Tech Gadgets For Moms and Dads – PediaCast 060

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The Interview Edition

We are pleased to welcome Cat Schwartz to the program to talk about tech gadgets for moms and dads.

Cat is a well-known technology guru who has appeared on the Today Show and Live with Regis and Kelly. She also provides a catchy mix of tech spiced with personal musings on parenting at hitechmommy.com.

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Transcription

Announcer 1: This is PediaCast.

[Music]

Announcer 2: Welcome to PediaCast, a pediatric podcast for parents, the interview edition.& And now, direct from BirdHouse Studios, here is your host, Dr. Mike!

Dr. Mike Patrick: Hi, everyone and welcome to PediaCast.& It&;s episode 60 for Friday, October 12th, 2007 and as Katy said this is the interview edition.& Now I told you at the beginning of the week we&;re going to have a special guest at the end of the week.& And guess what, it&;s the end of the week!& So we have our special guest, it is Cat Schwartz and she is going to stop by to talk about parent tech gadgets.& So these are just cool gadgets for parents, so you definitely want to hang around for that because we have lots of interesting items up to talk about.

And as we talk about those, don&;t forget in the Show Notes we will of course, as always, have links to all the things that we&;re talking about.& So if you go to pediacast.org and just look at the Show Notes and you&;ll be able to find the links, hopefully, pretty easily.

All right.& Don&;t forget if there is a topic that you would like us to discuss, you have a question or a comment, just go to pediacast.org and click on the Contact link.& You can also email pediacast@gmail.com or call the voice line at 347-404-KIDS.& That&;s 347-404-K-I-D-S.

01:45

Now before we get started, I have to share one little thing with you.& I went to the doctor this afternoon.& I was on call yesterday and the way our office works when we&;re on call we work in the afternoon and the evening because our office has sort of urgent care style hours.& So we&;re usually there from about six o&;clock in the evening till about ten, seeing sick visits.& Well the bonus for doing that is the next day you only have to work in the morning.& And so the afternoon that I have off, no, I don&;t go play golf; I have to schedule to see the dentist or to see my doctor.

So I went to see the doctor today and I just want to let you know here I am a doctor and I hate going to the doctor, that&;s just a terrible feeling.& And of course, I&;ve gained a little bit of weight since the last time I was there, my blood pressure&;s a little bit higher because of the weight that I&;ve gained, so I got the lecture and I have to start being more consistent with exercising and watching what I eat.& So I&;m in the same boat as many of you and so we just have to get motivated together to do this.

All right.& Let me remind you that the information that we present in every episode of PediaCast is for general educational purposes only.& We do not diagnose medical conditions or formulate treatment plans for a specific individual.& If you have a concern about your child&;s health, call your doctor and arrange a face-to-face interview and hands-on physical examination.

Also, your use of this audio program is subject to the PediaCast Terms of Use Agreement, which you can find at pediacast.org. &

With that in mind, we&;ll be back with Cat Schwartz to talk about tech gadgets and we&;ll do it right after this short break.

[Music]

03:59

All right, welcome back to the program.& Now I have to tell you I&;m really excited about this segment.& As you can imagine, I talk about health topics and child disease processes all day long in the office and I spend more time, of course, doing it here on PediaCast, but one of my other great loves is tech gadgets.& Of course, you&;ve probably figured that out to some degree since it takes a bit of tech geekiness to pull off a podcast.& But it&;s nice to change our focus and move at least for this one episode from the medical to the technical.

Of course, any tech discussion on PediaCast needs to be geared toward making mom and dad&;s job a little bit easier, so I called on the hi-tech mommy to help us out.& Cat Schwartz is one of the foremost tech experts in the country and is widely known for introducing moms and dads to the hottest new gadgets and explaining how to use them.& She&;s a former host and producer of TechTV&;s The Screen Savers and she&;s appeared on the Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly and Howard Stern.& She serves as eBay&;s gadgets and toy director (Boy, there&;s a fun job!) and provides a catchy mix of tech spiced with her personal musings on parenting at hitechmommy.com.& So please join me in welcoming Cat Schwartz to the show, hi, Cat!

Cat Schwartz: Hey! Hi!

Dr. Mike Patrick: How are you doing?

Cat Schwartz: What an intro that was! All right!

Dr. Mike Patrick: You like that?

Cat Schwartz: Yeah.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Well, welcome. We really appreciate you stopping by.

Cat Schwartz: Thank you.

