There is an overwhelming amount of gadgets and stuff available on the market for babies. As a first-time parent, it can be difficult to wade through the must-haves, might-wants, and don’t-needs. Even more so when so much of it relies on the personal preferences of a baby who can’t voice their preferences ahead of time.
My daughter is now a little more than five months old, and here are the gadgets (and some non-tech things) that have made these first five months smooth and as frictionless as possible.
Best baby gadgets and accessories for new parents
- Baby monitor
- Waterproof Bluetooth speaker
- Lovevery
- VTech toys
- Toniebox
- The Happy Song
- Nappy bag
- Ember Mug
- Wireless headphones
- Rechargeable batteries
- Marquise wipes
- Quad Lock accessories
- Heated cushions
- Snotty Boss
A good baby monitor
When choosing a baby monitor, it was important to me to have one that didn’t need to be connected to Wi-Fi. There are far too many horror stories about baby monitors with poor security leading to parents hearing strangers’ voices coming across the camera’s speaker in the middle of the night. No, thank you.
The Uniden BW 6101R has a lot of features; it might be overkill for a lot of people, but I liked having plenty of options. You choose a baby monitor when your baby is tiny, and then use it probably until the kid is four or five, depending on how your house is set up. So, having options like a nightlight, lullabies, white noise, and other things was important to me.
Of course, it turned out that the speaker built into the camera is absolutely terrible, so I wouldn’t use those features unless I had to, but I’m sure when I do have to, I’ll be grateful I could.
The camera quality is good, even in low light, and the monitor is easy to use. I really like that you can take pictures and videos on it to remember little moments of your partner singing the baby a cute song, or capture something weird the baby does to ask your paediatrician.
One feature that I’m not entirely sold on, is that when the monitor loses connection to the camera, it flashes up a picture of a stock image baby, and every now and then my exhausted brain will freak out about that momentarily. But overall, I’ve had a good experience with it.
Ultimate Ears Epicboom Bluetooth speaker
I will be the first to admit that I massively overpacked the hospital bag. I packed assuming that we’d be in hospital for four days, and need entertainment, snacks and spare clothes.
We were lucky and ended up only being in hospital for less than 10 hours, and thus did not need most of the contents of the large backpack, carry-on suitcase, and giant tote bag I had packed to the brim. In there, I had a portable projector, iPad, headphones, and tonnes of other stuff that would have been a godsend if labour had stalled, or if there had been complications resulting in a longer stay.
The one gadget in there that I think was absolutely essential was the Ultimate Ears Epicboom Bluetooth speaker. We’d been told that the birth suite would have Bluetooth speakers and not to worry. However, having calming music playing was a key part of our birth plan, and I didn’t want to risk it. As it turned out, bringing our speaker was good because the suite we were in did not, in fact, have speakers.
Originally, I had planned on bringing two Sonos speakers, so we could get proper stereo sound, but my wife talked me out of that.
Here are a few reasons why I’m so glad I brought the Epicboom with us:
- A long 17-hour battery life in case labour ran long.
- It’s waterproof, so we could have it by the tub if my wife went for a water birth, or have it close to the shower.
- Easy controls on top so it would be quick to pause or play even in a stressful situation.
- A dedicated button that would play a pre-set playlist without having to get your phone out. This meant that when we finally got into a birthing suite, I could just press play on the calm playlist without having to faff around with my phone, or spend too long thinking about the technology.
- It has a good-quality, full sound.
Having a speaker this good and easy to use is how my daughter ended up being born with the Pride and Prejudice (2005) soundtrack in the background. I was extremely grateful I brought the Epicboom.
Lovevery play kits
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that as soon as you get pregnant, or Facebook thinks you might be pregnant, you will be bombarded with ads for the Lovevery subscription play kits. It’s just how it goes. But, unlike most of the nonsense Facebook and Instagram serve up, these play kits are the real deal, and have been among my daughter’s absolute favourite things.
We got the play kit called The Looker, designed for newborns through to two-month-olds, and it genuinely has all the toys you’ll need for the first two months of development. And beyond; we’re still using a lot of the toys at five months.
