Child Rearing & Tech

A lot of people around us are having babies right now, so this is a post for the parents. Whether you are a first-time parent or you already have some experience under the belt, raising a child is work. As the popular saying goes, it takes a village. And, in this day and age, the village may consist of smart devices as well. 

The original baby monitor, a radio system, allowed parents to monitor the crying of their baby from the next room or even downstairs. Nowadays, with WiFi-enabled devices, parents can monitor, both in an audio and visual capacity, their newborn wherever they are. As new parents fret over the baby’s every noise and movement, technology is becoming the much-needed babysitter to watch the baby when parents need a nap and sound off alarms when babies need tending to. 

Not only do modern baby monitors provide the audio and visual state of the baby, but some smart monitoring devices can also track the environmental conditions in the infant’s room. These conditions include in-room temperature, air quality and humidity. All this data can be useful when speaking to the baby’s doctor at routine checkup appointments.

Monitoring is really only half of what the smart device ecosystem can do; the other half is actually taking care of the baby. Products like the smart cribs help with detecting when the baby is fussy and automatically rocking back and forth to soothe. Many of these devices incorporate AI and machine learning technology so they recognize distinct signs or patterns in the baby’s actions and respond accordingly.

As we continue to make our homes smarter, parents, both current and expecting, can use smart devices to add one more layer of care for their babies.