What to Expect Moms Name Best Products for New Parents; Over 100,000 Votes Cast

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- What to Expect, the leading globally recognized pregnancy and parenting brand, announced the winners of the What to Expect Awards, the only 100% mom-to-mom baby product award program, aimed at helping new parents make smart, stress-free buying decisions for baby. Additionally, What to Expect editors selected Mom Culture Award winners honoring the people, cultural moments and services that impacted moms' lives this year.

'MOM MUST HAVE' PRODUCT AWARDS:

The What to Expect Awards honor the very best products in pregnancy and parenting, as selected by parents and parents-to-be. Mom Must-Have product awards were given in 20 carefully curated categories, all nominated by the What to Expect community of over 16 million monthly users.  

"Since the conception of What to Expect, I've been a mom on a mission to help other moms and dads stress less and enjoy their pregnancies and new babies more," says Heidi Murkoff, author of the best-selling book What to Expect When You're Expecting and creator of What to Expect Digital.  "Digital content and community has allowed that mission to grow, reaching and serving more moms in more ways. That mom-to-mom connection, parents helping other parents, is what the What to Expect Awards is all about."

"What to Expect moms are passionate advocates for the products they love – and that goes for me, too!" says Emma Bing, Lifestyle Editor of What to Expect and mom of a 4-year old son (she also happens to be Heidi Murkoff's daughter and the inspiration for What to Expect When You're Expecting – she's pictured on the cover of its 5^th edition).  "We received thousands of write-in nominations and well over 100,000 votes to choose the winners, so being chosen as a winner is Mom's way of saying to her friends, 'you have to have this thing!'"

What to Expect brand studies show that 80% of moms say product advice from other moms is a leading criteria in choosing what to buy, and greater than 60% of What to Expect users are more likely to buy or register for a product that carries the What to Expect Awards seal.

The winners of the 'Mom Must Have' product awards are:

Best Baby Bottles
Dr. Brown's Original Bottle

Best Baby Carrier
Ergobaby 360

Best Baby Monitor
Owlet Smart Sock 2

Best Baby Sleep Helper
Halo SleepSack Swaddle

Best Baby Soother
WubbaNub Pacifier

Best Belly Band
Bellefit Postpartum Corset and Girdle

Best Body Pillow
Leachco Snoogle

Best Breastfeeding Helper
Boppy Classic Feeding Pillow

Best Breast Pump
Medela Pump in Style

Best Car Seat
Chicco Keyfit 30

Best Diapers
Pampers Swaddlers

Best Diaper Bag
Ju-Ju-Be B.F.F.

Best Maternity Line
Motherhood Maternity

Best Nursing Bra
Motherhood Full Busted Seamless Nursing Bra

Best Pregnancy Skin Saver
Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Massage Lotion for Stretch Marks

Best Pregnancy Test
First Response Early Result Pregnancy Test

Best Stroller
Graco Modes Click Connect

Best Swing, Seat or Bouncer
Fisher-Price Rock 'n' Play

Best TTC Tech
Clearblue Advanced Digital Ovulation Test

Best Wipes
Pampers Sensitive Wipes

MOM CULTURE AWARDS:

Heidi notes, "What to Expect and I are always there to help – but so are other moms. Moms in the What to Expect Community are asking and answering one another's questions every three seconds – on topics that vary from weird pregnancy symptoms to workplace issues.  The Mom Culture Awards are all about the cultural flashpoints and buzzed-about topics that mobilized our community in the past year. No one can – or even should – speak for all moms, but every mom's voice is relevant and important. With the Mom Culture Awards, we're recognizing and celebrating the sisterhood that is motherhood – the bond that ties all of us together, no matter where we come from, no matter what our demographic, cultural or political profile."

Some of the winners of the Mom Culture Awards are:

Inspiration of the Year: Military Moms

"Being pregnant and having a baby is never easy – but for military families around the world it can be especially challenging," continues Heidi. Lengthy deployments, juggling the demands of a growing family, moving frequently (often single-handedly), and making ends meet are familiar challenges for these families. So is living far – often many thousands of miles away – from a usual network of family and friends. Currently, 41% of military personnel have more than one child at home, and active military spouses, 93% of whom are women, earn 38% less than their female counterparts. "More than 90% of Americans say they're grateful for the service of our troops – as they should be. But it's also important to show our appreciation for our military moms – and to celebrate them as the inspiring heroes they are. That's why What to Expect is naming Military Moms as this year's greatest inspiration." Heidi and What to Expect support military families through targeted content and communities. In partnership with the USO, Heidi hosts baby showers around the world for expecting active duty and spouses of active duty military. Over the past 4 years, there have been well over 100 baby showers held overseas (from Guam to Korea to Italy) and stateside (from Texas to Alaska to Kansas), honoring close to 8,000 military moms and their families.

