The Designophile Parent's Baby Products thread

So, I’m going to be a father in a few months, and I’m looking to vicariously satisfy my craving for affordable, well-designed stuff in the baby product industry. So far, I’ve found the Adiri Natural Nurser baby bottles by Whipsaw. I need some help looking for sweet strollers, carriers, cribs, high chairs, sweet baby slings, etc.

Designophile parents, unite! Let’s make this thread a nice resource for awesome baby product design!
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Congratulations!
Before my son was born, I was on a similar mission and found a lot of cool stuff and good info on this blog: http://daddytypes.com/

I know I found difficulty in the affordability aspect of a lot of the things I was
craving, IKEA is always fun as well.

My daughter is one week old, so I’m in the same boat! At least at first, all I can say is functionality rules! I think later all the designophile stuff will creep in, but for now, here’s what I’m loving:

Skype & a webcam, for virtual visits with the grandparents. This is the best cross-platform & free solution out there. We use it with our MacBook, but they’re on a PC. I mailed them an HD Logitech webcam a week ahead of time. They’re thrilled.

“Happiest Baby on the Block” DVD. These 5 simple techniques show you how to activate your baby’s “off” button, and they serioulsy work!!

“Ambiance” iPhone app combined with my Tivoli iPal speaker. Very cool app, and it works to settle baby down and keep her sleeping. We like it too, and even at the hospital the nurses kept commenting.

“Baby Tracker: Nursing” iPhone app. Seriously, very useful!

“Co Sleeper” bassinet that hooks to your bed so baby’s in reach for night feedings.


…As for strollers, I just assumed we’d end up with a cool looking stroller like a Bugaboo, Quinny, MacClaren, or Stokke Xplory, but we actually went with the less cool but 5-star rated Bob Revolution, and love it.

Here are some of the designophile strollers:

Stokke Xplory

Quinny

Bugaboo

webcam + skype are great too, but that’s a little higher on Maslo’s Hiearchy,
the HBotB DVD is a must.

and how about a Bumbo

an awesome stroller/system Orbit started by some exIDEO folks

Spot on Square has some cool furniture

Awesome guys, this thread will be lots of fun I think. It’s also cool to know of the iphone apps out there, since my verizon contract expires in a few months…

Is this the Bob Revolution? It’s not as out there as the ones you posted, cg, but it’s attractive and the jogging aspect is definitely a plus.

EDIT: Wow, that Orbit system is totally amazing! Now, if only I can convince my wife that it would cost essentially the same as the individual components purchased separately (+ a little design premium).
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One of my friends makes some great baby stuff at www.bloombaby.com

All the things I designed for babies is long gone from the shelves.

Yup. It fits our lifestyle better than any other because my wife does serious walking. In fact, it’s by far the most popular stroller you’ll see here in Carlsbad, where strollers are used for walking more than anything else.

The three big wheels give it an awesome/stable ride over the traditional strollers with more and smaller wheels. The revolution has a free wheel in the the front that can be locked for jogging. We’ve got the infant carseat (Britax) attachment and it’s way-easy to go from backseat to stroller and back.

REI carries them if you want to check it out in person.

Im gonna second the Bumbo. For less than $30, that was by far the best purchase for my nephew. He also loves his jeep stroller (although its not as nice as the ones posted, it does have a steering wheel for him)

Careful where you spend your money as far as carseats go. My son grew out of his at 5 months. I wasn’t planning on dropping another chunk of cash on a larger infant seat, and since he’s still rear facing there weren’t as many options. So if you were a huge kid, or your wife was a huge kid keep that in mind. We ended up with the Graco Snugride32 which fits 97% of 1 year olds. It’s not the prettiest girl at the dance, but it keeps him safe which is what ultimately matters.

You’ll also find quickly that unless you’re rolling in some serious dough, you won’t want to spend $500 on a stroller. However, gift registry is another thing…

Oh, and another check mark for the Bumbo here. He loves it, and its helped him learn to sit up on his own.

