8 September 2026 · Eric Richfield
Commercial Director · Father of four
How to Read a Baby Product Review
I run commercial partnerships. Part of my job is paying people to talk about products on camera. Keep that in mind as you read this. I'm explaining my own trade, not exposing anybody else's.
Most of what you see is honest. But every paid review follows a pattern, and once you know it you can see what a review can and can't tell you.
How a paid review is built
A brand sends a product and a brief. The brief lists the points to mention. Nobody is told what to think. The listed points get mentioned, and the rest mostly don't.
So the problem isn't lying. It's what gets left out.
A swaddle brief says breathable, soft, nice prints. It won't mention what happens in month four, when she starts to roll.
The tells
- It's unboxed in the first ten seconds. That means the brand sent it.
- Nothing is wrong with it. Real use finds one annoyance, always.
- The praise is about the packaging, the print, the feel. All true, all visible in ten minutes.
- No timeframe. "Love it" on day two tells you nothing about day sixty.
- A discount code. At that point it's a shop window, not a review.
None of those makes the person dishonest. They do make the review an advert with a face on it.
Read the 3-star reviews
5-star reviews are written in week one. 1-star reviews are usually about delivery. The 3-star ones are written by somebody who used the thing for a while, liked it, and has one specific complaint.
That complaint is the review. Sort by lowest, skip the delivery ones, read the middle.
Buying, elsewhere
Questions a video can't answer
Four things decide whether you keep a baby product. None of them films well.
- How is it after 30 washes? Colour, shape, softness.
- What happens at the next stage? Rolling, sitting, crawling.
- Can you use it one-handed, in the dark, at 3am?
- What does it cost per use, not per unit?
Ask those in the comments. Creators answer more often than you'd expect, and the answer is usually more honest than the video, because nobody wrote a brief for the comments.
What I'd say about our own
We pay people. We send briefs. Same as everyone.
What I'd rather you did is read our journal, where we say which of our claims don't hold up, and then read the 3-star reviews on the product page. If those two disagree, believe the reviews.
I'm not sure how many people do that. Probably not many. It's still the right way round.
Questions I get asked
How do I tell if a baby product review is paid?
Look for an unboxing in the first ten seconds, no criticism at all, praise limited to packaging and feel, no mention of how long it's been used, and a discount code. Paid does not mean dishonest, but it does mean the brief set the topics.
Which reviews are the most helpful?
The 3-star ones. They're written by somebody who used the product for a while and has one specific complaint, and that complaint is usually the thing you needed to know.
What should I ask in the comments?
How it holds up after 30 washes, what happens at the next developmental stage, whether it can be used one-handed in the dark, and the cost per use. None of those films well, so none of them is in the video.
This guide is general information, written to help you understand a topic and ask better questions. It is not medical advice and does not replace your own doctor, midwife or paediatrician. Anything that worries you about your baby belongs with them.