Dr. Mike Patrick: We get so deep into the medical and the science on this show. I think that this is going to be a nice break in terms of just doing something a little light.

Cat Schwartz: Good. Good. Good. Yeah. First, I have to thank you for doing what you do because as in your description said, sometimes you go to the doctor and then you get home and you realize you have a thousand questions and with my son we just did that. And I realize, oh, my goodness, theres so much I didnt ask, so the fact that youre there makes me feel much better.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Thats great!

Cat Schwartz: And now I have your personal email address.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes. I need to change it.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, right.

06:04

Dr. Mike Patrick: No, Im just teasing. And Ive been a big fan of yours actually, with seeing you on the Today Show; not on Howard Stern.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. That was a long time ago. Thats when I was the tech chick.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, I see. OK. But now that youre a mom you have to kind of move.

Cat Schwartz: No more Stern appearances.

Dr. Mike Patrick: OK. All right. So what do you have for us?

Cat Schwartz: Oh, I have so many cool things. I researched gadgets and toys for parents and kids all day long. Then when I sort of turned the focus toward health, I realized wow, there are so many cool things out there. So lets just get into it. So the first thing on my list here is the new diaper disposal system from Graco. Right now Im using a Diaper Dekor, which is cool, and theres always the Diaper Genie, but I dont know about you, but when I am changing diapers I always have to touch the thing even though I use my foot I still end up somehow touching it. Well this one is completely touch-free. It all works on motion sensors, so when it notices my hand is over the unit it opens, I drop it in and it closes and thats it.

Dr. Mike Patrick: That is cool. You know what struck me the most about this one when I looked at it?

Cat Schwartz: What?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Is the price.

Cat Schwartz: Me, too. Fifty dollars!

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. I dont know if you have any container stores, we love just browsing in the container stores.

Cat Schwartz: Sure. Yeah, of course.

Dr. Mike Patrick: And they have these trash cans that are motion activated like that and you cant get one for less than $200.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Yeah. And thats a lot of money and $50 I think is a really great price point as well. Now Im just sort of wondering if I get it into my house and my son is going to realize thats what it does and then just keeps opening it, which you know is one aspect of it. But its better than what he does now, he sticks his hand in, he likes throwing things away. So he sticks his hand in and I dont know whats going to happen, but I think this is a better solution.

08:10

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. I think thats great. Is it battery operated?

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Its battery operated.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Good. So no cords you have to worry about. Excellent. All right. By the way, I should mention that as were talking about these things there will be links in the Show Notes at pediacast.org so you can check these things out for yourselves.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah and I think people will appreciate what we have here.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Like what did the call that, what was that again?

Cat Schwartz: Right. Right. The next little goodie I have is the high chair from Stokke the Tripp Trapp. Now this is very low-tech. Its a wooden high chair, but a lot of the times, Ive tested five different high chairs and a lot of times they get pretty nasty and there are crevices that get dunked in them and eventually its hard to clean out everything and make sure that theyre eating environment is sterile. And with the Tripp Trapp its a chair that the child sits in that you push in to the dining room table and theres very few places for food to get caught.

As well as the fact that it changes height as your child grows and I that that is just a great alternative to the traditional high chair that has plastic that you have to try and get all the junk out of. And the Tripp Trapp is pretty rad, its from the company Stokke and theyve done a great job at designing a high chair that stays much cleaner than the traditional chairs.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Theyve had these around for a little while, havent they?

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, they have. And I actually just got mine and realized why its as cool as it is. Now I dont know if it would necessarily be as great when my son Jack was really, really little, but there is a contraption that you can get with it that holds them in place when theyre a teeny-tiny baby. And I like the fact that it grows with him, so he can actually use this chair, you can eventually put it at a desk when theyre a teenager. So they can use this chair for a really long time and it looks cool sitting in my dining room.

10:09

Dr. Mike Patrick: You know, you got me into a little bit of trouble because when you sent me over the list of what was on it, my wife reminded me that she was looking at these when my kids were toddlers and we kept putting it off and we never got one. And she said, quot;See? See? quot;

Cat Schwartz: You mean because you didnt get?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, we never did get it.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Right. But why did you want it? Because of the same reason?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Well thats why she thought it was a really cool one. And back then I was like, look at the price tag. But now, my kids wouldve used it all along.

