Choosing the best baby toys

Trying to choose the best toys for your baby's development can become quite difficult.

Due to an ever increasing and vast range of toy brands, the mere number of options can sometimes get overwhelming.

The most important question to keep in mind when choosing toys (in addition to quality and safety) is what kind of toy can best help the development of my baby.

Babies learn from every experience they have, and getting the right toys at the right age can make a big difference in the way your babies senses are stimulated and the way your baby learns.

For newborn babies, you just want to generally stimulate. At this age (up to the age of about 6 monthes) toys are more about experience than interaction. You just need to give your baby as many textures, colors and sounds as possible. You should focus on interesting bright colored mobiles, rattlers and also music.

Next you should introduce some toys that involve more interaction - activity centers,  stuffed animals and basic sorting games. Your games should begin to encourage crawling.

Once your baby begins to walk and explore, you may want to start looking for baby toys that allow experimentation such as bulding blocks, musical toys and wagons.

For 18 month olds, it is all about language and imagination - get simple educational word games,  puppets, puzzles and construction games.

You can start introducing arts and crafts games around the age of 2.  At this point your baby's ready to handle more intricate tasks such as building sets, and comprehend the rules of simple board games.

Do your best to allow your baby to be creating on his own - general building blocks (instead of the ones that come with instructions for building a specific object) and arts equipment will allow your baby to use his imagination and come up with his own games.

How to choose a stroller



Shopping for your first child can be really exciting, but it can also become quite daunting at times.

Every decision feels like a matter of life death - what is the best brand? what is the safest? should I always just buy the most expensive product just to make sure?

But by far, the most confusing baby product to shop for is the stroller. There are so many options, and (often unnecessary) features that you sometimes can't tell what to look for anymore.

That is why we'd like to offer you a few points to consider when shopping for a baby stroller :

• Weight. Use a baby stroller for a month and you will see - the weight is key. Sooner or later, all you young mommies will have to haul you brand new stroller up the stairs or load it into the car. Making sure you get a lightweight stroller can make all the difference in the world.
• Safety. Just because a stroller is more expensive, doesn't mean it's any safer. Simply make sure the stroller was made according to ASTM regulations.
• Comfort. Feel the stroller's padding and straps and try to think how it would feel to sit in one of these. a comortable baby is a much calmer baby. Also consider your own comfort - walk the stroller around the shop for a few minutes. Are the handles comfortable and in the right height for you? Can you turn easily? How easy is it to fold?
• Storage space. You can not even imagine how many things you need to take with you even for aa quick stroll through the park. A stroller with lots of handy compartments for all your baby's things can make your life much easier. Remember - the more you can fit in the stroller, the less you have to carry on your shoulder.