Marsona Sound Conditioner: SleepMate 980A

If you live in a small house, an old house, a poorly insulated or just a loud house, this is a must have item. Especially if there is more than one child running around. This machine completely changed our lives.

One of our children is a very light sleeper and in a poorly insulated old house you can hear everything. Any small sound, such as a door opening or closing (quietly), a cough or a low-toned conversation would wake her up. And no matter how hard I used to believe that all kids just get used to noises and learn to sleep through them, it just wasn't happening with our daughter.

On a particularly hot day well into the first year of our little lady's life I bought a heavy-duty fan to cool down our bedroom. It was quite loud and efficient and I realized that our daughter slept like a baby that night.

So I set out to search for a device which was essentially as loud as our fan but without the fanning effect. Quite a few mothers recommended the Marsona and said that it had made their babies sleep through the night without fail. In fact, one nice mother in our community gave me hers and wished me many sleepy nights moving forward. This is exactly what we got from then on.

I know that there is all sorts of research for and against using sound machines, but in our case we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there. We try to not always use it. But the main thing for us is that it drowns out all the other noise in the house and our little lady sleeps better, and so do we.

I'm endlessly grateful to our Marsona and the mom who gave us hers. In fact, we like this machine so much that we ended up getting the Marsona travel version (Marsona TSCi 330) as well. I also got it for a friend of mine who suffers from tinnitus, and she also sleeps like a baby now...

So, in my humble opinion...

Pros:

- This electro-mechanical sound machine actually creates the white noise (just like a fan). It's not a recording of white noise.

- For a fairly small device it is very powerful.

- The 980A has two settings and you can adjust the "tone" of the white noise from high to low.

- Will absolutely drown out noise and make a light sleeper (or just a poor sleeper) sleep better.

- Fairly low cost for such an effective device (around $65)

- Seems to last for a long time (we got ours used and it still works just like new).

Cons:

- I'm trying to come up with something here but I have no complaints about this one.

The First Years: Sure Comfort Deluxe Newborn to Toddler Tub

Since I just gave the Summer Infant Soothing Baby Spa & Shower such a poor review I'm going to write about one of my favorite baby products next.

Staying on the topic of bathtubs, The First Years Infant to Toddler bathtub is in my experience the best baby tub out there. (Granted, I have not tried every single one that I've seen, but I've definitely paid attention to the different product features). After being more than discouraged with baby bath time in the Soothing Spa & Shower, I saw this tub at a friend's house. She swore by it so I went straight to Babies R Us from her house and got it for $19.99 (a third of the cost of the other one we had).

This bathtub is definitely designed with a growing baby in mind and for making bath time much easier on the parents. There is a toddler seat at one end of the tub and a sloped/reclined seat at the other end for when your baby is still small and can't sit up on his/her own yet. In addition to this, there is a mesh sling that attaches to each end of the tub making newborn bathing so much easier. It keeps your infant safe and snug so you can focus on the actual process of washing your child. I found this picture on Amazon and think it conveys my thoughts about the sling better than any words can (the baby in the picture is a 5 lbs preemie): http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000067EH7/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0 

You can place the tub inside your bathtub/shower area (it has a water outlet), or you can place it side-ways on your bathtub (it should fit most standard-sized bathtubs) which gives you tons of access to your babe. Of course, for the sake of safety you should only do this while your baby is small and doesn't move much. After that "floor level" is the safest place.

Lastly, as an added little bonus, it has a drain plug that changes color if the water is too hot.

This is a great tub for a very low price. I would definitely recommend it to new parents.

Pros:

- Ergonomically designed with growing baby in mind.
- Toddler seat on one end and infant seat/recline on the other end.
- Mesh sling for infant bathing that actually works.
- Fits most standard size bathtub sideways so you have better access to bathing your baby.
- The tub is lined with mildew resistant pads. 

Cons:

- Perhaps not the most beautiful color but I think I've seen it in a light blue version as well...

Summer Infant Soothing Baby Spa & Shower

Oh my. You might want to think twice before buying this bathtub for your infant. We used ours once, maybe twice (at the most) and it was the most difficult bathing experience of my life with kids.

I know, it looks tempting. Cozy. Makes you want to hop in a bath like that yourself. However, a tiny baby won't care about a whirlpool bath. Really. Looking at it on a picture will soothe your senses as a parent, but using it most likely won't.

Remember small babies have no neck support. Most parents know that holding a slippery, wet little infant in a bathtub is no easy task. The "deluxe" newborn sling on this Soothing Baby Spa & Shower doesn't offer much help in that department, because it is wobbly to say the least, and you'll be too busy trying to keep your baby from sliding off it into the water to be able to focus on the actual washing. 

The motorized jet and shower is a nice idea in theory (at least the shower part), but you need two people to pull this off... One that holds the baby on the wobbly sling while the other one operates the shower. There are just too many parts to this bath tub and too many things to think about before and while bathing your little one to pull it off alone.

Once babies are old enough to sit up on their own, this bathtub becomes more relevant. Even then, chances are your baby won't care much about the whirlpool effect. Rinsing with the shower obviously becomes more important with toddlers and bubble baths, but you need to somehow empty the tub in between to make rinsing worth while in this tub...

