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Are you a Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing parent-to-be?

The feelings that come with starting your parenting journey are not one but many. Excitement, nervousness, joy and fear are all some of the many emotions you may feel in the lead up to your child's arrival or even when in the planning stages of starting your family. When you are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing, you may have some extra concerns, like how you will be able to respond to your baby if you don't hear them.

When I was expecting my son, I admittedly hadn't thought too hard about that in the planning stages, but I most certainly did in the lead-up to his birth. While there is a lot of information around, people with moderate hearing loss often have less engagement with the Deaf community and awareness of the technology available to them to assist them with day-to-day life. Although profoundly Deaf, my limited involvement with the Deaf community meant that I had less awareness of the technology available to me in the lead-up to becoming a Deaf parent.

In the end, I found (and used) the Bellman & Symfon Baby Cry package. The package offered today is a little different to what was available to me at the time (16 years now eek!). But, as an ongoing user of Bellman & Symfon products, I remain confident in my recommendation. The different alerting systems (e.g., fire alarm, doorbell, etc) all connect into an effective alert ecosystem. If you have NDIS funding, you can check to find out if the cost of alert systems is covered under your funding. You may also be able to access help through the Hearing Services Program.

The Bellman & Symfon Baby Cry technology includes: a baby monitor and wrist receiver, but can also be paired with a bed shaker, pager and flash receiver. The baby monitor allowed me to adjust the sensitivity as my son got older to avoid picking up the soft baby babbles. The wrist receiver wasn't an option when I was in my baby bubble, but I highly recommend it over the pager. In an exhausted daze, I managed to knock the pager off my pants into the toilet. As I didn't hear it fall in, I flushed. So I think a wrist receiver is definitely a safer option there! Flash receivers are great, but it's harder to cover every room.

I sourced my products from Word of Mouth Technology in Croydon, Victoria. If you need a quote, they will arrange this for you. They also ship across Australia.

Having an alert system was amazing and made my parenting journey much easier, and gave me the independence to be the parent I wanted to be. It's definitely worth the investment. 

Wishing you a wonderful parenting journey with your little one/s. 

By Cassandra Wright-Dole

A Deaf researcher and lived experience advocate, Cassandra supports families through the emotional and practical realities of childhood hearing loss. Explore support services at Cassandra Wright-Dole - Support and Advocacy.

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