Time-saving hacks for first-time parents

For new parents like me, a minute saved is a minute that can be spent sleeping and is, therefore, very important.

Here a couple of tips and tricks to save precious minutes and hours, vital intelligence for first time parents.

You can thank me, or you can have a micro-nap.

NeeNoo

NeeNoo the UK’s first price comparison site for baby products, and will save you hours of bargain hunting or lazily ordering from Amazon Prime. It scans the web every day for live prices and the latest reviews of thousands of the top baby products. It isn’t a retailer, it just wants you to get the best products at the best prices. NeeNoo was founded by Amisha Mody. She’s a mum and former baby care buyer for Ocado, so she really knows her stuff. neenoo.co.uk/

Time saved browsing: 2 hours per week

Medela Symphony

Medela do a range of excellent breast pumps and the Symphony is the hospital-grade option for fast and easy expressing. You can rent it for about £47 a month. It closely mimics a real infant’s feeding action and provides a natural experience for mum. You can use it for double or single pumping, but double will save you hours of time due to its high suction rate which makes the whole process more bearable. medela.co.uk/

Elvie

The Elvie pump fits in your bra, and your life. There are no wires and no noise so you can get on with your day, saving hours tethered up to a pump or hiding in a cupboard. It is the latest technology in pumping and changes everything. You can use the Elvie Pump app to monitor milk volume and control the pump remotely. A marvellous bit of tech. elvie.com

Time saved pumping: 2 hours per week

Bshirt

Fashion and functionality, sounds too good to be true? Let me introduce Bshirt - tops that allow women to feed their babies discreetly and comfortably. The company was co-founded by two Devonshire mums, one of whom is an NCT trained breastfeeding peer supporter. The tops are designed so that mums can achieve the best latch possible without having to interrupt their day finding somewhere to get undressed. The tops are simple, stylish and made with organic material and can go under anything or worn on their own. Many mums have said that these tops have enabled them to keep breastfeeding for longer because it makes it so much simpler when on the move. thebshirt.clothing

Time saved hiding: 1 hour a week

Owlet

The Owlet baby smart sock is an ingenious invention that monitors heart rate and oxygen levels while your baby sleeps. It tracks what is ‘normal’ for your baby and notifies you if anything changes. Unsurprisingly it has been proven to reduce anxiety and improve the sleep of new parents. The sock wraps snugly around your baby’s foot and communicates with the base station which glows green when everything is fine, and notifies parents with lights and sound if it is not. It also connects to the Owlet app so you can check your little one on your smartphone. Think of what you can achieve in the amount of time you spend ‘checking’, or at least how many box sets you can get through. owletbabycare.co.uk

Time saved checking: 3 hours a week

Magnet Mouse

Only a new mum knows the frustration with babygrow popper fasteners, fastened and refastened umpteen times a day during the many, many nappy and outfit changes. And then there is the moment when you finally think you have done them all up, then realise that you have misaligned them and have to undo the lot and start again. Magnet Mouse is here to save the day with beautiful baby clothes that use tiny magnets instead of cursed poppers to securely fasten baby’s clothes in seconds. The magnets are safely hidden in 100% cotton, super soft clothes which are made in the UK and inspired by the company’s British heritage. magnetmouse.co.uk

Time saved popping: 1 hour per week

Ruuby

New mums long to shower for more than 30 seconds without hearing a baby cry. A trip to the salon for a manicure or the spa for a massage seems impossible. With Ruuby the salon, spa, beautician and just about anyone else that makes people feel pampered, is on call and will come to your house, so you don’t even have to get dressed, pay for a babysitter or find parking. ruuby.com

Time saved travelling: 1 hour per week

BT baby monitor

There are many baby monitors on the market, with bells and whistles such as night-vision video coverage, lights and two-way sound. Some monitors even stream live to your smartphone so you can laugh at your partner reading ‘When Ted Fell out of Bed’ for the 20th time whilst you sip a cocktail on that rare night out. The BT Video Baby Monitor does all this and more, with even Alexa and Google voice integration which means it can be controlled from anywhere playing music and more or communicating with your baby when you can't get home in time. Reassurance for everyone. shop.bt.com

