April 2007
Trends in baby products
Several key trends are influencing the kinds of baby products you'll see in stores, in catalogs, and on the Web right now.
Here's a quick peek at what you're apt to find:
More functional designs. Manufacturers, after studying the preferences of parents, have decided that functionality is essential to sales success, and they're right. The best products are not only safe, they're durable, user-friendly, and tailored to your busy lifestyle. You'll find ergonomic strollers with comfort features such as cup holders for parents, built-in containers for baby wipes, and customized storage. Many products today are developed with several uses in mind: dressers that do double duty as changing tables and play yards that function as portable bassinets and changing tables. What product features do you really need? What's nice, but not truly necessary? This book will help you decide.
More stylish choices. Manufacturers have upped the style ante. You'll find products from cutesy to sophisticated, inspired by popular children's characters and television programs ("Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob Squarepants"), and chic lines that fit your sense of style. You'll find all-terrain strollers, for example, with chrome or aluminum accents in today's hottest colors--chartreuse, periwinkle, orange, "cognac" and black. You'll also find baby products sold in "montage collections": car seats, strollers, play yards, and swings all in the same French country, camouflage, African, or nautically-inspired Italian-made fabric, designed to blend in with your home décor and satisfy the strong nesting instinct that manufacturers believe pervades today's post-9/11 culture.
What kind of "statement" do you want to make? What "look" can you live with for months or even years? Or does that matter to you? Aesthetics are something to consider before and during your shopping trips because they can play a big role in the price of many products.
Greater attention to safety. Safety is a major concern among product manufacturers, and safer designs continue to evolve while new safety-related products continually are added to the mix. You'll find an array of products--supermarket cart covers, high chair covers for restaurants, and disposable place mats--designed to keep babies safe from germs. Are these safety products really necessary or worth the extra money? Throughout our baby-products coverage, we'll answer such questions to give you peace of mind.
Overall, products marketed specifically for babies are generally safe, partly because of government regulations. They're approved for safety or certified as meeting safety requirements mandated by federal regulations, or enforced voluntarily by manufacturers. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov), for example, regulates some baby equipment and oversees recalls. It enforces industry standards that apply to most product categories, as well as mandatory government standards for a few specific categories, such as cribs and clothing.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (www.nhtsa.gov) sets mandatory safety standards for the crash performance of child car seats. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov) regulates baby formula and most baby food, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (www.usda.gov) monitors baby food containing meat, poultry and eggs.
Industry groups such as the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association (JPMA), a national trade association of 325 companies that make and/or import baby products, administers a program that certifies manufacturers that make products that meet voluntary safety standards. Consumer organizations such as Consumers Union work to refine those standards. Consumer Reports regularly tests cribs, crib mattresses, car seats, diapers, infant carriers, strollers, play yards, gates, toys, and baby monitors. We often hold products to more rigorous standards than the government requires or that manufacturers and retailers must meet to comply with voluntary industry standards. You'll find results of our safety tests throughout our Web site.
Other children's products may be certified by an independent laboratory as meeting safety standards, or a company may test its own product and vouch that they meet the safety standards. Those products may be just as safe as products certified under the JPMA program, but the JPMA seal is a good guide to safety for consumers--look for it on product packaging.
More functional designs. Manufacturers, after studying the preferences of parents, have decided that functionality is essential to sales success, and they're right. The best products are not only safe, they're durable, user-friendly, and tailored to your busy lifestyle. You'll find ergonomic strollers with comfort features such as cup holders for parents, built-in containers for baby wipes, and customized storage. Many products today are developed with several uses in mind: dressers that do double duty as changing tables and play yards that function as portable bassinets and changing tables. What product features do you really need? What's nice, but not truly necessary? This book will help you decide.
More stylish choices. Manufacturers have upped the style ante. You'll find products from cutesy to sophisticated, inspired by popular children's characters and television programs ("Dora the Explorer" and "SpongeBob Squarepants"), and chic lines that fit your sense of style. You'll find all-terrain strollers, for example, with chrome or aluminum accents in today's hottest colors--chartreuse, periwinkle, orange, "cognac" and black. You'll also find baby products sold in "montage collections": car seats, strollers, play yards, and swings all in the same French country, camouflage, African, or nautically-inspired Italian-made fabric, designed to blend in with your home décor and satisfy the strong nesting instinct that manufacturers believe pervades today's post-9/11 culture.
What kind of "statement" do you want to make? What "look" can you live with for months or even years? Or does that matter to you? Aesthetics are something to consider before and during your shopping trips because they can play a big role in the price of many products.
Greater attention to safety. Safety is a major concern among product manufacturers, and safer designs continue to evolve while new safety-related products continually are added to the mix. You'll find an array of products--supermarket cart covers, high chair covers for restaurants, and disposable place mats--designed to keep babies safe from germs. Are these safety products really necessary or worth the extra money? Throughout our baby-products coverage, we'll answer such questions to give you peace of mind.
Overall, products marketed specifically for babies are generally safe, partly because of government regulations. They're approved for safety or certified as meeting safety requirements mandated by federal regulations, or enforced voluntarily by manufacturers. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (www.cpsc.gov), for example, regulates some baby equipment and oversees recalls. It enforces industry standards that apply to most product categories, as well as mandatory government standards for a few specific categories, such as cribs and clothing.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (www.nhtsa.gov) sets mandatory safety standards for the crash performance of child car seats. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov) regulates baby formula and most baby food, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (www.usda.gov) monitors baby food containing meat, poultry and eggs.
Industry groups such as the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association (JPMA), a national trade association of 325 companies that make and/or import baby products, administers a program that certifies manufacturers that make products that meet voluntary safety standards. Consumer organizations such as Consumers Union work to refine those standards. Consumer Reports regularly tests cribs, crib mattresses, car seats, diapers, infant carriers, strollers, play yards, gates, toys, and baby monitors. We often hold products to more rigorous standards than the government requires or that manufacturers and retailers must meet to comply with voluntary industry standards. You'll find results of our safety tests throughout our Web site.
Other children's products may be certified by an independent laboratory as meeting safety standards, or a company may test its own product and vouch that they meet the safety standards. Those products may be just as safe as products certified under the JPMA program, but the JPMA seal is a good guide to safety for consumers--look for it on product packaging.
