Widgets and Gadgets - Baby Milk Espresso Machine

In terms of new babies do widgets and gadgets make our life easier? The market for babies and gadgets go hand in hand, ever been to someone's house who has lots of "man toys" and you have felt like you've stepped into a toy shop?

Some of the baby gadgets that I have come across are things like the Alarm Blanket – this goes off when the baby stops breathing, there are interactive educational books, baby rocking machines, lazy boys for mums who breast feed, nappy disposable buckets and then my favourite as a guy – the milk espresso machine.

Sound advice – get ear plugs guys!

Getting some (any) sleep after the arrival of your new bundle of joy can be a real tricky one for new parents. Dads of couples who have decided to breastfeed are in an interesting situation in that most males just can't do it (breast feeding) and often there is not enough bottled milk to last the whole night. So our usefulness for night feeds is limited to emotional support or nappy changing. So I've decided to go the other way and have made sure I get a full night sleep. I use ear plugs for that - works for us.

OK so we have stuck with a more traditional model of parenting in that my partner stays home and looks after our son, whereas I go earn some money. After the arrival of our first baby I quickly realised that getting up at night and working during the day is not great. I ended up being pretty ineffective during the day at work as well as with the little things I could help with at night. Even when we agreed that I should stay in bed I would still wake up a couple of times every night and it took me a wee while to get back to sleep.

Feeding bottles don't suck anymore - enter 'Green-to-Grow'

Over the past few years there's been a growing controversy over the safety and health aspects of feeding bottles (see related article "Fed up with toxic baby bottles"). Fortunately someone has done something about it and developed a product that is made of lead free and BPA free plastic. Up until now the only alternative to conventional feeding bottles (which usually contain phthalates, bisphenol A, lead or PVC) was to use glass. Obviously glass bottles and babies / toddlers can be tricky combination (check out "Toddlers and a broken glass incident"). So having a plastic bottle without chemicals that are suspected of hormone disrupting effects sounds like a great option to conventional bottles.

Routines for bottle-fed babies from six to eight weeks

7am Wake up baby, and feed her a bottle, see how much to feed a formula feed baby but you should consult your midwife who will tell you. Always wake her at this time even if you last feed her around 4-5am previously.

8.15am Put a wrap on baby and put her back to bed and then I always put them on their left or right hand side, and alternate from the last time. I let her self settle – remembering listen to their cries and see if it’s a hungry cry or another type

11am Wake up baby and feed her a bottle

12.30pm Put a wrap on baby and put her back to bed and then I always put them on their left or right hand side, and alternate from the last time

3pm Wake up baby and feed her a bottle

4.30pm Put a wrap on baby and put her back to bed and then I always put them on their left or right hand side, and alternate from the last time

5.30pm Wake up baby and bath her – I bath in a shallow bath by washing her head first with a cloth, and then undressing her and bathing her.

How much to formula feed a baby

How much to formula feed a baby

Routines for bottle-fed babies from Newborn to two weeks

Routines for bottle-fed babies from Newborn to two weeks

7am Wake up baby, and feed her a bottle, see how much to feed a formula feed baby but you should consult your midwife who will tell you. Always wake her at this time even if you last feed her around 4-5am previously.

8.15am Put a wrap on baby and put her back to bed and then I always put them on their left or right hand side, and alternate from the last time. I let herself settle – remembering listen to their cries and see if it’s a hungry cry or another type

10.30am Wake up baby and feed her a bottle

11.45am Put a wrap on baby and put her back to bed and then I always put them on their left or right hand side, and alternate from the last time

2pm Wake up baby and feed her a bottle

3.15pm Put a wrap on baby and put her back to bed and then I always put them on their left or right hand side, and alternate from the last time

Bottle feeding teats "suck"

New Zealand’s most popular brand Avent and their patented Silicone Airflex Teats have one major design flaw … they are too LONG for newborns (or for my 5-week old boy anyway)! Why is it that all teats are the same size and only vary by the number of holes? It seems prudent to assume that a 3.5kg newborn has a different mouth size than a 1.5 year old.

We recently had to start our newborn with feeding bottles due to my partner's nipples getting really sore from extended breast feeding. So we decided to express and then feed from the bottle. Of course we did an extensive market analysis to identify the "best" system – NOT. The first one we could grab in a mad rush to the supermarket had to do ... as it turns out the one we ended up with is also the most common brand in New Zealand (Avent).