Building Your Registry - Gadgets

In the modern consumer age there is no shortage of gadgets available claiming to make your life as a new parent simpler, easier, and generally more pleasant. Some of these are worth the cost, others are severely overpriced and hardly useful. Let's dig in to some of the popular ones.

Bottle Washer

Bottle washers are a newly popular item that lots of people swear by, but personally I find them only mediocre. A bottle washer will wash, sanitize, and dry your bottles (and pump parts, and other items like soothers or teethers) with the touch of one button, which can be a helpful thing to take off your plate as a new parent, however hand washing bottles really does not take that long. The downside of these machines is that they often are very fiddly, requiring cleaning and maintenance that can be frustrating when you're already sleep deprived. You have to be mindful of your kitchen layout, because they take up a lot of counter space. They are also very expensive, and take detergent tablets that are also very expensive per use. If you do choose to purchase one I recommend the Momcozy over the Baby Brezza because the Momcozy is more versatile in what you can fit in it and has a larger cleaning tank for a smaller countertop footprint (the Brezza seems specifically designed for the Dr. Brown's bottles and others don't fit very well) and also because I've dealt with a host of Brezza's spitting out error codes again and again. Overall, I recommend them for twin and multiples parents, but don't find them necessary for singletons. The only caveat is that they can be good for families that don't have a lot of help available for the newborn phase. But unless you really hate doing dishes, this is an easy one to skip.

Sterilizer

Sterilizers are something I do recommend if you're planning to pump and/or bottle feed. Yes, it's not that difficult to boil some water and sterilize in a pot, but to do it at the stove you have to be actively involved, standing at the stove, taking things in and out of the pot. This is not very conducive to having a baby on or around you. What's nice about the sterilizers is that you can start it and forget about it until you need another bottle. And my favourite thing about them is that they also dry what's inside. When you put away damp or wet bottles it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and without forced air getting all the nooks and crannies of bottles or pump parts dry is a pain. They also have a significantly smaller countertop footprint than the bottle washers, however, if your kitchen space is truly at a premium, they may not be for you.

Formula Mixer

The most popular (so popular I'm not even sure if there's another brand) formula mixer is the Baby Brezza Formula Pro. This is another item a lot of families swear by, and one also that others hate - for good reason. There are more and more case reports coming out about babies failing to gain weight and upon investigation it's discovered that this device is not portioning the formula powder correctly so babies are being unknowingly underfed. It's possible these cases are caused by user error (there are different settings for different formula brands), but if you do choose to use one monitor it carefully. It also requires a fairly high level of maintenance and is finicky to clean and improper cleaning can lead to mould growth. I don't reccommend it for newborns or babies with fragile immune systems since it does not heat the water to the required temperature for proper safe formula preparation.For families that want faster access to formula, I recommend the pitcher method and the Dr. Brown's pitcher.

Water Warmer

This is an offshoot of the formula mixer that Brezza has made and it's almost entirely useless. It is simply a tank that holds water and warms it to a nice temperature for your baby to drink. The water is not nearly hot enough to meet the standards of safe formula preparation. Often parents use distilled water and think that is good enough but the real reason that formula is meant to be prepared with near boiling water is because the formula powder itself is not sterile and the water is meant to kill bacteria in the powder, not the water. Devices like this also get your baby reliant on having a warm bottle, which in the long run does nothing but make your life harder as a parent.

Bottle Warmer

Bottle warmers are meant to warm already prepared bottles (of formula or breast milk) for your baby to eat. If you have a baby who will not take a cold bottle, this is can be a worthwhile item to invest in. However, it's just as doable to use a kettle and a mug. The advantage of the bottle warmer is that you can set the bottle in it cold, with the water cold, and walk away until it's ready. There are all manner of fancy options with timers and settings that claim to heat the milk to the exact right temperature (of these, I like the Momcozy because the settings are labelled), however I prefer the Phillips Avent warmer for simple ease of use.

Wipe Warmer

I don't like wipe warmers, full stop. Your baby is not going to like getting their diaper changed. The cold wipes are not the problem, the problem is that they're new to this world! Changing is a whole host of different, unpleasant sensory experiences for them. The main complaint I hear about wipe warmers is that your baby is going to get used to warm wipes and it's going to be hard to take them out, maybe this is true, maybe it's not. However the reason I don't like wipe warmers is because heat makes water evaporate, so sitting in the warmer sucks the moisture out of the wipes, and dry wipes lead to more friction on the skin, which leads to diaper rashes. If you hate having to pull wipes out of the package they come in (and getting half the pack in one go) grab a simple weighted box to hold down the other wipes while you pull one out.

Diaper Pail

I will say again and again how much I hate diaper pails. They stink. No matter what you do or how you clean them, they will absorb the smell of the dirty, rotting, fermenting diapers and the pail itself will stink. I regularly see these waiting to get picked up on trash day. The Diaper Genie is the worst offender, because it's plastic and has expensive refill bags. The Ubbi pail gets a slightly higher rating only because its mostly metal except for the lid and therefor takes longer to absorb the smell, but a downgrade for having to be opened by hand. The Dekor I have not found to be quite as smelly, but that may be because it's newer to the scene and hasn't had time yet to absorb the smell. My recommendation is to get a cheap, metal step trash can only big enough for a day or so of diapers and accept that you're going to have to take it out a lot.

Snot Sucker

Before you have your baby (or before they have their first cold) you will think that sucking the snot from their nose is the grossest possible thing and you will never do it. Then they will get sick. Snot suckers are game changing and absolutely a required purchase. People swear by the Frida Baby one, but I actually have seen better results with this off brand one. You can also get electric ones, this Momcozy one has a saline dispenser built in. Although they are not nearly as powerful, they are useful if you have help in the home since only direct relatives should use the mouth powered versions because there can be a bacterial exchange between the user and the baby. As a related side note to the snot sucker, I also love a nose picker, to get all those bits, fluff, and boogers your baby collects clear.

Electric Nail File

This is an item that a lot of new parents think is completely unnecessary, until they clip their babies skin instead of their nail. When babies are little their nails are so soft and so small it's often hard to actually get their nail into clippers to cut. It's even harder when they're awake and moving. I recommend either a regular file or an electric file, because they just make it so much easier. As a care provider, I won't clip babies nails because I don't want to risk cutting them, but I will always file.

Wearable Smart Baby Monitor

The version of this you will have heard of is the Owlet Dream Sock, which is essentially an Apple Watch for your baby. It monitors heart rate and oxygen levels, as well as movement, and sleep stages and wakings. This is a product that has its place, but I urge parents to consider carefully before purchasing it. If your baby has had a long NICU stay and/or is coming off being on hospital grade monitoring, this could be a good transition option for nervous parents. It can also be useful being selectively used if a baby has a bad cold early on. However lots of parents buy this for their perfectly healthy newborns with the idea that it will ease their anxiety and it actually does the exact opposite. There is such thing as too much information, especially on non-medical grade items such as this that are prone to glitches, incorrect read-outs, and false alarms. If you are considering getting this, please take a moment of introspection to consider whether it will add or ease your anxiety.

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