Cat Schwartz: I know.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Theyre 10 and 13 now so it doesnt make a lot of sense to get one for us.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Its about $200 and they do come with a cushion and its machine washable, so its not totally uncomfortable for them to be sitting on the wood.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. Right. Well they show at their website some pictures of what looks to be even teenagers, like you said, sitting in them and they look comfortable.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Right. And Jack loves it. I mean, he knows that its Jacks chair and he likes the fact that hes sitting at the dining room table with me eating so it doesnt alienate him in the other room eating just in the kitchen or whatever. It actually introduces him in a different way into family conversation around the dinner table and I really like that aspect of it.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. And thats one nice thing, too, about their strollers, the Xplory.

Cat Schwartz: I have that one. I have about 10 but thats the one I love.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. We were looking at the pictures of that, too, and it look like you could make the stroller almost look like a high chair and push it right up to a table.

Cat Schwartz: Thats it. And I go to New York all the time with Jack and a lot of times youre in a very limited space in a restaurant and all you have to do is push the high chair right up to the table and he can sit at it. And you can also push the handle down and push the whole thing sort of contains from the back, so you can use it as your high chair. Its great!

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. That is great.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Theyre very expensive.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. I did notice that, too.

12:19

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. And the other thing I like about that stroller, which is not legal, so I cant endorse this fact on national television, but since were on a podcast, Im going to just let you know; the thing I like about that is when you go to New York City, you dont have to put your child in a car seat in a car, its not a law. And of course, it scares you because youre riding in a cab and you have your kid in your arms. You cant log a car seat around in New York City, so if the cabby slams on the breaks its terrifying to think what will happen to your child.

With the Xplory you can take the seat out of the Xplory, put the chassis in the trunk and then use the seat and put a seat belt around it, its not a certified 5 point harness by any means, but…

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. But its better than in your lap.

Cat Schwartz: Its better than nothing! And Im telling you how are you supposed to do it. And so that alternative has come in handy for me like I cant even tell you how great I feel about that aspect of it, but of course I cant really endorse.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, right, right, right. And neither can I.

Cat Schwartz: Right.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Your mileage may differ but certainly I dont think anyone would argue that that has to be better than holding them in your lap. No question.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Because no matter how hard I would try to hold him, if they fail on the breaks, I physically couldnt. So its an alternative.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. Right.

13:46

Cat Schwartz: Anyways, on to the next one, we have the KidSmart Vocal Fire Alarm.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah and this is interesting.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. So you record your own voice onto it and its a fire alarm and when it detects smoke the child will hear you saying get up and walk outside or whatever. You dont want to like freak up the kid out. And an alarm they dont know what it is, they may wake up, they may not wake up, but if they hear your voice saying get up, get out of bed and walk outside, you have a way better chance at having them actually do that, dont you think?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, I do. And their advertisement said that they think that the parents voice is going to wake him up better than an alarm that theyre not used to and so yeah.

Cat Schwartz: Right. And I hadnt really thought of that aspect until I read that and I thought theyre right, because kids can sleep through anything but if they hear you yelling at them theyll get up.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. Im not sure how long of a message because you dont want them sitting there listening while the fire is raging, but there could be some kind of a reminder like use the fire escape or you know what I mean? Avoid this or be sure to touch the door before you open it, just little reminders of what the safety rules are.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Yeah. So I thought that was a good one.

15:08

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, I like that.

Cat Schwartz: Now the next one is the Smart Shopper.

Dr. Mike Patrick: This one was one of my favorites.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Have you ever heard of it?

Dr. Mike Patrick: No, no.

Cat Schwartz: OK. Its a really cool device. Its a device that connects to your, its magnetic, it sticks on your refrigerator and what you do is you tell it through voice command what it is that you need at the store. So I need milk, I need plastic bags and the voice recognition software in it is actually very good. And then what it does is you hit a print button, it prints out your shopping list by isle. So you go to the grocery store and it tells you all the fruit you need, even all the bags that you need and all the stuff that you need and it works. And its so cool.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Do you set up what things are in each isle or it just knows?

Cat Schwartz: No, it just knows. It has, I guess theres some universal language in grocery stores where things are put and it groups them together.

Dr. Mike Patrick: That is great.

