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What Infant Toy Should I Buy?Although at first, it seems impossible to picture your infant doing anything but sleeping, feeding, and going through five outfits a day, soon enough, he’ll be grasping and batting at objects, then sitting up and holding things in his hands. You’ll likely want to buy infant toys before your baby arrives, and certainly want to purchase more as you find out what your baby likes and needs. What should you look for in an infant toy, and which ones should you buy?Think Safety First No infant toy is going to do its job of stimulating and engaging your baby if it is not safe, so be sure to make the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s toy recall website, http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html, your first stop before shopping for infant toys. There, you’ll find a comprehensive list of toy recalls. Avoid giving infants toys that have any strings or ribbons on them, as they may present an entanglement hazard. Look for toys with smooth edges and no moving parts. Be certain that you choose a toy that is truly an infant toy; check the manufacturer’s suggested age and be aware of choking hazards. A good rule of thumb to follow is that if a toy can fit through an empty toilet tissue tube, it could choke a child under about age three, and is therefore inappropriate for infants. Stimulate the Senses Babies who cannot yet grasp objects still like to look at things, so choose toys with bright, contrasting patterns, like black and white or red and white, or representations of faces. Once your baby is able to bat at objects, you’ll find him wanting to touch these visually stimulating toys, so you may want to move on to toys he can grasp. Rattles are a traditional baby toy for good reason: they react to a baby’s movement. Even at a few months old, your baby is starting to recognize his influence on his surroundings, and nothing satisfies that desire to affect change like a rattle. Look for rattle toys that make soft noises and have interesting patterns for your baby to watch. Manipulating Toys Once your baby can sit up and pass objects from hand to hand, he’ll want to manipulate soft toys that rattle, squeak, and have different textures. Choose toys that are suitable for gnawing on – your baby will put everything in his mouth once he’s able to grasp things. Babies love to examine toys from all sides and to see what happens when things are stacked up and knocked down. This natural learning about cause and effect and eye-hand coordination can be satisfied with simple stacking toys (blocks of various sizes that form a tower, for instance), or rings that can be stacked on a stationary base. Along with this experimentation with logic and gravity, babies love to discover what goes where, so any toys that involve sorting are sure to please. So long as the pieces are large enough for your baby to grasp and not put in his mouth, toys that fit inside of other toys will delight him. Bath Time For your baby, playtime doesn’t stop at bath time, so remember to find some simple, waterproof toys for your baby’s bath. Classics like rubber duckies are sure to please; look for one piece designs with non-toxic paint. Be careful to empty bath toys of water after each tub; mildew can grow inside of plastic toys and will get into your baby’s bathwater or his mouth. Musical Toys Your baby’s desire to make things happen will certainly be satisfied by a musical toy. Keyboards, drums, rattles, xylophones – nearly anything that makes a sound when struck or pressed – will help your baby’s coordination and sense of cause and effect. Because these toys stimulate auditory and physical senses, they will keep him engaged and banging out “tunes” to his delight. Keep a Simple Variety Don’t overwhelm your baby with too many choices. You may find that rotating toys will keep them fresh and engaging. Your baby’s attention span is only so long, so switch out the stroller toys with the diaper bag toys every now and again, and put away those that no longer hold his interest. Above all, don’t forget to have fun with your baby as the two of you play. |
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