I’d love to chat about baby registries, it’s a long one, grab a cup of tea first.
Because I feel like so many women get caught up when they are pregnant, all the “what to buy,” what is needed, what is not needed, and then people give them things they never actually use.
And suddenly, what should feel simple becomes overwhelming.
So instead of starting with a list, I want to start with a question.
What kind of parent do you want to be?
What kind of child do you want to raise?
What is your philosophy about life?
Because when you get clear on how you want to live, what you value, and what you believe, what you offer your baby begins to make sense.
I am really here for allowing babies to be their most natural selves.
We want to be gentle and mindful. These are sentient beings. They feel everything. It takes them up to six times longer to integrate a new experience and in the beginning, everything is a new experience.
You have driven in a car a thousand times.
For your baby, the first car ride is the first time.
Every sound.
Every movement.
Every touch.
So we keep that in the back of our minds as we choose what comes into their world.
Then we come back to another question:
Are you planning on breastfeeding?
Are you planning on sleeping with your baby?
We call it “co-sleeping,” but really, this is just what mammals do. They sleep with their young.
And from here, we begin to look at what the baby actually needs.
Clothing – keeping it simple and gentle
I always recommend crossover vests, because we don’t want babies to feel like they are being born every time we dress them.
You’ll want about 6–8 vests, and baby gros, 6–8 babygros, short-sleeve or long-sleeve, depending on the season, need for all seasons.
You only need 4–6 pairs of socks.
2–3 hats for travelling home or colder days.
2 receiving blankets.
2–3 warm blankets.
About 6–10 muslins (for spills, wipes, and everyday life).
And around 6 facecloths.
That really is enough.
Sleep, finding what feels right for you and your baby
There are a few beautiful options.
You can sleep with your baby in your bed, as long as your duvet is not over them, your partner is not too close, and your baby has their own sleep blanket.
You can use a pod in the middle of the bed.
A Moses basket with a wedge, so your baby can lie gently on their side.
Or a co-sleeper that fits next to your bed.
What always amazes me is how babies know when they are in your bed, and they know when they are in the co-sleeper.
A baby wrap is lovely for the first three months, keeping your baby close and held. After that, you can move to a carrier where the legs are open. Before that, we want their little legs tucked in, not dangling. With baby close you are helping to regulate, temperature and their nervous system.
And your belly binding wrap for mothers can also be used as a baby wrap, a beautiful way to bond.
A bed mat is one of those hidden gems. It’s waterproof, 100% cotton, hypoallergenic, and about a metre by a metre. It’s sold for potty training and night-time accidents, but it’s perfect from day one for changing your baby anywhere in the house.
Feeding & comfort
A breastfeeding pillow can be a lifesaver in the early days, when you feel like you have more thumbs than hands.
If you plan to bottle-feed breastmilk, I always recommend the Medela bottles, because your baby has to use their tongue the same way they do on the breast, so they don’t get lazy, and get nipple confusion. You only need 2–4 bottles.
I suggest waiting 6–9 weeks before introducing a bottle. In that time, your body and your baby are learning from each other, how much milk is needed, how much your baby needs to grows, how feeding flows.
For a breastpump, the Spectra is my favourite. It’s reasonably priced, gentle, and most women find they express more milk with it.
I also love having a small flask with warm water, a bowl, and cotton wool. You can add a little olive oil to the water to soften it.
This is how I recommend cleaning yout baby’s bum.
For the first couple of months, I don’t suggest wipes, even organic ones. Once a packet is opened, bacteria starts to grow. And cold, chemical wipes are not a kind experience for a newborn.
Warm water.
Soft cotton.
Gentle hands.
It makes such a difference.
Nappies, thinking beyond today
For the first 3–6 weeks, disposable nappies are practical. After that, I really encourage reusable nappies. You will be learning to breastfeed, healing, resting and learning your baby, so disposables to start are useful.
For one child to use disposables from birth to around two-and-a-half years, we’re looking at about one ton of waste sitting somewhere on this earth. 20 trees were cut down. Litres and litres of water used.
Reusable nappies are not what they were 20 or 30 years ago. They are simple. Adjustable from small to big. You put them in the washing machine, hang them up and here in Africa, they’re often dry by lunchtime.
You’ll want about 15–20 reusable nappies and 2-3 packs of disposables for the early weeks.
Babies in reusables also tend to potty train earlier, because they feel when they are wet, instead of everything being absorbed away.
If you’d like my discount code from Pokkielokkie, you can DM me.
Homeopathic birth kit – gentle, natural support for mom & baby
I always recommend having a Homeopathic Birth Kit & Baby Products on hand. Homeopathy and natural medicine work beautifully for physical and emotional complaints before, during, and after birth.
All products are completely safe for pregnancy and breastfeeding, and gentle and healing for babies. They are free from gluten, alcohol, petrochemicals, sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), sodium laureth sulphate (SLES), parabens, and other harmful chemicals.
For Mom
Evening Primrose Oil
When to use: Before and/or after giving birth.
Why: Helps balance hormones, especially important post-birth.
Recovery Drops
When to use: Immediately after giving birth.
Why: Supports pain, bruising, and trauma to the perineum. Healing is often accelerated when used for four days after birth.
Kali Phos Tissue Salt
When to use: Before and after giving birth.
Why: A nerve tonic that calms and uplifts. Helpful for anxiety and exhaustion.
For Baby
Calendula Baby Soap
When to use: For washing baby’s body and scalp.
Why: 100% natural, made with goat’s milk and no artificial fragrance, a beautiful, gentle choice for newborn skin.
