Thursday 12 July 2018

The weekend that the electronic baby came to stay....

My teenager Becky chose Health & Social care as one of her GCSE options and she really loves that lesson....Each student has the chance to take one of the RealCare Baby Infant Simulator home. (The electronic baby) as we have been calling it....

The electronic baby was brought home on Friday. It was activated at 5pm and deactivated on Sunday at 2.30pm to give her a break before school started on Monday....She had the option to bring it home in a car seat or a pushchair. She didn't fancy the car seat so the pushchair it was. I had to go and pick her up as she felt daft pushing it home herself.....I met her in the reception of the school and one of the teachers I knew came over to have a nosy! She thought I had, had a new baby. The pushchair must have looked pretty convincing. lol


As soon as 5pm came around the baby started crying...When it cried Becky had 2 minutes to get the bracelet which came with it and put it on it's chest to say it was being cared for. It would beep and then Becky had to decide whether it needed feeding, burping, it's nappy changed or rocking....It came with a bottle and two nappies with sensors in the back so it could tell when it had been changed....When it's needs had been satisfied it cooed and it was such a welcome sound.


There was no order to it....When my girls were babies and woke up from a sleep I would change their nappy while I was waiting for a bottle to heat, feed them, burp them and then rock them if they were not on their way back to sleep. This baby was totally random! 

On Friday night Becky really didn't get a break....Every time she met the needs of the baby and sat down for 5 minutes it started crying again. She found undressing and dressing it when she had to change the nappy was the hardest challenge. By the end of the weekend the kept it in a vest or a sleep suit. hehehe We are hoping that because it was so warm she can get away with keeping it in a vest and nappy....hehehe

Ellie was there to offer advice and was such a mother hen running around passing Becky the bottle or a nappy....She even had a go of feeding it. I took pity on Becky when it got to about 7pm and she hadn't been able to get her tea in peace....I fed it.


My girl learnt what real parenting was when she made a cup of tea and the baby needed caring for....By the time she got back to her cuppa, it was cold. Welcome to parenting. Now she has an idea what I have been dealing with for years....lol


She made a makeshift bed for the baby out of a washing basket and blanket and went to bed pretty early considering it was a Friday night....She knew she was going to be woken up and she was but not until about 5am Saturday morning....It was needy for about 40 minutes and then didn't cry again until just gone 9am....At 5am it did wake the whole house up. Thankfully we all managed to get back to sleep....

Saturday seemed easier for Becky.....The baby cried and needed attention but Becky was quicker at meeting it's needs but the night was no fun!. The baby woke her up at 2, 4 and 7am....The worst was the 4am as the baby needed caring for for a good 40 minutes.....I suppose that's what happens with a real baby though....

Becky has a whole new level of respect for single parents.....Apart from when she had something to eat on Friday while I fed it she looked after the electronic baby from school for 40 odd hours....She is in awe that there is parents who have babies and do it all alone.....


She wasn't going to have a baby anytime soon but this had really made her think about when she does. She wasn't joking when she said that she wants a partner, a nanny and all the grandparents around to help....She sure has learned that babies are a big commitment.....


The RealCare Baby Simulator is a fantastic gadget. It tracks Care events, mishandling actions, including Shaken Baby Syndrome, head support and wrong positions, surrounding temperatures, time in a car seat/pushchair and clothing changes.....


Becky got her report back earlier this week and I was amazed at the results! I know she did well but I didn't imagine how well!! She got 96%!



She missed a feed and a nappy change at five 16 & 17, early on Saturday morning....I can't really knock her for that. She was just waking up. I am surprised it wasn't the Sunday early morning wake up calls that she missed as she was knackered by then.....There was no mishandling and I am really surprised that it only cried for 25 minutes in total....It seemed a lot longer. lol



It was an interesting weekend....For Becky to learn how to look after a baby sort of and for me to see how Becky coped....I am very proud of my girl and I hope this is enough to put her off having babies for a long time yet!!


2 comments :

  1. Wow, that sounds like such hard work! Well done to her for coping so well. It's great that it puts girls off having babies too early.

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  2. Oh wow! Well done Becky, she must have been exhausted bless her! At least it gives teenagers a little insight into what motherhood is really like and as you said, hopefully put them off until later on in life. x

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