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Finding a gift for new parents and their newborn is a thoughtful gesture. Many people struggle with picking a gift that is unique versus something more practical. But, our baby experts assure you that practicality is the way to go. Adjusting to life with a newborn can be overwhelming, and your friends will appreciate practical gifts that make their lives with a new baby simpler.
That's where we come in.
No one tests baby products as extensively or comprehensively as we do here at BabyGearLab. And, our experts have put together a list of great gift ideas, all of which were quality vetted through our extensive review testing process. And. we make a point of constantly updating this list so it is always fresh, as new and interesting products come on the market and undergo our detailed review and testing.
Here is our list of favorite baby gifts with something to fit every budget.
Editor's Note: We updated this list of our favorite picks on May 11, 2022, to incorporate our latest picks for Bassinets.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Bath Time Gifts
Bath time can be fun or anxiety-inducing depending on your experience or knowledge level. But with the right baby gifts, you can make bathing a baby a more enjoyable experience for parents and little ones. From bathtubs to washcloths and shampoo, we've tested all the best items on the market.
A shampoo that may be attractive to families who strive to use products with clean ingredients as this product is fragrance-free and EWG verified, meaning it avoids ingredients of concern
A 2-in-1 product (shampoo and body wash) that may appeal to families who need a reliable shampoo, enjoy a light lavender scent, and an easy-to-use pump dispenser
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Toys and Books
Newborns are not the most interactive humans on the planet, but this stage is short and will be over in the blink of a sleepless eye. Because babies are rapidly advancing, soon they will need and want more interactive items like books, teething toys, or night lights.
A kid-friendly night light that offers a range of colors and brightness, and remote control
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Sleeping and Soothing
As any experienced parent can tell you, soothing a new baby and getting them to sleep are priorities for every new parent. Gifting helpful devices to increase the potential for a restful night's sleep is something mom and dad will appreciate and remember. Be it a sleep sack or swaddle to calm the startle reflex, a bedside bassinet for quick midnight feedings, or a self-soothing pacifier we've got the best items in the bunch to choose from.
The Woolino 4 Season Ultimate is a sleep sack made from merino wool and organic cotton. The temperature regulating properties of the material make it a perfect choice for parents who want to use the same sleep sack year-round. While the price tag is more…
Burt's Bees Baby Beekeeper is a lightweight sleep sack made from GOTS certified organic cotton. With the three available sizes, these sleep sacks can clothe your baby or toddler from birth up to 18 months. We appreciate that Burt's Bees makes a simple and…
The Arm's Reach Clear-Vue Co-Sleeper is a bedside bassinet that can stand alone or be attached to your bed. This product is the most accessible in the group allowing parents to stay in bed while comforting or feeding baby in the sleeper next to them. The…
The Baby Delight Beside Me is a mesh-sided bassinet with a firm sleep surface. This economical option has a drop side and parent bed attachment strap, as well as height adjustment for the bassinet for a proper pairing as a co-sleeper. We like the…
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Gifts for Mom
Buying baby gifts is fun and addictive. So fun in fact, that it can be easy to forget the lovely person who gave birth to this adorable creature. Don't forget mom when looking for gifts. We promise there has never been a mom ever who was sad about receiving something for her own care or journey into motherhood.
Reusable nursing pads with a form-fitting contour and budget-friendly price, but not as soft
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Calming and Entertainment
All new parents need a break every now and then. Whether they hope to grab a bite to eat or get in a quick shower, there are devices designed for soothing or entertaining little ones to get grown-up hands available for other things beyond holding the baby. We think a great bouncer or swing can be a lifesaving baby gift for any overwhelmed parent who needs a moment to breathe. As little ones get older, tummy time can also be a form of entertainment, so don't forget a fun baby gym!
