Best EVER baby shower gifts

We've searched high and low to find the ultimate baby shower gifts – they're ingenious, unexpected and more useful than the mountain of muslin wraps, soft toys and size 0000 onesies they'll grow out of in a week.

TRAVELLING CRIB

It’s a multi-pocket baby bag that folds out into a travel cot and change table – SO CLEVER! The Delta Baby Nursery Travel Bag will set you back around $200 so good for a close friend or group gift.

DINOSAUR TAIL BEANIE

Dial up the 'awwww' factor to 11 because this lovingly crocheted Long Tail Dinosaur Baby Bean Hat, $30 plus shipping, is made to order in the city that never sleeps (New York) for the baby that always sleeps – fingers crossed. Something for bubs to wear to that first photo shoot!

BIG MAMA IS WATCHING!

This iGizmo allows you to monitor almost every aspect of your baby (temps, movement, sound) from your smartphone or device. Dial in while you're out to dinner, play them music or talk to your bubs to soothe.

The Withings Smart Baby Monitor, $299.95, has inbuilt camera tilt and zoom functions so you can scope the room and a soft night light, too!

WOOMBI SWADDLE

The Woombie, $30 plus shipping, is an award-winning swaddle that will assist in a calmer, quicker settle and sleep as it softly stretchs as needed – just like the womb – while confining arms to prevent the 'startle' reflex and hugging tummy to help with wind issues.

Easier than wrapping yourself as it zips up your little escape artist.

GO-GO BABYZ GO-GO KIDZ TRAVELMATE

Just like it's hard to imagine travelling without a roller suitcase, parents will wonder how they ever managed without this brilliant contraption that turns your baby car seat into a rolling kid carrier.

Perfect for getting through aiports so you can take your own seat with you on travels. Prices vary.

BOOBIE BIKKIES

Created by the well-known parenting expert Pinky McKay, Boobie Bikkies are packed with all the nutrients and ingredients to boost breast milk supply and maintain it through the stresses and challenges of new motherhood. Priced from $24.95 a carton, they may be a lifesaver!

PAUL & STELLA SELF-WARMING BOTTLE

This clever new invention is a self-warming bottle which heats liquid to the desired temperature of 36˚C in minutes – just by clicking a button on the base, no power, no plugs, no batteries.

From there you simply add your expressed breast milk and feed your child on the go, $49.95. Click here for more info.

SLEEP NURSE

The one thing money can't buy but you desperately want when you're a new parent is SLEEP. Well maybe you can buy it…

An Australian innovation, Sleep Nurse, $99, offers seven low-frequency ambient/environmental sounds plus a unique womb noise developed with a specialists. The buttons light up for easy use and it's also a night light – oh, and it WORKS!

DANCING SHOES

While a newborn might not be quite ready for those classic 'dance around on my shoes' moments, these red felt toe-tappers are so darn cute that they will make a great nursery decoration until they can be put to use.

Made in Finland by design outfit COMPANY and sold through their store Salakauppa.

HEIRLOOM GROWTH CHART

This grogeous DIY Growth Chart, $65 plus shipping, is a whole box full of homemade heirloom goodness. You hang the sweet woodsy burlap ribbon on the wall then record Junior's vertical progress by pinning on a tag marked with their details.

Yes, you CAN be that crafty mum type!

TEXT HOOK

Let your fingers do the walking with this super-useful innovation, the Text Hook, $34.95. It's the on-the-go mum's buddy that clicks any smartphone right onto your pram so you don't have to take your hands off the job to text!

PERSONAL ULTRASOUND MACHINE

OK so technically speaking, this little beauty the MobiUS SP1 is meant for use by physicians, but if you've got the cash (or you happen to be a doctor yourself… doctors have babies too!) then who wouldn't want the ability to check up on the little bundle and watch it on your smartphone?

BLOOMING BATH

So simple, yet so brilliant… A soft bath for bubs right there in the sink so no bending down to bath tubs or emptying heavy water-filled baby baths.

The Blooming Bath, $39.99, has petals that push down in the sink to softly cradle bubs then you simple squeeze out water and throw in the dryer for 10 minutes.

A CARTON OF SOCKS

For the baby shower gift on a budget, this idea takes the cake. Socks, socks, you can never have enough of the little fellas for a newborn, so give her a dozen cute pairs rolled up and presented in a humble egg carton. Cracking idea!

