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Best Baby Products, 9th Ed. (Best Baby Products)
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Product Description
Consumer Reports is the only publisher that conducts its own independent, unbiased safety and effectiveness testing on products for babies. We accept no advertising in our publications. Everything we test is purchased by secret shoppers in the same stores that new parents shop in. We’ll tell you not only which products are best, but also which products to avoid because they are not safe, or simply are a waste of money. As a result Consumer Reports Best Baby Products is the indispensable companion for new parents navigating the complex maze of hundreds of available baby products.
What are the features to look for to make sure the crib you buy is a safe one? All-terrain strollers, stroller frames, umbrella strollers, travel systems? We’ll help you buy the parent-powered transporter that best suits your needs and budget. Does a pacifier really prevent sudden infant death syndrome? Written with warmth, wit and authority, Best Baby Products will help alleviate some of the anxiety caused by all the questions running through a new parent's mind. Consumer Reports buying advice and ratings allows buyers to streamline the selection process, avoid shopping pitfalls, and help keep the baby budget in balance.
Here is everything you need to know about: Baby bottles - Baby food - Backpack carriers - Bathtubs - Bedding - Bouncers - Breast Pumps - Cameras - Car seats - Changing tables - Clothing - Cribs - Diapers - Diaper bags - Diaper pails - Formula - Gates - High chairs - Kid-friendly cars - Mattresses - Monitors - Nursing Bras - Pacifiers - Play yards - Rocking chairs and gliders - Soft carriers - Stationary activity centers - Strollers - Stuffed animals - Swings - Toys - and more!
Plus:
-How to administer medications to babies and children
-Child-proofing and home-safety tips
- Recent safety recalls
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #5946 in Books
- Published on: 2007-04-03
- Released on: 2007-04-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 310 pages
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Best Baby Products comes to you from Consumer Reports, the testing and consumer information source best known for product ratings and buying guidance. Since 1936, the mission of Consumer Reports has been to test products, inform the public, and protect consumers.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Answers to your toughest baby product questions from Sandra Gordon, author of Consumer Reports Best Baby Products 9th edition.
Why is buying a baby walker a bad idea? What makes one stroller worth $150 while another costs $750? Consumer Reports Best Baby Products, 2007 will answer all your questions about buying products that keep your baby safe and provide good value. Here are a few of the answers you’ll find:
Is it okay to buy a used breast pump--or borrow your best friends?It’s not a good idea. Buying a used electric personal-use pump or borrowing a friend’s can put your baby’s health at risk because breast milk can carry bacteria and viruses. These potential contaminants can travel through the tubing and lodge in the pump’s internal mechanism—the part that connects to the tubing—which can’t be removed, replaced, or fully sterilized.
Hospital-grade rental pumps, on the other hand are designed for many users and are built to endure years of use. They may prevent cross- and self-contamination with a special collection filter that prohibits milk from entering the internal diaphragm. Or they’re designed so that the milk comes in contact only with the bottles and tubing that attach to the pump, so there’s no cross-contamination.
If you live in the city and take lots of cabs, you're probably wondering: What do I do when my baby outgrows her infant car seat? Lug around a convertible car seat?
Consider buying a portable car seat for taxis and travel. Check out the Sit n Stroll by Tripleplay Products (www.tripleplayproducts.com), which converts from a stroller to a car seat. It works as a rear-facing restraint up to 30 pounds and a forward facing seat up to one year or 40 pounds.
What's the best sleeping arrangement for a newborn? A Moses basket?Crib? Bassinet? Co-sleeper?
We think the best beds for babies are full-size cribs, which must be manufactured to federal safety standard. Other options for the first four to five months of your baby’s life include bassinets, Moses baskets, co-sleepers, cradles, and portable cribs (play yards).
A co-sleeper is an infant bed that attaches to an adult bed. We don’t recommend co-sleepers or Moses baskets—a basket with a bottom pad and puffy fabric sides with handles—because safety standards have not been established for either one.
Bassinets and cradles are subject to a voluntary safety standard. (Juvenile products that don’t comply with a voluntary standard can be recalled if the Consumer Product Safety Commission considers the product a safety hazard.) But unlike full-size cribs, there are no mandatory federal safety standards for bassinets and cradles. That’s why we advocate full-size cribs over bassinets and cradles. If you do go with a bassinet or cradle, consider it a temporary arrangement. Once your baby begins to push up on his hands and knees or reaches the manufacturer’s maximum weight (usually 15 to 18 pounds, but sometimes as high as 25 pounds), whichever comes first, it’s time to move him to a crib.
Can I use my baby's play yard as a portable crib when I’m traveling?
You can, and in fact it’s a good idea to bring it along in case the hotel’s crib is not up to standards. If you do use the hotel’s crib, check to make sure the mattress is firm and snug-fitting. You shouldn’t be able to fit two fingers between the edge of the mattress and the crib side or fit a soda can between the slats. There also shouldn’t be any missing or protruding parts, screws or bolts, or high corner posts, which pose a strangulation hazard, or cutouts in the head or footboard.
Customer Reviews
Ratings Deficient but Decent Reference
This is a decent general reference for first time parents; however, the claim that it includes ratings is a little misleading. Critical information is missing for some of the most important purchases. For example, there are ratings for bouncers but not for breast pumps or car seats! The book claims to offer information on the "best and worst brand-name models" but this information is sporadic at best. Just as the Consumer Reports website suggests, the book encourages one to subscribe to Consumer Reports to get more information.
My review of the Best Baby Products book
This wasn't exactly what I was looking for in a Baby Products book. I thought they would make it very clear on exactly what products you should buy, and rate them with stars. Instead, the book gives you a general idea of which way to go, and then you can pay to get on the Consumer Reports website to find out the ratings on the different products. I already paid for the book. I don't want to pay for anything else.
Another disappointed reader
I will never buy another resource book w/out reading the reviews. I also thought this book would be the answer to the endless stressful research behind buying all of the necessary items for your first baby. It reads more like a how-to book for parents, of which I already own too many. I don't need help figuring out if I'm going to breastfeed. I need help deciding on one of over 200 stroller choices ranging in $100 - over $1000! What happened to Consumer Reports?!
