Lamaze Infant Development System is a line of baby toys belonging to Learning Curve Brands

Learning Curve Brands

Learning Curve Brands, Inc. is a subsidiary of the RC2 Corporation. They market brands of children's toys such as American Red Cross, The First Years, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Lamaze....

, itself a subsidiary of the RC2 Corporation

RC2 Corporation

The RC2 Corporation is a toy design, marketing and distribution company headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, USA. They market brands such as Thomas the Tank Engine and Lamaze....

 (Oak Brook, Illinois, USA). The name Lamaze is licensed by Lamaze International, a Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 based nonprofit organization. The toys are developed in collaboration with Jerome and Dorothy Singer, psychologists at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

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Lamaze toys are designed based on a three-step model of infant development which consists of the stages "awakening the senses", "exploring and experimenting", "moving and doing". Although Lamaze toys are marketed as being based on scientific principles, they do not supply any academic research to back these claims.

According to the New York Times, "RC2 has emerged in the past few years as a popular link in the toy manufacturing chain, connecting media outlets like Disney, Nickelodeon and Discovery Communications with inexpensive labor in China." In 2006, 91.8 percent of RC2’s products came from China.