Every new parent learns the shush. It's that long, steady "shhhh" that seems to settle a fussy baby better than almost anything, and it is also exhausting to keep up at 2 a.m. A mom and dad in Texas discovered exactly that while trying to get their little girl to sleep. So they recorded the sound and put it into a small timed device that could sit by the crib and keep shushing for them.

That idea became the Baby Shusher, a portable sound machine that plays a real human shush instead of a synthetic hum. The family has grown since then: the Firefly adds a gentle nightlight glow, the Sloth tucks the sound inside a plush toy, and there are Shushie silicone pacifiers, muslin swaddles, and even a Doggie Shusher for the pup who would rather skip the fireworks.

Genius, really: it takes the oldest trick in the parenting book and lets anyone hold it in one hand. Grandparents, babysitters, and a dad on his third lap of the hallway can all hand off the shush.