The Baby Show - Top 10 Must-Have Baby Products

Top 10 must-haves at The Baby Show NEC
Innovative new products in abundance at parenting show

Taking place this weekend and now in its tenth year, The Baby Show remains shopping heaven for new mums and mums to-be.  Here, we share with you the ten hottest products at the show.

1. Bouncing fun with Fisher-Price

Baby will be bouncing around in delight in this gorgeous Jumperoo! With all the great features mum has come to expect, plus a new specially designed space-saving frame. With 360 degrees of fun, baby’s bounces will activate music, lights and rewards! Three-position height adjustments enable a custom fit and comfortable, safe bouncing fun for baby. Featuring a removable seat for cleaning, the Jumperoo folds for storage. Suitable when a baby can hold their head independently, this one-of-a-kind product is definitely one to check out with your little one! Usually £100, it’s £75 at the show!

2. Unique new car seat from Britax

Say hello to the new generation of car seats, with Britax’s brand new TRIFIX. The TRIFIX is the first seat to feature a revolutionary ISOFIX + installation system providing complete and unrivalled protection for your little one. It combines three unique Britax technologies; the patented and proven pivot link ISOFIX system reduces the seats forward rotation, V-Tether controls  and absorbs frontal forces by adding a third anchorage point, New, wider, ISOFIX fixings further improve side impact protection.

3. Exclusive to the show, it’s the Marks & Spencer maternity range
Usually only available online, you can view this beautiful maternity range from Marks & Spencer at The Baby Show. There are some gorgeous v-neck dresses perfect for summer and flared and bootleg jeans that support and grow as you do.

4. Tasty new treats for your little one with Plum Baby
Take babies on a taste adventure with the new products from Plum. Organic baby food brand, Plum, is launching a new range of stage three (10+months) meals, enabling mini adventurers to taste flavours from around the world; no wok or paella pan required. Be sure to try the scrummy Mediterranean paella and salmon.

5. Carry in style with the My Carrier from Stokke
The new Stokke MyCarrier is a new unique 3 in 1 baby carrier that allows you to keep your baby close, maintaining your symbiotic harmony as your child grows. Adjustable and really easy to use Stokke® MyCarrier grows with your child adapting to their ever changing needs as they develop and grow.

6. Mothercare makes bathing easy

The Mothercare Aqua Pod is a unique extra long bath mat with a special support for your baby, and allows you to keep both hands free to wash your little one or join in bath time games.

7. New cotbed with Babies R Us makes the perfect sleep option

A Contemporary, fresh, brand new Cotbed from Babies R Us. With three mattress positions, two split ends for easy conversion into a toddler bed. Co-ordinates with Babies R Us Dresser, Wardrobe, Tall Boys and Storage / Toy Box, available in White or Antique. This was £199.99 but now at £129.99, great value!

8. iBaby Monitor allows you to keep a watchful eye

Wherever you are, the iBaby Monitor keeps your baby close with a simple swipe of your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad! Innovative and most certainly a must-have for 2012, the iBaby Monitor is ideal for the modern mum, allowing you to immediately respond to your baby through two-way audio and one touch response. iBaby knows that babies move and traditional baby monitors don’t, the iBaby Monitor follows your little one with an up/down or left/right swipe of your iOS 4.0+ touch screen or click of your PC mouse.

9. Sit in style with the Baby Snug from Mamas & Papas

 The Baby Snug is the ideal first seat as it grows and adjusts with your baby and is ergonomically designed to provide support and comfort for your little one. It is also easy to clean and lightweight.

10. Want something a little different then look no further than Poco Nido
A gorgeous new range of clothing and footwear, this is perfect for those wanting something super sweet and different.  The shoes look like they have just come off this year’s catwalk, especially with the cat design!

For more information on The Baby Show log on to www.thebabyshow.co.uk.

Review: Mamas & Papas Quackers & Scoopies Bath Toys

We were offered by the kind people of Mamas & Papas to review some of their bath toys as part of reviewing their Mr Turtle which we reviewed earlier in the year. Here are our thoughts of the Quackers and Scoopies Bath Toys.

Quackers Bath Toys

Very colourful, I wouldn't really call them ducks as they are very artsy and designer and to me a rubber duck has eyes at the very least. The colours did catch Baby Al's interest and sometimes he wouldn't let go of the baby duck so one of them would always end up from the bath to his changing mat.

The problem we had was the little ducks didn't stand up-right very long and would easily turn up-side-down. I found adding some water into them helped a little. But that said these cost £9 so you'd expect them to at least float.

Pros
- Colourful.
- Mother Duck comes with a water scoop.

Cons
- Expensive.
- Baby Ducks don't stay afloat.

And our judges have come back with their scores.

Baby Al's Rating: 6/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 4.5/10

Baby Al loves to put the Mother Duck in his mouth and chew it which helps soothe his teething pains, but they aren't the greatest bath toys we have.

Scoopies Bath Toys

There are three different toys and each has a water scoop toy. They are shaped like sea life creatures such as a fish, starfish and a jellyfish. These very all very colourful and will spray water.

Baby Al doesn't know how to get water into these yet, however he loves squeezing them and giggles like crazy at them. The scoops are of no interest to him at all, I think the problem is there's too many holes in them so the water comes out of the scoops way too fast.

These are £10 for the set. It's a bit more then I'd be willing to pay, but Baby Al has enjoyed them and all three of us love putting water into them and spraying each other.

Pros
- Colourful
- Fun to squeeze and spray water at one another.

