What to put on a baby registry to save money, and what to skip

We are not going to tell you which stroller to buy. Other people do that and they do it better.

What nobody points out is that a registry works like a financial instrument for a few weeks.

It is the only window in your life where friends, colleagues and 4 branches of your family all volunteer to ask you where to put their money.

That is our observation, not a statistic. We could not find a study on how long registry giving lasts, so we are not printing a number for it.

What should I put on a baby registry to save money?

4 lines on it are not about gear. Here they are, with the money behind each one.

1. A cash fund with a name on it

Registry platforms vary on whether they offer a cash fund and how the money gets paid out, so the fine print matters.

In our experience, a fund called "college fund" or "first-year fund" gets money and a blank cash option mostly does not. We have no data on that. It is a pattern, and it tracks with how awkward it feels to hand somebody money with no destination.

It is also the only line on the registry that can still exist when your kid is 18. $1,000 in gifts, invested at an assumed 7% average annual return compounded monthly for 18 years, grows to about $3,513 in our model. The Trump Account vs 529 comparison covers where that kind of money can live.

2. The car seat, new

This is the 1 item where the safety rules narrow the money question, because a used seat only works if you can vouch for its whole history.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says do not use a car seat that is "too old," and tells parents to "check the expiration date or use 6 years from manufacture date if there is no expiration date."

The older version of this page said seats typically expire 6 to 10 years from manufacture, and credited NHTSA with 6 to 8 years for newer seats. We could not read NHTSA's page today to confirm either range, so we dropped both. The date on the seat and the AAP's 6-year default are what we can source.

The bigger issue with a hand-me-down is history. The AAP says do not use a seat "that has been in a crash," and do not use a used seat "if you do not know the history of the seat."

Nobody passing one along is lying about it. They may not know either.

It goes on the registry anyway. It is a high-ticket line somebody generous may claim, and if nobody does, it is the purchase with the least room for bargain hunting.

3. The thing you will touch 4 times a day

Feeding gear and sleep gear get used constantly. In our house, that is where paying up returned something, because the daily-use items were the ones that wore out.

Anything used occasionally, or only inside 1 narrow developmental window, is a borrow-or-buy-used candidate. Bassinets, swings, activity centers, most of the newborn clothes.

For anything secondhand that a baby sleeps in or rides in, check for recalls at CPSC.gov and skip it if it is cracked or missing parts.

4. The line that is a subscription in a costume

Diapers, wipes and formula are not gifts. They are a monthly bill that starts the week the baby lands and does not stop.

A diaper fund converts 1-off generosity into months of a recurring cost, during the stretch when a lot of parents are on leave.

Which makes it a better use of somebody's $100 than the 5th newborn onesie.

We registered for a snack tray for a stroller that already had a cupholder. Somebody bought it. Nobody made us put it on the list.

Can you use a used car seat?

The AAP's answer comes with conditions. A used seat is ruled out if its history is unknown, it has been in a crash, it has been recalled, it has cracks or missing parts, or it is past its expiration date.

When there is no printed date, the AAP uses 6 years from the manufacture date. It also says the seat needs its manufacturer labels and instructions, and to call the manufacturer with questions.

So a seat from a sibling whose full history you know, still inside its date, not recalled, with no cracks or missing parts and its labels intact, clears the AAP's list. A seat from a stranger with no history does not.

5 Things to Set Up Before Your Baby Arrives

Free guide · Ranked, in order

Get the guide free

How much does daycare cost for an infant?

This is where the registry math starts to look small. Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care Report put average weekly infant care at $332 for a daycare center, $323 for a family care center and $870 for a nanny, based on 2025 posted rates.

The report pairs those posted rates with a survey of 3,000 US parents who pay for child care, conducted Nov 30, 2025. None of it is a government count, and local prices swing a lot by city.

We pulled the infant daycare price for every state into 1 table in how much infant daycare costs, by state and per month.

