Here is Zayden with one of his Easter basket presents. It didn't even make it through the whole weekend.

To Whom It May Concern:

If you claim that part of your product can be  removed for cleaning, it should not take a full-grown adult 45 minutes to dismantle it in order to do so. On a related note, babies are messy.  Why would you make a baby product with a fabric seat, cover, etc. that cannot be removed for cleaning? Furthermore, why make a product with little nooks and crannies where drool, spit up and baby food can collect?

For those of you who make clothing for infants, please note that the average new parent does not employ an array of servants to do their laundry. We do not have time for baby clothes that need to be hand washed, hung to dry and/or ironed. Babies squirm a lot, making them hard to dress, so we would appreciate wider neck holes and generous waistbands that can be easily pulled up over a diaper. And we’d especially love it if you could come up with designs for socks and shoes that stay on baby’s feet for longer than 3 minutes.

Until they are much older, babies like to play with their toys by banging them on the ground, smashing them together and chewing on them. Please make toys that can stand up to this kind of abuse. And for those of you who make the toys with the music, sound effects and flashing lights that babies love so much, we’d appreciate a volume control option. And maybe you could coordinate your efforts so that your toys play more than the same 5 nursery songs (I have seriously had “Old Macdonald” stuck in my head for 6 months). We’d also like to see more bath toys without squirt holes so that we didn’t have to worry about mildew and bacteria growing inside.

Zayden chews on the straps of his highchair, which are almost impossible to remove for cleaning.

Also consider how fast babies grow and how we will use these products. When the average baby will weigh over 25lbs. by his or her first birthday and it is considered safest for children to be rear-facing up to 30 lbs., why make an infant car seat that only goes up to 22lbs.? Why make a convertible car seat that renders the front passenger seat essentially useless when it is installed in the rear-facing position (unless you own an H3 or a spacious minivan, you  know what I’m talking about)?

I could go on. Don’t get me started on pricing or impossible to follow assembly instructions or the marketing of products that are essentially unnecessary as baby essentials. Just get real already.

Sincerely,

A Frustrated Mother