Toys That Last: musical mobile for your newborn

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Think newborns, what is the first image you see? A crib with a mobile. I never thought it matters what kind of mobile I get for the baby. If it was left up to me, I don’t know what I would get.

Luckily a friend gave me the mobile that her little girl loved until she grew out of it (Tiny Love Symphony Light and Motion Mobile). Honestly, this mobile was awesome, my son loved it and it lasted from 0 to 8 months. It didn’t break, he didn’t get bored with it and the only reason we stopped using it was because my son started to try to dismount it from his cot and I didn’t think it was safe to leave it there any more.

The good

1. There are 2 modes of classical music and one of nature sounds. When Baby Mozart is getting old you can press another button and listen to the birds and the waterfalls. The volume is adjustable too so you can turn it down and listen to some jazz in another room.

2. It is not mechanical so no need to turn it on often. It runs on batteries and once you’ve pushed the button the music is playing for 20 minutes – so if your baby is happy in the cot you have 20 free minutes before it stops and you need to start it again.

3. The batteries last for a long time, we have only replaced them 3 times in 8 months.

4. You have a choice of modes – without the light with only toys rotated, with the light on and with the music on, which is plenty to entertain a newborn.

5. The toys have various colors and patterns Black shapes on light background are most suitable for newborns, then as your baby grows and his vision develops, he starts to see the colors on the toys. There are lots of bright yellow that babies like so much.

6. Apart from the toys there are many other details on this mobile for your kid to look at – plastic shapes and fun-looking see-through plastic cones. When the mobile is moving they are rattling and moving with it, drawing your baby’s attention.

7. The toys on the strings have friendly faces and are looking down at the baby. My son clearly liked it, he thought that the lion and the bunny are smiling at him and smiled back.

8. This mobile grows with your baby. At 4-5 months of age, when your baby can reach the toys on strings it is no longer safe to leave them there, so you remove the whole rod with the toys and leave just the music box attached to the crib. Then another kind of fun begins – your baby will try to crawl to the music box, hold on to it and push the buttons. And they are easy enough for the little fingers to manage, so once succeeded, you baby will come for more.

The bad

1. It was a little tricky to assemble and if you don’t follow the directions exactly, the rod is unstable and can tip over. If you do everything right, it is rock solid.

2. When you remove the rod, the hole it used to be in remains open and if a little finger is pushed inside it is potentially unsafe. I covered it with sticky tape and we didn’t have any accidents of that sort.

These were really the only downsides of this mobile, which was otherwise wonderful.

What mobile did you get for your baby and why? Are you happy with it or can’t wait to throw the damn thing away?