What to Expect Registry Builder Review

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What is it? What to Expect’s Registry Builder
Why I love it: It’s basically like a digital registry assistant — it recommends the best registries and baby products for you, based on your answers to a few quick questions. Then you can link your registries and share them all in one place.
How much is it? Free!
Where to find it: Registry.WhatToExpect.Com

The moment I saw the positive indicator on my pregnancy test, my life felt forever changed. My husband and I were thrilled to begin family planning and thrilled with the happy news. And while the excitement has lasted since then, my anxiety over my growing to-do list has also increased.

In addition to going to doctor appointments and adjusting to a new, changing body, I’ve also started to explore what we will need when the baby makes its debut in March. As a freelance journalist who has spent years covering the pregnancy and parenting industry, I'll admit that I thought I was prepared to navigate parenthood prep. I quickly discovered I was in over my head.

From which stroller is best for our lifestyle, to which car seat is safest, to which crib mattress and diaper bag is best, it’s a lot to explore and unpack. So, when I discovered What to Expect’s Registry Builder, I was thrilled to have a tool that could help with all of the research involved in being a first-time parent.

What to Expect’s Registry Builder is like a (free!) registry consultant

Though your OB/GYN and parent friends will try to dissuade you from Googling each and every symptom you experience during pregnancy — or question in the adoption or surrogacy process — it’s hard to resist the temptation. After all, this is a unique time in your life, so it’s normal to be curious. But as I’ve experienced, internet searches often create more questions than answers. This is true with pregnancy aches and pains, as well as insight on selecting a registry. Is Buy Buy Baby the best? Or Amazon? How about Target? Here’s where the What to Expect Registry Builder comes in handy.

You take a short quiz based on your current situation, and then Registry Builder recommends which registries would work best for you, based on your answers. You also get a custom checklist that includes baby gear, breastfeeding and/or formula or bottle-feeding necessities, decor inspiration and more.From there, you can explore a collection of curated guides for each type of product (think: a deep dive into infant strollers or breast pumps). And if you decide to start registries at Amazon or Buy Buy Baby, you can instantly add any recommended products straight from What to Expect’s website.

Also nice? You can link virtually any registry to your Registry Builder account, which makes them easier to keep track of — and which also means you only have one link to share with friends and family, even if you have multiple registries.

Though plenty of baby essentials will cost you a pretty penny, What to Expect’s Registry Builder is completely free.

My experience using Registry Builder

I discovered Registry Builder in the second trimester of my first pregnancy, when I tended to find most aspects of preparing for baby equal parts thrilling and stressful. However, using the What to Expect Registry Builder tool was super simple and straightforward. It started with a short introduction quiz that asked if I was preparing for pregnancy, tracking a pregnancy or looking for postpartum recovery and baby development support.

I selected "tracking a pregnancy," so I was asked to enter my due date, email and zip code. From there, I was prompted to create a What to Expect member account and selected a password and username. (This is a step you have to take if you'd like to use Registry Builder — but it also means you can use other What to Expect tools to track your pregnancy.)

After getting through the basic information, the sign-up process became more personal. I was then asked if it was my first pregnancy; a second, third, etc., pregnancy; if I was expecting multiples; going through surrogacy or adoption; or planning ahead. While I did select first pregnancy, I loved the option of "planning ahead." As a type-A person, I’ve been thinking about becoming a mom for a long time and would have happily explored the registry builder before I was expecting if I knew it was a choice.

Next, it asked about my hopes for feeding: breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, formula feeding or pumping. This one was a bit tricky for me since I’d like to do a combination of several of these: breastfeeding in the beginning, bottle-feeding so my husband can bond with our child and then pumping when I return back to work. Luckily, you can choose all of the options that apply to you.

Then, it was on to the baby’s gender. The options were having a boy or girl, gender-neutral selections or a "show me everything" option to see all of the above. We have decided to find out the sex of our baby, but because we won’t know for a bit longer, I decided to see the whole shebang. We will likely do a mix of gender-specific and gender-neutral in our baby’s wardrobe and nursery decor, so having more to pick from was the best option for me.

Next up was the size of the recommendations I wanted: just the essentials or the more, the better. I chose the latter since it’s my first pregnancy, and I wanted to explore as much as possible.

Lastly, I was given a list of what’s most important to me and asked to select two options:

Free gifts
Extensive brand selection
Completion discount
Long return window
Low prices and discounts
Group gifting

I decided to go with "extensive brand selection" and "long return window," since I know I might need time to determine whether a product is a fit or not. And while I do tend to be brand loyal once I fall in love with something, everything in the baby world is new to me, so I’d like to experience a variety of companies so I can compare and contrast.

Based on my quiz answers, What to Expect’s Registry Builder suggested an Amazon registry, since they have a seemingly endless number of options and allow returns up to one year.

From here, I was able to go to my personalized baby registry checklist that was already populated with 53 items I should consider adding to my registry. It was separated into sections, including Strollers and Car Seats, Nursery, Breastfeeding, Diapering, Bathing & Grooming, Health & Baby Care, Clothing and more.

What I liked about Registry Builder

First and foremost, the whole quiz took just a few minutes. So if you’re crunched for time, it was a fast way to find information and recommendations without setting aside an hour. (Worth noting: If you don't want to take the quiz and already have registries you want to link to keep them organized in one place, you can also do that.) Secondly, the organization of Registry Builder was user-friendly and straightforward to navigate.

Once I arrived at my recommended registry products by section, it was super easy to click through and read curated guides.

For example, my husband and I have been discussing crib mattresses lately and determining which had the best reviews. I clicked on "Best Crib Mattresses" from my personalized page and was led to an extensive review guide. It broke down each of What to Expect’s picks by category, including best overall, best long-lasting, most affordable and so on. Most of the products also contain "Community Reviews," so you can hear from actual parents in the What to Expect community and find out why certain products are their go-tos.

When I found the crib mattress I wanted to register for, I simply clicked the "Add to Registry" button and boom! That’s it — it was added to my Amazon registry! Right now, this feature is only compatible with Amazon and Buy Buy Baby, but What to Expect says that it will be offered for more retailers soon.

Since there are a surprising amount of must-haves for expecting parents and babies, the ability to scour each of these guides is beneficial. There are so many choices on gear, nursery décor, bathing and feeding, so having a central hub helps to get through your checklist.

The other great thing about Registry Builder: I mentioned this before, but you can link all of your registries and manage and share them from one central place, rather than sending your friends and family a bunch of different links. So much easier!

My only (minor) complaints about Registry Builder

Right now, once you add an item to your registry from a category, you have to manually check off that item on your checklist to mark it as completed. It would be nice if Registry Builder automatically updated categories and checked them off for you. That said, it's not too much hassle to check items off yourself — and I do like the sense of accomplishment that comes with checking off a box.

Also, Registry Builder has extra features for Amazon, Buy Buy Baby, and Target registries right now — as in, both your guest view and private dashboard will show everything you've registered for on any of those sites, as well as what your friends and family have or haven't purchased for you yet. While this is a great feature, it would be nice to have it compatible with even more retailers.

These minor fixes would be great, but I definitely recommend the What to Expect Registry Builder tool even without them. The What to Expect registry tool is free and makes the registry process so much less overwhelming.