The Dumbest Baby Product I Have Ever Laid Eyes On
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Thursday, September 13, 2007
I used to think the Tummy Tub was the stupidest baby product I'd ever laid eyes on. After all, what could be dumber than having to hold your child by the head to keep them from sliding down into this bucket to drown? But hey...it "let's you view your baby from all sides" and "replicates the womb" so I guess it's a "must-buy" for a mom like me, right? ;)
Well now I've spotted something even dumber than the Tummy Tub.
I want you to imagine this...
Imagine sliding an electronic chip into your baby's diaper that has a thin cord attached to it. Imagine that the thin cord of about 18" is attached to this chip on one end and a scary stuffed animal on the other.
What do you think would happen first? Your poor baby would get electrocuted, or strangled?
Yet somehow...someone thought this was a good idea. It wasn't enough to be able to leave your kids with a bottle attached to a pacifier so you didn't have to hold them during feeding time. Now someone wants to make sure you never have to check your kid's diaper again either.
Introducing the "Wet Baby Dipper Alarm" (That's not a typo) The sales pitch?
Attach this device to a baby's diaper to detect wetness. When the baby wets the diaper, the alarm's CMOS chip immediately gives out music to alert you to change the diaper. Helps to keep baby clean and dry.
Oh joy!
Anyone wanna take bets on whether it's made in China?
Any grown men want to volunteer to stick that electrode down their Hanes to try it out?
Anyone?
Bueller?
Yeah, that's what I thought.
Who comes UP with this stuff??
Labels: Life as a Mom
The squeeze method works just fine for disposable diapers. Sneaking a peek for number 2 in the top or a leg hole works ok too.
Do you think this would cause potty training issues? I mean this animal follows you around and beeps every time you pee. You're trying to be discreet, and "BEEEP BEEEEP!" Major stage fright.
Who changes a diaper at the first hint of wetness anyway? I get my money's worth out of mine.
When my baby sleeps I want him to sleep as loooooooooooong as possible at a stretch. If he pees in his sleep, this thing could wake him up. I guess if you're out-of-it enough to buy a product like this (notice I'm being very diplomatic and not saying anything nasty about anyone, though that's very difficult for me to restrain myself) then you're probably out-of-it enough to leave it on while your baby is snoozing. Though he wouldn't be snoozing for long when the music goes off...Gee whiz, what will they come up with next?
when i was using pampers, my son couldn't stand being wet. i was seriously changing him 20 times a day or more. it was ridiculous. switched to huggies and i change him like.. 6 times or less. it's like he doesn't feel it now.
While I am as appalled by this product as anyone else, I must say that I change my ds as soon as he is wet. This way he can stay in touch with his body and not get used to feeling wet/dirty.
Ok - back to your regularly scheduled programing! lol
Judy - those of us practicing Elimination Communication *do* change the baby at the first hint of wetness (well, change and hold over potty or similar receptical)... I agree about disposables (used them with my first), but that method doesn't work with cloth which we're using now. And STILL I think it's a totally stupid product.
OTOH, Jennifer, I'd actually like that tub... I think Del would love it, he likes to be all curled up still, Liam would proably have liked it too (but not to age 3 like they suggest, can't see that working with my busy boy!). The pictures on their actual website mostly have the water no higher than the bottom of baby's rib cage and it's actually LESS of a drowning hazard at that water level than other bathing methods - but we're supposed to keep hands on the baby at all times anyway, right? Del's really refluxy and keeping him vertical as much as possible helps, this would facilitate that way better than other infant bathing methods and our sinks aren't deep enough for him to stay warm while held in a sitting position... I don't think that product is an all-around winner for all families, but it would certainly be useful in ours I think. Del loves being in water and to be able to sit on the kitchen floor with him in that between my legs while his brother has very limited splash access - I could see that being really beneficial for us.
Oh, my goodness. Are there actually parents falling for this? Not me.
I change diapers the first time I notice they're wet.
I figure I get my "money's worth" by not having to use diaper rash ointment. ;) I've never used it on Emmitt and he's never had a speck of diaper rash.
Really though, it's not hard to tell he's wet. I pick him up (or he crawls on me) often enough to easily tell when his diaper is wet.
If it's poopy...well geeze, all I have to do is be in the same room now that he eats solids. :)
Oh My.
You know what scares me about this? A) someone thought it was a good idea and rigged one up at home; B) one of their friends saw this... thing, and wanted one, got one, and showed OTHER friends and C) someone said, "Hey, that's a great Idea, you should sell those!"
Now, a diaper that the exterior changes color based on what's inside? THAT would be helpful. Sometimes I need a warning that Nuclear waste is involved...
That's probably why they're still in business Ahmie...cause not everyone thinks like me. :)
I still can't look at it without thinking "they're holding that poor kid by the neck!"
I always just laid a towel in the bottom of the tub or sink and laid the kids down and wet-washed them with a wash cloth. Seemed to work.
Emmitt only went to tub baths at about 9 months when he could easily keep his balance.
It seems if you need an alarm to tell you your baby is wet or remind you to change your baby's diapers, you aren't paying enough attention to your baby.
Alright people, I've had a bad week. I know other people do stuff different. I know my grammar was all wrong in my previous sentence. I would never suggest squeezing a cloth diaper. I am not made of money and my daughter must pee quite often in small amounts. I'm not buying stock in Luvs so I'm letting it fill up. Her butt has the same rash or lack thereof regardless. The kid won't be in diapers forever regardless.
I didn't know that ECers used diapers.
For the record, I change poopy diapers as soon as I notice them even though they don't stink horribly yet because they do give her a rash.
Jenn, I'm with you on the Tummy Tub. My friend owns Parenting By Nature (a great Canadian Online Boutique) and she carries them and when she brought them into her inventory I actually said: "Hon, the promo sounds nice and all, but it does not change the fact that it's a fifty dollar bucket."
Anyway....
That diaper alarm is freakin creepy. I wonder though if it's based on the same technology for those underwear alarms you can get for children who wet the bed? They go off at the first sign of wet, the idea being that the alarm will wake the child before they fully pee so they can go to the toilet, the idea being that it will train the body to wake up before the alarm has to sound.
As for when to know when your babe needs a change, if you are using cloth I find that you can tell pretty quick by feel, or by just knowing your baby and the times they typically need a change. As for disposable, they give off a distinctive odour when the baby pees. It's not a bad odour, just a chemical one, which is why I really cannot stand disposable diapers anymore.
The dumbest baby gear I've ever seen is this, like, baby sling for the car seat. I linked to it once - it's a strap carrier for an infant seat. All I could think was, um, duh, why don't you skip the seat and just strap the baby to you, and skip those extra 5000 pounds that come with the baby seat. But hey, maybe I'm the wrong one there.
I looked at the "Tummy Tub" website, and I could actually see where it would be useful. My first son hated the baby bath, screamed if we tried it, so I ended up bathing with him every time (and for some reason, no matter what time of day it was, he ALWAYS pooped on me!). I didn't even try the bab tub with my second son.
This, though, might have actually worked. Not that I really minded bathing with them - it was a nice way to relax sometimes - but this would have allowed Daddy to do the job too.
Judy...I've seen those car seat straps and all I could think was "OMG your poor back! Ouch!"
How exactly are you supposed to clean the sensor? Extra things to clean poop and pee off of, oh goodie.
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