In the run up my daughter’s birth, and for several months after her arrival, my wife and I spent a lot of money on things we thought were essential for a new baby arriving into the house. As it turned out, a lot of them weren’t essential, and some were a downright waste of money.
Here are some of the more useful products that I would recommend as essential for any nursery.
1. Baby monitors
This device slips under the baby’s mattress and monitors for movement. If your baby does not move (breath) for ten seconds it will alert you.
Though it will not prevent cot death occurring, they are great for the piece of mind that your child is there and is okay. Please ensure you follow installation instructions carefully to ensure your device works properly.
Two types are available: the wired type, like BabySense (which we bought and still use) which monitors movements and sounds an alarm when required. The downside of this product is there is no remote monitor, so you will need to ensure you are within hearing range of the device wherever you are in the house.
The second is the digital wireless type, like AngelCare, which offers monitoring and baby listening within one convenient handheld wireless device, rather like a walkie-talkie in appearance. Some of the AngelCare models also monitor the temperature of the nursery. Downside is this uses DECT technology, which may or may not be an issue for you (see further reading below).
2. AirWrap
When our daughter was very small she used to rock her head from side to side in her sleep. This caused problems with sleep as she liked to sleep right up against the side of her cot, and when we moved her from crib to cot she would continually bump her head and wake herself.
Research into cot bumpers, those large cushions for cots, has produced neutral results. If you visit a childrens’ store the staff usually will not recommend cot bumpers to you (nor will they advise you against them).
Airwrap is the solution we found (at about 3am one night frantically searching the web). The product comprises a thin layer of breathable material that allows baby to breathe through it but also cushions their head against the cot bars.
It worked very well for us, though we only really needed it for a few months. Airwrap is manufactured by a company in Australia. Please check their website for your nearest retailer.
We had this product recommended by friends for getting a very small baby to stop crying. Nothing was working with our daughter, but this toy seemed to have an almost hypnotic effect on her. It’s reportedly been designed by an acoustic laboratory in Japan and it certainly seemed to work for us.
Definitely worth a try just to break the crying cycle in the first few months if it gets uncontrollable, downside (for us at least) is as soon as the musical cycle ended, our daughter would usually start crying again. However, it’s good to stop them crying and give you a chance to sooth them with a quick follow up like rocking or singing.
Two reasons we loved our travel cot with bassinette.
Firstly, you need a travel cot. Despite the name, they are not light and portable, but if you are travelling somewhere by car to visit someone they are fantastic – quick to set up and easy to dismantle and pack away. Just not that light to carry on board an aircraft.
The bassinette is an attachment which allows you to place tiny babies at a height above the cot. This is the second reason we loved our bassinette. The benefits were it preserved our backs when picking up/putting down our daughter almost continually.
In addition to this our daughter didn’t take to her cot until much later – but loved the bassinette travel cot. I think it was because the travel cot tends to rock a little when babies move around, giving them a natural motion to help them sleep. If I had known this in advance I would have never gone to the expense of a full sized cot!
5. Herbal/Homeopathic Teething Remedies
There are several types of teething remedies available, most of which are excellent at soothing baby’s teething symptoms – gum pain, upset tummy, general unrest. We started using Teetha which is basically camomile. Boots also have a remedy called Ashton and Parson’s Infant Teething Powders, which we found worked when our daughter seemed to have outgrown the effects of Teetha.
One sachet about half an hour before bedtime always seemed to help settle baby when she was teething (and still does).
If your lucky enough to know someone who practices homeopathy, I would recommend speaking to them and learning about the variety of natural remedies available for babies.
Further Reading
DECT Baby monitors – are they safe? It is hard to find balanced research on DECT, but here is one article to get you started.
