About us
Top Notch Baby Gear is an independent baby gear testing site. We buy every product we review at retail, use it in ordinary family life, and publish what we found alongside the measurements.
We are funded by readers. Some links here earn a commission at no cost to you. It is the same commission whichever product you choose, so it cannot move a score — seehow we test and our affiliate disclosure.
Why this site exists
Baby gear is bought in a hurry, usually by people who have never owned any of it, often while exhausted. The category is full of specifications that sound decisive and are not — a stripped carrier weight, a limit nobody reaches, a rating every product on the shelf also holds. We measure the things that actually decide a purchase and publish the numbers next to the score.
Editorial
Emma Wolbert — Editor
Emma is the editor of Top Notch Baby Gear. She signs off every guide before it publishes, and holds the line on the two rules the site runs on: we buy what we test, and we say plainly where a figure did not come from our own hands.
How we are organised
Testing runs through 8 households across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. That spread is deliberate: handle height, torso length and what it takes to lift a loaded infant seat vary enormously between people, and a product tested by one body type has only been tested for that body type.
Alongside the households we survey real owners and work through verified customer reviews at a scale no single family can reach. Both tracks feed every guide.
The testing households
The Jenkins household
Austin, Texas. Children: newborn, 4 years, 6 years.
Infant car seats, bassinets and full-size strollers, plus anything that has to survive a school run and a newborn in the same morning.
The Rodriguez household
Chicago, Illinois. Children: 1 year (twins), 4 years, 6 years.
Double strollers, high chairs and toddler feeding. Twin logistics in a city townhouse is the hardest test of stroller manoeuvrability and footprint we have.
Elena Rodriguez, Carlos Rodriguez
The Patel household
Seattle, Washington. Children: newborn (twins), 2 years, 4 years, 6 years.
Breast pumps, bottles and diapers at volume. Five children including newborn twins puts more cycles through feeding and changing gear in a week than most households manage in a year.
The Taylor household
Denver, Colorado. Children: newborn, 1 year, 4 years.
Travel strollers, carriers and anything that has to fold into a car or go up a trail.
The Davies household
Bristol, United Kingdom. Children: newborn, 2 years, 4 years, 6 years.
Baby gates, proofing and sound machines. Four children across a four-year spread means a crawling baby and small toy parts share a floor daily.
Charlotte Davies, Oliver Davies
The Tremblay household
Montreal, Canada. Children: 1 year, 3 years, 6 years.
Cold-weather travel gear, skincare and non-toxic materials. Montreal winters test bulky travel kit in conditions no US or UK household sees.
The Reid household
Manchester, United Kingdom. Children: 7 months, 1 year, 4 years, 6 years.
Bottles, pumps and hygiene. Running infant feeding alongside two toddler routines is where sterilising and washing claims get found out.
The Nguyen household
Melbourne, Australia. Children: newborn, 1 year, 4 years.
Connected monitors, sound machines and smart gear — battery life, app behaviour and what a device does with your data.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and say that we did. Write to hello@topnotchbabygear.com.