Over three million children are born each year in the United States. No doubt this figure includes a lot of new parents discovering for the first time that their home needs an upgrade.
Safety for newborns isn’t just a case of eliminating hazards around the house. It’s about taking preventive action too when it comes to safety and security. Luckily, the smart device market for new families is booming and new parents have plenty of great gadgets and connected home devices to help them through the early stages of raising a child.
How Does a Smart Home Help New Parents?
For a new parent of a baby who needs constant supervision and care, here’s what a ‘smart home’ really means:
- Automating manual tasks to take the stress out of an overstretched schedule
- Peace of mind that your baby is safe and supervised even when you’re not in the room
- Hands-free assistance when you can’t be everywhere at once
- Help when you’re busier than ever, or simply too tired to think
Bear in mind that in almost two-thirds of families with children in the United States, both parents work. So it’s understandable that the modern post-millennial family needs state-of-the-art, smart support.
Key Smart Home Devices for New Parents
Nobody is claiming that raising a new child can be outsourced to smart devices. Yet the experience of caring for a new baby doesn’t have to be a sleep-deprived ordeal, either. Smart devices give new parents some breathing room, allowing them to enjoy and savor life in the new family. Some of the most common (and easy to install) smart devices include:
Smart monitors that connect to your phone and alert you immediately if anything is wrong. Some devices even incorporate wearables that monitor the baby’s vital signs throughout sleep, allowing new parents to grab some much-needed rest.
Smart bassinets that soothe your baby to sleep, rocking automatically when they detect movement, so you’re not woken by cries that could be gently rocked away.
Personal voice assistants, like Amazon Echo or Alexa, really come into their own during childcare years when you’re less likely to have your hands free. You can use them to make voice-dialed calls (particularly in an emergency), get advice, or even summon a lullaby from the playlist.
Smart formula dispensers that take the guesswork out of preparing a feed. Your baby’s formula is ready in seconds, and you don’t even have to be in the same room.
Smart audio-visual aids, like white noise or night lights, that create a soothing environment in your baby’s nursery that you can monitor and adjust remotely. That means you don’t have to disturb your baby’s sleep to turn on some relaxing nature sounds or dim the ambient lighting.
Smart Locks and Video Doorbells from Lockly complete the set by securing your home from the outside and allowing you the freedom and peace of mind to relax inside. That can facilitate these significant benefits for new parents.
Why Do New Parents Need a Smart Lock?
A smart lock can be a useful tool for new parents who are looking for a more convenient and secure way to control access to their home.
1. Safeguard your home from intruders
A home invasion would be most people’s worst nightmare, but for new parents, it’s even more terrifying. With a simple-to-install smart lock, you have the peace of mind that no one is entering your home without your authorization. Upgrade to a video doorbell smart lock and you can also monitor and interact with anyone on your porch, too, even in the dark. With the Lockly Vision Elite, parents can have access to motion-sensing, infrared night vision, and a full HD camera for thorough surveillance and protection.
2. Grant access to caretakers, babysitters and au pairs
In the first few months of a new baby’s life, there will be an inevitable increase in the number of people coming and going from your home. The list includes excited family members, professional babysitters and au pairs, along with the regular roster of caretakers, repair workers and delivery personnel. When you’re in a daze from lack of sleep and feeling like your hands are always full, a smart lock gives you some hands-free relief.
From the Lockly App on your smartphone, you can easily set up who needs to have access, assign access codes, grant revocable access via eKeys & eBadges or see who’s visited while you are out. Instead of shuffling sleepily back and forth to the front door, sometimes in the middle of a feed or lullaby, you can welcome guests from right where you are.
3. Organize hands-free delivery without waking up baby
If you thought you already ordered a lot online, wait until there’s a new baby in the house. All of a sudden, your porch will become a busy landing zone for regular deliveries of diapers, powders, wipes and formula.
You can’t wake up, get up and sign for every single one, but a video doorbell smart lock means you don’t have to. Whether you’re inside the house or away at work, you can view a live video stream of whoever is on your porch, speak with them via audio to give instructions and monitor your porch day or night with a motion-sensor HD camera.
A video doorbells smart lock also protects your essential supplies from package theft too. As cynical as it may seem, porch pirates are perfectly willing to pounce on baby products that are easy to resell. With your motion-triggered HD camera, however, they have nowhere to hide.
Find Peace of Mind with Lockly
Our beginner’s guide explains how to set up your smart home, and rule #1 is that you don’t have to do it all at once. Add and integrate devices as you need. Once they’re connected, you can monitor everything from a single smart home dashboard and automate the tasks that don’t require your regular attention.
Protect your loved ones with Lockly and relax and enjoy new parenthood feeling safe in your home. And unlike the other smart baby devices that will eventually reach their expiration date, you’ll continue to benefit from your smart lock for years to come.
