Oh how far we’ve come from those scratchy walkie-talkie baby monitors and TV-sized humidifiers. Just like everything else, today’s baby gear is going high-tech. Here’s a look at some innovative products that recently hit the market for parents and babies:
It’s good to talk to your baby even when he or she is still in the womb. With Bebesounds’ monitor, you can have a two-way conversation.
The included speakers let you hear your baby’s heartbeat, kicks, and hiccups. The microphone lets you project your voice or music—sixty-minute Mozart CD also included—into the womb
You can even record and e-mail your child’s heartbeat—just in case the grandparents want an early start listening to your forthcoming bundle of joy. Cost: $20.
How much alcohol is too much for baby? With Milkscreen, you can test the alcohol level of your breast milk in two minutes by just smearing a little on an easy-to-use test strip.
If the strip doesn’t change color, you’re good to nurse. If it does change color, get a bottle—for baby, not for you. Cost: $10 for box of three strips; $20 for box of eight.
This is definitely the next step in baby monitors.
A 5.6-inch screen lets you see—not just hear—your baby in another room. The wireless camera can be tilted or swiveled with a remote control, and comes equipped with a motion sensor and even night vision capabilities.
Have more than one child? Add a second camera and switch between them with the remote control. When you’re not watching your sleeping kids, you can even plug in a camera or DVD player and watch a movie. Cost: $240.
Fisher-Price Ready2Wear Monitor
If you don’t want a big-screen monitor, how about a wristwatch-sized one?
Strap the monitor on your wrist or arm and stay connected to your sleeping child whatever you’re doing. Like a cordless phone, it comes with a charger/docking station and a paging button to help you find it when it’s missing. Cost: $50.
Yes, now even booger-suckers have gone high-tech. NasalClear is a battery operated, advanced version of those traditional bulb-style aspirators.
It comes with two different silicon tips (for different levels of congestion and nose sizes) and a clear plastic collection cup (so you can see what gets sucked out).
While you’re extracting, it’s distracting, playing twelve different tunes to get your baby’s attention. Best yet, it’s dishwasher safe. Cost:$20.
It’s never too early to learn how to read—at least according to the folks at LeapPad.
The company whose electronic help-you-read devices are now a staple of smart mommys—and smart kids—now has a product for children as young as six months.
The LittleTouch LeapPad comes with stories and more than one hundred other activities that help kids learn their ABCs, letter sounds, numbers, colors, shapes and more. Cost: $30.
As any new parent knows, timing is everything. Now you can help keep track of it all with a single device.
The Itzbeen Baby Care Timer comes with four one-touch timers that let you know how long it’s been since the last feeding, changing, nap, and another timer for everything else.
The palm-sized timer also comes with a nightlight and a nursing reminder so you can remember which side baby nursed from last. Cost: $25.
Forget spinning plastic flowers or a tiny mirror that moves. The LeapStart gym claims to provide a “multi-sensory learning experience” for babies up to twelve months. Under the gym, baby can see flashing lights, listen to ten minutes of music from around the world—fortunately the volume is adjustable—and watch a colorful motorized mobile.
Later, transform the gym into a sit-up activity center for older babies that can introduce them to animal names and colors and teach them how to say hello and count in five languages. Really. Cost: $45.
What if you knew exactly when your potty training child was starting to go #1 in his bed? The Malem bedwetting sensor does. When they start to wet, it wakes them up with a flashing light and a car alarm-like noise.
Of course such a fright might cause them to, well, pee their pants, but hopefully it will prompt them to run to the bathroom instead. Cost: $80 and up.
Germ Guardian Table Top Humidifier
One of the biggest problems with humidifiers is that they’re big, bulky, and loud. Germ Guardian’s H1000 is everything but. The compact humidifier is small enough to fit on a nightstand or table, but still big enough to run—quietly—for seventy-two hours.
Germ Guardian’s nano-silver technology is designed to prevent mold and mildew from growing in the tank, so when water is vaporized into the room, it’s free of bacteria. Cost: $70.
Photos courtesy of the companies