Most registry checklists you'll find online have 150+ items on them. Most of those exist because they're easy to sell, not because most babies need them. Here's a shorter, more honest breakdown.

The Genuine Essentials

These show up in nearly every household regardless of parenting style, budget, or baby temperament.

• A safe place to sleep (crib, bassinet, or approved co-sleeper)
• A correctly installed car seat
• A way to feed your baby, whichever method you choose
• Enough diapers and wipes to survive the newborn stage (you will go through more than you think)
• A handful of weather-appropriate outfits in at least two sizes, since newborn-size clothes fit some babies for days and others for months
• A thermometer and basic first aid items
• A place to change diapers that doesn't require perfect posture at 3 a.m.

That's truly most of it. Everything past this point is preference, not necessity.

The "It Depends" Category

These are useful for a lot of families, but not universal. Register for them based on your actual lifestyle, not because a checklist told you to.

• A baby carrier or wrap essential if you want hands-free mobility, but unnecessary if you don't plan to leave the house much early on
• A bottle warmer is helpful for exclusively bottle-fed babies, but redundant otherwise
• A white noise machine is only necessary for some babies, while other sleep through anything
• A baby monitor with a video feed is more useful in larger homes; in a studio or one-bedroom, you'll hear everything anyway
• A specialty bathing setup is mostly unnecessary; a kitchen sink and a towel get the job done for the first few months

The Overhyped Category

These show up on almost every checklist and get used far less than marketing suggests.

• Wipe warmers. Most parents stop using them within weeks
• Shoes for babies who can't walk are purely aesthetic and often lost within days
• Bulk newborn-size clothing. Many babies size out of newborn clothes in two to three weeks
• Elaborate nursery decor items are nice to have, but irrelevant to your baby's actual needs

How to Actually Decide

Ask this question for every item: "Does this solve a problem I already expect to have, or am I registering for it because it looked good on someone else's list?" If it's the second one, it's fine to skip,or to wait and see if you actually need it once the baby's here.

A shorter, more intentional registry isn't a worse one. It's usually the sign of a parent who's thought about their actual life, not just filled out a template.