OOPSIE HEROES REVIEW BY MONICA

By Monica at the blog www.whatdoesmammasay.com

I was lucky enough to discover this little thing called Oopsie Heroes by accident. I was given the device in return for my honest opinion on how the device worked for us.

The name might not give it away, but Oopsie Heroes helps your little hero avoid those oopsie bed wetting moments. How? It seems quite simple: you attach a sensor to the child’s underwear and when the sensor detects moisture, it starts to beep. The device is connected to your phone through the Oopsie Heroes app and an alarm goes off.

My son is 2 years and 7 months and for about a month he’s been consistently using the toilet, apart from night-time, when he would simply wear a nappy. I was looking forward to stop using nappies, but I was still worried of him wetting the bed or waking up at night crying. The idea of having a device letting me know when my son was getting wet before him actually realising sounded wonderful, so we gave it a go.

First impressions

I loved the box in which the Oopsie Heroes device came in. Very small and compact, user-friendly and colourful for children to enjoy too. Before receiving the sensor, I prepared my little one by talking him through what we are going to do, how and why we use this sensor.  He seemed to understand. And indeed, he accepted it right away. I was acting very excited when we received it so he could imitate my reaction and so he became eager to try it on.

In the tiny box you receive a sensor, the stickers to help you attach it to your little one’s underwear and the instructions. My son played with the instructions leaflet, which was very colourful and friendly, while I explained to him once again how we are going to use it.

The sensor is very light and although not very small, my son seemed ok with it during the night. We used it for one week and he never complained, nor did it fall off. There are plenty of stickers, so you can use it for many months if need be.

Once you attach the sensor, you simply open your phone and connected it to the app. As soon as I opened the box, the app appeared on my phone, so you simply click on it and decide on the alarm you want to use. I think it is a great idea that the app lets you record your voice if you don’t want to use a beeping alarm. Your child can be woken up by the sound of your voice and not by a strange sound. However, if you want to use an alarm, there are 4 types of beeping alarms: smooth and gentle, phone-like, rooster or a harsh alarm. 

When your child falls asleep, you set the alarm by pressing the button” Go to bed”. You can leave the phone by the child’s bed if he is old enough to wake up at the sound of the alarm and go to the toilet. However, because my son is very young, I kept the phone by my bed so I could go wake him up if the device started beeping. The sensor itself has a faint alarm sound too, which doesn’t wake the child, but lets you know the alarm will be beeping soon.

Areas to improve

I was surprised to see that while the app is turned on, it drains the phone’s battery by 30%. The first time I used it I woke up in the morning with the phone’s battery dead. So it wouldn’t have beeped if my son were to get wet. This is something to remember when you use it for the first time, make sure your phone has enough battery to last you through the night. From that day on, I always slept with my phone plugged in to make sure it will beep.

Another aspect which I am not sure of in terms of effectiveness is the connection between the sensor and the app. The sensor itself beeps, but it does require a lot of moisture to make the alarm on your phone beep. So, if my son is already soaking wet by the time the alarm in my room beeps, I won’t be able to prevent him from crying during the night and therefore it defeats its purpose. The only reason why I am using it is to prevent my child from wetting himself and waking up crying. Perhaps if you sleep in the same room as your child you can hear the sensor and wake up in time, but that is not our situation.

Overall impression

I am happy to use the sensor and be consistent in using it because it does help your child become aware that he needs to use the toilet during the night. Being a smart app, it records bedwetting events and creates a pattern that in time will help children and parents prevent these occurrences. However, I think that the older the child, the easier it is to make the sensor work. The alarm goes off and the child wakes up to the voice of his mum/dad telling him to go use the toilet. After some time, the child will be able to train himself to regularly wake up and go to the loo. With smaller children, like my son, who doesn’t have bedwetting issues, but is simply in the potty-training process, the results are different.

We do get the opportunity to keep the sensor after the review and so I am planning on using it if in the future bedwetting problems appear. So, overall the sensor is not harmful, it doesn’t use bluetooth, is child-friendly and user-friendly and we are happy using it now and in the future.

By Monica at the blog www.whatdoesmammasay.com