Ok, so let’s be honest, this stage is mainly about survival so anything that makes your life a bit easier at this stage is a godsend. Whether it’s something to distract the little one, something to stimulate them or something to give you some peace of mind we’ve summed up some of the best things we came across during this stage.

A good baby monitor is well worth the investment and with advances in tech its no longer that old fashion walkie talkie set up of old. We chose the Nooie Cam (purchased via Amazon) which is a small, inobtrusive device with 360 rotating motion sensor camera, two way audio and a decent app for your phone. Set-up was quick and easy and we haven’t had any issues with the monitor. Its also good for home security if you are out or away and can easily be moved from room to room.

Download:

It was news to us that newborn and young babies can only see in black and white and from pretty close up (something we found out from one of our pregnancy apps (see our last blog for details!). We searched YouTube and came across Hey Bear Sensory videos. There’s a huge range of videos here which our little one absolutely loved and still loves now, and more content added regularly. For starters try this video which is a black and white high contrast video of moving shapes and patterns to some classical music and at just over an hour this gave us some well earned me-time. Starting this early can help your baby to develop their ability to focus their attention and levels of concentration as well as providing relaxing / stimulating music. We propped the iPad up next to the baby while she had a little tummy time each day. Follow them on social @heybearsensory (Instagram).

A calming and soothing idea for night-time / naptimes is the Galaxy Projector. A remote controlled, Bluetooth enabled projector which has a selection of modes and colour palettes / brightness settings to choose from and the ability to play your baby music from your phone (we each created a playlist for the baby on iTunes and Deezer). A little tip from us…if you can find womb sounds on your usual music streaming platform then these work a treat to settle them into a great nights sleep! From waves to stars your little one is sure to love this, and you’ll probably steal it a few times for yourself!

Product:

There’s a huge range of apps and social channels dedicated to the health and wellbeing of new parents and their offspring. Here’s a selection of the one’s we rate;

The VeSyncFit app links with smart scales (purchased from Amazon), biometric scales paired with a highly user friendly app for tracking everything from weight, BMI, muscle mass, visceral fat etc. Great for helping to keep track when getting back into shape post-partum.

Product: Scales

Download: VeSyncFit

Expectful is an app designed for new parent / expecting parents full of guided meditations, an upcoming mum’s support group, soothing music and sleep aids etc. This is a paid app (you don’t get anything beyond the 7 days free trial). I still love the Calm app but this is another good alternative.

Download: Expectful Meditation & Slee‪p‬

Baby Sparks is an app which features developmental milestones and activities from birth up to 3 years. A great app with checklists and ideas for playtime activities for you and your baby to aid their development. Be careful not to get too hung up on the milestones (every baby works at their own pace!).

Download: BabySparks – Development Ap‪p

We would love to hear what you find helpful along the way or if you’ve come across something we can try out ahead of our next blog post (aged 3-6 months), drop us a comment or tag us on our social channels.