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Itzbeen Baby Care Timer Review

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[xrr rating=4/5]

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From the Manufacturer

The Itzbeen Baby Care Timer is the first multi-purpose nursery tool designed to help new parents remember the basic details of baby-care. The Itzbeen has four timers that count up with the touch of a button. No more charts and journals. The Itzbeen also allows you to set an optional reminder alarm for each of the timers, for example: change the diaper every 2 hours, or give medication every 4 hours. If the time limit is reached, the appropriate button will light up, and an optional alarm will briefly beep. The Itzbeen has several other helpful features: Nursing Reminder Switch – easily reminds mom which side baby nursed from last, Soft-glow Nightlight – to help parents find their way in the dark without waking the baby (the nightlight automatically goes off after 7 minutes), Backlit Display – so parents can read the times and the clock in the dark, and a Back Clip – makes the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer totally portable and allows for hands-free use of the Nightlight.

Product Overview
Itzbeen Baby Care Timer is a multi-purpose tool that helps parents remember the essential details of baby care. It has four timers that count up with the touch of a button when its time to change diaper, feed or put the baby to sleep. Its soft-glow night light allows for use even at night. Designed for use from birth up to 24 months, this unique parent aid can also be used to help maintain baby’s schedule when he or she is with other caregivers.

EDITOR’S REVIEW
The Good
  • Clean design and simple timer concept.
  • Great way to help maintain sanity for new parents during those crazy first few weeks after birth.
  • Helps manage your baby’s schedule when getting help from grandparents, babysitters, and child care providers.
  • Built in flashlight.
  • Super portable, with a handy clip that allows you to attach it to a pocket, belt, diaper bag strap, car seat, etc.
The Bad
  • Limited functionality. If you require more detailed tracking of diaper changes and feedings, you may want to consider trying some of the mobile apps that are available on the Apple or Android app stores.
Why We Bought It
The Itzbeen Baby Care Timer is great for managing the feeding and sleeping schedules of your infant…especially with a cloudy mind in those first sleepless weeks and months with your newborn. We are firm believers that a fairly tight daily schedule is a primary reason that both of our daughters are such a great sleepers and eaters. Our first daughter started sleeping through the night (Midnight to 6am) periodically at about six weeks, and did so regularly by eight weeks. Our second daughter followed roughly the same track. Their schedules certainly vary somewhat day-to-day, but by using this timer, we always know how much sleep our daughter has had at any point in the day, and when she last fed. This greatly reduces the fussiness that is normal when a child is overtired or hungry.

We used this timer in conjunction with the full feeding concepts presented in Babywise, along with the sleep, eat, play progression. Thus, if she started fussing and it wasn’t quite her normal nap time, we could usually be fairly certain that she wasn’t hungry (due to her recent full feeding), and probably just needed a diaper change. This takes so much of the uncertainty out of the equation, and has really made our days and nights much more manageable.

One thing that we have shifted to recently is to just use the Itzbeen Timer to track our second daughter’s feeding schedule. Her feeding schedule has started to space out a bit more, and her napping schedule is completely synced up with her feeding, so in an effort to accommodate her evolving schedule, we set each timer to 30-minute increments (2:30, 3:00, 3:30, and 4:00). The first button will start to blink at two and a half hours, the second at three hours, and so on. This basically queues us up to get ready for a feeding at 2:30 or 3:00, but allows us to monitor the blinking lights a little more passively (i.e. can see them from across the room). So far so good.

Bottom Line
We used the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer pretty much everyday to manage the feeding schedule throughout the first year of our first daughter, and have used it everyday thus far with our second. We consider it a key piece of gear for our family, and never leave home without it. Hopefully, you and your family will find it just as useful.

Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor Review

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[xrr rating=5/5]
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From the Manufacturer
The Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor (AC300) is portable and can be used anywhere baby sleeps. The under-the-mattress sensor pad detects the slightest baby movements and alerts you if no movement is detected for 20 seconds. It is a great addition to the Movement Sensor with Sound Monitor from Angelcare if you have twins sleeping in different beds, in the same room. Can also be a great addition to the Angelcare sound monitor or any other sound monitor for that little extra reassurance.

Product Overview
Whether your baby is awake or sound asleep, the under-the-mattress Sensor Pad will detect all of your baby’s movements, even the slightest breathing movements. The Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor uses a sensor alarm which works in such a way that if movement is not detected after 20 seconds then an alarm will sound to alert you to the situation.

