Informed

I have come to love the books Consumer Reports Best Baby Products and Baby Bargains. I didn't have them when Busy bee entered the world but was enlightened as to their good graces and general helpfulness and thus got them for Baby bee's birth. Unfortunately, since my children are so close in age and money doesn't "grow from trees" Baby bee uses most of the same products we used for Busy bee. But had I had these books earlier in my first pregnancy I would have (I believe) made better product choices for my little ones.

Consumer Reports Best Baby Products has great product safety sections including their ever-so-helpful safety ratings on all the big baby purchases like cribs, crib mattresses, car seats, and even a section on the best family cars and suvs. They also provide good tips on purchasing items and remind the reader of the little things that make a difference in choosing one product from the next. This is especially helpful for the first time parent who might not have even considered that a small difference between products can make a huge difference in ease of use.

Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields is considered by many as the next closest thing to the bible...at least where babies are concerned. I wouldn't go that far considering my lifelong religious upbringing, but I would say that this book is a must for every first time parent. It is easy to use and offers great parent-tested advice and ratings. Denise and Alan are witty and you feel almost as if you are talking to them rather then having them talk at you. They provide great product insight and I often find myself reading this book page by page just because I like to hear their perspective on everything from the best crib to the worst diaper pail.

At any rate, these books are helping me make more informed decisions and what parent wouldn't love that.

Check out their websites
Baby Bargains - www.windsorpeak.com/babybargains/default.html
Consumer Reports Best Baby Products (this book doesn't have its own webpage but you can link to the actual Consumer Reports page to get basic baby product ratings) - www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm