Mobile for newborns: main types of device, principles of selection and the most popular models

09/18/201608/18/2019 Nadezhda Plotnikova 2 comments

The tradition of hanging various trinkets over the cradle of a newborn came to us from ancient centuries. In the old days, there was a belief that such pendants could protect a baby from damage and evil spirits, and give him good luck and a healthy life.

Nowadays, placing toys above the cradle does not carry any sacred meaning; parents thereby try to calm their babies down and begin their development from the moment of birth. For this purpose, mothers buy a mobile for the crib - an extremely common and fashionable attribute in the children's room. But is this accessory necessary for the child and parents?

What is a mobile?

Mobile (from the English “mobile” - movable, moving) is a structure that is a crosspiece on which small toys are suspended. Thanks to mechanical winding or batteries, pendant accessories move around the circumference like a carousel. That's why the mobile is also called a carousel.

Toys for children's mobiles come in different types: plush, rubber, plastic. Most often, manufacturers place on the suspension:

• animal figurines;
• cartoon or fairy-tale characters;
• butterflies;
• fruit;
• various geometric figures;
• asterisks.

When the music mobile is turned on, soft music plays. These can be the sounds of rain, sea, calm classical melodies, songs from animated films. Some models are additionally equipped with a projector and night light.

As noted above, mobiles are not a new invention, but an improved version of an ancient amulet toy. In ancient times, straw, textile or wooden figurines were hung above the crib, which protected against damage, the evil eye and the tricks of evil spirits.

Why do you need a crib hanger?

A musical carousel for a crib is not just a beautiful toy that will delight the eyes of a child and his mother. A mobile is a universal device that can perform several functions at once.

• child development. From the moment of birth, a newborn begins to learn about the surrounding reality. Toy accessories hung above a child's head turn into objects of study, on which the child focuses his eyes, examines their coloring and details. This allows you to train attentiveness and visual memory. Older children will reach for toys, trying to pick them up;
• distracting the child. A toy carousel is a great way to distract a child. By turning on the device, mom will be able to do personal or household chores. Calm or cheerful pieces of music alternate, depending on whether the baby is awake or falling asleep. This allows you to diversify children's leisure time, activate or “put to sleep” a newborn;
• nursery decoration. Many mobiles are very attractive for young children. Such designs can become successful design finds. If the gaming accessories are removable, then in the future they can be used separately, as ordinary toys - ringing, spinning, making noise.

The device, which includes a small tape recorder, can also perform an entertainment function. In addition, some models work as night lights, which is very important for preventing night terrors.

What role do hanging toys play in a child's development?

Our ancestors subconsciously selected the right toys for babies; it has now been proven that while playing with a hanging carousel, a newborn develops not only hearing, but also the visual system (reaction to light and movement, short-term reflex of turning the eyeball).

Read more about this in the articles:

Using hanging toys on the crib for newborns, we help the child:

• Explore nearby space;
• a sense of the volume of an object is built into the newborn’s understanding (age 2 months);
• Develop and improve the grasping reflex (4th month of life); Interesting information about the unconditioned reflexes of a newborn>>>
• Study far and near space (after six months of life) Read what a child should be able to do at 6 months>>>

Of course, a newborn can go through all these stages without the help of a hanging carousel, but it also plays another positive role.

Thanks to getting used to a certain melody, the child learns to fall asleep in his crib exactly at the time when this melody is playing. And observing moving objects contributes to a slight fatigue of the newborn’s eyes, which also contributes to falling asleep.

Important! No matter how beautiful and cheerful a toy is, closer and dearer than mother’s hands, the baby cannot have anything in the first 3 years of life.

Try not to leave your newborn with the music mobile for more than 1 hour.

From what age can it be used?

There is no clear answer to the question of whether a mobile is needed in a crib for newborns. The choice always remains with mom and dad. A very young child is not interested in anything at all; his vital needs are feeding, sleeping and clean clothes.

The fact that newborn babies see very poorly speaks in favor of purchasing a mobile later. In addition, they are able to notice only static objects. But if you have already purchased a gaming carousel, you should first simply turn on quiet music, if, of course, such a function is available.

Around the fourth week, the baby begins to pay attention to nearby objects. However, even at this age, rotating toys do not appeal to him. With intense attention, he studies his mother’s face and black and white motionless objects.

But in the second month of life, visual acuity begins to increase, the child fixes his gaze on distant objects. Rotating toys also attract his attention. Many experts are convinced that it is at this age that it is correct to introduce children to mobile phones.

Don't forget that children's hearing is sensitive. You should not turn on your music mobile at full volume. An excessively sounding toy will quickly “overload” the child’s psyche, as a result, instead of a calm baby, parents will receive an overexcited and capricious toddler.

Interesting moving objects stimulate the child to get up quickly and develop grasping movements. However, at six months of age, when the baby is already trying to get up, it is recommended to remove the mobile. Otherwise, the structure may break and injure the baby.

If the gaming accessories are removable, it is best to let them play separately. You can also hang toys on a stroller, walker or educational mat. You can leave the music block - let it serve for playing lullabies.

Purpose of purchase

The sides of the bed, hung with various trinkets, are not just a beautiful decor for a child’s room, but a full-fledged educational aid that allows the child to train certain skills and better understand the world around him at a stage when he is not even really visible. Of course, such advantages are not provided by any pendants, but only by those recommended by experts, but people noticed the developing effect of such design back in ancient times.

Today, thanks to the fact that manufacturers began to produce moving musical carousels (so-called mobiles), such accessories have become even more useful, because now they swing and make sounds without the direct participation of the mother.

It is worth briefly listing the benefits of using toys and rattles for newborns.

• In the first months of his life, a newborn is so poorly developed that he is not even able to focus his gaze on a particular object. Bright spinning toys, especially those with music, literally attract the child’s attention, forcing him to learn to concentrate. Moreover, in some cases you also have to turn your head or the whole body in order to better see the object of interest, and this is already a huge bonus in terms of motor activity.
• At the age of 2 months, thanks to trinkets, the child begins to master the concept of volume. If you lie in a crib all the time, you won’t get a full-fledged idea of ​​the world around you, and since you can’t concentrate your attention, only toys hanging directly at the head of the bed will help you form such a concept.

• The grasping reflex is present in the baby from birth, but in the first stages of life it is unconscious. Over time, the child must learn to pick up various objects, and it is the small trinkets hanging on his cradle that will become an excellent simulator for this. The first successes in this activity will be noticeable at approximately 4 months.
• In a cramped crib, it will be difficult for a child to get an adequate idea of ​​distance, but he cannot live without this skill: it is necessary at least for normal orientation in the room. With a large number of toys, the child eventually learns to focus his vision on each one, gradually understanding how far away the object in question is. It is advisable to hang toys at different distances from the baby, periodically changing their position, but electric carousels often solve this problem.

Of course, you can gain this knowledge over time without hanging toys, but in this case the baby’s development will slow down. Moreover, toys equipped with the function of playing a pleasant melody help the baby fall asleep faster, so the mother does not have to lull him to sleep.

If rocking to sleep occurs at the same time every day, the baby may even develop a daily routine, which is very convenient for parents.

Types of mobiles

A crib mobile for tiny newborns is a common device. Therefore, in the store there are many different models - from simple to multifunctional. They differ in several main characteristics.

Rotation mechanism

Based on how the game carousel is controlled, there are two main categories:

• mechanical;
• electric.

In the first case, the carousels are activated by manual winding, like a barrel organ. A mechanical mobile can work for about 3 - 5 minutes, after which it needs to be restarted. Such models are cheap, but they do not have additional functions (backlighting, selection of music, projector).

Electric pendants are powered by rechargeable batteries. Rotation time is approximately half an hour. This option is easier to manage, since parents do not need to regularly start up the gaming device.

Battery-powered carousels can most often play several pieces of music, which allows you to select the one you like. More expensive models are equipped with additional functions, for example, backlighting and a projector.

Conventionally, stationary toys that are attached to a wooden cross and set in motion manually can also be classified as mobiles. You can make such models yourself by simply attaching various figures to a barbell, which change as the child grows.

Mounting type

Depending on the fasteners, children's mobiles can be divided into several categories:

1. With a hook. Budget devices are equipped with this type of mount. They are distinguished by their mobility and lightness, so they can be removed and hung in another place in the shortest possible time. However, the hook is not a reliable type of fastener, so a slightly older child can pull out the hook and drop the entire structure on itself.
2. With clamp. This is a universal fastener, which consists of plastic clips or clamps with fixing elements. This type of fastener has a fairly high degree of reliability.
3. With Velcro. Sticky elastic bands allow you to attach the structure almost anywhere: on a bed, in a car seat, on a stroller handle or in a playpen. Convenient, but not reliable enough.

The heavier the structure, the more durable and reliable the fasteners should be. Usually, high-quality models are characterized by increased safety, so you don’t have to worry that the mobile will fall and injure your child.

Multifunctionality

Today's mobile for a tiny newborn is a multifunctional design, equipped with additional options. If the simplest device will last a child only up to six months of age, then improved models will brighten up children's leisure time up to 3 years.

Additional options:

• 
  projector , which is aimed at the ceiling and displays a variety of pictures, for example, stars and the moon;

• night lamp – the night light function allows you to use the mobile as a table lamp;
• player – after the child grows up, the game carousel becomes a music player;
• voice activation - some advanced models can turn on automatically when the child starts crying or making loud screams (that is, they work like a professional nanny);
• automatic shutdown - this function is similar to the previous one: as soon as the baby calms down, the mobile turns off so as not to disturb the child’s sleep;
• Remote control – this device will help you turn your mobile phone on and off, select a piece of music, activate a night light or projector without going near the child’s bed.

Many parents increasingly prefer to choose 3-in-1 mobiles. These are multifunctional models that include a pendant with toys, a night lamp and a music player. Such toys allow children to play until they are three years old.

So what is the danger?

It would seem that there could be no harm from a mobile phone. But in reality, without knowing a small nuance, after the mobile phone the child will have to be treated for several months.

But the fact is that, due to its design, not a single mobile can be clearly located above the child. After all, he has a stick-mount. Therefore, the child will always look more in the direction where this bright toy will be attached.

If the crib rests against the wall, then parents will not even think about the fact that the mobile needs to be moved in different directions every day. Firstly, it is a chore, and secondly, it is not convenient - the mobile will simply interfere with taking the child out of the crib.

Meanwhile, the child gets used to looking in one direction and his head begins to change position situationally, constantly tilting it slightly to the side.

How to choose a mobile for a newborn?

The music mobile should be chosen very carefully. In order not to make a mistake in your choice, it is important to know a few basic points that you should pay special attention to:

1. Toys. When choosing carousels with animals or cartoon characters, you need to make sure that they are hung behind your back and facing the child. In this case, the baby will develop the correct perception of the form.
2. Material. Play equipment for a child, especially in the first 12 months, must be made of absolutely safe materials. The plastic and rubber parts of high-quality products are non-toxic and do not smell. Plush toys should not have long pile; they are also quick and easy to wash and clean; paint does not leak from them.
3. Shape and color. Hanging figures should be large and bright. For newborns, it is better to choose toys with geometric patterns, and in black and white. Then you can select mobiles with fairy-tale characters.
4. Melodies. Choose classical music, cartoon songs or natural sounds. The most important thing is the volume and unobtrusiveness of the melodies. The child will have to listen to the toy for a long time, so you need to turn on the sounds before purchasing and refuse a mobile phone with a squeaky or harsh sound.
5. Remote control. This is not a required feature, but having a remote control will make life much easier. As soon as the baby begins to doze off to the sound and movement of the toy, you can turn off the mobile without going near the crib and without attracting the attention of the dozing toddler.

We have already mentioned such a function as projecting an image onto the ceiling. The child may be interested in the flickering image, but the light projection will be noticeable only in the dark, when the baby has been sleeping soundly for a long time. Is this option necessary? It's up to you to decide.

Self-production

Many mothers, spending a significant amount of maternity leave at home, prefer to make a toy for the cradle with their own hands, because it is not only cheap, but also absolutely safe. All you need is the ability to sew.

Fabric is the simplest material for home processing, which is why the base is most often made from it. You should choose natural materials like cotton or linen; felt toys are also very popular due to their pleasant texture, but it is better not to use synthetic fabrics. It is also advisable to use exclusively natural materials as a filler - in particular, any type of cereal will work well.

If you fill the body of the toy with filler too loosely, the product may turn into a rattle.

Most often, mothers sew garlands or spirals on their own: they are made quite simply and do not require any special artistic skills. If you want to do something more for your child, you can sew him toy pillows that will look like ordinary pillows, but with a cute pattern, ears and other interesting attributes. In this case, it is better to replace the filler with a softer one - instead of cereal, use padding polyester or cotton wool.

When making children's trinkets yourself, it is important to remember that all parts must be carefully secured, and they themselves must be as durable as possible. Children put everything in their mouths, so the slightest loose button or dropped grain of cereal can cause a curious baby to choke.

Ideally, you don't want to create products that have protruding parts, especially those with sharp or hard edges.

Remember that the child does not need his own toy box yet - all his play property should now fit in front of his eyes. For this reason, there is no need for too much variety in models.

To learn how to sew a spiral toy, watch the following video.