You want to make sure you get the best and safest items for your new baby but unfortunately it can be more difficult than you expect. There are SO many products out there and many are irresponsibly marketed as “safe” when they are not!

I came to this realization after months of research and it has really pissed me off. How can companies be so irresponsible… especially when it comes to the thing we want to protect the most. I was shocked to see the amount of products that companies shamelessly promote to parents that are developed without safety guidelines or scientific evidence regarding the safety for infant use. Coming from a health and research background, I have always been super anal about fact-checking and doing my due diligence. I hope that this post will be helpful for others but of course ALWAYS do your own research as this is just my own experience. I will do more detailed posts regarding specific items I will use for safe sleeping, car seats, etc, but these are some general tips for combing through the mess of baby products out there:

1. Make sure that the claims made by the company for a product are backed by scientifically sound evidence or medical expertise (specifically pediatricians). A lot of companies will promote items in an appealing way, but many of these items actually cause more harm than good. For example, sleep positioners claim to keep your baby in a specific position and reduce the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), when in truth the American Academy of Pediatrics has always recommended AGAINST the use of sleep positioners and sleep positioners may actually increase the risk of suffocation. Read more about it on the FDA’s website here and on a pediatrician reviewed article here.
   

   An example of a sleep positioner and their appealing but unproven claims 

2. Always look up the specific product to check if it has been recalled. Once again, many companies come out with these fancy products claiming that it will solve this and that issue. Once you look it up, you may be shocked to find out that millions of this product have been recalled because it has been linked to numerous infant deaths. For example, inclined sleepers have been promoted as helping babies with indigestion and the ability to create a soothing and safe sleeping position. In truth, inclined sleepers have been linked to numerous SIDS deaths and the actual medically sound advice is for babies to sleep on a FLAT and firm surface. Read more about the recall of millions of inclined sleepers here.
3. Popularity is not everything/beware of pretty instagram posts. This calls back to the examples in the point above. Some of the inclined sleepers that were recalled were extremely popular products and this might make it seem “safe” to some people. I have also noticed that many instagrams post pretty sleeping pictures of babies surrounded by toys, blankets, and crib bumpers – all of which are risk factors for suffocation. These posts may look pretty, but are grossly irresponsible.
4. Know what you are looking for when you read reviews. Yes, reviews are super helpful and I love combing through them whether I am looking for a new restaurant to try or whether I am buying sheets for the nursery. However, make sure you pick out the relevant details. Even if some random woman in the UK thinks this product is amazing and her baby sleeps so well in it, it does not mean it is safe. Reviews are helpful for finding out other details such as quality, personal preference, ease of use, etc, but it is not sufficient for other things such as safety (unless they said the product exploded or had some other explicit safety issues).
5. Look for official safety requirements/standards. This may not apply for everything but for certain items such as car seats, you should always make sure that the product meets certain safety requirements (I will write a separate post regarding car seats).
6. Do a lot of research. This is a pretty general tip… but I could not stress this enough. I have had to look through so many different websites to make sure something was safe or unsafe. Things are not always clear and you should always check a few sources before making up your mind. Don’t just read one person’s review or hear from a friend that something is great and take their word for it. Ultimately it is your decision on what you want to do for your child and you want to make sure you researched the shit out of it and are able to make the best and most informed decision.