When starting to plan my little girls nursery, I headed straight to Pinterest and so began my dreams of pretty pastel shades of pink, peach and cream. You see, I was planning a space for ME, not for a teeny tiny newborn who couldn't tell the difference between marshmallow pink and soft apricot. And so, when my step mom told me about the 'gorgeous' black & white mobile dangle toys from Little Interiors she had found at the Decorex show in Joburg, I was sceptical at first.

You see...I had already made my own gorgeous mobile dangles (complete with cute kitty)...

I added a 'high contrast' burgundy ribbon, as I had read that babies are naturally drawn to high contrast colours (like black and white) which, according to this article on visual stimulation by Dr Sears "registers powerfully on baby’s retina and sends the strongest visual signals to your baby’s brain. Stronger signals mean more brain growth and faster visual development" - Dr Sears.

So I thought my little piece of burgundy was going to do the trick and give my little girls endless hours of stimulation on her changing mat. But alas, she was not as taken with my pretty pastel mobile as I was.

I did a little more research into the high contrast mobile dangles from Little Interiors, and found two wonderful post that Mariette has written on her blog. The first post (click here) detailed why high contrast colours are so important for newborn, and the second (click here) went on to show you how you can incorporate high contrast colours into your nursery, even if you've chosen a soft pastel theme for your decor. 

Well, I thought it couldn't add any harm to try adding one of the black and white dangle toys to the mobile (the flower you can see in the picture below), and low and behold, if it hasn't become Everly's absolute favourite toy.

I also have a set of woodland creatures that hang flat when looked straight at them, but her favourite one has got to be the little flower than hangs flat for her when she's on her back on the changing mat.

Hubby and I are absolutely certain this little flower has magical powers, because whenever she starts crying on the mat, all we have to do is spin the flower and she goes into a trance. It's incredible!

I've since taken down all my pastel dangles, and have just left the Little Interiors black and white high conrast dangles up as those are what she loves (for now).

I'm hoping that in a few weeks time I can put them back up and she'll respond to them.

Otherwise I'll have to find another use for them..any ideas on what I could do with them?

I can't recommend these dangles enough, and there are so many lovely designs to choose from. I'm wanting to add more of the flat hanging ones, seeing as she loves her flower so much.

Well done Mariette on creating such an amazing visually stimulating toys for newborns!

You can shop for the dangles online by >>>clicking here<<<.

In case you're wondering, the change mat mobile frame  is from RubyMelon.

P.S these photos were taken a good few weeks ago, and it's safe to say she is just as in love with the flower now at 10 weeks, as she was at 2 weeks :)

Do you have any toy recommendations for newborns? I know that teeny tiny babies are generally too young for toys, and that homemade things work just as well, but I'd love to know if you have had any experience with toys/decor items that have been stimulating for your little one. Drop me a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!