Issue of the Year: Health Care

"American moms may be divided by politics, but when it comes to our little ones, we're united: We all want what's best for our babies. We want them to be happy – and healthy," says Heidi. This year, moms and moms-to-be, and those who love them, were at the forefront of the often-divisive national debate about health care in America, and it's no wonder: "With millions of families at risk of losing health care coverage, close to half of births in the U.S. covered by Medicaid, and vital prenatal care and other essential maternal health benefits being threatened by a repeal of the ACA and 9 million children at risk of losing their health insurance through CHIP, accessible and affordable health care for all has never been more important. What to Expect is naming Health Care the issue of the year for bridging the gap between moms in red states, blue states and purple states. Moms spoke up in one voice this year – demanding that health care not just be protected but expanded."

Legislators of the Year: Chris Coons and Susan Collins

Moms weren't the only ones crossing party lines to come together on important issues this year.  The bi-partisan duo of Senators Chris Coons (D-Delaware) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) reaffirmed their shared commitment to reducing maternal and child mortality around the world by reintroducing the REACH act, which they first co-sponsored in 2015. "Senators Collins and Coons have shown how legislators can work together on an issue that matters to all moms and should matter to our entire human family: the health and well-being of mothers and children around the world," Heidi points out. "The bipartisan Reach Every Mother and Child Act, if it passes, would strengthen U.S. government efforts to end preventable deaths of mothers, newborns, and young children. Taking lessons from past initiatives, such as the successful President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Reach Act would tackle the health challenges – including extreme malnutrition and lack of basic sanitation – faced by our hardest-to-reach moms and babies."

Senator Coons notes, "For too many women and families around the world, pregnancy and childbirth are scary, life-threatening moments, filled with stress rather than joy and expectation. Senator Collins and I introduced the bipartisan Reach Act to ensure that USAID delivers a comprehensive strategy that puts proven, cost-effective interventions to work to save the lives of mothers and babies. I am honored to be recognized by the What to Expect Awards, along with Senator Collins, and I'm sincerely grateful for all that What to Expect does for babies, mothers, and families worldwide."

Senator Collins continues, "Every day approximately 800 women will die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, such as disease and malnutrition.  I am honored to receive the What to Expect Mom Culture Award for Legislator of the Year with Senator Coons in recognition of our efforts, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to support policies that promote simple, proven, and cost-effective interventions that will help mothers and children survive."

Parent-Friendly Company of the Year: Netflix

Paid parental leave benefits new families in big ways. Babies of parents who get paid time off are twice as likely to be breastfed, and up to 25 percent more likely to receive key vaccinations. Generous leave policies can also translate to lower rates of depression for new moms, and greater parenting involvement for new dads. What to Expect applauds Netflix for its unlimited leave policy for new moms and dads that allows them to take off as much time as they want during the first year after a child's birth or adoption, and generous benefits for hourly workers, too.

Social Media Follow of the Year: We compiled a roundup of favorites by platform, based on who is real, relatable or just down-right funny...

You Tube: I Mom So Hard
Facebook: Constance Hall
Instagram: Maya Vorderstrasse
Twitter: James Breakwell

To see the complete list of winners in both the Mom Must-Have categories and the Mom Culture categories, visit www.whattoexpect.com/awards.

What to Expect Awards winners were announced yesterday in red-carpet style on Facebook Live, hosted by Emma Bing.  Go to What to Expect's Facebook page to see the festivities.

About What to Expect:

What to Expect is the leading globally recognized pregnancy and parenting brand, helping every parent know what to expect, every step of the way. Building on the bestselling What to Expect book series by Heidi Murkoff, What to Expect Digital reaches over 16 million parents and parents-to-be each month with its popular website and top-rated apps for Android, iOS, and Amazon Alexa. What to Expect was named Healthcare Consumer Media Brand of 2017 by MM&M, and also won the 2016 Folio Magazine Award for Best Use of New Technology for the What to Expect Alexa Skill, and two Platinum Ava Digital Awards for the Alexa Skill and #Bumpday.  Additionally, What to Expect was a finalist for Best Use in Technology at the Digiday Publishing Awards.

SOURCE What to Expect