The best new baby products to make your life easier

Sleepless nights? Troublesome tots? Meal time horrors? Brolly battles? askamum has found the answers with a selection of the most practical new parenting products on the market. These ingenious products all aim to make bringing up baby a less stressful experience from soothing your tot to sleep to preventing food-flinging at meal times.

Flexi Bath
Already winning design awards in Denmark and just launched in the UK, this baby's bath folds flat for easy storage. For many families with limited space available, this is an ingenious bit of design that looks stylish too. Available in a variety of colours and made of durable plastic with rubber folds it is tardis-like in its ability to hold two babies, despite its compact size.
Price: £34.95
Stockists website: www.Kiddicare.com

Little Helper FunPod HighChair                   
The FunPod HighChair isn’t your average         
highchair it develops to meet your child’s
needs as they grow. With five adjustable
height settings it can be used for children
between one and six years old. The
award-winning FunPod starts life as a 
highchair, but it also transforms into a low chair with a tray, a trayless highchair,
a low everyday chair and a safety device to allow baby to participate in cooking preparation. With the FunPod toddlers able to stand by themselves can safely work with mum at kitchen worktops to help, interact, learn and play. The FunPod is easily adjustable, with an allen key included and quick release screws turn the HighChair back into the FunPod safety device for use at kitchen worktops.
Price: £156.60 (not including postage and packaging)
Stockist website: Little Helper website

The DreamMover Automatic Baby Rocker
The Automatic Baby Rocker is designed to help soothe babies to sleep by creating a womb-like environment. Using the rocker won’t cause carbon bootee prints, as it uses less electricity than a light bulb. It can be safely left running for up to 12 hours to help restless babies fall back to sleep. The Baby Rocker is very portable and light weight enough to travel with.
Price: £79.99
Stockist website: DreamMover website

The Time Out Pad
No ordinary naughty step, the Time Out Pad builds on the 'time-out' or 'naughty-step' punishment technique where the child sits quietly on the stairs to calm down. Busy parents don’t have to supervise the punishment when using the Time Out Pad as it allows the parent to set the length of the time-out and an alarm goes off if your child sneaks off the pad early. The controls are also ‘child tamper-proof’, so that even precocious tots will find it difficult to outsmart. The pad conveniently works on any flat surface and runs on AA batteries, so you can use it wherever and whenever your child has a tantrum.
Price: £18.10
Stockist website: Big Imagination Website

The Hands Free Brolly Company hands free pram umbrella
Tired of accidentally bashing passersby with your umbrella while trying to manage a pram, bags of shopping and a toddler or two? The hands free pram umbrella slots on to a detachable clamp fixed on to a pram or buggy, allowing you to stay dry without losing a hand hanging on to your umbrella. It can also be disconnected and used as a normal umbrella. In windy weather the flexible shaft allows you to angle the umbrella to keep you out of the breeze and prevents Mary Poppins-style flight.
Price: £14.99
Stockist website: Hands Free Brolly Company website

Arm's Reach® Co-Sleeper® Bassinet
Instead of stumbling out of bed for midnight feeds the Co-Sleeper Bassinet allows parents to safely sleep next to their babies. The bassinet attaches easily to most adult beds, so that parents can reach across to care for their infant during the night. The bassinet also helps babies and parents bond. The bassinet can also be converted to a free-standing bassinet/ Moses basket and has several other functions as a changing table and playpen.
Price: £234 (not including postage and packaging)
Stockist website: Arm's Reach website

The Baxx Two In One Playmat & Bag
Is it a bag, a changing mat or both? The Baxx Playmat provides a clean space for their babies to play anywhere and when it’s time to leave it instantly turns into a shoulder bag. Mums can sweep up the Playmat with the toys, although perhaps not baby, still inside. Made of soft fleece, the Playmat is lovely and soft for your baby and easy to keep clean as it can be popped into the washing machine.
Price: From £15
Stockist website: Infant Care Direct website

Mamas & Papas Babysitter 3 in 1 highchair
Babies will love playing in the highchair that transforms into a swing and cradle. The Babysitter 3 in 1 highchair can be adjusted to suit baby's growth with different positions for backrest recline, safety harness and footrest. It is suitable from birth to 6 months as a swing and six months to three years as a highchair.
Price: £295
Stockist: 0845 268 2000

Ezee Reach Stay-Put cutlery and bowl
Walls decorated with baby food will be a thing of the past with this cunning bowl and cutlery set. When baby tries to fling their bowl to the floor or at mum it remains stuck to the highchair too securely for your tot to remove it. The cutlery attaches to the highchair with flexible coils, guiding baby’s hand back to the bowl after each spoonful, improving co-ordination and encouraging independent eating.
Price: £8.95 (plus postage and packaging)
Stockist website: Ezee Reach website

Baby’s Feeding Wheel
A handy reminder for sleep deprived new parents the Baby Feed Wheel has a dial to record each feed time. Although it looks a little like a parking meter the Wheel comes in several soothing pastel colours and also makes a useful gift.
Price: £3.99 (plus postage and packaging)
Stockist website: Natural Nursery website

Baby Buddy Bottle Buddy
This innovative product will mean no more weighing mistakes when preparing baby's milk. The Bottle Buddy accurately counts and dispenses a pre-set amount of formula into the bottle to help make the perfect bottle of milk, and make milk feeds a much easier task for parents - especially gadget-loving dads!
Price: £34.99
Stockist website: Baby Buddy website