Cat Schwartz: Of course I dont know if its going to have to be correct every time and the other thing is I go to a couple of different stores, like I go to Trader Joes for one thing and Whole Foods for another and then my other store for another store. Its hard to group it like that, but if you go to one store and even if you go to a couple, the fact that it knows it is just cool.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, that is. That is. And the kids could use it, too.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. My son doesnt talk, but I hadnt thought about that.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. We do have a list on the refrigerator, you know, the pencil and itd be so much easier just push the button and say what you need.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Yeah. And you can train it to work with your voice if its not quite getting it. Its not cheap, its $150, but the fact is that its a cool device. The fact that this exists now is revolutionary in my mind. Its so cool.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, sure, sure. And the time that it would save you in terms of grouping things together like that, that sounds good.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. You go to the store you dont have to be wandering around. Ive tried to organize my list, I thought before, but forget it, its too hard.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. It just takes so much time.

17:23

Cat Schwartz: Right. Right. Next I have the Why Cry, a crying analyzer machine.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right.

Cat Schwartz: This is a fascinating device. Did you see the Oprah episode where the lady could tell what the baby wanted by listening to the cry?

Dr. Mike Patrick: No.

Cat Schwartz: OK. There was this episode that everyone went nuts over. And this woman was able to tell by pitch and tone of sound what the child needed. I didnt see it but Ive heard so many people talk about it. She was a musician that had an extremely trained ear and she somehow could figure out what babies wanted. And this works sort of off that same principle. You have your baby sitting there and the babys crying and going nuts, you hold the device up to them and hit the button and in about 10 seconds it lights up one of five faces. Each face, essentially, has a meaning. You turn the device over and theres like a table of information and you look at the face thats lit up and it tells you 10 reasons why the baby might be crying.

Dr. Mike Patrick: OK.

Cat Schwartz: Kind of like a mood ring, OK? I cant say that its like perfect every time, but on their site they say they have 80% accuracy. And you know, as a mom you kind of start figuring it out, I hope.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. Right. But the thing gets me on this one is most kids, it depends on what they need, what it is, but a lot of times even if thats not what it is you usually can calm them. You know what I mean?

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Mike Patrick: I was looking at it and its like OK, this lights up if they have anxiety and so what you do is pick them up and put a bottle in their mouth and kind of give them a little wiggle and they get better. But if they had a wet diaper and you did that they probably would stop crying, too.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Right. Yeah. Again, kind of like a mood ring.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Im going to remain skeptical on this one.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. As you should, but it is a fun gift if youre looking for something interesting.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Well leave it at that.

19:32

Cat Schwartz: Right. The MobiCam Video monitor is a device that Ive really learned to like. I get a lot of monitor research, so the ones that are just sound, the ones that are video, the ones that have big screen to touch them, even car video monitors. This is the one that I like the best. Its a video monitor that is wireless completely, both ends, the camera end is wireless as well as the monitor end. And its a small unit you can clip on to your belt.

And I like it because as my son is growing older, I dont want to have to stand over him watching him every second, but I still want to know what hes doing in his room. So I can set this up in his room, in the living room, in the kitchen, wherever I want him to play and keep a great eye on him.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Do you find that the range is pretty good?

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, it is. Sometimes, things interfere with it, like the microwave every once in a while will interfere. But as far as the monitors go, I really think that this one does well. They say 300 feet; I havent tested it up to 300 feet and I dont think I really want to be that far away from him ever at this point, but yeah, it does well.

Dr. Mike Patrick: That is great. Now how much does that cost?

Cat Schwartz: I think its $149.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Thats not bad.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Having a monitor, again, it helps with the whole independent play thing, which I think is important. The other thing thats cool about this is that it has night vision so it doesnt waste batteries. It actually has a voice activation switch on it so it turns itself off and then when your baby starts making sound itll turn the unit back on.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Thats great. Its just does that with sound, not with motion?

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, just sound.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Just sound. OK. But the night vision thing thats really neat, because in a dark nursery the video monitor doesnt really help you out too much.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, I know. Right. Now one thing that I do wish it had was the ability for me to talk to him, like both ends being audible.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, right.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Because right now my son is having a horrible time sleeping, its totally my fault, but I want to be able to calm him by having him hear my voice instead of going in there, so I wish I could talk back, but whatever, its still a great, great monitor.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. It really gives you a peace of mind.

Cat Schwartz: Exactly.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah.

22:06

Cat Schwartz: And then we have the UBI baby changing table. You see a picture of this?

Dr. Mike Patrick: I did.

Cat Schwartz: Its cool, right?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes. Yes. My wife, she did roll her eyes on this one, but I told her I liked it.

