Welcome to PapaLab

Who is behind PapaLab?

I created PapaLab a few months after becoming a dad for the first time. During the pregnancy, we spent an absurd amount of time researching the products that might actually help us prepare for our baby’s arrival.

With a first child, you really do start from scratch. What is essential? What is simply convenient? Which brands live up to their reputation? Which ones are better avoided?

In 2026, the problem is not finding baby products. It is choosing between hundreds of them. Brands are very good at using marketing to convince us their product is the best — I know, because marketing is my job. On paper, everything looks indispensable. In real life, a promise can fall apart on cobblestones, inside a tiny trunk or at three in the morning.

I am not pretending that a few months of parenthood turned me into an expert on every baby product. I am a dad who is discovering, testing, occasionally getting things wrong and learning along the way. With mom never far away, I will share what we loved, what disappointed us and who each product genuinely makes sense for. The goal is simple: help you choose better — and avoid wasting money. With the price of baby gear, that matters.

A spec sheet never tells the whole story

A stroller’s dimensions are useful. But they do not tell you whether it folds easily with a baby in your arms, gets stuck in a small entrance or really fits in an aircraft overhead bin alongside the family’s bags.

That is where PapaLab starts: where the product page ends and real life begins. We are not trying to catch brands out. We simply want to answer the questions we ask ourselves before buying something or taking it on a trip.

An unboxing is not a product review

An unboxing shows you what is in the box. That can be useful, but it tells you nothing about whether the product will still be practical after ten outings, a car journey or a rough night. At PapaLab, we do not recommend anything after ten minutes. It needs to be used at home, on the street, in the car, on public transport or while traveling.

The four rules we set ourselves

A score out of 5, never without an explanation

The PapaScore combines several sub-scores that change depending on the subject: practicality, comfort, size, quality, effectiveness, travel performance or value for the way we use it. The criteria and their weighting are shown in the article. No number is pulled out of thin air.

So a 4.4/5 does not mean “perfect for every family.” It means that, for our use case and under the conditions described, the experience was very good. The overall number helps you orient yourself; the breakdown is what actually helps you decide.

Who pays for the product — and does it affect the review?

So far, we have paid for every product and trip featured on PapaLab ourselves. If a brand sends us a product, pays for content or gives us any other benefit, we will state that clearly from the start.

Affiliate links may also help fund the site. If you use one, PapaLab may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That will never give a brand the right to approve our copy, remove a drawback or change a PapaScore.

Sharing our experience without exposing our child

Our baby is part of our life and therefore appears in the context of some tests, but our child is not content. We do not publish their name, face or information that could identify them. Other people who happen to appear in our images will be avoided, cropped out or blurred when necessary.