About Chew Toys
Filed under: Baby Gear, Baby Health, Baby Safety, Baby Toys, Teething
All babies go through a phase when their first teeth come in, and, as this is new and unfamiliar, the baby will probably feel pain from this experience. This is why chew toys, also known as teething toys, were created. Regardless of the shape of a chew toy, chewing on the hard, plastic surface helps exercise the baby’s gums and relieves some of the pressure from the soreness of the new teeth. Many plastic teething toys can also be frozen, and the coolness aids with soothing the soreness from the new teeth. Some teething toys can be stuck in the freezer for a few minutes, while others have cooling fluid inside.
The general shape of a chew toy is a ring, and in many cases, multiple rings are added. Some teething toys aren’t ring shaped but have something for the baby to grab onto, and many current popular teething toys are shaped like animals. These rubber animals can be frozen and, when taken out of the freezer, the surface of the toy will be cool and hard for the baby to chew on. When looking for teething toys, any shape is fine, as long as the baby is able to grasp onto it.
Other factors need to be taken into consideration when looking for a teething toy. Although rings and rubber animals are popular, the chew toy shouldn’t have any loose pieces – and this applies to all baby toys, not just teething toys. Many teething toys can be put in the freezer to be cool, but some toys are filled with a cooling gel, much like a cooling pack. If you’re interested in one of these toys, check to make sure that the cooling gel inside the toy is non-toxic and that the toy doesn’t have a surface that can be punctured.
The Importance of Blocks
To adults, blocks may seem like a simple and basic toy, but these toys serve one educational purpose for all children: learning fine motor skills. Blocks, in addition, also help with learning various shapes, as some block sets come in a variety of colors. But picking up blocks and identifying their shapes isn’t really the purpose of blocks, is it? Generally, when children play with blocks, they’re using them to build towers or other objects resembling a wall. Many children stack blocks and, when the tower gets too high, it falls down and, by practice, they learn to build better towers.
The practice of building towers and other objects with blocks helps with motor skills for a child. The act of picking up blocks improves motor skills and allows a child to have more dexterity. Similarly, when a child uses these blocks to build a tower, he or she is learning about cause and effect and also about balance. For example, if the blocks aren’t stacked a certain way, they can fall down and using more blocks often makes a more stable tower. In addition, blocks are open to various interpretations and, as a result, a child playing with blocks can be creative in how he or she uses them.
Aside from improving motor skills and creativity, blocks can have additional features for helping your children learn numbers, colors, the alphabet, and letters. Numbers and letters may seem more obvious, as many cube-shaped blocks have a combination of letters and numbers on their sides and may be in different colors, as well. In terms of stacking blocks, however, some block sets come in a variety of shapes and trying to stack blocks in rectangular and triangular shapes is more challenging than a set of rectangular or square blocks.
Baby Shower Present: Baby Gift Baskets
Filed under: Baby Clothes, Baby Gear, Baby Showers, Baby Toys
If you’ve been invited to a baby shower, picking out a gift can be difficult if you don’t know what to get for a new baby. Although the parents probably have some of the basics picked out, such as baby furniture, part of picking out a baby shower gift is finding something useful that will be used for the first six months to a year. If you can’t decide between a set of blue or pink onesies or a baby toy, gift baskets combine many of these useful and necessary baby items. Some baby gift baskets are more clothing centric, while others focus more on toys, or stimulation baby toys, but some even have an all-around variety of baby items, including clothes, toys, and a blanket in one basket. Which one do you pick?
If you know parents will have distinct style tastes for their child, perhaps a clothing gift basket is one way to get a start on a new baby’s wardrobe for the first year. Often, these baby clothing gift baskets are centered on various clothes, such as onesies, footies, baby shirts, socks, and hats, and come with a blanket or a toy, usually. If you know the sex of the baby, many of these gift baskets have pink or blue baby clothes, but unisex options in yellow and green are available.
Baby toy gift baskets are simply a combination of toys. Some might contain toys with some clothing, but others will also be various baby toys, including stimulation baby toys. For the latter, these stimulation toy baby gift baskets have various black, white, and red toys and baby books put together. As stimulation from toys and other objects like mobiles and play mats helps a baby with developing its senses, a stimulation toy gift basket will have all of these options. Aside from stimulation toys, some baby gift baskets have toy themes, such as musical toys, tying the basket together.