Cons
- Scoops have too many holes in them.
- A bit too pricey.

So what did the judges think of these bath toys?

Baby Al's Rating: 6/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 5/10

We do like these ones more then the ducks, but the scoops are totally ignored and because of that both Baby Al and Petit Mom had to mark it down.

These product was provided by Mamas & Papas.

Review: Mamas & Papas Sola Pushchair

Some of you may remember my post about our current pushchair situation and now that we no longer need the infant car seat or the carry cot it was becoming too much of a space waster. Mamas & Papas kindly offered us a chance to test drive their Sola pushchair and here is what we thought of it. I understand we live in different areas and some pushchairs work best in urban places whilst others may suit the country life best. For each pushchair review I shall be testing them in all sorts of ways, including in our car (we have a Ford Focus) and on public transport.

This is my second pushchair that I've ever had to put together, the other being the Hauck Condor. Both were partly put together already so the first few steps were something to ignore such as how to put the shopping bag in. The main difference between this and my old pushchair has got to be putting it down and back up.With the Mamas & Papas Sola it was quite simple and would go down into a flat position, which I find much better for storing as I can rest it against the wall and it wouldn't take up a huge amount of space. The wheels are also bigger and actually makes having to take it down two flights of stairs not so troublesome as I thought they would, infact they made it easier. It's 10kg in weight like my old pushchair, yet it felt much lighter and easy to lift. The soft bar handle is also very comfortable to hold and I would probably say I prefer the bar handle style now, specially as I could set it to different heights which made things easy for me as a petite lady. Turning it so he can face me was very easy to do! Just click the two side buttons, pull it off and turn it around then.. click! And because the seat is light, it's not that hard to do at all. If I can do it, anyone can!


In Town
Taking it around town was a breeze. Barely had any problems with bumps in the pavement and it felt smooth and easy to push along. Getting in and around stores wasn't a problem as the wheels turn very well an with such ease.

In The City
I found getting around the chaos of Birmingham city very easy with this. The front wheels turn like a charm and the big back wheels help make it smooth and enjoyable for little one.

In The Countryside
The big wheels did help, and the option to lock the front wheels can be of use when on muddy grass or somewhere that is very bumpy. Perhaps it's just me but I found these wheels didn't keep the mud and dirt on them all the way back to our flat, or at least most of the dirt was got by the time we were home. Our old one would collect everything and meant leaving it outside our front door so we could scrub the muck off before wheeling it in onto our wooden flooring.

In the Car Boot
We own a Ford Focus from 2004. It's a fairly good size car, however getting this pushchair in wasn't easy. We had to remove at least one of the wheels and once we did there was no space left in the boot. It wasn't possible for us to put it on the back seats either.

On the Bus
I took the bus from the city back home and it fitted well. The bar can be placed down to put it out of the way and once you hear the brake button make a "click" sound you can be sure that it won't be going anywhere. At first I didn't push the brakes down fully but when I did I had no worries about it sliding about, he even fell asleep as we waited for our stop.

On the Train & Underground
I was lucky to have gotten an invite from Dettol to go to London as well as given entry to The Baby Show. I took the pushchair with me on the train and tube. The train I was on had no baggage area, but cos it is very easy to put down and fold up I had no problems doing so in a short space of time. The Underground I had problems mainly getting on the tube trains, otherwise easy to get off and the brakes being so easy to use and very strong he wasn't moving around as the train sped off to the next station.

So here are the Pros and Cons.

Pros
- Easy to put down.
- Simple to change seat between forward and rear facing.
- Handle bar can be put up or down to suit your height.

Cons
- Doesn't come with foot muff (sold seperately at £66).
- Can't fold it down when seat is rear facing.
- Too big for car boot.

So what do we think of this? Our judges have come back with their scores and...

Baby Al's Rating: 9/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 8/10

Baby Al would have liked a foot muff, but he does not care as much about the car issue then Petit Mom does!

This product was kindly provided by Mamas & Papas.

Review: Mamas & Papas Mr Turtle Bath Tidy

Bath time is an important part of our routine, it's a great way of getting rid of that last bit of energy before bedtime and also that water can be fun to be in. However it's annoying having to collect all the toys afterwards, well until now!

Mamas & Papas have a brilliant product called the Mr Turtle Bath Tidy. It's in the shape of a turtle and the shell part is actually a scoop, which can hold bath toys in and the holes in it allow any water to drip out. It's pretty large so it can hold several bath toys in it. Currently we have some Mamas & Papas bath toys (review on those coming soon) and a few rubber ducks which we have collected over the last few months.  It's very bright and sturdy and comes with two options for putting it on your bathroom wall. You can either screw it in or you can use the suction pad. As we rent our flat it's not an option to screw ours in, plus we have tiles around our bath so using the suction pad was the best choice for us really.

My one issue with it was my poor man spent a good long time trying to clip in the handle to the scoop. Yes, the handle doesn't come ready attached to the scoop. Rather disappointed with that and almost snapped part of the handle trying to get it in, annoying for parents and very hard as well.

Pros
- Vibrant colours.
- Easy to use.
- Picks up most small bath toys with ease.

Cons
- Handle hard to get on to the scoop.
- Bit expensive.

And now it is time for our judges to give out their scores!

Baby Al's Rating: 7/10
Petit Mom's Rating: 7/10

Baby Al loves the colours and finds it very interesting, whilst Petit Mom finds it very useful but also thinks the handy should already have come attached or be made easier to clip on.

You can buy this product at your local Mamas & Papas store or from their website for £28.

This product was provided by Mamas & Papas.