, and worry more than you need to,” says Welteroth, the journalist, birthFUND founder and mom. She can relate to that stress, so the soon-to-be mother of two teamed up with Johnson’s and Babylist to create The Worry Free Registry. Now that she is preparing for her second child and knows what the essentials are, Welteroth is aiming to help frazzled parents-to-be figure out what they need when locking down a registry. The list is made up of items she hand-picked.
“I am an editor by nature, as my background is as a magazine editor. So now I feel like I can actually help edit down to not just the basics, but the essentials, the really valuable items that will actually add value to you and your baby’s experience in this transition,” she says.
Items you will find there include everything from the Tripp Trapp convertible high chair to a portable bassinet from Chicco, the Boon Lawn Countertop Drying Rack (I had that and loved it!), dye-free infant Tylenol, and one of Welteroth’s favorite categories of baby goods: bath time products.
“I will say growing up, when I had bath time with my mom, she used Johnson’s Pink Baby Lotion, that iconic pink bottle with the pink cream,” she says fondly. “And that was part of our ritual together, and it felt very safe, sacred, and special. And I want to create those types of memories for my baby. And so one of the things that I have on the Worry Free Registry is this natural calm aroma. It is like a full kit that has everything you need to get through bath time.”
Her other must-haves from the list include the Doona car seat, which she calls a “game changer for its ability to be everything in one.
“From a stroll at the park or the beach, you fold it up and it will take you back to the car, turn into a car seat, and then you can take it out and go to the airport and pack it and ship it and travel with it. And you’ll need it on the other end when you get in an Uber or a rental car. It is such a lifesaver,” she says. “My child is outgrowing it, but we’re still holding on, and we’re like, we’re going to use this thing until the wheels fall off, and we will be using it for baby number two as well.”
All of the items on the list are Welteroth’s “tried and true” items that she has used in her own home. They’re products she’s excited to have ready for her baby on the way. Welteroth announced that she is expecting in June and, when asked how she’s feeling about becoming a mother of two, while admittedly a bit distracted by the busyness of her life, she said she’s grateful that things are so much different than they were the first time around.
“The last pregnancy was so hard that I couldn’t even mentally get to the baby of it all,” she says. “I couldn’t focus on the realities of this baby coming and what that’s going to mean. I was so distracted by pain and discomfort and the lack of care that I was getting until I found my beautiful midwives. And then this time it’s like because I feel so good and because I’m so busy, I still can’t get to the part where I’m like, wait, but wait, a baby’s coming!”
She’s also thankful for her husband Jonathan Singletary, whom she and her oldest son call “Daddo,” because of the great help that she knows he will be in this major transition to a family of four and for the knowledge she’s accrued that led her to create birthFUND. It is a community fund that Welteroth brought to life in 2024 to help families obtain midwifery care for a safer birthing experience, mentally and physically. The realities of the maternal mortality crisis in this country and her own experience when expecting for the first time inspired its creation.
“Part of why this is my redemption pregnancy is because I have had quality midwifery care from the very beginning, and it has made a world of difference. I feel so much safer, more joyful, and more confident in this pregnancy than I did in the first. And some of that is like, yeah, you’ve been here before. But it’s really the support,” she shares. “It’s really the guidance and the security of knowing that I’m being cared for by people who are invested in the safety and the health of my family. It’s like mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically, it’s a game changer to have that kind of care from the very beginning. And just for contrast, I didn’t find my midwives until the middle of my third trimester last time. So I was really out here feeling very vulnerable and not feeling great about the overall experience.”
Welteroth says that being able to take control of her first birthing experience not only brought her and her oldest child through delivery healthy and happy, but it also changed her professional life. She is now helping other families have the type of experience she realized is essential, and this assignment, which she’s passionate about, has helped her find a work-life balance she admits she was missing.
“I have to just say that the life-changing experience of finding my midwives and being exposed to their holistic care model put me on this new journey, which has been the most rewarding work experience of my life. And it feels like it’s aligned me, it’s aligned,” she says. “I’ve never been good about work-life balance, but this feels like it’s brought my life into balance. It’s brought my work and my life together in a way that feels very values-aligned. So I feel like where I’m at in life personally really aligns with where I’m at professionally, and it’s really rewarding to be in this experience of pregnancy with all of the families that we’re supporting in this birth cohort.”
And it also, Welteroth says, is perfect timing. She found out she was expecting again while bringing birthFUND to the world.
“I was full force ahead on birthFUND when I found out I was expecting a second baby. At first, I worried that I wouldn’t have enough time or energy to do it all. But what I have found is just so much energy and motivation in knowing that I’m in this together with all of these families that we’re here to support. So it feels very divinely orchestrated. It’s divinely timed.”
Check out Elaine Welteroths’s must-have products for parenthood in The Worry Free Registry at Babylist.