To ask for your baby gadget experiences

[Prequelle]

Sorry I know this isn't a legit AIBU but traffic..

Which ones did you rate?

Which were a load of shite?

There's so much out there now!

It gave me a lot of reassurance to use an under mattress movement monitor. And get a good quality mobile. Everything else was pointless

Used no gadgets.

My LO isn't that stupid. She works out when the noise is something real and when it is something playing.

Christ I hadn't even heard of one of those nauseous!

If you bottle feed then the perfect prep is a god send

Those movement pads would stress me out. I think only really useful if baby has seizures or other health issues that it could detect

Perfect prep without a doubt

I was looking at those GiBlues, are they difficult to clean at all?

And if you had a house with more than 2 floors, your bedroom being at the top, would you recommend getting one for upstairs too for night feeds or is that me being a lazy bastard

Video monitor (our house is old and walls are thick) and a good mobile, the mobile doesn't help DS sleep but he finds it very entertaining and will happily lay (spin round) under it giggling, while I put his washing away, do a quick tidy up etc

We had a video monitor thing. An older one rather than a modern, Wi-Fi one. The 2nd time we used it, it showed another child in bed in a completely different house to ours. No idea who's child it was. We switched it off and never used it again.

Apart from a normal, bog standard baby monitor and an electric steriliser, we didn't use anything else.

Ewan the sheep was a waste of money, unfortunately. The baby seat/bouncer with music and vibration is useful as somewhere safe to sit her while I’m doing something but it never really soothes or calmed her down. We paid extra for a baby monitor that projected a light show, she doesn’t like it.

Useful things - we bought a cheap speaker in amazon that plays white noise, I think it helps a little with settling to sleep at night. It turns out that white noise needs to be continuous, it’s no good just to play for 20 minutes or just when baby cries. I wouldn’t spend much on it though.

We inherited a steam steriliser, it was fairly useful for dummies and breast pump. I’m not sure I’d pay full price for it though. She doesn’t take a dummy or bottle anymore though!

My partner liked a little machine that warms a bottle quickly, he says it’s much easier than warming it in hot water.

I think most of them at disappointing really, it’s a shame.

@sirmione16 it detects breathing too. I panicked massively about cot death, so it helped me when she was tiny to be able to sleep. Yes, I was over anxious!!

Hardly anything.... me and my brothers survived without gadgets .... my mum and her 9 siblings survived without anything....

Bouncy chair.... got a cheap one... we did buy an electric swing as dd liked movement but only used it for a few months. In hindsight probably could have managed without.

Bought a 2nd hand play mat with the cross over bars thing. She liked that for a while but only cost £10

Used an microwave steriliser... just make sure it can fit in your microwave.

Only thing I did buy (albeit second hand) was a electric breast pump. I got bad wrists so the hand pump was killing me.

Oh... did invest recently in an infrared thermometer. The in ear one started to fail so spent £50 on a proper Braun I think and its brilliant

Me and my brothers did too but some things can make our lives easier can't they. The bottle maker thing sounds brilliant so that's on the list

Looking at breast pumps, defo want an electric one. I was looking at that Elvie one that fits in your bra but it's over 200 quid!

Don't get the Gro Egg thingie or whatever it's called. You will be faced with either a red egg or a blue egg which will make you panic that your baby is boiling alive or freezing to death.

stoorie funny you should say that actually ours got delivered today! I did buy it with an Amazon voucher I needed to use though ha

I don't think I'd be investing in a perfect prep and an electric breast pump. The use of one would cancel out the need for the other surely?!

Didn't use any gadgets with #1 but ended up getting an electric swing for £10 from the local FB selling page and it was the only place (I'm not exaggerating here) that DD would be put down without screaming and she even napped in it a few times. Best thing ever until she was about 6 months!

A friend just bought the Elvie and said it was a waste of money, she really didn’t get on with it. Have heard really good things about the Medala Swing pump though. I’d opt for that based on ££ alone.

I found a video monitor really useful, it helped a lot when my dd moved into her own room so we could see when she was actually awake and crying as opposed crying out in her sleep.

We bought a Braun in ear thermometer which still gets use now, it was a good spend of £35.

Also used our portable speaker to play white noise, though that wasn’t strictly a baby purchase.

Other than that, I’d invest in red night light. Red light is the only one that doesn’t disrupt melatonin, unlike blue light which weirdly a lot of night lights seem to use. It’s a bit odd at first but you get used to it quickly and it was the easiest to get back to sleep after.

notmy I am going to combi feed if all works out well

Honestly Prequelle mines would sit at red for anything above 20 degrees - freaked me out so I got rid

Ah what a waste of money for your friend laura! Love your username btw, twin peaks is awesome

White noise machine has been useful for ensuring we don't have to tiptoe around our light sleeping DD as it masks background noise.

Electric breast pump was also useful, thought it would be painful but it wasn't at all and no effort required

Didn't get a video monitor as I knew I'd be watching it constantly

I love the gro egg, just ignore the colours! Microwave steamer was good but I found the old traditional box and Milton water much much better. Basic monitor.

Despite having a very techy DH we have very little tech.

Not sure if they count as gadgets, but these are the top things so far (5mo):
Nose frida
Stretchy wrap
Swing chair and bouncer with five point harness
Rocking chair with footrest
Playmat with overhead toys and lots of room to roll side to side
Rock salt lamp for dull glow for night feedings
Motion sensing video monitor
Curved, flat nursing pillow
Small nappy bag (or just nice slightly larger handbag for you..!)
Change table (a bed will kill your back)

Things I regret buying:
Bassinet attachment for pram
Baby jogger city select pram (should’ve gone the smaller citi min with one handed fold, and worried about a potential double pram lateri)
Massive nursing pillow (milkbar twin)
Massive nappy bag (now used as swimming bag)

I wouldn't buy the prep machine or electric pump until baby is born and you know which you need or when. Both can be bought quickly and delivered next day if not collected from store.

Some things can make it easier but not necessarily. And baby may not take to the expensive gadget you bought.

Groegg must admit I got given ours, and I found it useful but as a guide not a exact. You can gauge the temp of a room by sitting in it. My dd likes to be warm so went against guidelines.

Non electric stuff- comfortable nursing chair in baby room so you have somewhere to sit in the dark or dimly lit room to feed or comfort baby at night so they get used to night and day.

Breathable cot bumpers, without them arms and legs would have been stuck and dummies falling out all the time.

Keep an eye out In clearance areas of super markets and places like smyths and tkmaxx for bargain items like bottles, feeding tools, bibs etc

I use the medala swing it’s fab.