A high-quality baby gym designed with child development in mind, offering stage-appropriate activities and zones for your baby to explore, learn, and play
The Fisher-Price Cradle 'n Swing earned our Editors' Choice award, beating out all the other options in our Baby Swing review. It outshines the competition regarding soothing ability thanks to its fully customizable features. It has soft, plush fabrics…
The Graco Slim Spaces received our Best Value award and is a perfect choice for parents looking to travel with their swing or for something to keep tucked away at grandma's house for weekend visits. It is one of Graco's most compact swings and can fold to…
The Baby K'tan is easy to use and works for little ones from 8-35 lbs.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Baby Carriers, Backpacks, & Strollers
Transporting a baby from place to place is easier with a great stroller or baby carrier. Little ones love the bonding experience of a wearable carrier and parents love the hands-free designs that allow them to be on the move getting things done with a baby on board. Many parents will be looking for a suitable stroller for errands and farmer's market strolls, so if your gift-giving budget allows, we've tested the most popular strollers on the planet.
The Nalakai Ring Sling is a straightforward baby carrier that works as it should without hiccups or complicated wrapping or strap adjustments. This bamboo and linen fabric sling is simple in design and can be put on using only on hand. Most users can put…
The Baby K'tan Original carrier is a wrap type carrier without the wrap design. This unique carrier is made of two loops of fabric joined by a smaller third loop that provides a wrap style final position, look, and feel. This carrier works for babies from…
The Thule Sapling Elite is a high-end baby backpack carrier for little ones from 16-48 lbs. It features a cool mirror for spying on your passenger and lots of pockets for the organization of all your supplies. This backpack includes a sturdy waistbelt and…
The Deuter Kid Comfort Active SL is a baby-carrying pack designed with women in mind, according to the manufacturer. This pack has narrower shoulder straps and pulls the passenger closer to the wearer for a more comfortable experience. Our female testers…
The Thule Urban Glide 2 is a jogging stroller you can easily use as your primary stroller. This stroller is the easiest to maneuver with a large swivel front wheel, adjustable tracking for running, and rear-wheel suspension. It has covered storage with a…
The Baby Jogger City Mini 2 is a lightweight full-size stroller for everyday adventures with some improvements on the older version. This stroller has adequate storage, an almost flat recline, and adjustable leg rest. It comes with a large canopy with…
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Nursery Gifts
Every nursery is unique and most parents have a vision of how they want it to look or what they want to include inside. But, there are still great baby gifts to be had in this category even if you don't know or share this vision. With items from crib mattresses to monitors or a calming sound machine, there is something for every budget in this group.
The VTech DM221 is a budget-friendly sound monitor with more features than the average product in this price range. The DM221 has excellent sound clarity with some of the best and loudest sounds in the group. This monitor has sound activation and two-way…
The VTech DM111 is a no-nonsense no-frills baby monitor designed to transmit sound from one component to another without many features. This product does its job well with better than average sound clarity and an impressive range. This monitor is easy to…
The Nanit Pro is the new Nanit offering that upgrades the camera to 1080 and comes with a few new features like more possible cameras and a breathing band. This WiFi video monitor can be used wherever you have WiFi access, making it a good choice for…
A lightweight and affordable mattress, but not natural materials
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Gifts for Nursing and Feeding
How you feed your baby is a personal decision. But there are baby gifts that can make either choice easier or help create a hybrid of both options. Breastfeeding moms will likely need a great breast pump whether they plan to go back to work or need to run an errand. A nursing pillow can help with latch, back fatigue, and positioning for more comfortable nursing. Alternatively, gifting a great bottle or bottle warmer can make bottle feeding easier as well.
