The best baby gadgets for new parents to make the newborn phase easier

With a large, easy to read digital display, the Groegg2 Colour Changing room thermometer will check nursery temperatures so you know if your little one is dressed suitably for the night. "We have several of these which we used in different rooms and at grannies house when my little boy was newborn." Said one mum tester. "Now that he’s a toddler I still use one in his room to help me decide what's best for him to sleep in and which sleeping bag to to use." She continued. It also acts as a gentle night light, so you don’t have to turn all the lights on when changing your little one.

Read our full The Gro Company Groegg2 Colour Changing Room Thermometer review

White noise is always recommended in helping babies fall asleep, so why not invest in this light-up critter that comes with four soothing sounds that plays for up to 20 minutes at a time? "Little Ollie the owl has really helped us with getting our baby girl to sleep in her next to me crib. The choice of lullabies and white noise sounds are great. We use the rain one as this works best for us." Said one mum reviewer. The secure Velcro fastening means you can attach it to anything and take it on the go and the sound goes on for 20 mins and the light for 30. "It is really handy that they go off themselves so that if you manage to fall asleep you’re not having to worry about turning them off." The mum tester added.

Read our full Tommee Tippee Ollie the Owl Light and Sound Sleep Aid review

This perfect prep machine is a must for parents bottle feeding their little ones! This feeding gadget allows you to make fresh bottles at room temperature in minutes and save time during the night feeds waiting for boiling water to cool. Our mum testers loved it, with one commenting, "Bought for second child and love it! The baby is screaming hungry at 4am? You are trying to warm a bottle or cool it down as you are half asleep and who can make a perfect temperature bottle in that state? This machine allows you to press a button twice and about 40 seconds later you have a bottle ready to go!" It works with any powdered formula and dispenses the correct amount of water, and although it is on the expensive side, mums agree it's worth it when considering how much it gets used.

Read our full Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Day & Night review

Feel reassured that your baby is safe when they sleep, with the portable parent unit so you can keep a close eye on your little one's movement thanks to the five inch display. Our mum tester loved this for her peace of mind, commenting, "this has been the best purchase for our newborn. Complete peace of mind with this monitor. Easy to use and set up. Quality is superb." It also features three lullabies and two soothing sounds to play for your tot.

Take the guess work out of testing your baby's bath water with this bath thermometer that floats in the water to give an accurate digital measurement. It’s also safe for little ones to play with in the bath! Our parent testers loved it, commenting, "comes ready to go and feels durable. It has a clever design too, standing with a slight tilt for easy reading." A must-have piece of equipment for peace of mind, this digital thermometer is certainly one of the best gadgets for new mums.

If your little one's eyes ping open as soon as their pram stops moving, you may want to consider this amazing gadget. It keeps the pram rocking so, you don't have to do endless laps around the block.
One reviewer said: "Wish I'd found this 6 months ago when my baby was born! I can stop for a coffee or a sit down, he doesn't wake whilst I'm waiting to pay in the supermarket." It can also be used on bouncers in the house and the battery life is impressive.

When your baby has trapped wind, you wish you could take the discomfort away from them, and this is where the Frida Baby Windi Gas Passer comes in handy. It's a hollow tube that safely, naturally and instantly relieves gas and calms colic. BPA + Latex-Free and completely safe for your baby's bottom and has been invented by doctors, so parents can use it with confidence.

The Owlet Dream Sock isn’t actually a sock, but a band which wraps around your baby’s foot. The band monitors your baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels, using pulse oximetry - which is a non-invasive method of measuring how much oxygen there is in your blood, telling you how well the lungs are working. 

The tech in the band connects to a base station, which then transmits the data to an app on your smartphone; the base station has a green light indicating if everything is at normal levels, meaning it’s easy to check all is ok with just a glance; our tester Hannah said: “I loved the feature that sees the base station glowing green to indicate all is well. It means that when I woke up in the night, I could just glance at it and was instantly reassured that my daughter was fine.” If any of the data points leave the pre-set safe zones, you receive a notification. 

In addition to those vital health data points, the monitor also provides information on sleep patterns, how often and how many times your baby wakes, and the quality of your baby’s sleep. 