Picking Out a Diaper Bag
If you’re a fashion-conscious parent, the sight of traditional diaper bags may make you recoil in style horror. The pastels! The texture! The changing pad! But, if you’re looking for a fashion-forward alternative to bulky diaper bags, various high-end baby products websites have new and unique diaper bags in styles much like traditional, high-fashion handbags. Baby products retailer Hunky Dory carries several designer diaper bags, many of which are designed like an ordinary handbag. These can be solid color with a thin strap and outside compartments and other options include a variety of popular patterns like flower silhouettes.
One commonly searched term for diaper bags is “Kate Spade diaper bag.” As anyone who goes for designer handbags knows, Kate Spade is one of the top handbag designers whose handbags retail for around $400 and up. As Kate Spade has a separate line of diaper bags, many of her designs reflect the styles she has for her ordinary handbags: bold colors and a soft or quilted surface. While these color options extend to other high-end diaper bags, other style options are available.
For example, not all designer diaper bags come with a handbag-like style. If messenger bags are more of your thing, messenger bag-style diaper bags are available, with a lower fall and a thicker strap. Other options for a designer diaper bag include tote bag like designs, in which the strap is shorter and the area inside the bag is larger. Aside from style, these designer diaper bags are made with various materials. If you want a soft and quilt-like diaper bag, solid color and patterned options are available. Many bags, in addition, have a canvas texture but others, for very high-end options, can be designed in leather like an ordinary purse or hobo-style handbag.
Packing a Diaper Bag
Diaper bags come in more stylish designs these days, but packing a diaper bag shouldn’t be any different. From a bulky, pastel-colored bag with a changing pad, many modern diaper can look much like an ordinary purse or a messenger bag but, inside, they have all of the space and parts you need when taking your baby out. Whether you choose a standard diaper bag or a high-end Petunia Pickle Bottom bag, packing a diaper bag is no different.
When putting together a diaper bag, the recommended items include:
*Diapers. Although this is an obvious choice, it’s the amount of diapers that matters. Generally, as a rule of going out, take at least one diaper per hour you plan to be out. If this means you’ll be out for six hours, your diaper bag should have six diapers packed.
*For disposing diapers, bring enough plastic bags for each diaper.
*Travel wipes. These can be sold individually in plastic travel wipes cases or you can purchase a cloth wipes case and fill it with your own diaper wipes at home before going out.
*Diaper rash cream. Although this is something that generally stays at home, having a small tube in case of an emergency is recommended.
*Cloth diapers or other cloth blankets for burping in case of spit ups.
*Extra set of clothes. As emergencies with a baby can happen when out, being prepared is essential. Socks could fall off or a pair of pants or a onesie could become soiled while out.
*An extra adult shirt. Although you have a blanket for spit ups, a baby could possibly miss and put spit up on your own shirt.
*Baby sun block.
*Comfort objects like a bottle, toy, and two pacifiers.
*ID card in bag with your contact information, as well of any other contacts, as, if the bag gets lost, someone finding the bag can contact you or another relative.
*Changing pad. If one doesn’t come with the diaper bag automatically, an additional one should be packed inside the diaper bag.
How to Buy a Stroller
A stroller is a baby item that nearly everyone has, and many have two or more strollers for different locations or situations. If you’re expecting a baby and don’t know what kind of stroller to get, here are some of the options:
*Standard stroller. A standard stroller design is fit for nearly every type of situation, from going outside to walking in the mall. In terms of design, a standard design offers both protection and comfort with a padded seat and a sun canopy, as well as a reclining seat. A rain cover can be attached to the top of the stroller. For the adult, this stroller comes with storage compartments and is designed for both babies and toddlers. A carriage stroller is similar but with a design of the baby facing the adult and not away.