Calendula Baby Massage Oil
When to use: From Day 1, on your baby’s body and scalp.
Why: Massage supports bonding, neurological development, digestion, immunity, awareness, and calm. The blend of homeopathics and oils is deeply healing for your baby’s skin.
Calendula Bum & Abrasion Cream
When to use: From Day 1.
Why: A barrier cream and a healing balm for scratches, bumps, and bruises. Soothing, natural, and free from harmful chemicals.
For Mom & Baby
Mag Phos Tissue Salt
When to use:
Mom – before and after birth.
Baby – for colic and wind.
Why: A natural pain reliever for both mother and baby.
Calming Drops
When to use:
Mom – before and after birth, especially for anxiety or fear.
Baby – from Day 1, and when needed for shock, colic, sleeplessness, or irritability.
Rescue Remedy
When to use:
Mom – before birth, during labour and birth, and after.
Baby – after birth, on the fontanel and soles of the feet.
Why: Restores calm, peace of mind, and helps your baby settle gently into their body and the world.
Belly binding – returning to yourself
One of the most beautiful and often forgotten postpartum practices is belly binding.
Across cultures, women have been wrapping and supporting their bodies after birth for generations, not to “snap back,” but to be held while they are open.
Belly binding offers gentle physical support to the abdomen, lower back, and hips as your body begins to close and re-centre after pregnancy and birth. Many women feel a sense of grounding, warmth, and emotional containment when they are bound, as if the body is being reminded where its edges are again.
Practically, it can support posture, core awareness, and ease the heaviness many women feel in the pelvis in the early weeks. Energetically, it is a ritual of transition, a way of marking the journey from pregnancy into motherhood.
I often say this work is not just about wrapping the body.
It’s about wrapping the mother. Can be found on my website under shop.
Skin, cord & tiny details
I always recommend a natural bum cream with no smell. Even when something says “essential oils,” we have to remember the industry is not well regulated. Fragrance-free is safest for baby’s skin.
I make a beautiful bum cream that comes in a small jar and a large jar, and it’s being used by families all over South Africa, and even overseas.
A baby nail file is much better than clippers. Their nails grow fast, their skin is close, and it’s so easy to accidentally hurt them and then you both end up crying. You will not be the first.
For the umbilical cord, after the first 24 hours, use Wecesin powder (or Weep & Gauze powder). Be generous. Use it often, not only during nappy changes. Its an antiseptic powder, keep cord clean and then dry up much faster than surgical spirits, that is cold.
And remember the order:
Wash hands. Tend to the cord. Then clean the bum.
Never the other way around, the cord is a direct entry into the bloodstream, and we want to protect your baby from infection.
Stuffy noses & teething
In winter especially, babies get congested and they can’t blow their own noses.
Use Steri-mar or Flo-Baby to thin the mucus. Block one nostril, spray gently into the other, and massage under the eye and along the eyebrow, this works into the sinuses. Do the other side. Massage for a minute or two.
Then use a NoseFrida to gently suction out the mucus.
From around three months, an amber teething necklace can be helpful when teething begins.
Travel & safety
A car seat is non-negotiable.
There are many options, ones that clip into prams, grow with your baby, or are lightweight and simple. Find what fits your life.
But your baby must always be in the car seat. Even if they are crying. Even for a short trip.
I have seen what happens when babies are not strapped in. Please, keep them safe.
Environment – the invisible care
We want your baby’s world to be as clean and non-toxic as possible.
If your baby is sleeping in your bed, start with what you wash your own bedding in. Then look at what you clean your floors with. What you wash dishes with. What lives in the air of your home.
www.faithfultonature.co.za is a beautiful place to begin for environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Essential oils – a lifelong language of care
One of the most powerful, and often overlooked, forms of support for pregnancy, babies, and families is plant medicine in its simplest form, essential oils.
I don’t see them as “nice to have.”
I see them as part of how we teach our children what care feels like.
From the moment a baby is in the womb, they are responding to their environment, to scent, to calm, to rhythm, to the emotional state of the body they are growing inside. Essential oils offer a gentle way to shape that environment with intention rather than chemicals, with plants rather than synthetics.
In pregnancy, they can become part of daily rituals, morning grounding, evening unwinding, moments of pause in a busy day. A scent that signals to your nervous system: you are safe, you can soften, you can breathe.
For newborns, oils are never about doing more. They are about doing less, but more consciously. A few drops in a diffuser to shift the feeling of a room. A gentle oil on your own hands before you hold your baby, so what they receive first is calm, not rush. A familiar scent that becomes part of their earliest sense of home.
As your child grows, these same oils grow with them.
They become part of the language of your family, a smell that means bedtime, one that means fresh air and open windows, one that means comfort on a hard day, one that means “we are looking after ourselves here.”
What I love about doTERRA specifically is the commitment to purity and sourcing. When we are working with something that enters the air our babies breathe, touches our skin, and becomes part of our daily rituals, quality matters. Where plants are grown, how they are harvested, and how oils are distilled all shape what you are actually bringing into your home.
Over time, essential oils become less about products and more about patterns of care.
A child who grows up in a home where wellbeing is supported naturally learns, without being taught, that their body matters. That rest matters. That nature is something you turn toward, not away from.
This is why I see essential oils not as a phase, but as something that can walk with a family, from pregnancy, to newborn days, to childhood, to adolescence, and beyond.
Not as a solution to everything.
But as a gentle companion to living consciously.
Because in the end, this isn’t about having more.
It’s about choosing with care.
Choosing with awareness.
Choosing in a way that honours the small, sentient being who has just arrived in your arms.