3 Products I Wish I Had With My First Baby

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Whenever I think back on my first pregnancy and the first year of life of my oldest son, I wonder how I survived. At that point everything was new, and while there were plenty of people around to give advice, I still felt like I was lost half the time.

As you can read in my post about long distance relationships, I was living in Mexico for the first 4 months of my first pregnancy, while my husband was in the United States waiting for me to get my visa approved. Those were some of the most difficult 4 months of my life, but luckily I had my mom close by to help me and I was able to go to a pretty good doctor down there.

When I got to the United States, I experienced a pretty heavy dose of culture shock, which made it difficult for me to be completely prepared for the arrival of my little baby just five months later. All that said, my husband and I did the best that we could to get prepare our house, our hearts, and our mind for our sweet little boy. It is hard not to laugh looking back at some of the things that we experienced, but at the same time we learned a lot from our experiences.

Well, we did survive that first year with our little baby, and he is a happy, smart, fun 5 year old today who loves to help with his little brother and who is excited to possibly be a big brother again in the near future, and we are excited as well.

While we did survive, I am amazed by the amount of amazing and helpful baby products that are now available that I truly feel would have helped us during that first year with our first baby. Some of these might have been around at that time, but I didn’t know about them. Now that I do, I definitely want to have them when our next baby comes in the near future. Today I want to share 3 of these great products that I wish I had with my first baby.

Owlet Baby Monitor

See current promotions for the Owlet Baby Monitor here. Select “Affirm at Checkout for Easy Payment Plans.”

The number one product that I wish I would have had with my first baby is the Owlet Baby Monitor which is designed to alert parents if their baby stops breathing.

During the first 6 months of our baby’s life, my husband didn’t get much sleep. It wasn’t because the baby was crying too much (he slept pretty well actually!), but rather because he was so worried that the baby would stop breathing during the night, that he couldn’t sleep for much more than 45 minutes without getting out of bed to check and see.

I had some of the same worries, so I was getting up quite a bit as well to check on him. This usually consisted of either putting our fingers right under his little nostrils to see if we could feel him breathing, or gently putting our hand on his chest to see if it was moving up and down. As the months went by, we felt the effects of not sleeping as well, and that made getting through the days a bit more difficult as well!

With that background, maybe you can see why I am so excited about the Owlet Baby Monitor! We are planning on having our third child within the next year, and this is on the top of my list.

I heard about it for the first time from my sister-in-law who got one when their second little boy was born last year. She faithfully has used it with him and on at least two occasions it has alerted her to situations where my nephew’s oxygen levels were lower than what they should be. This prompted them to take him to the doctor and get him the treatment that he needed in those first few months.

I have to say that we are so fortunate in this day and age to have access to modern technology that helps make our job as parents easier and less stressful. In Mexico and other Latin American countries these products using hospital technology are not available yet, which is sad because I know that they could make a huge difference.

I have a sad story from my own life growing up in Mexico that explains why I believe so strongly in this product. Sadly, 4 out of my grandma’s 10 children died because they stopped breathing during the night for one reason or another.

There was one instance in particular that I believe could have been avoided if my grandma had the Owlet baby monitor at that time. Keep in mind that this happened over 40 years ago, before a lot of the information about safe sleeping practices were well known. One of her babies was sleeping one night with his blanket and somehow during the night it got up over his face and, since he was so little, he wasn’t able to take it off. When my grandma found him in the morning, he was no longer breathing, and there was nothing that they could do at that point.

In the past 10, 20, or 30 years we have learned so much more about safe sleeping practices, which is definitely a blessing to those of us raising babies today. No piece of technology should replace a parent’s obligation to practice these safe sleeping practices, but I can only imagine how different life could have been for my grandma if she, not only had access to the safe sleeping practices that we do today, but if she also had access to something like the Owlet baby monitor that could have alerted her that the oxygen levels were low.

I can’t wait until these products make their way to Latin America and other countries where they are not available!