*Umbrella stroller. The “umbrella” in the name comes from the fact that these strollers fold up like an umbrella and are a light model. As the lightest stroller model, these are best for taking a larger child to the mall or for a short walk and should not be used with infants. As it is a stroller to use indoors or for brief walks, umbrella strollers don’t have canopy or storage features.
*Travel system stroller. Want a stroller and car seat combined in one heavy-duty design? A travel system stroller is essentially a car seat with a handle attached to a plastic body. These designs have all of the features of a standard stroller and are designed to not wake a baby when taking it in and out of the stroller.
*Jogging strollers. These are a newer stroller design that takes the design of a standard stroller and makes it better suited for rough terrain. These designs are more compact, as they have three large wheels, as opposed to four.
*Pram stroller. Although most strollers and push carts are referred to as “prams” in England, in North America, a pram stroller has an old fashioned, bassinet-like design. Although these are designed for babies, they can have toddler attachments. Although these look like old-fashioned carriages, the design, however, is difficult to fold up, and this can be a hindrance when going out.
* Sit-and-stand strollers. These are designed for both a child and a baby. A sit-and-stand design gives a child the option to stand with a bar or platform on back.
*High-capacity strollers. If you have twins, triplets, or two or three children that should be using the stroller, a high-capacity stroller can fit two or more children in its design.
In addition, many of these stroller models can come with a one-handed design. So, if you’re holding the hand of one child and need to push a stroller, a one-handed stroller design can meet your needs.
What is a Play Mat?
What is a play mat and when do you start to use one with your baby? Often, once a baby has learned to sit up or roll over or can be positioned on his or her stomach, an activity mat, also referred to as a play gym, can be used in place of a mobile for stimulation purposes. While many of the baby toys used during the first six months are used to develop vision and hearing senses, after six months, a baby becomes more aware of his or her hands and begins to want to touch or grab things. Aside from visual stimulation, many baby toys for under one years old have texture and shape components, and this is where a play mat comes in.
Many activity mats are designed like a colorful floor mat with a mobile suspended from above. As the mobile figures are now closer to the baby, he or she, when lying down, can reach up and touch them. Some of these figures make sounds, such as jingling, while others are of different shapes, colors, and textures. When positioning a baby on a play mat, he or she can be on his back or front. For positioning a baby on his or her stomach, many of these play mats have a pillow to put under the baby for him or her to sit up.
An activity mat doesn’t always need to be used in place of a mobile, however, and some play mats are designed to be a large mat with many colors or sounds. In some cases, when a baby is positioned on one of these mats, he or she may move and hear crinkling sounds, like newspaper, in one location and may hear crunching or jingling coming from the mat in another. In addition, accompanying the sounds are various colors, from bright colors to black, white, and red patterns for infants under six months.
Traditional Educational Toys for Babies: Books and Flashcards
When many parents think of educational toys for their children, they think of books, flashcards, and educational videos. While sometimes the value of educational videos for toddlers and infants is challenged due to the fact that the material is presented in “adult” speaking, educational toys allowing a parent and child to interact are always valuable and, in this case, a book is the ultimate educational toy. And, with newer educational toys on the market, flashcards may come second. Both books and flashcards come in versions for toddlers and even babies, as well as preschoolers, and these tools are used to enhance a child’s vocabulary and knowledge of colors, shapes, animals, and other familiar objects. For babies, the cards and books, aside from telling a story, serve as stimulation with black, white, and red graphics of familiar, everyday objects or patterns.
Some of the first books include crib books or board books that spread around a crib. A crib book, usually in black, white, and red, spreads around the edge of the crib and, much like a mobile, has pictures and patterns designed to stimulate an infant’s vision. After a year, books become board books, or hard books, that have no or few words but still tell a story with pictures. In this case, a parent and child can make up a story together based on the pictures. Words are introduced in addition to pictures at some point, and, with books like Goodnight Moon, the parent can read to the child and move his or her fingers along with the words on the page.
Although books are a tried-and-true educational tool for helping a child learn to read and to be creative, flashcards for younger children and infants have been popping up, as well, to help with identifying objects, letters, and colors. For infants, the flashcards are presented much like a crib book or mobile in red, black, and white graphics and, aside from displaying objects or patterns, can be designed with pictures of baby faces.