As a newish mom myself- I can’t tell you how much I’ve looked to tech to simplify moming. When I was pregnant, I remember wanting data to help predict if things have a chance of going wrong, I wanted surveillance all day every day in my son’s bedroom, and above all-- I wanted all the technology possible to make raising a newborn, now toddler easier.

Baby tech has been waddling the halls of CES (mega tech show I go to every year)  for a few years now, in years past we saw tech including things like connected bassinets, portable breast pumps, baby monitors connected to your phone, and socks that measure your babies breathing. This year at CES 2021, the baby tech did not disappoint. So here is the question: Can “smart" tech make you a better parent. The answer? Yes. And no. It definitely gives you peace of mind. So let’s get into it. 

Intelligent crib to rock baby to sleep 

Ok first-time parents listen up, sleep now because you will sleep no more once le baby arrives-- let’s just say you will get  about 2 hours less ZZZ’s. Even when the baby is sleeping you hear cries in your head, in your dreams, and in the shower. You constantly worry and check to see if your baby is still awake or asleep, maybe needs a paci, etc. Que: Cradlewise, a high-tech baby crib announced at CES  to help parents through those initial sleepless nights by using an inbuilt baby monitor and artificial intelligence to learn your baby's sleeping patterns. If the $1,500 crib senses your baby is waking up early, it starts bouncing and playing music to put the baby back to sleep.

Most self-rocking cots respond when a baby cries, but Cradlewise uses sensors to detect a child’s first stirrings. Based on the baby’s sleep schedule, the crib then determines whether to soothe them back to sleep with bouncing motions or to let them wake up.

Something I love is that the height of the mattress is adjustable and can go from a bassinet for the early days to a toddler-sized bed as the baby grows. The crib can be used from birth to 24 months. "We designed a crib that we wanted as parents," says Radhika Patil, co-founder and CEO of Cradlewise. "Modern baby monitors just inform you that the baby has woken up. Cradlewise acts on early wakeup signs and automatically soothes the baby back to sleep."

We used the Snoo for our son and this was a problem, because our son was tall and outgrew it after 5 months. The Cradelwise  is on pre-order in the San Francisco area only as of mid-January.

Afraid of leaving your kid in a hot car? There’s a gadget for that

One of the most horrific stories I hear year after year is news stories about babies left in hot cars, so when I hear about tech companies trying to prevent that tragedy I have to report on it. Filo is one company that is trying to solve the problem with its Tata Pad safety pad, a smart car seat alarm that senses when a child has been left in a car seat. The company has a pad for older children and a small band meant for infants that attaches to the car seat’s seat belt, called the Tata Band.

Both devices have sensors to detect the presence of a child, and they connect to your phone via Bluetooth. When that connection is lost (because you’ve left the vehicle), but it still detects a child, the parent is notified with three levels of alarms. The first is a notification, the second is a call, and the third alarm sends calls and messages to predetermined emergency contacts who can access the GPS location of the Tata. The notification lasts 30 seconds and works even when your phone is on silent.

Tata is not currently available in the US, but the company says it hopes to be soon. FYI: On average, more than 30 children a year die from being left in a car seat in hot weather.

Read more about Tata here: https://getmytata.com/en/how-it-works/

A new way to sleep train

One of the hardest parts of being a new parent is figuring out how to sleep train your baby. There are two methods: Either baby doesn’t sleep (and neither does mom and dad) or the cry it out method (which is gut wrenching and hard, but works.) This year at CES, a new solution was showcased. It’s called the, Ainenne, an LED lamp that Japanese company First Ascent says is the world's first AI-powered sleep trainer. For babies who have trouble falling asleep at night or wake up soon after falling asleep, the Ainenne lamp mimics natural morning light to get your baby's body clock to reset. You can either choose the wakeup time yourself or the lamp predicts the best time based on setting an optimal circadian rhythm for your baby.

By gathering data of your baby going to sleep, and feeding it through our predictive algorithm, Ainenne will provide recommendations on when best to wake up.

