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!

Fisher Price Kick and Play bouncer. All DS's day naps have been in this for 6 months. Absolute best money we have spent.

I breastfeed but he has a formula bottle at night and we use a Perfect Prep.

Ewan has worked for us on heartbeat. Has to be the Deluxe with a sensor though. It stops him waking fully up in the night. We really know if the batteries die!

Play gym and Jumperoo have been great too but used much less than the bouncer. Easily bought second hand.

I expressed a few bottles from 3-10 weeks - in hindsight the £60 electric pump was maybe not the best investment as he happily takes formula from his dad if I go out.

Finally I can't recommend enough a system that allows you to attach the car seat to the pram chassis. Saves waking the baby when you just need to swing by Tesco for milk.

Medela swing - well worth the money.

Decent rocking chair for the baby’s room - you’ll spend lots of time sitting in it feeding or trying to get LO to sleep.

Playmat with cross-over bars yoke that had toys dangling from it.

Basic bouncer that you can put on a table when LO is very small, or on the floor when they’re bigger.

A basic baby monitor. No need for anything fancy.

Braun ear thermometer - still in use 12 years later.

Bear in mind that 95% of fancy “stuff” is companies trying to upsell from the basics what you really need (rocking, musical bouncer vs basic one), or playing on your fears (video monitor instead of basic)

Perfect prep.

Microwave steriliser box- for when you're at somebody else's house.

Medela breast pump.

Nipple shield- our LO had tongue tie and it helped to latch.

Feeding pillow. Used to sit him in it next to me when I pumped and also used it when he was learning to sit up.

Rocking/ music playing seat.

Dummy clips- they always fall out on the floor otherwise.

Dry/ wet bag. For on the go nappy carrying (till you find a bin) or dirty clothes- keeps liquids in and smells too. EBay.

A Sprout drying rack for bottles

Britax travel system just click and go no adapters

Oh and Dr Browns bottles and a gro egg.

I also had a swing crib rather than a Moses as seemed less claustrophobic to me.

Thermostatic tap for the bath. Probably the most useful thing we installed in preparation for having children. Saves fiddling about with hot and cold trying to get the right temperature.,just turn the tap to 38c, fill it up, quick elbow check and pop them in.

@Sweetpotatoaddict ooh I want one of those!

There really is little point in buying fancy gadgets until the baby is born. You don’t know what kind of baby they are going to be (ie no point in spending £££ on a Sleepyhead if your baby is perfectly happy to sleep in a crib without it).

Things I would recommend buying are baby sleeping/swaddle bags, gives peace of mind that they won’t slip down under the covers. Also a play mat for plonking the baby on when you want 5 minutes peace (get a cheap colourful one, not a grey and beige one to go with your interior like the Instagram crowd).

Oh and muslins - even if you don’t have a sicky baby you’ll find a use for them.

@Prequelle we have two perfect prep
Machines: bought them second hand so not a massive cost

SNUZAHERO have,e so much reassurance. It’s a breathing monitor you put on babies nappy so is great for naps anywhere. Also I used a co sleeper so they don’t work with the mats. Inde went off once or twice, you get a tiny fright but honestly I slept so much better knowing it was on her.

Second a sling/wrap/carrier.

If they're anything like mine, a thermometer that touches them at all will annoy them so a no contact thermometer (they also tend to do bottles and baths, or the one we got from boots does anyway).

A lie flat car seat - no trying to work out how long they've been in it and if they're near maximum time for each age etc. The recommendations are a lot less than most people realise.

Baby sleeping bags have been brilliant for ours, youngest has just stopped using them at 2.8y. Ment they were always warm.

Bouncy chair got a lot of use, as did the sling. I had a closer caboo, loved it.

I never used the nursing cushion, or the bumbo.

Don't buy a fancy high chair, they are a nightmare to clean. Just get an ikea white one like you see in all the cafes, so much easier. You can get an inflatable insert for when they are tiny.

It's an antilop (the ikea high chair).

They're also great to transport because the legs come off and it's just the seat and four 'poles' rather than the gigantic unwieldy high chairs you get.

Not gadget but advice- carry on making your normal noise when baby is sleeping. Because if you have a silence only zone you then end up with every little noise waking your LO as our friends found out. We used to hoover when ds was sleeping in the room, and he’s the same now- can sleep through anything like storms and loud music.

Anyone used the Grobags? Any good?

Thanks everyone!

We use gro bags especially the one with sleeves. Dd loved them and could still stand up and waddle about in her cot.

Piper and posie do the sleeve ones either tk Maxx or Ebay. The jojo mama babe ones are good but I wouldn't pay full price.

You can also get ones which work with car seats if you do long journeys regularly.

We travel a lot and have a yo-yo zen - probably at least twice a week I think how glad I am I got one of them instead of a big buggy.

We love gro bags, but snuzpouch is my favourite because it feels like a little duvet and is still lightweight enough to avoid overheating. Summer ones are good for travelling too.

Ps. Another one here who binned the gro egg - after the first night home actually. Our baby was absolutely freezing and we just spent all night staring at it. Bastard egg.

Buy a Pneo Baby Shusher - it's just a small thing that makes a loud shushing sound.

You can get shushing sounds on Spotify but I use Spotify for white noise or lullabies and the shusher machine over the top.

Top used for my kids were
Perfect prep
Feeding pillow
Bouncy chair
Sleepyhead
Video monitor
Next to me
Play mat
Mamaroo

Anyone used the Grobags? Any good?

Yes, they're brilliant. Get at least two. TK maxx usually have them much cheaper than the website. Slumbersacs are also good.

Perfect Prep if you're planning to formula feed, but if you're unsure just wait and decide after birth. When baby is tiny it's easier to make up with kettle as the smallest oz measurement makes a bottle that's too big so you end up wasting half the formula.

Cold water sterilising was so easy, just pop in fresh water and tablet at night, we had the Milton one.

Bouncy chair that can be used from birth and a baby gym/play mat as both mine would happily lie under that for ages (buy both second hand for about £10 on Gumtree etc.).

Buy a cheap room and bath thermometer for £3 off Ebay.

My Dd' loved her lights and music cot mobile but we didn't put her in her cot until she was 12 weeks old so you can wait if unsure.

We prefer the Love2Dream arms up swaddle bags. I found the Grobags were bunching around my DD's chin and mouth. I woke up one morning and her mouth was totally covered by the way the chest had bulged, presumably when she was moving around while asleep! The Love2Dream swaddles fit much better and they're a nice jersey material. And it's a more natural position for their arms to be in.

Reusable wipes! They’re so much better than disposable.

I use cheeky wipes, they have 25% off their whole site right now.

Other than that the Snuz growbag is great.

Not really a gadget user. Don’t see the need for them.

My favourite things have been a video monitor and the perfect prep machine. Definitely the perfect prep machine. And a travel system that you can fit car seat onto for short journeys like school run or nipping into shop.