Cat Schwartz: I havent tested it yet, so Id have to tell you that. Essentially, what it is is that its a changing table that you put four or five diapers, you load them in. So you put the baby on the changing table and you sort of drape them over where the diaper is and then you quickly can put the diaper on them because its already laid out for you.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. My wife though, she worked for a number of years in a baby intensive care unit, so shes pretty good at getting the diaper on and off pretty quickly.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Yeah. How much time is it really going to save you, you mean?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. But the spring loading action for me that does it.

Cat Schwartz: Right. That does it for you, huh? Yeah.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Its like a napkin dispenser on the bottom of a changing bed.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Yeah. And its all diapers. Again, I got to test it. But I saw it and I thought its unique.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Its got some cool patterns.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. They did a good job of the different designs on it.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. So its a gift idea.

23:25

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. The BooBoo Birdy is next. This is a little plush toy looking thing. My son has hit his head of course a thousand times and I can never put ice on it, I can never put a cold pack on it. I dont know, doctor, maybe you can tell me am I even suppose to put cold on it?

Dr. Mike Patrick: If its right afterwards, cold helps it not get as inflamed, so the cold might help it reduce the inflammation a little bit. However, it probably wont help if its what we call a hematoma, which is a little bleed under the skin.

Cat Schwartz: Does that mean it has changed color?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Well its like a bump and it feels squishy.

Cat Schwartz: My husband always touches the bump after it happens, is that OK?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, thats OK.

Cat Schwartz: Uhhh! Doesnt it hurt the kid?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Well, yeah, but you got to figure out whats going on.

Cat Schwartz: Thats what he said. Well how does he know? What do you feel for?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Well its one of these things where you just do it enough then you know what youre feeling for.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. I trust you, not him.

Dr. Mike Patrick: No, but putting a cold compress right after it happens will help reduce the swelling, yes.

Cat Schwartz: OK. So thats what the BooBoo Birdy is for. Its a little plush toy, essentially, theres a little pack of, I think its rice that you put in your freezer and then when the booboo happens, you get the birdy, you get the rice, you put the rice in the birdy and then you put the birdy on the kids head, instead of putting like frozen peas on the hit kids head.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right.

Cat Schwartz: So it makes that whole process smoother.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. And probably a little safer, too, because you dont want it to be true freezing because then it can cause frostbite of the skin. So you dont want to put like ice directly on the skin. And if you do a bag of peas, there is that potential that still the bag is going to be close to the freezing mark which could do it. So this at least has some cushion between the cold and the whats actually touching the babys skin. So I think this would be safer, too.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. So you liked it?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. I thought this was a good one. I like this one.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Good idea. I like that one.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, I think so.

Cat Schwartz: Its a cute bird.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yes, it is. But the website says theyre sold out.

Cat Schwartz: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I cant always guarantee youre going to be able to get this cool thing.

Dr. Mike Patrick: When you go on a show with it then they sell out.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Often thats it.

Dr. Mike Patrick: So hopefully, theyll have them in stock for Christmas.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. A great, great gift.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Stocking stuffer.

26:03

Cat Schwartz: Yes. So we have the Angelcare Movement Sensor with Sound. Now this is all part of like preventing-SIDS-monitor-family and there are a lot of them out there. And I tried this one out, its a pad that goes under where the baby sleeps and its hooked up to two different parts, one is the alarm sensor and the other is a mobile unit that you can walk around with. And if the baby stops moving for I think 20 seconds, the alarm will sound. People always ask me what do you mean if they stop, when the kids sleeping theyre not moving. But as you know, they absolutely are moving because theyre breathing, so theres actually a lot of movement happening. So if they are still for 20 seconds, the alarm will sound.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right. And you tried this?

Cat Schwartz: I did. And it did never go off and my baby is still good.

Dr. Mike Patrick: OK. I see what youre saying. Yeah.

Cat Schwartz: Yes. I feel like I couldnt fully test it and there were a couple of times when I was trying to figure out exactly how it works because there are different sensitivities, it kind of start driving me nuts because the alarm would go off and I knew that he was fine.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right.

Cat Schwartz: So if youre worried about it, you can put the time and energy into finding the right setting and its definitely a peace of mind.

Dr. Mike Patrick: I guess you could pick the baby, too, then it should go off.

Cat Schwartz: It gives you 20 seconds, so if youre right there and youre going to pick the baby up, you have to turn it off, otherwise you definitely will hear the beeping sound.

