I became a new dad a little over a year ago, but I remember the day like it was yesterday. Like all dads, I was excited to welcome my daughter into the world, but I was also worried about her safety\u2026and, a little selfishly, my own sanity for the first few months of her life.<\/p>\n
Being a longtime tech journalist, I knew there\u2019d be gadgets out there that could help, and after a bit of digging, I discovered three devices that changed the parenting game for me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n If you want to save yourself a boatload of time and worry, these are the three well-reviewed gadgets I recommend you pick up. Want to beef up your home security now that you have a little one? Don’t miss our guide on the best home security cameras<\/a> while you’re here.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n This $25 shusher that puts babies out in under five minutes<\/p>\n In a few years\u2019 time, I\u2019m sure my daughter will become an audiophile like her old man, but for the first few months of her life, audio quality isn\u2019t her biggest concern.<\/p>\n That\u2019s good because this $25 portable noise machine isn\u2019t the world\u2019s best-sounding speaker. However, it\u2019s got a 52-hour battery life and can play lullabies, white noise, and a shusher that could put my baby to sleep in under five minutes.<\/p>\n In terms of design, it\u2019s light and small; it\u2019s a little bigger than a deck of cards and weighs less than half a pound. It recharges via USB-C (it comes with a cable in the box if you don\u2019t have one on-hand) and you can set the built-in timer for up to 8 hours if you want it to run overnight.<\/p>\n It\u2019s become such an essential tool in my life that I even bought a second one for my mom\u2019s house when my daughter\u2019s over there.<\/p>\n This formula mixer that\u2019s basically a Keurig for babies<\/p>\n The last thing you want to do as a new parent is to sit by your kitchen sink at 3 o\u2019clock in the morning waiting for the tap to heat up so you can warm a bottle. I did that, and I hated every second of it. Every minute waiting was one less minute I could sleep.<\/p>\n To claw back those extra minutes, I bought a Baby Brezza Advanced Formula Dispenser that essentially functions like a Keurig. You pour your formula into the top of the machine, set how many ounces of liquid you want dispensed, set the temperature you want and hit run. In less than 15 seconds, you have a lukewarm bottle of formula ready to go.<\/p>\n That said, there is a small caveat here that my baby\u2019s nutritionist wants to share \u2014 if your little one has very specific calorie requirements like mine does, then you might still need to add the formula to the Baby Brezza\u2019s warm water yourself. That\u2019s because, while you can program a specific calorie count for each bottle (like 24-, 27- or 30-calories per ounce) there\u2019s no guarantee that you\u2019ll get exactly that amount each time. I found it to be pretty accurate, but sometimes powder build-up around the dispenser reduced the amount of formula that made it into the final mix.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n If your kid isn\u2019t a super preemie and is a pretty good gainer, I doubt you\u2019ll have the same issue I had, but I definitely wanted to put that warning out there before you spend $230 on it.<\/p>\n This baby camera and smart sock that tracks heart and respiratory rate<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t treat yourself to the Baby Brezza, you should 100% buy the Owlet Dream Duo that combines an FDA-cleared smart baby monitor with an HD video camera.<\/p>\n My biggest fear when I first brought my daughter home from the hospital was SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome<\/a>. SIDS can happen for a number of reasons, and it\u2019s most likely to occur in the first few months after birth. Preemies have a higher risk than regular birth-weight babies, so I was especially concerned about her.<\/p>\n The Owlet Dream Duo\u2019s sensor really helped me sleep at night without worrying about my daughter. It tracks oxygen saturation levels and heart rate, and beeps if it ever detects a sudden drop in either of them. The base station has a temperature sensor built-in and additionally measures humidity and noise level.<\/p>\n The 2K HD camera isn’t one of the best baby monitors<\/a>, but its awesome app integration means that your phone will double as a baby monitor that you can take anywhere.<\/p>\n A word of warning from a battle-tested parent here: The sensor isn\u2019t 100% waterproof. It\u2019s water-resistant, but if your daughter happens to, I don\u2019t know\u2026projectile vomit her entire bottle of formula onto the sensor and it stays there overnight, you might return in the morning to a busted sensor. (Ask me how I know.) Still, I have to give props to Owlet for allowing me to exchange the sensor for a new one a few months after the initial purchase.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong $300 is a pricey investment when you\u2019re a new parent, but being able to sleep knowing that my daughter was breathing regularly was worth every penny.<\/p>\n Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News<\/a> and add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n