Baby Gadgets

If you know my husband, you know - he is a gadget man. He always wants to have and use the latest and greatest. Me - of course I like new but sometimes old is just fine. In our pre-baby shopping and studies, Tom had a list of a few baby gadgets that he thought we could not live without. Of course, me - trying to be economical and realistic about everything... did not agree, but knew which battles to pick and this was not one of them.

First item on his list - Angelcare Monitoring System. This monitor has a motion sensor which is placed under the crib mattress and monitors the babies breathing. Yes, it is so sensitive it can feel the tiny movement through the mattress. If motion is not detected for 20 seconds, an alarm - yes, an alarm will sound until motion is detected again. This same system monitors room temperature (which an alarm will also sound if too hot/cold), offers voice activation, and has two parent units so we have one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Of course, trying to be economical - I told Tom for months that a cheap baby monitor will be fine compared to this $130 system. His fear of SIDS was too strong and there was no changing his mind.

The second item on his list - Itzbeen Baby Care Timer. If you thought I teased about the monitoring system - I really teased about this gadget. Truely a gadget. Basically, its a stop-watch for diaper changes, feedings, naps and which breast you fed.

Family and friends would tease us about everything we have for Tommy. I don't know how many times we heard "we didn't have that when i had my kids". From these gadgets - to the formerly known as playpen, now called pack 'n play - to the way car seats and strollers (by the way, they are called travel systems now) are designed now.

Now, Tommy is almost a month old so we had a few weeks to test these gadgets and gizmos. The questions is - do we really NEED/USE them? the answer is YES! The Angelcare Monitoring System has allowed him to sleep in his crib - in his own room since the first night we were home. The peace of mind and the better quality sleep that I get between feedings is so worth it. I did apologize to Tom for the teasing and battling I did about his choice of monitoring systems. I would recommend this item to everyone. The Itzbeen Baby Care Timer was not a BIG help the first two weeks because we choose to chart Tommy's feedings and diaper changes to see a pattern, but starting last week when we stopped charting, this gadget has been a great asset. Tommy eats and poops so often that somtimes I forget how long its been we did something. I would remember that he ate for about 10 minutes but was that at 1pm today or was it 1am yesterday that I remembered to look at the clock. This also helps Tom know when I fed Tommy last so at anytime he can jump in to help and know what we've done in the past few hours.

Of course we could survive without these gadgets, just as family and friends have in the past, but it's not always about survival - its often about convience and making this transition easier on everyone, mom-dad-and baby.