Holiday Gift Guide 2023: Newborns & Infants

It’s November and that means you are either shifting to the holiday season, or you are in denial. Gift guides and catalogs will be coming out ad nauseam from your fave influencers to big box stores (if they haven’t hit your inboxes already). But to be honest, a lot of those gift recommendations tend to overlap. Enough with the Stanley cups and sneaker erasers already….

So what then is included in a Child(ish) Advice Gift Guide?
Here’s what we use:

Is it cool and new?
Does it support child development?
What makes it stand out from all the rest?
What do the reviews say, specifically about durability and longevity?

For babies, their first year is all about firsts. They are learning about their environment, their bodies, and how to interact with everyone and everything, one cry and crawl at a time.

So, here’s our top toys for babies 0-12 months:

Breathing Light and Sound Soother

Why We Love It:
This light and sound toy doubles as a soother, taking sensory balls to the next level. This toy comes with six colorful, textured balls that activate breathing lights and different sounds when placed on the base (lullabies, ocean, heartbeat), encouraging fine and visual motor skills. It can hang vertically, allowing for upright play while sitting or standing. When it’s time for nap or sleep, it turns into a soother with separate and adjustable light and volume controls.

Washing Machine Tissue Box

Why We Love It:
Kids are fascinated by simple things, including pulling tissues out of a box. It’s adorable but not so much fun to clean. Introducing this cute little washing machine. Its design considers all the sensory systems to spark your baby’s attention and curiosity, from the baby mirror to the high contrast colors and textured fabrics. Because it looks like a washing machine, it gives their tissue box actions meaning by pairing it with what they see when we’re doing laundry.

Rotating Light Up Musical Projector

Why We Love It:
If you’re looking for a toy that will grab your baby’s visual attention, this one is it. This toy has it all: music, colored lights, an animal-merry-go-round, and a starry night light projector. It may seem like too many bells and whistles, but that stimulus can be engaging enough for your baby to lift their head up during tummy time, button mash its top for different sounds while sitting, or crawl towards it if it rolls away. It can also be a soother at home or on vacay.

Fisher-Price Panda Walker and Activity Center

Why We Love It:
It’s panda themed. Who honestly doesn’t love pandas? But seriously, its unconventional two-sided design promotes a variety of developmental skills. For instance, its vertical wall encourages an upright seated position while your child is engaging with its many activities on both sides of the walker, like an interactive dashboard and shape sorter. Its sturdy wide base gives it the stability needed for when your baby decides to pull themselves to stand and take a few steps on either side. Plus, its Smart Stages Technology has three levels of learning with songs, sounds, and phrases, including the alphabet, opposites, and counting.

Stocking Stuffers:
Baby Sensory Teether Ball Toy
Rainmaker Rain Stick
Fisher-Price Poppity Pop Turtle
Munchkin® Float & Play Bubbles Bath Toys

Note to buyer: A lot of the tried-and-true toys don’t change much from year to year. That’s why baby registries and gift guides for this age group don’t have a ton of variation. Need more toy ideas? Check out our previous gift guides for more child development gift options.

All of the linked items can also be found on our Child(ish) Advice Holiday Gift Guide Amazon List.
We do not receive a commission through these links. We’re just really big fans!

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