Customer Reviews

Best Baby Products, 10th Edition (Consumer Reports Best Baby Products)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought this book expecting to see updated ratings/reviews on products as we are expecting our first child and was very disappointed that some of the few sections with ratings were from over 2 years ago (April 2007). For example the stroller section (the specific reason I bought the book) contains the exact same ratings on the website that have not been updated since April 2007. I am a subscriber to [...], and was frustrated that they had not updated their stroller rating since the the last publication of this book in April 2007, and I finally broke down and bought this book and could not believe that the same, stale ratings were in the stroller section. Be careful, there are very old ratings in here, you can get all the same info if you join the website for a month and print them out!

I was VERY disappointed in this book. I bought this book expecting to find an all inclusive list of baby products and how they stacked up against each other. Instead, what I got was a very general information about baby products. For instance, the book might say "buy a new crib, not used...make sure there are no loose parts...make sure the slats aren't too far apart". However, there are few actual brand/product recommendations. The book does not come out and tell you which brands did well in safety testing and which didn't. In the section about car seats, the book spends a paragraph listing different brands of carseats but doesn't go into any details or ratings on any of them. Heck, I can walk through the aisles of any store and see the different brands out there. I was looking for more concrete information. The actual "consumer report" chart that you are used to seeing in the consumer reports magazines aren't included in every chapter and when they are, there are only a few products in them. I trusted the ConsumerReports name brand on this one and I feel like they pulled a quick one with this book.

I've read other baby-gear books, but Consumer Reports Best Baby Products is by far the best for providing detailed how-to buy advice. I've just started using it to research what to buy for my baby and what to register for and it has been invaluable for what not to buy as well. There's so much stuff out there. I've already saved a ton of money by not buying a crib bumper set, as the book suggested, or the $789 stroller I had my eye on. The book says that quality strollers start at around $150. I don't know what I'd do without this book. I'm so glad my neighbor, who is a mom herself and a pediatrician, recommended it to me. You can't go wrong with Consumer Reports trusted advice, either.

I thought that this would recommend specific products that were out and tested well. I thought it would be more like the Consumer Reports magazine, I was disappointed. It gives you tips on what to look for in a product, what products you need and what ones are a waste. If you are looking for details and reviews on specifics this is not the book for you.

Although this book does contain helpful information, I was expecting a more comprehensive report on baby essentials to include the normal Consumer Reports ranking/product testing. There were a few listings, but they were not included for most of the baby gadget categories in the book. I was most disappointed in the section on car seats: they only rated a few, and did not rate any infant car seats although they had a section dedicated to the fact that an infant car seat is recommended over a convertible car seat for newborns!
I should have researched this book prior to purchase; it would have saved me money. There are other books that I have found more helpful.

I used the 9th, not 10th edition, because that was what I could check out from the library for free. I can see why a newer version might have been helpful, since technology had changed a bit since my version came out. Even the older version was really informative for a first time mom trying to decide what makes a decent baby product. I would never use this book as a list of what exact model to buy of all things baby. I used it as a way to better understand what I was looking at when I went to view/select baby products (what features were out there, what safety hazards to look for, etc).

What I liked:
*A to Z order made going back to look things up later much easier than using an index or trying to flip back though.
*Not such a strong focus on specific brands meant that I could apply information to what I could locate in my town. In fact, I couldn't find many of the specific models that they tested. But the basic info that the book shared about how to look for a quality product helped me determine what was the better of the options that I could touch in person.
*Offers "what not to buy" sections that tell you things to avoid for safety or budget reasons.
*Budget friendly. Offered a wide price range of suggestions/tested models.
*Covered products that many other sources don't really go into (nursing bras, breast pumps, diapers)
*Notes on what to absolutely buy new versus what can be bought second hand or borrowed.

What I didn't like:
*There weren't many specific ratings, and all ratings can be viewed with an online subscription.
*With the ratings, they didn't give specifics about why a particular product lost or gained points. For instance, if a product lost points on useability, did it lose points because it's hard to use or because it weighed the most? I can live with something a bit heavier if it is easiest to use. If a product lost points for safety, I want to know why so that I can consider that when looking at products not rated.
*With ratings, very few models were tested/rated compared to what is out there. I was not often able to find the exact model that was tested (this even applies to online ratings).

Liked this book a lot for general baby product info...includes good websites for product and product safety. Wish they would put out a revised copy, I think the version I had was from 2009 and lots has changed since then.

This book had much more information than simply what brand/model to buy. It gives advice regarding SIDS, safety issues and must haves vs. nice to have vs. do NOT need. It also gives general advice on what to look for in a product, so you don't need to only look for the brands they rated. It taught me a lot, great for a first time parent. I recommended it to all my pregnant friends.

I've just had the book for a few days but already I've found it invaluable for culling my baby registry for my second baby, who is due in a few months. I used the last edition of the book to shop for my first baby. Anyway, the 10th edition is even more concise about what not to buy, what's worth the money. Maybe because of the economy, it gives lots of smart money-saving tips, such as why you don't need to buy an $800 stroller, that less expensive strollers still rate well in their tests. It also addresses questions that I haven't been able to find answers to in baby sites, like whether eco-friendly crib mattresses are better than conventional ones, and what kind of baby lotion I should buy (CR says that unless your baby has very dry skin, you can skip the lotion altogether). Anyway, I've consulted other baby product books and sites and I continue to believe that this Consumer Reports Best Baby Products is bar none, the destination for baby-production information. You can't go wrong with this trusted resource.

While I agree that there weren't the kind of extensive reviews of individual products that Consumer Reports subscribers are accustomed to seeing, I don't think that was the purpose of this book. The book is about how to buy, not what to buy. A subscription to the magazine or online version is the appropriate tool for head-to-head reviews of products (I've had a subscription for several years and find it extremely helpful). I started thumbing through this book and was immediately engrossed. I had no idea how to buy a crib mattress, aside from making sure that it fit snuggly. This book laid out the pros and cons and what to look for. I was suspicious of pacifier tethers, now I know why they should never be used. My highlighter is now rubber banded to this book and it's my buying bible!