Lovies and security blankets
The Baby Starters lovies, ranked
Six small squares of blanket with a head on one corner. Which one a three month old can lift, which one holds its shape after a wash, and which one is really a full size blanket wearing a lovey's name.
Read the reviewTop pick right now
Unicorn 14 inch Snuggle Buddy Plush Security Blanket with Satin
$9.99 at the last price check · 4.8 out of 5
See This Gift on AmazonBaby Starters is the name on a lot of first toys: flat lovies with a satin corner, soft-bodied dolls with stitched faces, crinkle books small enough for one hand, plush blankets. Most of the range costs between $7.99 and $39.99, and on a shelf it all looks the same.
They are not the same. Ten inches and fourteen inches are different toys at three months. A rattle sewn inside a body answers an arm moving. A rattle on a stick gets dropped. A satin edge is the part a baby finds with a thumb and keeps hold of for two years.
Below, 92 pieces from the Baby Starters range, one by one: which is worth the money, which is a gift that photographs well and does nothing else, and the month each one starts being used rather than admired.
Nothing is sold here. Where a piece earns its price, the button opens the shop that has it. Where it does not, the review says so in a sentence.
Baby Starters also makes a lot of occasion toys, cut for one Christmas or one Halloween. Those get judged on the same terms as the rest of the Baby Starters shelf: what a baby does with the thing in March.
Latest
Reviews
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Soft-bodied dolls
Snuggle buddy dolls: which first doll to hand a baby
Five soft dolls from the same family, between ten and fifteen inches. Which one a six month old can actually hold, which one is a keepsake for the shelf, and why they all show the same score.
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Rattles and activity toys
Rattles and crinkle toys, and what a four month old does with them
Five toys that make a noise, from a nine inch sock monkey to a musical light-up. What is sewn inside each one, which clip to a pram bar, and which sound you will regret in a car.
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Cloth books and teethers
Soft books and teethers for the months when everything goes in the mouth
Four cloth pieces at around ten dollars each. Which ones survive a mouth, which ones clip to a pram, and the one that is a toy for an adult to hold rather than a book for a baby to read.
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Gift guide
A newborn gift guide that does not end up in the returns pile
Six pieces between ten and nineteen dollars, sorted by what the gift is doing: filling a shower table, being the one thing a baby keeps, or quietly helping the parents.
Start here
Picks people open first
Four pieces that come up in every one of our reviews, with the price we last recorded.
Unicorn 14 inch Snuggle Buddy Plush…
Plush 10 inch Snuggle Buddy My First…
Sock Monkey Crinkle
Magic Years On the Go Activity Book…Before you buy
Three things that decide a first toy
- 1. Size decides more than the characterTen inches fits one hand and gets lost in a car. Fourteen is the size a baby can drag around. Above twenty inches it has stopped being a comfort object.
- 2. Look for one part that feels differentA satin edge, a crinkle layer, a ribbon tag. That is the part a baby goes back to when the face has stopped being interesting.
- 3. A score covers a whole familyOne family can hold nine dolls in different dresses with a single pool of ratings, so a big number says the family sells, not that this dress is the good one.
By month
What suits the age you are buying for
The same shelf reads differently at six weeks and at ten months. This is the short version.
| Age you are buying for | What tends to work | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| Newborn to 3 months | Something flat and light that an adult holds. A baby this age looks and listens more than grabs. | Lovies, ranked |
| 3 to 6 months | A rattle sewn inside a body, a crinkle layer, one satin edge to find with a thumb. | Rattles and crinkle toys |
| 6 to 9 months | Cloth books with tabs, teethers on ribbons, anything that survives a mouth. | Soft books and teethers |
| 9 to 12 months | A doll with a face, finger puppets, pieces that hold up to being thrown off a high chair. | Snuggle buddy dolls |
The range, counted
What this line actually holds
Guides
Washing, and where a toy belongs at night
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Care guide
How to wash a lovey without wrecking it
A comfort object gets washed weekly for three years. Here is what the care label is required to tell you, what actually destroys these pieces, and how to keep a satin edge attached to the plush it came with.
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Safety
Soft toys and safe sleep: where a lovey belongs at night
The safety bodies give one short answer about what goes in a sleep space. Here it is in their words, with what it means for the lovey a baby has settled on and for the rest of the day.