Grobag Egg

Following on from my Grobag review on babies sleeping bags, this Egg is another of the companies innovative products. The company states it is proud to have changed the way the nation puts it's children to bed and have extended their sleep safe range with this digital room thermometer.

Why buy one.....
The director of the Foundation for the study of infant deaths (FSID) states that babies who get too hot are at an increased risk of cot death and getting a room thermometer will help you create a safer sleeping environment for your baby.
You will notice in all the information you receive from midwives a nursery thermometer is always in the to buy lists.

We nearly didn't buy this product. Standing in Mothercare my husband really wanted to purchase it (he loves gadgets) a customer overhearing our 'discussion' gave us a tip that baby monitors have temperature displays on them and she didn't want us to waste our money on unnecessary things like she had done with her first baby. Thanking her for the advice my husband begrudgingly put it back on the shelf. However, we were so overwhelmed by the help our friends gave us by passing over good quality second hand items we found we had less to buy than first thought. The Tomy walkabout monitor (again I have reviewed this) was one of said items, but on opening we discovered it didn't have a room thermometer, so I let my husband (he is not reading this so I can phrase like that) buy an Egg. We did indeed go back to Mothercare and paid £21.99 and although I have since seen at 1 or 2 pounds cheaper, unless buying used from Ebay I don't think you will find it a great deal cheaper.

The egg is very safely packaged in a tall thinish cardboard box and surrounded by cardboard inside for safe transport. The outside of the box displays all the major information you really need to know but there is also a small leaflet inside with more details such as about the Grobag company and frequently asked questions.

On unpacking you insert the power adapter into the back of the Egg and plug into your wall socket. When placing in your room it says do not place in direct sunlight, very close to a radiator or by an open window. Nice to be reminded but I'm sure everyone wouldn't be this silly, same as making sure your little one can not reach it from their cot including the power lead. However if they did pick up and lick it in the case of my daughter or heavy breathe on it, you may be surprised to know this didn't change the temperature! Since she can walk she touches everything she can get her little sticky fingers on that's within her reach even things we didn't think she could.

Turning the Egg on and off couldn't be easier, the base has a small button on the underside in the middle of 3 non slip feet.

The surprisingly 'egg shaped' unit has a digital round display on the front that together with the body of the egg will light up one of 4 different colours depending on the temperature reading of the room. The display will tell you the exact reading and then 4 ranges of temperatures determine the colour.

Blue - under 16 Celsius and is too cold, an unhappy face is also displayed by temperature reading.

Yellow - 16 to 20 Celsius and is the recommended range displaying a smiley face.

Orange - 20 to 24 Celsius classed as warm, no face appears.

Red - 24 Celsius and over, classed as too warm, an unhappy face appears.

Another common sense reminder they write is that the temperature displayed is that of the room and not your baby. That will be the 'elf and safety peeps input again.

You can then take any appropriate action concerning the temperature after checking your baby yourself e.g. feel their chest or back of neck. 3 actions you can take include cooling or heating the room (windows / doors / radiators etc), adjusting the bedding (choosing a different tog of sleeping bag) or adjusting babies clothes by increasing/decreasing layers

~~~~My opinion~~~~

Eggtremely helpful. My daughter stirs the moment her door is opened so to be able to leave the door ajar enough to see the colour of the Egg means we don't have to take the risk of disturbing her.

Piece of mind. Before she was born we tried the Egg out in the lounge and were really shocked at how cold the recommended range is. What we find acceptable is not suitable for a baby so a helping hand is needed in a room thermometer to make sure we are not causing her discomfort.

There are a couple of little niggles with the Egg. At first the difference between the yellow and orange glows are harder to tell apart so you rely on the digital read out more at first but this has never been a major problem. The next is that during the day the glow is harder to see in some lights but again the digital read is clear to see you just need to get closer to the Egg. The last niggle is that we have found when the Tomy monitor is on there is a slight interference which leaves us with a slight hum down our end of the monitor which can be annoying while trying to watch television this means the monitor has to be turned down a little lower than I would like.

Overall though this is a thoroughly great product and am now very pleased we went back and brought!