The Ergobaby Natural Curve is a simple, yet thoughtfully designed nursing pillow. The extra firm polyurethane foam is formed with a curve intended to keep baby in a belly-to-belly position with their head above their stomach to possibly aid digestion. The…
We love the Comotomo baby bottle for many reasons. From the shape of the nipple to the ease of cleaning, it is a bottle that will keep both babies and parents happy. The silicone body keeps toxic chemicals away from the baby's food and out of the…
The NUK Simply Natural Glass bottle is a traditional bottle made from extra-durable borosilicate glass. We especially like the attention given to the nipple on the NUK with a unique orthodontic shape and broad nipple base that may be the perfect…
The Tommee Tippee 3-in-1 Advanced won a place in our hearts as one of our favorite bottle warmers, thanks to its abundance of great features. It has a simple-to-use interface, heats bottles safely, and runs almost no risk of overheating. The use of a…
The Chicco NaturalFit warmer quickly earned our Best Value award with a reasonable price tag and simple design it is easy to use and consistently warms bottles to the same temperature. This unit is water bath type making it safer than steam, but it tends…
The Spectra S1 is the breast pump we think moms have been waiting for. It's so comfortable, quiet, and efficient, you might even wonder if it's working until you look down and see breast milk effortlessly being expressed. This pump is easy to use…
The Medela Harmony with Flex manual breast pump gives traveling and stay at home moms something that is challenging to find in a double electric pump, portability. This hand-operated pump is simple yet efficient at an affordable price. Its quiet and…
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Diapering
Diapers and diaper changes are non-negotiable with babies and every parent will need some supplies to get going or up their diapering games. We've put together a list of our favorite baby gifts for disposable and cloth diapers, cloth wipes, diaper pails, and more. While perhaps not the coolest gift at a baby shower, we promise, that all parents love and appreciate any item from the diaper category.
The Weleda Calendula Diaper Rash Cream is an effective cream that helps treat and soothe irritations on a baby's bottom. With natural ingredients, free of petroleum, fragrance, and preservatives, this cream is a product we love. However, the cream's…
The Munchkin Step diaper pail has impressive odor control which helped it earn our Editors' Choice award. The hands-free pail is easy to use with a convenient foot pedal, large capacity, and the self-sealing system helps keep the odors trapped inside the…
The Creative Baby Tidy's ability to keep in the stink, even when depositing diapers impressed us during testing. Combined with its overall useability and the savings of utilizing regular kitchen trash bags, this pail won us over and earned the Best Value…
The Ju-Ju-Be Be Right Back is a diaper bag that (nearly) has it all. It is roomy, but not bulky, polished, but not flashy, and it has one of the best organization systems of all the bags we tested. When packing for a day out with your baby, the Be Right…
The Skip Hop Mainframe Wide Open Backpack is an innovative bag with the ability to stay open once the sides are pulled open. We like its easy-to-clean vegan leather material, exterior organization, and multiple carry options. It is a convenient…
Seventh Generation Sensitive Protection diapers impressed us during testing due to their high absorption rate and cozy design. With uber soft fabric and a snug fit, even the most active babies will be comfortable wearing these flexible diapers. They also…
Mama Bear Gentle Touch diapers bring a lot to the table with a product that has higher than average performance for absorption and leak protection. This diaper had relatively quick absorption with more moisture on the filter paper than some competition…
After thorough lab absorbency testing and hands-on use with our baby tester, the Rumparooz Pocket diaper quickly became a favorite cloth diaper of ours, earning it a top rank in our review along with an Editors' Choice award. It's double gusset, and dual…
The Flip diaper cover and Stay Dry Insert are two parts of a stellar cloth diapering duo, sporting above-average absorbency performance and a wallet-friendly price tag. This hybrid diaper is easy to assemble and clean afterward. The single stay dry insert…
Credit: Abriah Wofford
More Information
We hope you've found our guide to the best baby gifts helpful. We've spent hours and hours testing and compiling information to bring you the gifts we feel are sure to please the pickiest parents or babies. If you didn't see what you are looking for we've also picked awards for car seats, health and safety, nursery items, and more.
BabyGearLab was founded by a Pediatrician Mom with a mission to provide a reliable, independent, source of information to new parents. Our experts have tested thousands of baby and kids products to share key performance, health, and safety findings. We spend tens of thousands of dollars crash testing car seats to inform our ratings. And, we combine our review work with gobs of expert parenting advice. To assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing by people who care.
