Looking after a newborn is incredibly challenging, however many books you’ve read. Fortunately there are some amazing gadgets to help.
A new baby boy or girl can be a shock to the system, as you have total responsibility for a tiny, tiny person who can’t talk and doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Luckily there are some brilliant pieces of technology that can make life a little easier, providing a helping hand and saving you precious time.
Here are six of our favourite baby gadgets:
Count sheep
Ewan The Dream Sheep
Price: £29.99
Website: John Lewis
Aside from mum and dad's cuddles, there are few things more comforting for your tot than a teddy, this one especially so. The super-soft sheep comes with four sounds including heartbeat and womb noise, so babies will feel instantly at ease.
Attach Ewan to the top of the cot with it's Velcro tail, then set it on a 20-minute timer and hopefully your own little lamb will be soothed to sleep within minutes, not only by the sounds, but by the warm glow Ewan emits.
Got a toddler? Sweetdreamers also have Russell The Dream Sheep Dog, which allows parents to record their own voices to soothe little ones.
Drive on
Garmin babyCam
Price: £159.99
Website: Amazon
If you have a Garmin satnav (or are looking to buy one), this baby camera is a great add-on as you won't have to turn around to check on your newborn while driving.
It attaches to the headrest focussing on your baby in their seat and wirelessly transmits a live stream of footage to your satnav. You can then flick between following a route and checking in on your baby.
It's got night vision and you can operate it via voice activation.
Obviously you'll want to make sure the babyCam is compatible with your satnav before purchasing.
Night show
BT Baby Monitor 350 Lightshow
Price: £54.99 (For BT customers)
Website: BT Products and Services
A baby monitor is a must-have gadget for parents, allowing them to keep an eye on their son or daughter from a different room - providing invaluable peace of mind that everything is ok.
The BT Baby Monitor 350 Lightshow has HD sound sensitive enough to pick up baby’s breathing and a range of useful features to help get baby to sleep. It projects lights on to the wall and ceiling of baby’s room and plays 18 lullabies, nature sounds and white noise. It also doubles as a night light to reassure baby – and help parents navigate the room without turning on the main light and disturbing baby
You can even soothe or chat to baby when not in the room by using the two-way talk back feature. The range on this monitor means it can be up to 50m away indoors and 300m outdoors.
Which awarded the BT Baby Monitor 350 Lightshow a Best Buy. The monitor also triumphed at the Maternity & Infant Awards and won Best Baby Monitor at the Mother & Baby Awards.
The BT Baby Monitor 350 Lightshow is available from the Home Products site, where BT customers can save 29%.
The right formula
Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Machine
Price: £89.99
Website: ToysRus
If you're visiting The Baby Show you should look out for this bit of kitchen tech that will definitely appeal if you're formula feeding. It makes light work of bottle preparation - something you'll appreciate in the middle of the night.
After delivering a shot of hot water to your sterilised bottle (to kill any bacteria in the feed), add your formula and give it a good shake, slot it back onto the device and it will add the allotted amount of tap water, filtered to remove impurities along the way.
It's easy to programme the size of feed you want and you'll have the perfect bottle ready within a few minutes.
Get cosy
Gro-Egg Thermometer
Price: £14.99
Website: John Lewis
Whether it's peak summer and the air is humid, or the depths of winter and you can see your breath, whatever the weather's like outdoors, inside your baby's room should be between 16-20C. This mains-powered 'egg' will help you keep tabs on this.
It glows different colours depending on the temperature. If it's blue (below 15C) it's too cold, if yellow you're in the perfect category, if it's orange it's a little too warm (20-24C), while if it's red it's definitely too hot (24C and above).
Because it glows, it doubles up as a nightlight and you won't need to step into the room to disturb your sleeping baby, you can just pop your head around the door and check what colour the thermometer is.
It's a jungle in there
Fisher-Price Roaring Rainforest Jumperoo
Price: £80
Website: Amazon
You haven't slept in what feels like years and all you want to do is just have five minutes to sit down with a cup of tea. This lovely toy will allow you to do just that.
Easy to construct, the Fisher-Price Roaring Rainforest Jumperoo makes a great play buddy for your little bundle of joy - as long as they're able to hold their head up unassisted and aren't yet walking or climbing.
Sit your baby in the seat in the middle (it comes with a machine washable cover) and they'll be able to turn 360 degrees and play with a wealth of toys and activities dotted around.
On top of that, it acts as a bouncer - and every time baby jumps up and down there's music, lights and sounds (including animal noises) to impress them.
App of the week
Bonzun
Price: Free
http://home.bt.com
