The consumer advocates dubbed "the Ralph Naders of the bridal industry" are trying to save people money again. The topic for Alan and Denise Fields this time? Babies.
Despite being cute, cuddly and basic in their demands (eating, sleeping and needing cleaning), babies are very expensive, as the authors found out when they had their son, Benjamin, in 1993.
How expensive? According to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, $6,000 to $13,000 is spent on a child until the age of 3, and that doesn't include prenatal care or delivery costs. The Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates that the infant sleepwear industry alone is a $1.1 billion business. Juvenile products such as cribs, car seats and toys account for another $3.5 billion. Add in diapers, food and all other clothing, and the baby business becomes a $24 billion industry.
Like most first-time parents, the Fieldses were looking for advice but couldn't find anything that told them "what to look for or how to find a decent bargain without compromising safety or quality," says Mrs. Fields. "That's usually our criteria for writing a book. If there's a book out there that addresses whatever our problems are, we never think we need to write another."
So they began a familiar process of research and interviews with industry experts and average parents. But just as not getting ripped off while planning the wedding of your dreams was the underlying theme of "Bridal Bargains," the heart of "Baby Bargains" is safety.
The book is divided into chapters for each baby product category such as bedding, clothing and toys. Each of these contains a "Safe & Sound" section highlighting shopping advice, safety tips (such as never use an electric blanket) and other valuable information (including how to contact the Consumer Product Safety Commission's recall hot line). The Fieldses also scatter information boxes throughout the book to re-emphasize points because a bargain isn't a bargain if it endangers your baby.
"There are places to save money but never at the cost of the baby's safety," says Nancy Owen, a baby safety crusader and a source for "Baby Bargains." "The consequences of that you can never overcome. The problem is defining for the parent where those savings are and where those savings should not be."
The nursery has both potential safety hazards and money wasters. For example, most baby bedding is sold in sets that include pillows, bumper pads, dust ruffles and a quilt, but you don't need all of those items.
"The bumper is the only safety feature inside the crib," says Mrs. Owen, who recommends buying a thick, tall bumper.
"The dust ruffle is just decoration. You want a bumper that preferably ties top and bottom because if it just ties on top babies will pull it off the bottom and wedge themselves between the mattress and side bars. Give up buying a fancy quilt but get a good bumper."
Pillows, fluffy bedding and lambskin are wastes of money and dangerous. While doctors do not know what causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), they do know that putting babies in bedding that is too soft, particularly on their stomach, increases the danger.
While the Fieldses love thrift shops and consignment stores, there are two items they advise against buying there -- car seats and cribs. Car seats are bad because there is no way of knowing if it has been in an accident. If a friend or a relative gives you an old car seat and you know it has never been in an accident, call the National Highway Safety Administration's hot line at (800) 424-9393 or (202) 366-0123 to check that it has not been recalled.
Crib manufacturers often make changes for safety reasons that parents are unaware of.
"The old style cribs had spindles on the corners," says Mrs. Owen, who owns a nursery store in Austin, Texas, and is the mother of seven children. "Pajamas get caught in the finials so they've done away with finials. People wouldn't know why they don't have the finials so you see a pretty crib like a Queen Anne four poster bed. You think 'Great, I'll take it,' and the next minute you know, your baby strangles."
Laboratory tests
As an extra precaution, choose cribs, highchairs, playpens, strollers and carriages that carry the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association seal. Products with the seal have passed tests administered by an independent laboratory according to standards developed by consumer groups, the product safety commission and industry members. The Fieldses point out that the manufacturers association's standards are tougher than those of the product safety commission.
One hard judgment call is infant sleepwear. The product safety commission currently requires all clothing labeled as such to be made of polyester, which is naturally flame resistant but tends to pull and look shabby after numerous washings. Because many parents use cotton clothing as sleepwear for its wearability, the product safety commission is considering a rules change to allow some cotton clothing to be labelled sleepwear.
"Cotton that is form-fitting to their bodies is not any more of a hazard than flame retardant sleepwear," says Mrs. Fields. "So if it's a big, loose T-shirt it can catch fire much easier than a form-fitting pair of long johns."
"We actually did a test," she continues. "We took a piece of cotton fabric and we took one of [Benjamin's] sleepers that had been washed 100 times and we set fire to them. Cotton will continue to burn after you remove the flame, whereas the polyester flame retardant clothing will not. [Polyester melts.] You have to ask yourself do you want polyester melting or flaming cotton, so it's an individual choice."
If you do use flame-retardant sleepers, do not wash them in soap flakes. "Soap flakes actually add a chemical or chemically react so that they lose their flame retardancy so you can actually light them with a match," says Mrs. Fields.
Instead, she advises washing baby clothing with regular laundry using detergent that doesn't have dyes or perfumes to avoid allergic reactions.
The Fieldses and other experts agree on two very important safety tips. Take your time, do research, talk to other parents, talk to retailers and think carefully before buying a product. Assume that everything your baby comes into contact with is a potential danger.
And "never, ever, ever leave a baby unattended, not for one second," says Debbie Albert, a spokeswoman for the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association. "Please, tell people that. People go for one second to answer the phone and it's all over."
Bringing up baby safely
* Don't use a crib that's older than 5 years because it may not meet the current standards for crib construction. About 50 babies die a year in accidents involving old cribs, according to Ann Brown, chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, who calls it "the major [safety] problem for babies."
* Don't hang bags on the handles of a stroller. It can make the stroller tip over.
* Get down on your hands and knees and look for potential dangers to a child. Is the edge of your coffee table squared off? You need to get a cushion to put around it. You really have to put yourself down on the baby's eye level.
* Make sure you have everything to change the baby before putting the baby on a changing table or bassinet. And always strap the baby in.
* Mount baby gates at the top and bottom of stairs. Babies can be injured trying to crawl upstairs. If you want your child to practice stair crawling, leave only one or two treads from the bottom open and put the gate above that.
* Don't use a pressure-mounted gate, which an average moving baby can knock down. Use wall mounted gates. To save money, check stores and catalogs for wall mounted "pet gates." They're identical to "baby gates" but usually sell for less.
* When you buy a mobile you're really paying for the strength of the brackets, not the decorative part, so buy mobiles with strong attachments. And remove mobiles when the baby can stand.
*Don't use talcum powder, which can cause respiratory problems for baby. Use cornstarch instead.
* If you use drawstring gowns, remove the string after the baby is three months old or else the baby could get it loose and choke on it. Or use "drawstring" gowns that use built in elastic instead.
* Always buy age-appropriate toys. "It's real easy to think your child is advanced, but part of the reason they put that age appropriateness on there is there are small parts they can choke on as the age appropriateness rises," says Mrs. Fields.