I’m Jonathan Wendeln, a Registered Nurse with nearly a decade of acute-care experience — including cardiothoracic intensive care and the operating room — and I started Pediatric Picks so parents don’t have to sort real safety from marketing on no sleep.

Why I built this

Every day at the bedside I saw the same thing: careful people making high-stakes decisions from contradictory advice and confident marketing. Baby gear is no different — the claims are loud, the evidence is thin, and the stakes are your child. Pediatric Picks is my answer to that. Every product we recommend is checked against published clinical safety standards (AAP, CPSC, ASTM) and verified manufacturer specifications — never sponsored placements, never a rating we didn’t earn honestly. And when a product falls short of a standard, we say so plainly, even when a quieter answer would sell more.

A word on money, because trust starts there: Pediatric Picks is reader-supported. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, and that commission never changes what we recommend — the full details are in our affiliate disclosure. You can read more about the site itself on our About page.

Jonathan Wendeln’s background & credentials

• Registered Nurse (RN) — licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs; verifiable through the state’s public Pennsylvania Licensing System (PALS)
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) — Millersville University of Pennsylvania
• Nearly a decade of acute-care nursing, including cardiothoracic ICU and the operating room
• Focus areas: patient safety, critical-care nursing, infection control & aseptic technique, clinical-evidence evaluation, and infant & child product safety
• Based in Enola, Pennsylvania

How we evaluate

The clinical mindset carries straight into how we review: define the standard first, then measure the product against it. In practice that means four steps:

• Define the standard. Every category starts with the published safety benchmarks that govern it — AAP guidance, CPSC rules, ASTM standards, and FDA or CDC guidance where they apply.
• Verify the specs. We check each product’s verified manufacturer specifications against those benchmarks, and we don’t repeat a marketing number we can’t trace to a source.
• Read the real-world record. We analyze verified owner feedback from parents actually using the product, because a spec sheet never tells the whole story.
• Watch what changes. Safety isn’t static — our Baby Gear Recall Radar tracks CPSC recalls, and we update recommendations when recalls or AAP policy changes land.

The full methodology, including what would disqualify a product entirely, is documented in how we review products.

What I cover

Guides on Pediatric Picks are organized into six areas: safe sleep & the nursery, car seats, strollers & gear, feeding & nutrition, health, play & development, and diapering & potty. Each hub opens with the safety standards for that category, then the picks that clear them.

Media & press — interview Jonathan Wendeln

I’m available for expert commentary and interviews as a registered nurse on infant safe sleep, car-seat guidance (current AAP policy), baby-product safety & recalls (CPSC), fever & home temperature measurement, feeding & pumping gear, and newborn care. I respond same-day to journalists on deadline.

Press contact: editorial@pediatricpicks.com  ·  Download headshot

A note on scope: Pediatric Picks is product guidance, not medical care. Nothing here replaces advice from your pediatrician — for any concern about your child’s health, that is always the right call.

— Jonathan Wendeln, BSN, RN
Founder & Reviewer, Pediatric Picks

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