About

I had a baby in a city where neither of us has a mother within a thousand kilometres. No aunt down the road, no neighbour who'd done it before. A WhatsApp group of colleagues who were lovely and knew nothing about babies, and a building full of grandmothers who knew everything and disagreed with each other.

So I learned the way you learn when there's nobody to ask at 3am: badly, expensively, and with the phone in one hand. Every product on this site was bought by a woman who had read nine reviews, trusted none of them, and ordered it anyway because the shop would close.

This is the tenth review. Written after the thing arrived, after it was used, thrown, washed, lost under the sofa and found again. With the price I paid, the month I paid it, and a stamp at the end so you don't have to read nine of these either.

The cub is three now. He is a small, loud person who negotiates like a union leader, eats anything as long as it's not what's on his plate, and believes every auto in Bengaluru is personally his. He has never slept through a thunderstorm and has never once been bothered by a pressure cooker. He throws things, mostly at the dog, with tremendous accuracy. He is the tester. I just write it down.

Everything here is from our flat, our heat, our power cuts, our budget. I'm not a paediatrician; please ask yours for anything medical. I'm not a brand; nobody sends me free things. I'm the mum two steps ahead of you.

Why "cub"

Because he's mine, and because I'd rather not put his name on the internet before he can decide for himself. He's the cub. Everything here was tested on him.

Two kinds of story

Up to his age now, every story is from our own home and carries a verdict. For the stages ahead, I do what every mum without a village does: ask the ones who've been through it and write it down before I buy. Those notes are labelled "from mums ahead of me" and carry no verdict. Looking ahead explains how that works.

How I keep the stories honest

Each review says what we used and whether it is something we still use. An item I have only researched is labelled that way. When I make a wider health or safety point, I link the guidance behind it; research can explain that point, it cannot prove exactly what happened in our home. If something has changed since I wrote a story, please let me know. Read how I review and how I use links and sources.

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