Baby gear has improved over the years

A lot of things have changed since I had my babies.

I may have mentioned that I’m going to be a grandmother in May — a little girl is on her way, and her name is Kennedy.

My daughter-in-law is registering for baby gifts (that’s a new thing since I had my two boys) for her showers, and it’s amazing what products are out there. Everything has improved or amped up since my babies were born in 1989 and 1993.

For Christmas, she got a heartbeat monitor from my mother. It was pretty amazing to put on the headphones and get to hear that sweet baby’s heartbeat for the first time. My son and daughter-in-law had heard it at the doctor’s office, of course, but now they can listen anytime they want.

The wireless, digital baby monitor she bought can probably transmit to space. According to the description, “Five LED lights indicate the level of noise in your child’s nursery visually when the volume is turned down low, and a room-temperature display helps you ensure conditions in the nursery are just right. During the night, infrared night vision lets you check in without disturbing your little one. When baby is upset, use the high-sensitivity microphone and enhanced two-way audio to calm him or her down. The monitor can also play five lullabies to soothe your little one to sleep.”

Yeah, that’s all it takes. Play a lullaby, and your baby will sleep like … a baby. Good luck with that. And two-way communication lets you talk to the baby. “Kennedy, hush now and go to sleep. Do you read me? Over.”

I wish I’d had a monitor like that when Kennedy’s father — my older son — was a baby and woke up every 1 1/2 hours to eat. I notice that the monitor does not, however, have a robotic arm to put the pacie back in the baby’s mouth or change a diaper.

Speaking of changing diapers, we did not have wipe warmers back in my day. We had cold wipes, and we had washcloths that we might — for a first baby — run under warm water.

Diaper pails, which used to be big, ugly plastic things with a trash bag that you changed as you held your breath, are now sleek and seal the diapers in another bag first.

My mother had to use cloth diapers with me and my brother, and huge safety pins that could double as lethal weapons. I had some cloth diapers to use as burp cloths, and I now use them for dust rags.

My daughter-in-law and I hit a diaper sale the other day, and she stacked the boxes in her cart. We were looking at one brand when a new mother came by, pushing her baby in the cart. She suggested that my daughter-in-law would need more newborn-size diapers than she thought and that another brand was better because they’re “stretchier.”

There are definitely a lot more options in cribs, high chairs and bouncy seats today, too. The cribs she’s looking at convert into a toddler beds; the high chairs on the market have trays that go in the dishwasher. I saw one that looked like something from The Jetsons with shiny chrome. My brother loved his baby swing, which was just a seat suspended from a metal frame, which had a crank to wind up the seat. The ones now are like a Disney World ride — and cost about as much as a trip to Florida.

Another item my daughter-in-law wants for the nursery is as old as time — a rocking chair.

Because as my favorite baby board book says, “Good or bad, all babies want to be hugged and cuddled and loved.”

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

Upcoming Events