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Top 10 Parenting Gadgets
iiamo Self Heating Baby Bottle. $60.
Technology is all about making life just that little bit easier. So it’s no surprise that there are plenty of gadgets and gizmos on offer out there to help take some of the strain out of parenthood.
From simple products designed to make feeding slightly easier to state-of-the-art monitoring systems designed to ensure your children are safe, here are ten of the top gadgets designed to help you be a better parent.
LENA Language monitor
Price: $US699
The LENA language monitor is a pocket-sized voice recorder that you stick on your child, which records all the words the child hears throughout the day. Once your child has gone to bed, you connect it to the PC, and dedicated software will analyse the recordings. Apparently, the more words your child hears at a young age, the higher their IQ in later life, apparently.
Squirt baby food dispensing spoon
$US10
Baby food can be disastrously messy. The Squirt ingeniously stores the food within the spoon itself, and can be gently squeezed onto the spoon end to feed your child one handed. It’s the perfect tool for feeding on the go – they’re even dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.
iiamo Self Heating Baby Bottle
$60
Heating a bottle while on the move can be quite an adventure for the unprepared parent, which is why this self-heating bottle is a must-have. Powered by disposable warmers, the iiamo bottle can heat 180ml of milk in just four minutes, which is fast enough to placate even the hungriest child.
Philips Combined Steamer and Blender
$240
Any gadget that halves the amount of washing up while quickly and easily creating nutritious food for your kids is a winner. The Steamer/Blender from Philips will first steam food to cook it while maintaining its nutrients, then when you flip it over, will blend it all together to an easy to digest food for your kids.
Pikavu GPS watch and locator
€950 ($1,300)
Never worry about losing your child in a crowded location again thanks to the Pikavu GPS watch and locator. Pop the watch on your child’s wrist and when you need to, activate the GPS function using the locator device and you will quickly discover the whereabouts of your child on a map. Justifying the expense is another matter altogether…
Philips Digital Video Monitor
$270
The baby monitor is the saviour of the modern day parent. Until your child grows old enough to know that they can get your attention by whining out loud. This digital video monitor helps you determine whether the child is legitimately unsettled or just faking it to get your attention by transmitting video as well as audio.
Itzbeen Baby Care Timer
www.cheekymonkey.ca/Itzbeen.htm
$40
When you’re juggling the role of parent with work and maintaining the house on a couple of hours sleep, it’s easy to lose track of the important details, like when you last fed your child. The Itzbeen keeps track of all those times, as well as having alarms for when the next session is due and a slide to help keep track of which side you used for breastfeeding last.
Ritmo baby music system
$US130
Pre-natal music systems aren’t the most common parenting gadgets on the market, but the Ritmo certainly stands out. With four speakers that conveniently surround the baby in utero and connect to your own MP3 player, it’s an interesting way to stimulate your unborn child. Probably best not to play Metallica’s Greatest Hits though…
DuoFertility
ww.duofertility.com
£495 ($760)
Couples looking to get pregnant without resorting to solutions like IVF can now look to technology for the solution. The DuoFertility scanner monitors the mother’s body temperature constantly, then wirelessly transmits the data to a dedicated reader, which tells you when you will be at your most fertile. The data can be sent to a PC for closer inspection as well to help guarantee a successful pregnancy.
Boon Flo
$US18
As your kids get older, bath time becomes a more active experience. To protect your child from accidentally hitting their head on the tap while playing in the bath, the Boon Flo covers the metal tap with a plastic covering, changing the water’s flow to a gentle waterfall. It also dispenses bubble bath with the press of a button.