Avoid and predict premature births with a digital health tool

If you are trying to get pregnant or just found out you are pregnant, there is a new digital tool called PopNatal that helps you avoid and predict premature births. Nixxi, a women’s health care start-up with its eye on improving pregnancy outcomes, is taking a major step forward as it unveils a noninvasive, self-administered digital tool that allows pregnant women to quickly learn their risk for preterm birth.

PopNatal, says it identifies nearly ten times more women who are at risk for preterm birth than any current screenings available for early pregnancy. The way things are done now is largely based on history-based screening, which misses 93% of women who will have a preterm delivery. Backed by new technology contributed by leading maternal-fetal medicine physicians and data scientists, PopNatal aims to go beyond and is immediately available to women, clinicians, and healthcare providers.

A low risk result provides reassurances as you plan for an important addition to your family. A high risk result allows you and your provider to create a custom pregnancy plan to reduce your risk and keep your growing baby as healthy as possible. Understanding this risk early gives you the best chance to take meaningful steps to improve your pregnancy.

The cost of PopNatal is eligible to be covered by HSA and FSA funds. Begin now and take control of your pregnancy.

Learn more here: https://nixxihealth.com/patients-preterm-birth/

Wireless fetal monitoring while giving birth

Thanks to the current emergency guidelines, Philips released a fetal monitoring device designed to help pregnant women and their physicians keep a close eye on what’s going on in the womb from the comfort of their own home.  

The system allows clinicians to keep a continuous eye on the mother’s and child’s heart rates, as well as uterine activity, for 48 hours straight using a single patch while the patients are at home. Instead of ultrasound, the fetal monitoring pod sends ECG and EMG signals to gauge the fetal and maternal heart rates and uterine activity from the mother's abdomen.

And because it's wireless, mothers in labor can adjust their position in bed, walk around the room or even take a shower while still hooked up to the monitoring system. According to Philips, more freedom to move around during labor means less pain, more comfort, a shorter birth and fewer episiotomies.

Pump on the go

Portable breast pumps ( a blessing so you don’t need to be tethered to the wall) have been around for a while now, with names like Elvie, Willow, Freemie and Babyation) and they keep getting better and better. This year, Philips updated its Avent breast pump to include natural motion technology. What is this you ask? It combines suction and nipple stimulation for a steadier milk flow. The double electric breast pump has silicone cushions that fit to the size and shape of the breast, eight stimulation and 16 expression levels, pause and start buttons and a rechargeable battery. 

This will be in the market in February and comes with a travel bag and pumping bag.

Cut out the screen time 

I will be the first to admit that since the pandemic I’ve allowed baby Jordan a few more minutes of screen time, but honestly all this staring at a screen melts his brains. So when I came across the Skoog Cube, the mommy geek in me got very excited. Originally focused on helping children with disabilities express their creativity through music, for CES 2021, the team at SKOOG created a suite of hands-on technology devices that is uniquely child-friendly.  Skoog collaborated with Sesame Street (Elmo knows what’s what!) to debut a sensory cube that doesn’t require any screens at all.

The parent-controlled app lets you control soft, squeezable, and glowing buttons for kids to play interactive songs, games, and stories. It sounds much better than restarting an Amazon Fire tablet for a 3-year-old over and over again. The Skoog can be a great family activity and children can play and learn on their own. Additionally, kids can use headphone ports to play without disrupting people around them.

Surveillance for less

GE Lighting, created its first indoor camera, part of its newly rebranded Cync line (which was C by GE), and it will be out in May. While it's not being sold as a baby monitor, it’s immediately apparent that it could be good for a budget-minded family looking for a way to monitor the crib for less than $100.

The Cync works with an app on your phone and the video data is stored in its micro SD card, not on the cloud, which keeps data secure. It’s also great to use just to keep an eye on the house from wherever you may be. 

Fun for the kids

If I was still a kid, the  Segway Ninebot S Nano, would be on my wish list.

The four vehicles Segway launched four vehicles at this year’s CES, but the cutest is the Ninebot S Nano, an electric scooter with a 13.7-mile range that’s intended for children. It has an intelligent voice-assist system and an integrated Bluetooth speaker. It also has a remote control function so you can turn it into a robot for remote gameplay.