2020 Hits and Shits: the best and worst baby products I used

With 2020 well and truly behind us I though it would be helpful for some people to see my top hits and shits of the baby world for 2020. Whether you are pregnant, a first time mum, well into motherhood, or planning to buy a gift for a mum friend, hopefully this list will help you out! I haven’t gone into too many products, as I could go on foreeeeeeeeever about the baby products I’ve used, so I thought I’d keep it short and sweet! Before we get into it, I would like to preface by saying I am in no way affiliated with any of the brands or products listed here- they have all either been gifted to me by friends and family or I have paid for them myself. Lets kick it off with the shits! (So we can end on a positive.)

The Shit’s List of baby products 2020

5. Avent Super Soothie

This dummy is a real dummy. Its really hard silicone (or plastic?) and is just way too weird a shape for my baby’s mouth. I know each baby is different, and will take to different pacifiers, but honestly, I don’t see how they were able to workshop this and think the final design was fine. The nipple is super narrow and hard, the face of the dummy is completely flat so it doesn’t conform to the babies face, so guess what? If you baby can latch onto it, it just drops out like 0.5 seconds later. I bought them for teething, as I thought I could fill the hole with water, freeze it, and so when Zoe sucked on it it would soothe her. But I never got round to that, because each time I tried to just put it in her mouth to test it out, it would just fall out again. Useless.

Pointless soother, doesn't soothe!

4. Happiest Baby Swaddle

This swaddle was pretty much useless from the get go. I got it because I liked the idea of the mesh panels and living in Australia we know the summer nights can get very hot. (Those su-hu-mer, niiiiiiii-hiiiiiights!)

Firstly, I had to wait aaaaaaaages for them to be shipped. And when they came, the fit was all weird. Zoe was only about 3 weeks old and they didn’t fit her- the Velcro to keep her arms in was stretched to the max, when zipped up they were really tight on her hips and restricted her movement. Not to mention the shoulders was ill fitting and odd- it didn’t fit her shoulders in properly, and the plastic snaps made it all lumpy. Needless to say, I used them about twice and then never went for them again. Save your $$.

Not a good fit.

3. Boori Bassinet

We have a Boori cot and Zoe sleeps really well in it, so I have nothing against Boori the brand. They make good quality furniture to very high standards. There is nothing wrong with this bassinet per se; it’s well built, a good size, and the mattress is the right firmness. It’s just really poorly designed. The point of a bassinet is to have the baby sleep somewhere when they’re really small- so why make the bassinet really uncomfortable to settle your baby in? It’s all sharp edges and hard angles. I had to use a pillow to lean on it just to have some comfort. It hurt to lean on it if you want to settle your baby in the bassinet, especially if you are needing to lean there for a long time!

Zoe, a few weeks old at this point, and me rocking her with one hand and letting her suck on my pinky with the other. The sharp angles of the bassinet were not great on my arms!

2. NUK Thermo Express bottle warmer

What a hunk of junk this thing is! You are far better off just boiling the water in your kettle- its faster than this! This bottle warmer must not have a temperature gauge in it, because literally every time you use it, it comes out either hotter than the surface of the sun or just a few degrees above the temperature of the fridge. There is no middle ground. Each time we use it we use the exact same amount of water in the bottle and the exact same amount of water in the warmer and somehow, it manages to fuck it up ever time. Honestly, just use a kettle. (The really annoying thing, is that this really is the fastest bottle warmer on the market. Fastest, but shittest.)

Pointless.