When babies are fresh, they can only see in black and white, and high-contrast images help build new brain connections and process what’s going on. The kit comes with a bunch of high-contrast images you can rotate in and out of a brightly coloured pouch for tummy time, as well as a wooden book, high-contrast mittens (for hand discovery), a chewable rattle, mobile, and sensory links.
We had so much fun making up stories with the wooden book, and the sensory links were wonderful to get our daughter to follow sounds and practice moving during tummy time. For about a week, the squeaky link was the best thing to get her to stop crying whenever she got overwhelmed.
Play Gym
We also got the Lovevery Play Gym, and it has been the best thing for both her and us. Watching her slowly work out how to ring the bell, or hit the ball around was a real privilege. It’s also a great place to put her down for 10 minutes in the morning so we can make breakfast.
I love how well thought out the gym is, with lots of hiding places, textures, sounds, and things for her to enjoy through multiple stages of development. The gym is good for roughly the first year, and it’s been so good for her to do independent play. Having the little tent means that when she’s older she can use it as a hideout for privacy. It also means that we can watch TV over dinner and watch her while she plays, without her being able to see the screen.
The play kits are expensive, there’s no way around that, but they’re also so thoughtfully designed, and such good quality that I think they more than justify the price tag. This year, her Christmas present will be a six-month subscription to the next three play sets to help with her development. And so we don’t have to spend so much time researching which toys to get her whenever she’s ready to learn something new.
VTech toys
VTech is famous for making good, electronic, educational kids’ toys with an extremely strange choice of voice actor. As long as you’re okay with the voice of a cockney factory worker from the 1800s telling you that they’re a cute koala, you really can’t go wrong with anything from the VTech range, because of how well designed they are to help kids hit milestones. Here are a few that we loved in my daughter’s first 10 weeks:
The Soothing Starlight Igloo is absolutely magic. It has three sound-making modes, and it projects stars onto the ceiling. The nighttime mode almost instantly calms babies down. My daughter will be fussing and trying not to nap, and then we’ll put the nighttime mode on, and she’s out like a light.
Twist N Play Koala is a rattle that babies can grip onto, twist the ears around, move the beads on the handle, and press the button to hear a song. It’s also good even if you don’t turn it on. This has been a big hit in my household.
The 4-In-1 Tummy Time Fawn is technically for babies aged three months and up, but it’s been great for my daughter from about seven weeks. The fawn pillow has been ideal to keep her a little upright in the gym to combat her reflux, and the little purple bear that clips onto the fawn was a great addition to her bouncer. It’s also the first thing she ever really tried to chew on.
She has yet to discover some of the more advanced tummy time features, but it’s designed for babies up to 36 months, so I think she’s really going to get the most out of it.
Toniebox
Technically, the Toniebox is for older kids, but it’s a soft music box with little figurines instead of CDs. It’s become a fun playtime ritual to put on different children’s songs and sing them to her.
If you can’t imagine it from that description, think of Skylanders or Disney Infinity and other toys-to-life games, but instead of activating in-game content, the toys activate songs (or audiobooks), and kids can then still play with the figurines even without using the box, extending their play even further.
My personal favourite Tonies are The Gruffalo audiobook, Thomas the Tank Engine, and the Disney Pixar Coco Tonie, which has songs from the movie.
The Happy Song
This isn’t so much a product or gift, but this knowledge is a gift to all new parents. Four years ago, singer Imogen Heap worked with Goldsmith University researchers and psychologists to scientifically formulate a song to calm babies down, and it is the closest thing to magic there is.
The song is fairly simple, but upbeat, and has the sound of children laughing and playing, and by the time the lion roars after the bridge, even the most aggressive purple crying fits are forgotten as my daughter stares happily into the middle distance. I’m not sure what dark rituals were performed to create this magic, but I owe Imogen Heap an eternal debt of gratitude.
A good nappy bag
Getting a good nappy bag is the most important thing, because you will take it everywhere with you for multiple years, and you need to be able to find important things in an instant. The Changing Bag made by Bugaboo is truly excellent for that.
It has lots of compartments that are just the right size, and it includes a matching portable change mat. It’s water repellant, easy to clean, has multiple clutches for organisation, and an insulated bottle holder to keep bottles at the correct temperature. It’s an absolute essential.
