About The Nightlight
Whether you are the parent of a young child, or preparing for your first, you’ve got your hands full. Who has the time to understand the world of strollers, or test how easily a car seat installs in a variety of cars? We do.
Our approach is simple: combine in-depth research and real-world testing to find the best gear, and present our findings in an easy-to-digest format. Our team is comprised of parents, writers and product testers that aim to empower parents so that you get the right gear from the start. We put extra emphasis on durability and value, two attributes that all of our recommendations must have.
On average, we spend between 20 and 40 hours researching and testing products for each guide. We update them frequently to stay on top of product changes and new models. All of our reviews and articles go through our resident gear expert Matthew DeLauder, who has spent the majority of his adult life working with the gear we write about, both as a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician and as a retail veteran in the industry. The rest of our team is no slouch either, with contributors from Parenting Magazine, BabyTalk and more.
We feel that parenting shouldn’t require specialized equipment, or a degree in stroller folding. We think that making smart, value-driven choices can make child-rearing easier, and give you some more time enjoy helping your baby grow. We’re always adding new content, but if there’s something specific that you want to see, drop us a line!
Our philosophy
It’s pretty simple: we think most baby gear is unnecessary at best and downright useless at worst. You don’t need a bunch of special equipment to raise a happy, healthy baby. We do our best to research and recommend the best baby products out there, because we want to save you time and stress. And we’re adding new guides all the time, because that’s what we do! But if you read one of our guides and find yourself thinking Do I really need that? then you’re probably on the right track. Don’t feel like you need to buy every last thing we recommend.
How to Support The Nightlight
You can support our work by simply reading and buying the products we have chosen through the links on our guide pages.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Each of our pieces has many hours of work put into them—usually 10x what goes into a typical review on many baby blogs and magazines. If we recommend good products, our work is supported through a small commission from the retailer when you make a purchase. But if we pick junk and you return it, we make nothing. We think that’s a fair system.
You’ll notice we usually link to Amazon for making a recommended purchase. Because of the convenience of Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping and Amazon’s great customer service, we think it’s among the most trusted ways to shop online. However, if we find a better price from a trusted retailer besides Amazon, we use them as the primary purchase link instead—even if we don’t garner an affiliate fee.
As editors, we have used Amazon’s Prime service and its flat rate two day shipping and the included video streaming service for over a decade. If you’re interested in supporting our work and trying out Prime, which usually costs $100 a year, you can sample it with a free 30-day trial.