1. Glow Dreaming

Oh how I hate thee- let me count the ways. The reason I wrote this post was to bag the LIVING SHIT out of this machine. I LOATHE it; it is the worse hunk of junk ever created. The first issue is the design of it. Why make a machine that is predominantly used in the dark have TOUCH CONTROLS??!! In order to see the button you’re pressing you have to turn on the light (which is really distracting for babies who are distracted by light!) And to turn off the light, you have to cycle though 3 levels of red light and 3 levels of green light to get it to switch off. Each level gets brighter as well! Just have an “OFF” button! “But Tina,” I hear you say, “why are you turning on the white noise (or as the people at Glow Dreaming argue: pink noise) on in the dark? Just turn it on when you have the main room light on, then once it’s on, switch the room light off.” To which I reply, you’re right- and that’s what I was doing- before the machine decided to randomly blow out in the middle of naps. So you then have to scramble in the dark as quick as you can before your baby wakes up to switch it on and off again FROM THE POWER (because doing it from the button – which you can't feel remember- doesn’t fix it) and then randomly stab at the machine hoping that you are pressing the white noise button to make it louder. The sound has three settings – an ant’s fart, barely a whisper, and then an actually acceptable volume. So there is no point on having it on any other setting than the loudest. During one nap the speaker blew out THREE TIMES. Fucking useless. Oh, and don’t bother with the aromatherapy part, it never worked. Additionally, Glow Dreaming only offer returns if you get one of the FULL packs, if it’s within 30 days of use, if you have discussed with them prior on the community section of their website, and if all of the items, including the aromatherapy oils, are in mint/unsued condition. Fucking waste of money, don’t buy into the gimmick of it, and don’t believe the bots they hire to comment on their Facebook ads! Avoid at all costs!

I. HATE. THIS. THING. SO. MUCH.

The Hit’s List of baby products 2020

5. Little Ones Sleep Program

So far Zoe hasn’t been too bad of a sleeper. She has her moments here and there, but overall she’s pretty good (my fingers are crossed as a write this as I don’t want to jinx it!) But a lot of her good sleeping has come down to using the Little Ones Sleeping program. My friend introduced it to me and at first I was a bit sceptical- I wasn’t sure how I felt about trying to get my baby to work to their schedule. Up until that point I had just been following Zoe’s sleepy cues and popping her down once she was yawning. But one day I was really struggling to get Zoe to take a nap, so I texted my friend and asked her if she could send me the details of the schedule for Zoe’s age group. Reading though the information was like a weight was lifting off my shoulders! I had no idea that Zoe was supposed to be awake for longer, so when she was going down she wasn’t tired enough. I also had no idea that its OKAY to have a 45 minute nap! (I had thought that every nap was supposed to be like 2 hours long!) One of the great things about it is that it takes away the pressure- it doesn't say you have to put your child down this way or that, that they must not be rocked, go down drowsy or awake etc. It basically says settle your child however you choose to but try to get them to sleep for the suggested amount of time. It has nothing to do with which technique you use (Ferber, the chair, cry it out etc) so don't get confused thinking its going to teach you how to put your baby down. It's literally all about how much day and night sleep they should have for their age. The app is wonderful. It has a whole community and troubleshooting section so you can discuss with other parents what is and isn’t working for your child, there are troubleshooting sections and catnapping guides. If you are struggling with sleep and your baby, I highly recommend Little Ones.

An example of what Little Ones does. Whilst I'm picky on the term "self-settling", the point I like is "using methods that suit your parenting style".

4. Love to Dream Swaddles

Pretty sure everyone loves these! In the beginning I was using the arms down wrap swaddles, which I loved and still highly recommend (sometimes you just need those arms out of the way!) but the Love to Dream ones are also great. The quilted night swaddle was a godsend the first two months for Zoe, as the nights were really cold and the added weight of the quilting weighed her down a bit and stopped her from squirming so much. All of their swaddles come with the double zip and a TOG rating, which I know sounds like it should be standard, but it’s surprising how many sleeping bags and swaddles out there don’t have a TOG rating. Yes they are a bit more expensive, but they last a really long time and you get good use out of them. Wait til they are on sale to buy up. Additionally, I suggest only getting one or two of the transitional swaddles. I only got Zoe a 1.0 and 0.2 one (she only used the 0.2 one like twice), and once they are done transitioning from the swaddle, you can zip off the wings completely and use it as a normal sleeping bag.

Zoe in her LTD swaddle, back when she spun around in her sleep.

