3 Insider Tips for Choosing a Smart Baby Monitor
Comparison shopping? This expert info can help you get a better bang for your buck.
A few years ago, baby monitors did one simple thing: let you see and hear your baby. Now, just like you can track your own stats with an Apple Watch or FitBit, you can also track things like baby’s sleep habits and breathing motions with your baby monitor. So what makes one smart monitor better than the other?
First, let’s take a look at what makes a monitor smart. High-tech sensors, HD cameras, built-in Wi-Fi capability, sleep tracking apps—any monitor that incorporates data and helps you care for your baby is considered smart. Why might you want that? The data collected by your smart monitor is gathered and presented to you in a way that helps you react to your baby’s needs and make changes, if need be.
We’ve partnered with Miku to share a few of their insider tips on what to look for when comparing all those smart baby monitors. Their wearable-free smart monitor was created to be super parent-friendly—it tracks baby’s breathing motions and gathers sleep information without needing to put any sensors, straps or accessories on your baby. Here’s what to consider when looking at this kind of gear.
What Kind of Tracking Do You Want?
Think about what kind of information you want to have about your baby when you wake up each morning and what kind of data might give you peace of mind at night. Do you want to be able to track your baby’s breathing motion without having to lurk over their crib? Or do you think you’ll be the kind of parent who lives by the nap schedule and wants sleep advice delivered to your phone? (Or maybe you want both!)
With Miku’s Care+ program, you get a dashboard within your app that was created by leading pediatric experts. It lets you know about changes in your baby’s data (like breathing rates) and what those changes could mean. For example:
- A change in breathing rate could indicate baby is about to get sick before you even notice it with your own eyes.
- Heat and humidity, which are known to affect breathing rates, could be the cause of changes in your child’s breathing rate at night.
Pretty cool, right? You’ll also get sleep summary reports with graphs and charts that can help you crack the code of how baby is sleeping from week to week and use that information to adjust their daily sleep routines and habits.
How Breathing Motion Monitors Work with Baby
Some smart video monitors rely on physical sensors like swaddles, socks or bands to monitor baby’s breathing. That means if you want to track your baby’s sleep or breathing habits, you’ll need to put that sensor on every single time you put your baby down—which might be a challenge if you’re the kind of person who can’t find matching socks in the morning (for yourself, let alone the baby).
If you’d rather avoid wearable sensors because it’s one more thing to keep track of, there are also breathing motion monitors like the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor, with no wearable sensors or electronics. Instead, the Miku Pro uses a combination of high-tech sensors in the monitor itself, and an algorithm to gather information while your baby sleeps (or plays or hangs out in the crib). It’s basically the same technology that helps self-driving cars “see.”
It’s Not All About Sleep Tracking
Sleep tracking and breathing monitoring are awesome, but they’re only a portion of what you might use your monitor for. Here are a few other things to look for to make it easier to keep an eye on your baby.
- Camera Zoom and Pan: Digital zoom, side-to-side (pan) and up-and-down (tilt) movements come in handy when your baby gets a little older and you want to be able to watch them when they’re playing solo in their room (are they busy in the toy box or are they pulling all the books from the shelves?).
- WiFi: While some baby monitors require you to carry around a separate device to watch your baby, WiFi monitors let you stream your baby’s video right to your phone. This means you can check in on baby even when you’re out of the house (date night!). For streaming purposes, look for 5 Ghz/2.4 GhZ for faster and clearer video quality.
- Two-Way Talk Microphone: Sometimes, your baby just needs to hear your voice to help comfort them, and a two-way talk microphone lets you respond easily without having to go to your baby’s room. Perfect for when you’re cooking dinner or snuggled up on the couch.
- Environmental Extras: There are lots of things that can impact your baby’s sleep, so look for a monitor that gives you details on room temperature, ambient light and humidity. These small insights will help you make adjustments to baby’s routine, and hopefully lead to more restful sleep.
If you’re the kind of person who can’t imagine life before your Apple Watch, a smart baby monitor like the Miku Pro could be your parenting equivalent. It can help track your baby’s breathing motion and sleep patterns, and there’s nothing to charge, wash or put on your baby. And since there are no accessories to outgrow, you can use the Miku Pro well into toddlerhood and beyond.
This article is sponsored by Miku. Babylist’s free site, apps and emails are made possible by our sponsors. We limit our sponsored content to relevant partners that offer products and services we believe in and use ourselves.