Product Review: Itzbeen

I first read about the Itzbeen on A Giveaway Addicted Mommy, when Kari did a review and giveaway. I didn’t win but I was absolutely convinced that I needed one.

The Itzbeen is a baby care timer. It’s a small device that keeps track of how long it’s been since your baby was changed, ate, and woke up or went to sleep – all with the push of a button.

I ordered my Itzbeen the day after the giveaway ended and waited anxiously for it to come. (Thanks, UPS, for randomly rescheduling my delivery by a few days.) When it did, I was somewhat disappointed though not really surprised that the Itzbeen requires 3 AAA batteries, which I had to round up from various other electronic gadgets in our house. The back of the Itzbeen has a clip for attaching to a belt, and it was kind of in the way of the battery case. However, it was a minor inconvenience.

Once the batteries were in the display automatically set all timers to 0:00 and the clock to 12:00 AM. The directions made it very easy to set the clock to the correct time. I love that the time is displayed – since I typically have my Itzbeen more accessible than any clocks in our house, I don’t have to guess what time it is.

The Bwun was asleep when the Itzbeen arrived, but once he woke up, he was ready for a diaper change and a feeding. Perfect! I unlocked the Itzbeen by sliding a switch on the left-hand side (it’s there to prevent you from accidentally resetting the timers), and pressed the buttons I needed. Each button lit up red when I pushed it and stayed lit for about 2 seconds so I could clearly see which button I had pressed. And the timers started rolling. The display shows how many hours and minutes it’s been, but also counts seconds by blinking the colon between the numbers so I knew the timers had been activated.

The buttons do make a beep when pushed, and this startled the Bwun a little. I was concerned that if I pressed a button when he fell asleep it might wake him up. Luckily there is a switch on the right-hand side that you can use to turn off the sound.

There is a fourth button on the Itzbeen that I understand works as an alarm, which can be used as a reminder for taking medicine every x hours or the like. I haven’t actually found a use for it yet. Below the fourth button is a small round button that turns on a blue backlight for the display and red lights for each of the timer buttons – very handy for at night. At the top of the Itzbeen is a small nightlight that turns on and off with a small button. If left on, it automatically turns off after 7 minutes.

By far my favorite feature (aside from the timers) is a switch below the clock display that indicates whether the baby was last fed from the left or right side. Despite being advised to feed from both sides whenever I nursed the Bwun, I’ve consistently found it easier to use one at a time. When the Bwun was little, it was easy to remember which side I used last. Now, he eats so frequently that it’s nearly impossible to tell (or remember). I love the convenient switch to help me out.

The only downside I can find – and this may be something that can’t be fixed, only compensated for – is that there’s no undo feature. Some days the Bwun falls asleep for approximately 3.75 minutes and then decides he’s had enough of a nap. I don’t really think that counts as sleeping…and I wish I could make the timer go back to where it was before and keep counting. Since this is a rare circumstance, though, I understand why the Itzbeen is a forward-only device.

The Itzbeen costs $24.95 and is available through the official website, Amazon.com, and Babies R Us. It comes in pink, blue, and green, as well as in a twin pack. I strongly recommend this for new moms (or even moms who have several children already) – I think quite a few people will be receiving this from me at baby showers in the coming year!