3. Baby Dink (and Konny)

I have both a Konny and a Baby Dink, and I think Baby Dink wins by a hair. Even though Baby Dink does not have a summer one or UV protective fabric like the Konny does (big thumbs up for Konny) I find that the Baby Dink is easier to get Zoe in and out of. The Konny also only has one way stretch, so that’s why it's so hard to get Zoe in and out of it. Whereas, the Baby Dink has two way stretchy fabric so its much easier to work with. It does stretch out a bit too, so the first few times you wear it, it might feel like its cutting into your arms. The sizing is pretty accurate; I bought a medium and it fit me pretty well (other than being a bit tight at first). I bought the Konny in size large and it is waaaaaaaaaaaay too small (for reference I’m about a size 10 to 12 up top). So if you are planning on buying a Konny (which I do not discourage you from doing, they are cheaper than BD too) then size up from what they recommend! The Baby Dink is expensive, so I suggest buying a second hand one off Facebook marketplace if you can find it. There was a period of time where if I couldn’t get Zoe to sleep I’d just pop her in this and she’s be zonked out in about five minutes. If you had a caesarean like me, I would suggest being very careful with the Velcro band as it does sit around the scar area. HOT TIP: if you are at home/not going to go out, and you need to get your baby to sleep in the carrier, put your undies and pants over the top of the Velcro band. That way, you can go to the toilet easily without having to take the carrier off and wake the baby! (I learnt this the hard way ha!)

Zoe sound asleep in her Baby Dink, with a cameo appearance from Loki.

2. Sound Spa

I bought the Sound Spa after the debacle with the Glow Dreaming, and maaaaaaaaaan, I have not looked back! This thing is great! The changes in volue are small so that you can get the volume just right, the whole unit is quite compact, so you could take it with you to the grandparent’s place if you needed to, and it has a range of sounds that the Glow Dreaming does not. So you can have lullaby’s, the sound of rain, white noise etc. It comes with a projector light but I don’t use it as we have worked really hard to get Zoe’s room jet black- I’m not about to reintroduce light into it now! Also, because it is AC powered, you don’t need to worry about batteries dying, and its so much cheaper than the Glow Dreaming so win win! And, unlike the Glow Dreaming, water is not going to need to go anywhere near it, cause it is just a white noise machine. Sound Spa, they do one thing and they do it well. They don’t try to fill their products with gimmicks.

Soooooooooo much better than the Glow Dreaming.

1. Alcmena Cloth Nappies

These nappies are the best Modern Cloth Nappies (MCN’s) on the market in my opinion. They are pricey, but with it comes great quality. They are really versatile and have a lot of options when it comes to the inserts, as all of their inserts and nappies are interchangeable with themselves. The only downsides to Alcmena (besides the price tag) is that they’re system of nappies is totally confusing, and you really need to be committed to them to understand the way the brand works. But once you do it’s pretty easy. Additionally, they have a cult, and I mean CULT following. The VIP and BSS Facebook pages are intense. Due to their cult following, they have a whole bunch of rules when it comes to making orders on release nights. It becomes really convoluted and really stressful really quickly. So unless you are obsessed about a certain print which you know is going to sell out (like their Harry Potter prints) I suggest waiting till the hype around release nights dies down, and then shopping the page later. I have ranted for many days about how unfair the ordering system is for release nights (as I have missed out many many times and I think its up to Alcmena to just make more of their product rather than us fighting over it like wolves, but I digress.) If you are not into geeky prints, then I suggest their sister brand Monarch, which do not have limits on their purchases. But with double gusseted leg elastics, high quality PUL fabric as standard, options for Velcro or snap fastenings and good quality bamboo and hemp, you can’t go wrong.

So many cute designs to choose from! I personally am all for the geeky prints.

Honourable and Dishonourable mentions:

Honourable:

- Just Take the Kids car capsule hire: Natalie is great and she has a wide variety of car capsules for hire at a great price. All her products are nice and clean and well maintained. She will also install you new car seat for you too at a small fee. Highly recommend!

- Little Human Linens: waterproof cot liners that come in beautiful designs! So lovely and dry quickly on the line.

Dishonourable:

- This pregnancy pillow. In theory, its great. It's really plush and comfortable to lie on. However, due to the zip running through the middle (so you can insert a centre piece) it means that the pillow as restricted give and flexibility. So when you are sleeping with it, the zip will cut into either your neck or your cooch (depending on which way up you sleep with it).

- NUK dummies: useless, the Tommy Tippee ones are heaps better.