These smart home devices saved my sanity as a new dad

Main points

• Amazon Echo Show: A smart speaker that controls other devices hands-free
• Ring Camera: Stay alert to your baby by placing multiple cameras
• WiZ Smart Bulbs: Change color and brightness with voice commands

Being a new dad comes with a lot of feelings. Excited. anxiety. The confusion of lack of sleep and endless love. With so many things happening suddenly in your life, one thing you may not be thinking about is “How can I make my life easier?”

In the first days and months, there are countless tasks to deal with and it is imperative to find any way to make your daily life simpler. Over the past year, as a first-time dad, I’ve been looking for ways to simplify my day, starting with finding smart home devices to help my wife and I on our parenting journey. Here are some of the best smart home devices for new parents.

1 Amazon Echo Show

Smart speakers are the first step

There are many different Amazon Alexa smart speakers, and these smart home devices will become the brains for many of your other devices. We have an Amazon Echo Show and an Amazon Echo Dot at home, and being able to say things like “Alexa, turn on the bedroom lights” is very helpful because we have smart light bulbs connected to the speakers. You never know what you’ll be carrying up the stairs, and being able to turn on the lights hands-free is a lifesaver.

Being a new dad comes with a lot of feelings. Excited. anxiety. The confusion of lack of sleep and endless love.

But there’s more to Amazon’s smart speakers than just turning on the device. They can communicate with each other, which is often helpful. For example, I’m filling up a bottle of wine downstairs, and my wife will use the dot to make an announcement to the program, reminding me to bring something else upstairs. Plus, feeding and washing bottles in the middle of the night was difficult, but when I asked the Echo Show to play me baseball highlights, it played a montage that made me feel more normal.

Smart speakers can also play music from Amazon Music, Spotify, or other streaming services for spontaneous dance parties with your baby. You can also keep your shopping list so you know when you need to pick up diapers. Amazon’s smart speakers are well worth it.

2 ring camera

Keep an eye on everything

When we moved into our home, we had a video doorbell installed. When we had kids, we installed ring floodlights in the backyard and then placed two ring cameras in different locations, one pointing toward the front door. This makes us feel at ease around our newborn. While some people may not think it’s necessary to have cameras in the house, there’s something comforting about checking to see if anyone is in a certain room with a baby or doing something else from their phone or tablet.

Plus, you’ll get an alert if someone’s delivering food, and if the baby is napping, you can run to the door to stop them from ringing the doorbell to wake them.

Plus, you’ll get an alert if someone’s delivering food, and if the baby is napping, you can run to the door to stop them from ringing the doorbell to wake them. Unfortunately, when some food delivery drivers approached, I opened the door and scared them by just whispering to them that our baby was asleep. But it didn’t wake her up, so we’ll count that as a win.

3 WiZ smart light bulb

Change colors and control them with your voice

Initially, we purchased WiZ smart light bulbs to be able to sync with our Amazon smart speakers. That way, when we rush up the stairs to change a diaper, we can just yell for the lights to turn on and the smart speaker will do it. We have them in our daughter’s room and bedroom and they are so helpful. The app is easy to use and the bulbs sync quickly. Our bedrooms feature smart color-changing WiZ lights.

We often set the lights to red to help her fall asleep during naps or at night, rather than bright white which might wake her up.

The color-changing model proved useful when we had our baby sleeping in a bassinet in our room for the first few months. We often set the lights to red to help her fall asleep during naps or at night, rather than bright white which might wake her up. Not only does WiZ have an app that lets you control the brightness and color of your bulbs, but you can also change these settings with voice commands.

4 Nanit Pro Baby Monitor

Keep an eye on your baby through multiple devices

The Nanit Pro Baby Monitor pays for itself every time our baby takes a nap. We tried another baby monitor but found it difficult to keep track of the baby and it was cumbersome to carry around. The Nanit Pro comes with a stand and a wall mount that we were able to position initially overlooking the bassinet and later on the crib providing a downward view.

Information can be accessed through a phone, tablet or smart speaker, eliminating the need to carry a separate monitor to watch the baby.

Now that our baby is out of the bassinet and back in his own room and crib, the Nanit Pro gives us great peace of mind because it comes with a breathing belt that the camera captures and lets us know how fast our baby is breathing. How fast, if she is moving, if there are any sounds from the crib.

It can also differentiate between voices and cries and send alerts to our devices. No longer do we just have a monitor that we have to fumble with while we sleep, but one of us puts the iPad and Nanit on our bedside table, the other puts it on his phone, and we’re both able to see what This will continue if the baby makes noises during the night. The Nanit Pro also tells you the temperature of your baby’s room, which is very helpful when we’re setting the thermostat.

5 nest thermostat

Set it and forget it

Speaking of thermostats, having a Nest thermostat allows us to keep the temperature in our home consistent for our newborn. If you’re like us and worry about your room being too cold or too hot, then having a smart thermostat makes sense. You can open the Nest app and set a schedule and adjust it easily. We found it helpful to edit the schedule as we started to nap less as our baby got older.

It also connects to smart speakers. So when the weather is really nice and we want to open the windows, being able to turn off the thermostat by opening the app or using voice commands makes the task easier. The Nest Thermostat also learns what’s going on in your home and can better adjust temperature levels, helping you save energy and money in the long run.