It often takes a little research and a lot of common sense to pick the safest toys for your infant & newborn. Although there are no guarantees that every toy you buy your infant & newborn will be perfectly safe, there are some steps you can take that will allow you to make the safest choices when it comes to buying toys for your infant & newborn.

Stick with name brands. Find toy companies that you trust and stick with their products. Keep in mind that Mattel is now testing every production run for lead paint. Wal-Mart Stores and Disney are also testing toys in independent labs. Lego, BRIO, IKEA, Gerber, Little Tykes, Sassy , Tiny Love all have high quality standards.

Make sure toys list the manufacturer’s name. A toy is much more trustworthy when they list who the manufacturer is.

Make sure the toy manufacturer is a member of the Toy Industry Association. This association follows high industry standards.

Shop at familiar toy stores Avoid buying toys at the dollar store.

Trust your instinct. If a toy doesn’t look right, sounds too loud or doesn’t smell right then trust your instinct and don’t buy it.

Buy organic toys. You might decide to play it safe and go with completely plush toys for your infant & newborn. But keep in mind that many plush toys are made from plastic based polyester, acrylic and nylon. Plastic facial features of dolls or stuffed animals can also contain lead.

But some plush toys are made organically from materials such as cotton, hemp, wool, and bamboo cloth. This stuffing is natural and pleasant smelling. In order to be assured that a toy is made completely with organic materials check the label for an ‘organically grown’ symbol. The toy site www.organictoybox.com offers a variety of organically made toys which can be purchased online.

Buy wooden toys. You can avoid plastic by purchasing wooden toys which are more durable and won’t fade. But be aware that some wooden toys are painted with lead paint. Check out European wood toys or stick with unpainted wood toys.

If you make your own wood toys make sure that the wood you use hasn’t been treated as building material. Lumber intended for building is soaked in arsenic and other dangerous chemicals that will keep termites out buy make infant & newborns very sick. Check out www.woodentoys.com for a selection of wooden toys available online.

When checking the materials in your infant & newborn’s toys look for the following natural ingredients like leather, wood and organic cotton.