Ember Mug
This one is a little out of left field, but has been a godsend. I keep making myself nice, hot coffees in the morning, and then have to go change a nappy, or suddenly feed the baby before moving my coffee to the couch. On days I don’t use the Ember Mug, I just end up with cold coffee.
But, with the smart heated Ember Mug, my coffee stays nice and warm, so I don’t have to miss out on my morning ritual just because life is different now. Starting at $170, it is expensive, but it’s one of those little luxuries that makes a huge difference to my day.
Sonos Ace wireless headphones
Another left-field pick is a good pair of wireless headphones. One of the best going around is the Sonos Ace. They’re an excellent pair of noise-cancelling headphones that can also connect seamlessly to your Sonos soundbar so you can quietly watch TV while doing late-night feeds.
However, this is a double-edged sword. The night before my daughter was born, I decided to quietly watch the soccer while wearing the Ace on noise cancelling mode. This is how I missed my wife shouting from the other room that the baby was coming and that we needed to rush to the hospital.
We use the Ace on “awareness” mode now. Good advertisement for the noise cancelling, though.
Rechargeable batteries
For some reason, everything for babies needs AA and AAA batteries. It’s weird. To cut down on waste (and cost), I highly recommend picking up a set of good quality rechargeable batteries early, because you will be surprised by what will need them.
I recommend the Paleblue batteries. They’re a bit more expensive than other rechargeable batteries, but you don’t have to deal with the nonsense of using a fancy proprietary charger. Having batteries that charge using USB-C is such a genius idea, I’m shocked it’s not more of a thing.
Marquise wipes
All new parents get super particular about their wipes brands. They will find one wipes brand to rule them all. For us, that was Marquise. We wanted wipes that had the least number of additives – the closer to just being plain water, the better.
That’s not too difficult to find, albeit more expensive than you’d expect. The thing that makes Marquise special is that they’re also really easy to get out of the pack, and strike the right balance of being thick enough without being too thick. They’re a bit pricey, but worth it, and are cheaper if you subscribe on their website.
Quad Lock accessories
Quad Lock accessories are a range of phone cases and mounts designed for bikes, motorcycles, cars and planes. They’re for sporty people doing sporty things. They also work splendidly on a pram.
The Quad Lock Quick Release Strap Mount attaches perfectly to almost any pram push bar. It’s handy because you can have your directions up on your phone without repeatedly stopping to check.
It’s also helped my wife and I avoid missing important notifications without taking our eyes off the baby or the footpath. A Quad Lock is an essential pram accessory.
While you’re looking at Quad Lock stuff, I also recommend the Mag Phone Ring/Stand and Bottle Opener accessory. It’s super useful as a stand, and for making sure you don’t drop your phone while operating it one-handed with a squirming baby, Googling advice on whatever weird thing your child just did.
Stoov heated cushions
I’ve written love letters to Stoov before. But what surprised me most about these rechargeable heated cushions was how useful they were during labour. My wife had contractions for two weeks, and then was in the first phase of labour for 45 hours before our daughter made an appearance.
Having the Stoov heat packs was a lifesaver for pain relief, because we didn’t need to keep microwaving them. My wife could sit with them plugged in for a while to charge, and then walk around with it still on for active pain management. Yeah, the Stoov products are expensive, but they make such a difference that they’re 100% worth it.
Plus, they’re also good when you’re not in labour and have aches and pains for non-birthing reasons. Or for when you’re just cold.
Snotty Boss
This is something that we use every day; it’s a revolutionary device. In the olden times, if your baby had a snotty nose, you’d have to suck it out with a straw. I do not want to do that, because that sounds horrifying. Somehow, sticking a mini vacuum cleaner up her nose to suck all the snot out seems better and easier.
The Snotty Boss is that mini vacuum cleaner, and it is an essential tool. Babies mostly breathe through their nose, and if their nose is blocked they’re going to have a bad time. If they’re having a bad time, you’re probably also having a bad time.
I hope whoever invented the Snotty Boss always has soft warm socks, a comfortable chair, and that their food is always at the perfect temperature. They deserve good things, in the same way that you and your baby deserve the Snotty Boss.
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