Buy Buy Baby, once left for dead following its parent company’s bankruptcy in 2023, rose from the ashes late last year. At its peak it operated 137 stores across the US, but last year there were only 11 remaining. Then Bed Bath & Beyond closed them indefinitely. However, Dream On Me bought the stores via auction and has plans to resurrect the brand.

All 11 locations are slated to open in November, with over 100 more arising in the next three years. Although it had disappeared for several months, you may have noticed its online presence slowly inching back onto your social media feed.

During its initial go-around it had been a brand who included fathers in advertising more prominent than others. It also employed inclusive parenting language. Its marketing team wasn’t perfect but appeared more progressive than others in the baby world.

Now in its incarnation, Buy Buy Baby seems to have taken a step backward. Notice some of its recent posts, which tend to forget a father’s indispensable contribution to the family. It even offered an oddly timed declaration of praise toward mothers – in August.

Buy Buy Baby is moving at rapid speed to resurrect a relatively new (founded in 1996) and still unknown brand (its 111 stores were less than half of the former Babies “R” Us 260-store chain).

If it wants to survive, it must get this right in its second life.

It needs to take baby steps, and know that it can’t do this without dad.