Toniebox 2 or Yoto for a baby?

[Muntoru]

Hi everyone,

I would like to buy my young baby a music player but I don’t know which one to choose.

It would be for home + potential frequent(ish) hospital stays as she’s medically complex (her nurse has allowed them on ward as both are wipeable).

For music + white noise + lullabies + family recording.

We already have a toniebox for my eldest, but I heard the Yoto is a lot better, for older kids particularly, not sure about babies.

thank you!

Yoto! The cards are more portable, I didn’t want the “clutter” of buying little characters etc. The sleep sounds/white noise etc are very soothing.

Yoto is much more versatile and will last longer. That said, we have both and my 4yo far prefers the Toniebox but that’s our fault for having both! My 7yo uses the Yoto a lot.

However I might inclined in your situation to get a Toniebox just because I think with really young kids it’s easier/more fun for them to operate, you can get nightlights etc to sit on the top, and the figures can double up as toys which is handy if you’re limited on space in hospital. That said, the Yoto you can operate better from your phone and the cards are cheaper.

Could you upgrade elder child to a Yoto and try the Toniebox for baby?

Unpopular opinion

We have a yoto and I think its shit.

Our dd is 4 and I keep thinking well maybe we will get more use now shes older... nope

Yoto - my 6yo loves it and has done since she was 3. Lots of longevity in it!

I feel the same about our tonie box! Hardly ever gets used. She sometimes listens when she’s doing playdough or colouring but she’s really not that fussed. Would much rather listen to Disney songs on Spotify so she can listen to a range (we put it on for her obviously) or read stories with us

Curious as to what’s shit about it? Some kids just aren’t interested in listening to stories I guess but that’s not really a fault of the Yoto itself.

I was going to ask the same thing. If you have a child who doesn't enjoy listening that doesn't make the product shit, it just means it's not for them. In the same way some children enjoy Lego, and others don't.

OP, I would say the Yoto player, as the cards are a lot more portable and there's the option to make your own cards with content that your child will enjoy.

Yoto player, we have one for each child (the mini) they get used every day and my eldest used his with headphones in the airport.

A yoto player for sure. We've had ours for nearly 5 years now and it's still used every day. I can genuinely see it being the toy with the most longevity as my son is showing no signs of growing out of it any time soon.

I think yoto is better for older kids who can look after the cards. Toddlers would surely try to eat the cards. The new toniebox has a night light feature I believe too which might be nice.

I think this is primarily it...

but additionally

• it also cuts out regularly if we use it as night time music
• I dont love the cards - all the one we have are v american
• And the daily yoto man's voice grates my soul... (clearly others like his voice)

This has inspired me to "try" again but I kind of know we are doomed to fail.... again 😅

I'd just put it out of reach until they're trusted not to eat them! Likewise with the Tonies, don't younger kids just want to pull the figures off the box to play with so you can't listen to it? So I'd put it out of reach either way probably.

Tonie for under 3. The characters are far cuter and it’s easier to operate.

There are lots of British ones too - you can use the previews to see what they're like. Or you could get Make Your Own cards and upload your own content. I've found mine will listen while doing jigsaws/Lego etc and she tends to spend longer doing it whilst listening. Initially I found content which linked to stuff she already enjoyed for familiarity to get her into using it (Disney stories, Julia Donaldson etc) but then got other cards for stories that she didn't know (like some of the Enid Blyton cards like the Wishing Chair which she loved) so I bought the Magic Faraway Tree and Naughtiest Girl in the School books for us to read together too. So it can loop nicely. I had to suggest 'shall we listen to X?' for a while until she got used to using it as a routine.

We bought a yoto for our then 18 month old. He has never really used it so I wonder if it because I introduced it too early and the cards were always scattered everywhere.
when eldest was 4 we bought our 1 year old a toniebox and that’s a huge hit with both ds.
I keep hoping the yoto will get used when they get bigger but it’s looking more and more unlikely