These are some of the reasons that I am definitely going to buy one of these for our next baby:

1. Over 100,000 hours went into testing the Owlet monitor, so I know that this company is invested in my peace of mind. 
2. You can view your baby’s live oxygen levels anywhere, right from your smartphone – now the app is available for Android and iOS. This is so convenient, because I always have my smartphone nearby. I also love that the Base Station and Smart Sock communicate independently of my smartphone, so even if my phone dies or isn’t near me, I will have access to low oxygen alerts.
3. Owlet uses the same technology hospitals use, pulse oximetry – which is proven, safe and effective and which doctors and nurses have used for decades.
4. Owlet has 10x fewer false alarms than movement monitors.
5. The wireless Smart Sock fits snug on baby’s foot and monitors their heart rate and oxygen levels while they sleep. I love this because it isn’t obtrusive and it provides such great peace of mind. 

The Owlet baby monitor may seem expensive at first, but can you really put a price on the peace of mind that you will receive knowing that if your baby’s oxygen levels are low you have a device that is designed to alert you? I can say with confidence that you cannot.

Owlet has promotions occasionally, and you can see them by clicking on this link. Owlet also offers payment plans to help out with the cost, so this is a great time to purchase! Just select “Affirm” at checkout for details.

Here is a great video that explains even more about the Owlet baby monitor:

I know that I will be getting one of these with my next baby, will you?

Video Baby Monitor

When we had our first baby, my husband was still in school and we were only able to afford a standard audio baby monitor. It was a pretty cheap one and it seems like we heard more static than anything. We ended up using a similar one for our second baby as well. While it wasn’t ideal, it did work well enough, but ever since then I have been dying to have a video baby monitor for my next baby.

This time around, I am definitely going to be getting one. Luckily there are lots of options in different price ranges.

The one that has really caught my eye, however, is the Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Monitor. It has really great reviews on Amazon and what I really like about it is that it allows you to adjust the focal length and viewing angle so that you can make sure that you have the best view of your baby when he or she is sleeping.

I know that audio monitors are good too, but there is just something about being able to see the baby that I really think will bring an extra layer of comfort, and that is why I am going to be getting one of these with our next baby. 

Smart Thermometer

Anyone that has had a baby knows that some of the most stressful times are when your baby is sick. It is so hard to watch such a helpless little baby suffer and to feel like there is nothing that you can do about it. With our first baby it seems like we were constantly back and forth to the doctor’s office and we even had to make a few trips to the emergency room.

I remember constantly checking his temperature to see if it was too high and if we needed to take him into the doctor’s office. I tried many different types – oral, under the armpit, ear, and forehead thermometers, but I was always concerned that I was doing it wrong or that the readings were inaccurate. Sometimes it was tough to remember when we had last checked the temperature too.

With our next baby I am planning on buying an Infanttech Smarttemp bluetooth baby thermometer. This is so cool! You just place the thermometer under baby’s armpit with the adhesive pads, download an app on your phone, and it will constantly monitor baby’s temperature in real time. You can set temperature thresholds and get alerts when the temperature goes above that threshold.

It’s great because it tracks the temperature and you can even share the temperature graph with your doctor. Another cool feature is that it can remind  you when it is time to give another dose of medicine.

So far it seems to have good reviews on Amazon, and I am definitely planning on getting one soon!

I am so grateful to live in a time where with such great technology to help us as we do our best to raise our babies. Being a parent is a lot of work, and can take a lot of energy. There will always be things to worry about and I’m sure that parents of younger kids will always be lacking at least a little bit of sleep. That said, the fact that there are so many great products that can provide peace of mind, like the Owlet baby monitor is so wonderful.

There are so many other great products for babies too – check out the “Baby Essentials” section of our store to get free Udder Covers, Nursing Pillows, and Carseat Canopy with our special codes. You will only have to pay shipping.

Are there any other products that you really love for a new baby? Let me know in the comments below!