How much is daycare a month?

At Care.com's averages, infant daycare works out to about $1,439 a month and a nanny to about $3,770 a month, if care runs all 52 weeks.

Parents in the same survey said they spend 20% of their household income on child care. 20% of families said they spend more than $30,000 a year.

Next to that, a registry diaper fund covers weeks, not years. It still lands during the stretch when the bill is new and the budget has not caught up.

How much does it cost to raise a baby?

The most-cited government number is old. The USDA's last Expenditures on Children by Families report, released Jan 9, 2017, projected that a middle-income married-couple family would spend $233,610 (in 2015 dollars) to raise a child born in 2015 through age 17, or $284,570 with projected inflation.

Spread evenly across those 18 years, that is about $12,978 a year. That is an average across all 18 years, not a year 1 figure.

We found no newer USDA edition, and the figure is not adjusted for prices since 2015.

If a registry line can shave even a small slice off that, it is doing a money job. The same goes for starting small on the savings side, which is the whole point of a dollar a day.

How much does a baby cost the first year?

The same USDA report breaks spending out by age. For a middle-income married-couple family, it put spending on a child age 0 to 2 at $12,680 a year, in 2015 dollars.

That figure is for the younger child in a 2-child family. The USDA says to multiply by 1.27 for an only child, which works out to about $16,104 a year in our math.

Housing was the biggest single piece, at $3,680 of the $12,680.

How much should I budget for having a baby?

We could not find a current government first-year total, so we are not printing one. The USDA age 0 to 2 figure is the closest sourced number, and it has limits for a first-year budget.

The USDA says its estimates leave out prenatal care and childbirth costs. They also leave out time costs and lost earnings from caring for a child.

It is also an average across ages 0, 1 and 2, based on 2011 to 2015 spending data, and not adjusted for prices since 2015. The variable is income: the same table runs from $9,690 a year for the lower-income group to $19,770 for the higher-income group.

Frequently asked questions

Do car seats expire?

Yes. The American Academy of Pediatrics says do not use a seat past its expiration date. If the seat has no date, the AAP uses 6 years from the manufacture date.

Is it safe to use a hand-me-down car seat?

Only under conditions. The AAP says do not use a used seat with an unknown history, one that has been in a crash or recalled, or one with cracks or missing parts.

How much does infant daycare cost per week?

Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care Report put infant daycare centers at $332 a week on average, based on 2025 rates. That is $17,264 a year at 52 weeks.

How much does a baby cost the first year?

The USDA's last report put middle-income married-couple spending on a child age 0 to 2 at $12,680 a year, in 2015 dollars. That is for the younger child in a 2-child family, and about $16,104 for an only child using the USDA's 1.27 multiplier.

How much should I budget for having a baby?

We found no current government first-year total. The closest sourced figure is the USDA's $12,680 a year for a child age 0 to 2 in a middle-income married-couple family, in 2015 dollars, and it leaves out prenatal care and childbirth costs.

How much does it cost to raise a child?

The USDA's last report, released in 2017, projected that a middle-income married-couple family would spend $233,610 (in 2015 dollars) to raise a child born in 2015 through age 17. That figure has not been updated by the USDA since.

What percentage of income goes to child care?

Parents in Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care survey said they spend 20% of household income on child care. The survey covered 3,000 parents who pay for care, so it is not a national average.

Should I put a cash fund on my baby registry?

The math on registry cash is long term. $1,000 invested at an assumed 7% average annual return, compounded monthly for 18 years, grows to about $3,513. Returns are not guaranteed. Whether guests fund it is up to the platform and the guests.

Checked Sep 16, 2026. Car seat rules are American Academy of Pediatrics guidance: no crash history, and no older than the printed expiration date, or 6 years from manufacture if undated. Child care costs are Care.com 2026 Cost of Care Report averages. First-year spending figures are USDA estimates in 2015 dollars. Registry platform features vary.