Dr. Mike Patrick: OK. So you did do that and the beep went away.

Cat Schwartz: Oh, yeah. I made it go off. There were times when Id make it go off on purpose. And the cool thing is that once the baby gets to the point where you dont need it anymore, it does double as a sound monitor.

Dr. Mike Patrick: OK. Good. Good.

Cat Schwartz: So thats something thats nice.

Dr. Mike Patrick: A couple of things I want to say with this one is if theres anyone out there whose baby has been prescribed an apnea monitor, I wouldnt use this as a replacement. You know what Im saying?

Cat Schwartz: No, I dont know what you mean. Is there such a thing?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, yes, yes.

Cat Schwartz: I didnt know that.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. So lets say if a baby is prone to apnea where they stop breathing, there is a monitor that is basically like it has a belt that goes around the chest and so it monitors their breathing that way and then it also has a heart rate probe and so babies who are at high risk for having a problem while theyre sleeping, it detects their breathing and their heart rate. If they stop breathing for 20 seconds it goes off. I mean, its a medical device. Its a little bit of a pain because there are these wires involved, whereas this thing looks easy because it just slides under the mattress. So my only concern would be a parent that has one of these medical alarms and they say, hey, this looks easier and I wouldnt do that. This is not medical grade.

Cat Schwartz: Right. I did see on Angelcares website theyre coming out with a whole new group of these and maybe thats what they are because they look more complicated than this one that I saw.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, right.

Cat Schwartz: So maybe you should check that out and it might be interesting for people to hear your take on that.

29:19

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. In terms of sometimes its driving you crazy and checking the sensitivity, even with the medical grade ones we always tell parents if it goes off, the first thing you got to do is look at the baby. Dont start rescue breaths until you look at them and make sure theyre not blue in the face.

Cat Schwartz: Right. Right. I guess I should laugh when you said that. Its so funny because doctors I hear them being so flippant about things like that, like the babys blue and not breathing.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Thats a good point. Great. You just bring me right back down to reality.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Well, it was nice because it calms the parents down, like well, they dont think its that big of a deal. So maybe I shouldnt be as hot about it.

Dr. Mike Patrick: True. Yeah.

Cat Schwartz: The 4Moms Digital Bath Thermometer is a unit that you hook up to the faucet that the bath water is coming out of and it changes color as the water gets warmer and it lets you know when the temperature is just right for the baby to go into. And if its too hot itll actually sound a little alarm letting you know that the water is too warm to put your little one in.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Everyone has to buy several of these because these would make a wonderful baby shower gift.

Cat Schwartz: You love it?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, I think this is great.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, because my bath water is hot and I think OK, well here maybe this is the right temperature for Jack and hell get in and he knows sign language and he signs quot;hot, hot, hot quot;.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right, right.

Cat Schwartz: And so I realized OK, Ive figured it out by now, but he still lets me know once in a while. So yeah, this is pretty good.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Before I was in private practice, I worked in a pediatric emergency room and we saw a lot of scald burns. I mean, even with all the parent education out there about hot water, it still happens. So this is definitely a way to protect your baby.

Cat Schwartz: And as every parent knows, when you do something that has injured your its the worst feeling in the whole entire world.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. And then the guilt.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. The other day, Jack had his hand in a door, the hinge area, and I was shutting it and I didnt see it there, uhhh…

Dr. Mike Patrick: Ouch! Oh, yes.

Cat Schwartz: Uhhh. Im sure you see that all the time. And I was shutting it really slowly so I know that it didnt hurt him that bad, but oh, its the worst feeling in the whole world.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, yeah. My nurse did it yesterday with her own fingers.

Cat Schwartz: Oh!

Dr. Mike Patrick: She wasnt very happy the rest of the day.

Cat Schwartz: Oh, yeah.

Dr. Mike Patrick: And this has a good price, too, $29.95.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Right. Just around $30, I like that.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, thats good.

32:05

Cat Schwartz: The toilet paper saver, this is for $7. It prevents your child from doing what my son does, hes just taking all the toilet paper off the toilet paper roll just for fun. And he spins it and spins it and spins it. Hes gotten better, but this device would really help. It just puts a little flap over so they cant keep pulling on it.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Thats great. That is a great one.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, $7, there you go.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Thats right. Thats our bargain one for the show.