BELLYBUDS

The baby-bump sound system, from $49.99, was not only the music-provider-of-choice for Kim Kardashian's baby North, it is also a cool invention to connect with your baby while it's still in the womb with tunes or voice recordings.

While hearing begins at 20 weeks, memories are made from 30 weeks!

FACES FOR BABY

This book has truly been designed for newborns as it targets their specific visual stimuli needs and abilities, rather than just being a tactile experience like so many books for babies.

A concertina-style cloth book, Faces for Baby, $17.95, by graphic artist Katey Love stands on the floor beside baby and keeps their attention with high-contrast imagery.

INFANTINO HOODIE UNIVERSAL CARRIER COVER

For fans of baby-wearing, this is a vital addition – an all-season hoodie carrier cover that snugs up you and the little one while you walk.

It snaps onto any carrier, has a pocket to keep mum's hands warm too and is made of soft sweatshirt material. YUM!

HTML FOR BABIES

It's never too early to be net-savvy! When your wee one makes their first splash on the web, you want them to have grown up speaking HTML as a second language.

Use this board book, $9.48, to teach your mini-geek about the building blocks of the interweb. Written by a web designer for his baby, this book is adorable and educational.

NURSING REMINDERS

Which side am I on? Doh! Don't you just hate that when the blur of sleep deprivation makes you forget which side to latch the littly onto next?

Mammary-Minders Nursing Reminders, $6.30, are a discreet and failsafe magnetised reminder – no bulky beads or bothersome bling and you can transfer them with one hand.

BUZZ B. NAIL TRIMMER

No more blood and tears from a failed nail-trimming attempt on teeny fingertips with the battery-operated Buzz B. Nail Trimmer by ZoLi, $35. It safely trims nails with a gentle oscillating pad that won't harm surrounding skin.

ONESIE EXTENDERS

Add a size to your favourite onesie suit with these ingenious litte patches of flannel cotton fabric with press-studs – the onesie extender, $24.50 for three. They also help to stretch suits over the bulky crotch of cloth nappies.

PETIT COLLAGE BAMBOO MOBILE

So Frenchy, so chic! Keep your bubs mesmerised in a designerly woodland way with this laser-cut Deluxe Bamboo Yellow Bird mobile, $79.95, which features yellow felt accents.

We're just a sucker for an interesting mobile!

PRAM NECKLACE

Perfect for pram or cot, this decorative 'necklace' is uber style in a string of crochet balls. The Swedish designer of Littlephant describes her Pram Necklace, $65, thus: "The clouds are out of sight. And so are the trees.

The skyline. And the people passing by. Give your baby a view to admire…"

SOPHIE THE GIRAFFE

Loved by mums, bubs and celebs since it was first invented in 1961, Sophie the Giraffe, $34.95, is hailed as the world's only 100 percent natural rubber teething toy.

Sophie the Giraffe has been hailed as a miracle worker for agitated teething babies and even Miranda Kerr's Flynn gummed one!

SQUEEZE STATION

Why buy puree baby food from the supermarket when you can blend your own and squeeze all the fresh, healthy goodness into an on-the-go pouch?

Super cool and super quick with the Squeeze Station, $43 plus shipping.

TRAUMATIZE YOUR CHILDREN

Now here's some last-minute reading for the expectant mum! For less than $12, How to Traumatize Your Children: 7 Proven Methods to Help You Screw Up Your Kids Deliberately and with Skill is a great pressie to send your pregnant pal down the road of parental self-loathing long before life events intervene to help her get there.

WHICH ONE ARE YOU? ONESIES

Tired of people asking if your babies are twins or genuinely finding it hard to tell them apart?

Then get all typographical on your little people and pop them into a super-fun Snug Attack Twin A/B onesie, $44, that identifies Thing 1 from Thing 2… once and for all!

ALPHABET NURSERY PRINTS

So simple, so sweet. Help her add the finishing touch to the nursery with these stylish and original alphabet cards, $39.20 plus shipping, that were created using decorative papers and acrylic paint then printed on matte card stock with a satin finish.

PAPER FLOWERS MOBILE

This eye-popping mobile pretty much takes the prize for the coolest thing made out of paper, card and ribbon that we've ever seen!

Another crafty concoction from a talented Etsy seller, the flowers are designed to face down on the baby for maximum enjoyment. We think it's worth the spend!