The parent trap: is expensive baby tech making us paranoid?

Fancy monitors, wipe warmers, even a tube to help them pass wind ... the baby-gadget market is booming. But how much of it is actually useful? Plus: how to have a baby on a budget

Most nights, around 3am, first-time mum Courtney Sanders is on her phone in the dark as she tries to rock her baby to sleep. Her three-month-old son is struggling with colic-like symptoms and the more Sanders searches for how to help, the more products are suggested to her. My Facebook is currently full of ads for bedside cribs that come with an incline to help reduce colic - but I already have one of those and it doesn't do anything."

She's tried different feeding bottles, teats and milk formulas. The last thing she bought was a Windi. It's a tube you put into the baby's bottom to help them pass wind," she says. It didn't work. Right now, she's searching for a new baby monitor, as the one she bought is too complicated to use. Tomorrow she's expecting a delivery of Munchy Mitts - a babygrow with silicone mitts for teething babies to chew on.