And don’t buy any bottles that are smaller than 9oz, or that you can’t put in a dishwasher.

This is a good topic.

1- Try to not use bottles…breast feeding is the way to GO! Hard to design a better food and delivery system! It will give your child a huge boost for their immune system. Granted, only the mother can make this choice in the end…

2- Stroller
I have a bugaboo Frog on it’s second baby. My son is 4.5 and my daughter is just over 6 months. It is a well designed product with sealed bearings. Plus, it is easy to buy new fabric if you want to for the second child. The frame is solid and well built. It will go on to someone else when we are finished.

The new BOB is also good. Much more of a “fitness” stroller. Not a mall or go somewhere stroller. It is big, but very stable (as it should be for a jogger).

3- Car Seat
You will need about three car seats. First is an Infant Seat and designed for the child to grow out of between 6-9 months. Then you will need a convertible that starts rear facing and switches to front facing. Then you will need a seat that converts to a booster that works with the car’s belts for child restraint. PS - no one tells you that you will need to buy three seats up front…but you will. The child size changes so much that at each size and weight they need different seats.

Recaro is the only way to go. They have a great legacy in their safety, plus their Latch connectors are the best and are well thought out. Once you see one in person and use a Recaro…nothing else compares.

http://www.recaro.com/index.php?id=3329&L=2

Best (most expensive) nursing chair not designed to be a nursing chair that you can then use anywhere in your house.

If you have a Boy…at 3, it is hard to beat Bruder Trucks…any of them (and they make a lot). From playing with his various trucks, my son can identify moving parts on real trucks and understands how the full size ones work (because the toys function just like the real ones). Even complex motions and systems like the hydraulic system on an excavator. BTW, these are huge…the images make them look small, they are not.

OK, this is fun. When they get a little older.

http://tmbg-catalog.stores.yahoo.net/hercomabdvd.html

Ok, last post for today. This is one of the best things you can get for a child around 2-4. “Like a bike” teaches a child the “hard” part of riding a bike in the easiest way possible with confidence. When my child went to a pedal bike at just 4…he learned without falling (no training wheels).

1- Try to not use bottles…breast feeding is the way to GO! Hard to design a better food and delivery system! It will give your child a huge boost for their immune system. Granted, only the mother can make this choice in the end…

Agree… to a point. It’s completely the mother’s decision. In our case we did a bit of both once Mom went back to work. Bottle feeding breast milk.

I know many of us are audiophile’s so here’s the best way to introduce good music to your infant. The Zeppelin album is great. It’s almost funny when you hear it the first time.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link_code=qs&field-keywords=rockabye%20baby&sourceid=Mozilla-search

Bottle feeding breast milk.

That is the key!

Breast Feeding - It not only helps the baby. It also helps reduce many problems including some cancers in women.

I worked for Gerber and Evenflo way too long :slight_smile:

So, another thing my wife and I are looking at are camcorders. So far all I know is that it has to be Mac-friendly and HD (for when we get a decent TV). Any advice? On first glance this Samsung model that’s coming out soon looks pretty sweet, but I don’t know if Samsung products like Apple or not.
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I’m not a parent, but I love this thread! Great idea.

I know this is a product thread but…

  1. Bady Dr’s phone number programed into every phone (website in fav’s too)
  2. Phone numbers of your two mother’s (and dad’s if they were inclined)
  3. Sams/ Costco membership- wipes, A/D cream
  4. Piles (and I mean piles) of hand towels. Minute we got home, I put them to sleep- went to target and got like 50- no kidding. Put a couple in every room, period.
  5. Infant Tylenol
  6. GREAT friends with kids that don’t mind early AM calls for caring advice (they’ve been there, and a lot more recent than your parents- stuff’s changed! PS- don’t skimp on lunches either)
  7. Alone time with your Misses.

Yup- that 'bout does it. This was a blast to make- thanks.