EDITOR’S REVIEW
The Good
  • Easy to set up and use.
  • Uses batteries, so no need to find an outlet, and one less cord to secure.
  • Portable and easy to use in a variety of situations, from bassinet to crib to pack-n-play.
  • Works very well for swaddled and/or wrapped newborns and infants that aren’t moving around too much.
The Bad
  • Manual switch requires you to remember to turn it on and off each time you pick up your baby.
  • Once baby starts to roll on their side, or moving to edges of crib, the sensitivity may not pick up their breathing properly, resulting in false alarms.
Why We Bought It
With our first daughter, we found ourselves always walking over to her bassinet and placing our hands on her chest to “make sure she was still breathing.” Like most new parents…especially first timers…on of our biggest fears was SIDs. After a few weeks, this paranoia got a little unhealthy, and right about that time, we discovered baby movement monitors. There are so many new pieces of gear for new parents to consider, but this was not something that was on our radar initially. Since we installed this movement monitor, we have recommended it to many of friends, and many have chosen to use it for their own babies. The Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor has really helped my wife and I sleep a little better at night. It provides an extra layer of monitoring that gives us a little extra piece of mind and comfort. It can be a little temperamental when getting it all set up, due to its sensitivity, and once a baby starts sleeping on their side, it may have trouble picking up their breathing, but all in all, we are very happy with its performance. If you already have a video/audio monitor, the basic model works just fine, as you can easily hear the alarm in your nursery through a regular video/audio monitoring system. Otherwise, they have integrated systems that may save you some money and keep your total number of gadgets down a bit.

Bottom Line
The Angelcare Baby Movement Monitor is definitely a worthy addition to your baby nursery, starting with the baby’s first day at home. It helped us sleep better at night, and we think you will too.

Chicco Cortina Travel System Review

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[xrr rating=5/5]

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From the Manufacturer
The Chicco Contina Infant Car Seat is the #1 rated infant car seat in America. The Chicco Cortina Infant Car Seat is the premier infant carrier for safety, comfort, and convenience. The Cortina is packed with features that make this Infant car seat the easiest to install and thus the safest choice for your baby. This is designed especially for the Chicco Infant Car Seat, the Cortina stroller works as a travel system for your infant and a full size stroller for your growing baby. The Cortina stroller will satisfy your desire for convenience, comfort and safety.
Product Description
The Chicco Cortina Stroller Travel System features the stroller and the Chicco Infant Car Seat. It is one of the most fabulous systems on the market because it combines Chicco fashion and safety ideas. The Chicco Cortina Stroller features a lightweight, aluminum frame which comes loaded. It has a one hand fold to make life much easier on the parent. The Chicco stroller features a smooth ride which will assure the child that rest will be possible the entire way.

 

EDITOR’S REVIEW
The Good
  • Well built and sturdy, and has been very reliable for us for over 17 months thus far.
  • Easily collapses with just one free hand, assuming you will be holding your baby with the other.
  • Car seat snaps securely into the stroller and can be easily removed with just hand, while holding and lifting the seat with the other.
  • Removable, washable cloth cover on both car seat and stroller.
  • Removable, dishwasher-safe drink/food tray.

The Bad

  • The Cortina is only rated to 22lbs. Most babies/toddlers reach this weight by 12 to 18 months. At that point, you will need to purchase a larger car seat. You may want to consider purchasing the Travel System that is rated to 30 pounds instead, in order to get a little more life out of this Chicco system.
  • As our daughter got older, and wanted to check out everything going on around her while we were out and about, we realized that we wished the seat adjustment sat up a little bit more. Our daughter has to hold on to the food/drink tray in order to sit straight up.
Why We Chose This Product
After careful consideration, we chose the Chicco Cortina Travel System for our first child. We like it because it collapses and opens easily, has good build quality, and receives good safety reviews. After using for nearly 17 months of use, it is still in great condition and has held up very well. The carseat can only be used until your child is 22 pounds, so you may want to consider the 30 pound system instead, in order to get a little more life out of the carseat, before having to upgrade to a larger one.

 

Bottom Line
Regularly a top choice for new parents, you can’t go wrong with the Chicco Cortina Travel System. It’s build quality and ease of use makes it well worth the slightly higher price.