Baby Bargains: Secrets to Saving 20% to 50% on Baby Furniture, Equipment, Maternity Wear and Much, Much More!

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Good quality. We like the metal spring mattress platform—some low-end cribs come with flat wood boards as a mattress base, which we don’t recommend. DON’T BUY A USED CRIB OR CAR SEAT. Old cribs may not meet current safety standards. It’s also difficult to get replacement parts for obscure brands. Car seats are also a second-hand no-no— you can’t be sure it wasn’t in an accident, weakening its safety and effectiveness. And watch out for clothing with drawstrings, loose buttons or other safety hazards.

Streamlined recommendations by parenting lifestyle, from a crib for space-challenged urban parents to an affordable car seat for Grandma’s car. Another frustration was the harness, which a few dissenters said was difficult to adjust. And removing the seat from the car can be a bit of a pain, especially trying to release the ratchet. Some colors don’t have matching toddler rails. If you get one of the unusual colors, like Lagoon blue, you won’t be able to find a matching toddler rail. Only white and grey have matching rails. If Monopoly gets a bit heated, kids can enjoy a quiet arts and crafts session with this 20 piece Play-Doh Mountain of Colours Play Set. Including 15 cands of Play-Doh in a rainbow of colours, creative boys and girls can unleash their imagination. They can use the 20 cutters and accessories to make whatever they like!Invest your money in hotels and houses and watch the cash roll in as players land on your property! How many? Since these are really play clothes and small infants don’t do a lot of playing, we recommend you only buy two to four coveralls for babies less than four months of age. However, if your child will be going into daycare at an early age, you may need to start with four to six coveralls. Cup holders add to seat width—which makes it harder to fit into tight spots (some narrow airline seats, compact rental cars, etc). Stay away from the super-size vinyl bibs that cover the arms, since babies who wear them can get too hot and sweaty. However, we do recommend you buy a few regular-style vinyl bibs for travel. You can wash them off much more easily than the standard terry-cloth bibs. No fold or squish down side. You access baby from the top of the bassinet. It’s easier to do this if the bassinet has a side that squishes or folds down; this bassinet doesn’t have that feature.

A toss-up: gowns. The jury is still out on whether gowns are useful. We thought they were a waste of money, but a parent we interviewed did mention that she used the gowns when her baby had colic (that persistent crying condition; see our other book Baby 411 for a discussion). She believed that the extra room in the gown made her baby more comfortable. Still others praise gowns for their easy access to diapers, making changes easy, especially in the middle of the night. Most useful when paired with other (online) resources, such as Lucie's List (love!!) and Baby Gear Lab (really useful comparison metrics, though they lean heavily toward "natural" things). Mesh sides for airflow. We prefer this to bassinets that have closed or fabric sides, which restrict airflow. Good but not Great clothes were pretty good, just not as soft or as stylish as Best Bets. The Skip-It brands were most likely the poorest quality: they shrunk in the wash, pilled up or fell apart. Inconsistent sizing was also a problem.Mesh doesn’t extend down to mattress. While this bassinet has mesh sides, the mesh doesn’t extend down to the mattress. That means baby could roll up against the side and not have airflow. Care should be taken to make sure baby is placed in the center of the bassinet. Transition the baby out of the bassinet before they can roll over (usually around four months). No wheels. As such, this bassinet isn’t very mobile. And it is so wide, it doesn’t easily fit through small doorways. Formula dispensers are basically Tupperware style plastic containers with three or four separate compartments. Parents told us all the things that frustrated them about using formula dispensers and we developed five categories for our testing.

When it comes to travel car seats and infants and toddlers, we’d go for a lightweight seat that is easy to use and affordable. The key issue is weight: if you are lugging this seat through an airport or wrestling it into a rental car, you don’t want a 30 lb. behemoth (yes, some car seats weight that much!). Here’s more on why the Costco Onlook is a best bet for travel car seats for infants and toddlers: What We Liked Easy to trip over legs. For stability reasons, this bassinet has long legs on its base—and those are easy to trip over in the middle of the night. The all-in-one car seat is the Fountain of Youth for car seat makers—the mythical seat that works from birth to college (ok, as a belt-positioning booster to 120 lbs., or when kids age out of booster seats and can correctly fit in a regular seat belt. That’s usually around age ten or later).When you do buy bibs, stay away from the ones that tie. Bibs that snap or have Velcro are much easier to get on and off. Another good bet: bibs that go on over the head (and have no snaps or Velcro). Why? Older babies can’t pull them off by themselves. Get your little one’s first wardrobe sorted for less with our baby clothing and accessories sale. Whether you’re looking for everyday essentials, cute co-ords or cosy nightwear, we’ve got everything you need, all at prices that you and your wallet will love.