We gave our unused Summer Infant Soothing Baby Spa & Shower bathtub to our friends, who returned it to us about one year later, also unused.

So in my humble opinion...

Pros:

- Hm. This is a tough one. Maybe the shower feature?

Cons:

- Wobbly newborn sling.

- Expensive as far as infant bathtubs go. 

- Does nothing that a cheaper version doesn't do, except that it creates a whirlpool that I can't imagine an infant/baby caring much about at that age.

PRINCE LIONHEART Wipes Warmer

I wonder how we ended up with a wipes-warmer in our house? One we never even used... If I recall we ran out of electrical outlets in our bedroom where our baby’s changing table was.
 
To make this story worse, we actually got the wipes-warmer for our second child. We never owned one before she was born. I can’t imagine what compelled us to buy it after actually “surviving the first year” without one when our son was a baby and we were nervous new parents. Perhaps we felt that our baby girl (being a girl) had higher demands as an infant, and simply required warm wipes to thrive... 

Well, by the time we figured out all the electrical in our bedroom, our little girl had never cried about room-temperature wipes so Prince Lionheart with its great wipes-warmer was stored in our garage, along with all the other baby gear that we own/don't use. 

Of course there is a travel version of this as well, so if you get the home version you might want to consider also getting the travel version. I’m sure it will pack neatly into your child’s backpack years later, when he or she goes to kindergarten.

So in my humble opinion… 

Pros: 

- If you really feel that you need a wipes-warmer for your baby’s delicate bottom, this particular brand keeps the wipes moist, is non-browning and anti-microbial.  
- Might be a useful product for preemies or for the first few weeks at home when babies lose body heat quickly to make diaper changing more comfortable - at least for mommy and daddy. (Using warm water might be sufficient in this case?) 

Cons:  

- If your baby gets used to warm wipes they will most likely be less than pleased when you are out and about and don’t have them handy. It will happen. Even if you own the travel wipes warmer it is bound to happen.  
- Requires yet another electrical outlet (at least we were maxed out between monitors, nightlights, breast pumps, cell phone chargers, etc).  
- If space is an issue around the changing table this device may not work for you.

Combi Twin Sport Stroller

The Combi Twin Sport stroller is just simply put a great stroller. In fact, it's high on my list of "must haves" if you have twins or two small kids close in age and are on the go a lot. Especially when the going involves air travel and foreign countries. 

When our second child was born we already had a garage full of strollers and couldn't imagine buying yet another one. But we also knew that we needed something that could hold both kids, particularly for our upcoming international travel (with two layovers). Our 2.5 year old was too little to walk long distances and our little one was too big to be carried in a carrier for long periods of time. I've also traveled enough with my kids to know exactly what I need to get through airports, especially when layovers and walking long distances are involved.

We came across the Combi Twin Sport and realized quickly that it was going to get us through the next few years. It's light-weight, fits through all standard doors (even in small Spanish towns) and folds very easily. The seats recline all the way down - I even changed my daughter's diaper in it a few times. It's supposed to be compatible with the Combi car seat only, but we were able to squeeze our old Graco Safeseat into the seat just fine and attach it securely with the belt that the stroller comes with. I actually think the new Graco Snugrides are slightly smaller than our old Graco Safeseat so I'm almost sure you can do this with the Snugride as well. The stroller also has an infant safety boot for babies that you can pull up and attach with velcro so your little one feels safe and secure, and pacifiers, bottles, rattles, etc don't fall out. This is one of the details that makes me love this stroller although I'm slightly nostalgic to say my little one no longer needs the boot.

While she was snug in her seat, my son could open and close his side of the stroller bar/guard rail and get in and out on his own, which made him feel big and proud.

The stroller has good pockets for storage, decent baskets underneath, and cup/snack holders on the guard rail for each child.The sunshade is long enough to give decent shade and there are small plastic windows on them that you can peak through, to see what your babes are up to.  

The one unfortunate thing relating to this stroller has nothing to do with its actual features as a stroller. I guess American Airlines got tired of replacing broken gate-checked double BOBs etc, and passed a new rule on June 1, 2011 which allows you to only gate check strollers up to 20 lbs. Well, the Combi Twin Sport weighs 22.25 lbs... In our desperation we figured out that removing the front wheels of the stroller shaves off about 2.25 lbs and so we traveled with it anyway (and made sure there was space in a carry-on for the wheels, just in case). They gave us a hard time at the check-in but let us bring it anyway. Rules are rules. 

So in my humble opinion...

Pros:

- Light-weight (22.25 lbs) as far as twin strollers go.

- Smart, well engineered stroller.

- Great seat recline.

- Good storage.

- Easy to fold ("3-second fold").

- Self-standing when folded.

- Canopies have viewing windows.

- Carrying strap.

- Easy to open/close guard rail.

- Snack/cup holders in guard rail.

- Infant safety boots (if you need them).

- Decent suspension in the wheels (traveled better than expected on cobble stones).

- Does not cost a fortune.

 Cons:

- I honestly can't think of any... As far as twin "umbrella" strollers go, this is a great option.