Time saved stressing: 2 hours per week

Detox Kitchen – Mama Package

The Detox Kitchen specialises in delicious wheat, dairy and refined sugar free meals, prepared and delivered fresh to your door every day. They have launched a Mama Package, designed to help you stay strong, confident and full of energy for your little one. It has plenty of important post-pregnancy nutrients such as such as iron, iodine, zinc and selenium. And the best part is that it is all prepared, so you can tuck right in. detoxkitchen.co.uk/

Time saved prepping: 5 hours per week

pNeo Baby Shusher

Getting your little cherub to sleep takes a lot of shushing, soothing and bargaining with your chosen deity. The pNeo Baby Shusher does what it says on the box. It makes shushing noises at your baby so you don’t have to. It goes on for 15 or 30 minutes, and you can always creep in and restart it. It is possibly my favourite parenting hack because it tricks your baby into thinking you are nearby, when in fact you are downstairs with a large glass of sauvignon blanc, watching Friends and feeling smug. babyshusher.com

Time saved shushing: 5 hours per week

Whirli toys subscription

If you’re short on storage space, hate single-use plastic toys or just like getting stuff in the post, Whirli is the answer. You get access to hundreds of toys and can order, use and return toys, depending on if and when your child gets bored of them. It’s free and easy to return the items, and your new items are all inspected and sterilised before you get them. You can order age-appropriate toys as your little one grows up, and if they take a shine to something at playgroup, you can order it and send it back once they’re into the next thing. The different options give you toy tokens which you can ‘spend’ when you choose from the huge selection of toys. Send the toys back and you get more tokens to spend. It is a great gift for a new mum. www.whirli.com

Time saved shopping: 1 hour per week

Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Machine

The people that wrote the instructions for making formula milk clearly did not have children. ‘Mix powder with boiling water and wait at least 30 minutes for it to cool down.’ Yeah, right. The perfect prep machine is a real time saver. It creates milk at the perfect temperature, with filtered water in under two minutes and it is far simpler than any coffee machine. It has to be because you will be using it bleary-eyed at 4am while your little treasure howls with hunger. It has a huge neon button on it which you can swipe blindly at if you haven’t got the energy to fully open your eyes. You simply put a scoop of powder in for every fluid ounce of milk you want, press the button and off you go. tommeetippee.co.uk/

Time saved warming: 1 hour per week

NutriBullet Baby Food Blender

Weaning is hit and miss, and the goalposts change every day. Yesterday little poppet adored bananas so you’ve gone and bought all the bananas. Today he loathes bananas. Any little win in the weaning war is welcome, and the baby NutriBullet makes things a little simpler. Instead of endlessly chopping, grating and mashing ingredients, you can chuck it all in and whizz away. You can choose to puree for small babies, or leave it chunky as they grow. It can even handle grains to make baby’s first porridge. The storage pots are also very handy and you turn the date dial to mark when they were made. nutribullet.com/shop/blenders/baby-bullet/ and available on Amazon.

Time saved chopping: 2 hours a week

Totter + Tumble play mats

Totter + Tumble has come up with simple yet genius play mats that are functional and stylish. Play mats take up a large portion or floor space, and do their best to ruin the décor. These look stunning, are supportive, safe, wipe clean and antibacterial. Perfect for babies and mums who spend a lot of time on the floor. They are reversible, so you have two designs to choose from, and when the kids are asleep, the memory foam mats are perfect for pilates and yoga – extra win. totterandtumble.co.uk

Time saved putting away the play mat: 30 minutes per week

Splash Mat and Tidy Tot bibs

Parents are not the only ones who suffer during weaning. Floors take a splattering too. Unless you have an unfussy dog, you will need a splash mat to place under your high chair, JoJo Maman Bebe do some good ones.Tidy Tot has launched the Cover & Catch Bib with the the front sticking to the high chair tray, creating a lovely little pool to catch food, drink and anything else in one neat, soupy mess that you can contain and dispose of. Then it goes in the washing machine ready for the next ordeal. I mean meal. From £15. tidytot.com

Time saved scrubbing the floor: 1 hour a week