I remember growing up watching my parents take care of my nieces and nephews and using minimalist technology to get through the hours before the babies needed to return to my siblings. There would be boiled water from a kettle, the door would be open to listen out for any whimpers that might come from the room to alert that the sleeping baby is now awake and using whatever stored breastmilk was left to feed the baby, hoping my sister would return in time for the next feed.
How things have changed. As a parent in today’s world, technology has made life so much more easy and convenient. The 2016 MamaMagic New Product Awards finalists are a testament to this. I had the pleasure of walking the floor at the final round of judging and was blown away by some of the new ‘toys’ parents of 2017 can enjoy.
The technology on some of the products is mind-blowing and I cannot imagine how parents in the past coped without them. For instance, the Mom’s Essential finalist for the New Product Awards, MilkSense blew my socks off. It is described as the ‘World’s first breastfeeding monitor that measures how much your baby consumes, answering the question: is my baby receiving enough breast milk?’. Lactating mothers can hold the handheld device to their breast before and after feeding to measure the breastmilk, and it only takes 10 seconds to tell you… yes, if that is not mind-blowing then I guess I don’t get out much. It also provides a complete feeding and growth analysis for use by the mother or baby’s physician. This is what I call revolutionized breastfeeding!
Baby monitors have been on the market for a while but Snuza Pico Wearable Smart Monitor stepped up the game. The Safety finalist in the New Product Awards, clips onto the baby’s nappy, monitoring abdominal movement, temperature, body position and fall detection all from the one smart device… (smart being the operative word). With a device like this, even the parents can have a restful sleep knowing that their baby is securely monitored. This clever device even vibrates if there is no abdominal movement after 15 seconds, in an attempt to rouse the baby. It will alarm after a further five seconds if there is still no movement, alerting parents to attend to the baby. This is a huge step-up from what I witnessed growing up.
There are products in the market that make you feel a little resentful because of their brilliance and because you wish that you thought of it first. The Feeding New Product Awards finalist, Baby Brezza® Formula Pro is that product for me. This magnificent piece of technology is a revolutionary new way of preparing your baby’s formula bottles. The Formula Pro uses patent-pending techn
ology to measure, dispense and mix water and powdered formula to the perfect temperature and consistency. It resembles a coffee machine with the water and formula powder stored in the machine, so it’s ready for the parent to make it when baby is hungry. I’m sure many parents will agree that this product would be perfect for night feeds.
If there is one product that grows with your baby to their toddler stage, it is the Play finalist of the New Product Awards, Gymini 1 2 3 Here I Grow. It is an interactive versatile baby activity mat with modular arches that creates three modes of use that encourage the development of fine and gross motor skills from birth to toddlerhood. It offers 15 fun activities that your baby can enjoy by laying on their back, start sitting up and eventually when they can stand up. Not only can this device entertain the little one for hours, it can last for years which makes it one of the tech savvy items 
I believe would’ve been a great hit if it made its way to the market when I was a child.
The MamaMagic New Product Awards is a wonderful platform to check out what’s new on the market, not only within the technology arena but on the locally made market and earth-friendly products for both mother and baby. The New Product Awards is a competition that is open to all MamaMagic, The Baby Expo exhibitors where they can enter any product that was launched in the last 12 months. Parents vote online and assess the product and then experts in the parenting field view the products on display and rate them per surveys that are drawn up. The winners will be announced on 24 February 2017. They win a free stand at the next exhibition of their choice.
The products are judged in different categories, namely, Baby Essentials, Feeding, Nursery Products, Play, Travel, Local and Green.