Cat Schwartz: Exactly. The UV monitor from Oregon Scientific is a device that Ive been talking about for years because I love this context. You tell the device what type of skin you have, what type of sunscreen, what proof you have on and then you hit start. It has a little monitor on it and when it detects that the sun rays are too strong for your skin, it beeps and lets you know that its time to get out of the sun because youre going to burn and put more sunscreen on.

Dr. Mike Patrick: I think this is a really good idea, too, because so many times kids and adults, too, get sunburns because you just forget.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Absolutely.

Dr. Mike Patrick: I remember a vacation, were actually on a Disney cruise and we were at Castaway Cay, their private island, and I was floating in the water on an intertube on my stomach. It was stupid, with Ohio winter skin.

Cat Schwartz: OK. Yeah.

Dr. Mike Patrick: And I just got terrible sunburn, blisters, so it was a bad news.

Cat Schwartz: What do you put on that? Aloe?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah, aloe is good to soothe it and at least two or three times a day like Neosporin or Bacitracin just to keep the skin from getting infected.

Cat Schwartz: Because it was that bad, huh?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, yeah, it was bad.

33:56

Cat Schwartz: There was an email that just went out in one of my moms groups of a horrifying story about a mom that was dumping some spaghetti water out and the water splashed out of the sink and on to her child and she couldnt find her car keys to get out of the house. Its a horrible story. But what I thought was interesting about it where she said that when they got there to the emergency room, the doctor said that if this ever happens again to wrap him in a Saran Wrap. Wrap the burn in Saran Wrap.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Oh, right. Especially, if its a big burn and thats just to keep water in the skin.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. That was interesting.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Unless the burn is on the head then you might not want to do that.

Cat Schwartz: Oh, you mean like around the nose?

Dr. Mike Patrick: Yeah. Im sorry.

Cat Schwartz: Well thats a funny spin on a horrible story.

Dr. Mike Patrick: OK. This UV monitor one, have you used this?

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, I have. Ive tested about three or four of them. I like the Oregon Scientific one. Theyre all pretty small and they clip right on to your bag or something small and they beep, they let you know if its time to get out of the sun. Theyre sort of liberal. This ones a little bit liberal, which is fine, I mean Id rather have it be liberal than allow me to actually almost get burned.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Right.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah. Theyre pretty right on as far as I can tell.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Now, they last awhile?

Cat Schwartz: Its all battery operated so if theres a low battery it lets you know you need to change.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Good. Good. And $17.95 that seems like a bargain, too.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah.

Dr. Mike Patrick: All right. Well we really appreciate you stopping by with all of your tech gadgets.

Cat Schwartz: Sure. Im going to be on the Today Show, Halloween day, make sure you check that out.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Excellent. And youll have lots more gadgets then for us.

Cat Schwartz: Yes, I will and have me back on Ill give you some more tips soon.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Maybe before Christmas.

Cat Schwartz: Yeah, for sure. Oh, yeah. I have great toys, too. Great toys, great gadgets for Christmas, so lets do it.

Dr. Mike Patrick: Because we have to have a break from the strict medical stuff from time to time. Its important to rest our brains.

Cat Schwartz: Right. I know about that.

Dr. Mike Patrick: All right. Well thanks, Cat. We appreciate you stopping and well talk to you soon.

Cat Schwartz: All right, thank you.

[Music]

36:45

Dr. Mike Patrick: Well folks, we did it. A week back from vacation and we had a show every day. So Im pretty happy about that. Next week we have more shows lined up for you. Hopefully, well get five of them in. Well see how it goes.

I want to thank Cat Schwartz for stopping by. Thank all of you, of course, for tuning in and listening to PediaCast. Also, thanks go out to my family for putting up with the amount of time that it takes to do this. Also Vlad over at vladstudio.com. He provides the artwork for the website and also for the feed, so thanks go out to Vlad. Please support him at vladstudio.com. Great pictures for nursery decorations, I might add.

Speaking of pictures, we do have a poster page at the website at pediacast.org. If you havent checked that out, Id appreciate if you do. Basically, theyre just PDFs files that you can download and print out and hang them up on bulletin boards, take to your doctors offices so that they can know about PediaCast, learn about it. And it #;s something that they, maybe they #;d even put up on their bulletin boards. I have them in my office. It just gives information about the show and where to find us, that sort of thing. So that #;s on the poster page at pediacast.org.

All right. So everybody have a great weekend and I #;ll see you on Monday and until then, this is Dr. Mike saying stay safe, stay healthy and stay involved with your kids. So long everybody!

[Music]

 

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