Read our full Owlet Dream Sock review

Hands-free pumping? Yes please! With Elvie's wearable breast pump you can run your errands, go to work and live your life as you would, with nothing tying you down. The revolutionary technology minimises noise, and the complementary Elvie Pump app allows you to monitor milk volume and track pumping history for each breast. The Elvie is one of the best breast pumps out there, with one reviewer commenting: "This product is amazing. So easy to use and can still be mobile and be busy around the house. I felt I was missing so much time with my baby trying to pump and was about to give up and move to formula when I decided to buy this. I can now be feeding and changing my baby while expressing milk."

Read our full Elvie Breast Pump review

Your newborn baby might seem tiny now, but they’ll get quite heavy quite quickly. Throw in the weight of a car seat, too, and you’ll soon find yourself with a real armful! That's why we love the Maxi-Cosi Coral, which features an outer i-size car seat shell for safety, with an ultra-light, super-snug, detachable inner carrier – ideal if you’re always on the run, or if you’ve had a c-section. One mum tester loved the Coral, commenting "the detachable soft carrier is brilliant, it's so much lighter to bring in and out of the house plus you don't have a car seat littering your home."

It also contains a special inlay designed for extra newborn comfort, plus a three-point safety harness. The safety aspects impressed our tester, who said, "The 3 lights to confirm the chair is fitted correctly into the base and the base fitted correctly to the car is great and so reassuring. The base is larger than others but actually doesn't feel that heavy. The seat its self is also very light and the shade is great too. I love that it's easy to pull out and stays in place. It's discreet and not at all bulky to fold back."

Read our full Maxi-Cosi Coral review

Make no bones about it, it’s pricey, but the Snoo smart sleeper is said to boost your baby’s sleep by an extra hour or two each night! One mum tester found it worked brilliantly for her premmie baby, commenting "We bought this for my very premature baby shortly after she came home from hospital. She sleeps way better than my firstborn did for which I credit the SNOO, now sleeping 8 hour stretches at night." It combines womb and white noise with gentle rocking and swaddling, to help your young baby gently adjust to the outside world. It’s been available in the US for three years, where it’s won bucketfuls of awards.

Read our full Snoo smart sleeper review

As soon as you become a parent, you'll understand why you'll avoid disturbing a sleeping baby by lifting it out of a car seat and into a buggy - or vice versa - at all costs. The good news is this neat and nifty gadget could solve all those problems. Sister product to the DOONA X and DOONA +, this is an innovative hybrid car seat and travel system all rolled into one, transforming from car seat to stroller at the touch of a button. Perfect for urban living, this unique space-saving and time-saving system is ideal for quick trips out and for those short on storage in the car boot or at home.

Read our full Doona i combined car seat-stroller review

"This product really helps keep on top of sterilising the bottles." Commented our tester. One of the best gadgets for new parents who are planning to bottle feed, the Tommee Tippee Ultra UV Steriliser uses the latest ultraviolet LED technology, to safely kill 99.9 per cent of bacteria, mould and viruses, and can sterilise your baby's bottles, soothers, breast pumps and more in just 60 minutes. Parents agreed it made preparing a bottle for a hungry baby much less stressful, saying "preparing the bottle and sterilising when the baby was hungry really stressful. However, because the steriliser keeps the bottles sterile, these can be prepared in advance. We found that it helps prepare the bottles quicker when your baby is hungry."

Read our full Tommee Tippee UV steriliser review

Dropping a dummy when you're on the go can be a nightmare, especially when you need it to soothe your baby to sleep. This on the go steriliser is ideal for ensuring your dummy is safe and clean to put in baby's mouth. Mother&Baby's Senior Digital Writer Hannah Carroll found this portable steriliser a godsend with her three kids. "I loved this portable steriliser as it meant I always had a spare clean dummy to whip out in those moments where I needed to calm my screaming baby." She commented. It can be attached to the pushchair or popped into your changing bag.

This clever bottle maker cools down your formula milk to optimum temperature in just 2 minutes to meet the NHS guidelines. One mum tester found it a game changer when making up a bottle on the go. "It’s a life saver and prevents a screaming baby whilst waiting for a bottle to cool down! It’s so practical l, it doesn’t take up a lot of room in the change bag and doesn’t take long to get it to the right temperature." All you need to do is boil fresh water, measure formula powder, fill RapidCool with hot water, add formula powder and mix well.

Once mixed, simply wait for the digital display to show a green Nuby logo and dispense the feed into your sterilised baby bottle. To make a fresh feed while you're out, fill the insulated flask with freshly boiled water and you're ready to make a feed safely on the go."

Read our full Nuby RapidCool review