Smart Nursery Features: Baby Rooms of the Future

There are smart tech tools for every person in the family and every room of the house — including baby.

Parenthood can be grueling, and smart gadgets designed for use in the nursery are here to make the journey through infancy safer and easier for everyone. If you are designing your baby’s space, here are a few features your smart nursery absolutely needs.

Smart Bassinet

Admittedly, a bassinet doesn’t usually go in the nursery. Many parents opt to keep baby in a bassinet in their bedroom until baby is six months old, which makes frequent nighttime wakings during this age range easier to manage. Still, smart features in a bassinet can make it even easier to keep baby sleeping soundly.

Snoo Smart Bassinet

Smart bassinets like the SNOO, TruBliss and mamaRoo can detect when baby is waking up prematurely and gently soothe them back to slumber. Considering how little time you are likely to use a bassinet, you should look into renting one or borrowing one from another parent nearby.

Smart Crib

While there are more than a few smart bassinets, there is only one smart crib: Cradlewise. Like the bassinets, this crib can sense when baby is waking up, and it lulls baby with an innovative bouncing motion that mimics the motions of a parent. Parents struggling with a motion-loving baby tend to see major progress toward independent sleep using a smart crib like this.

Cradlewise Smart Crib

Smart Monitor

Smart baby monitors can take some of the guesswork out of caring for baby, which provides plenty of relief to first-time parents. Wearable monitors, like the Owlet sock, can track baby’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels, which are useful for detecting when baby is sick and needs special care. Smart video monitors can send your phone push notifications when baby is waking up, when the temperature or humidity of the room shifts or when other noteworthy changes occur.

Smart Monitor

In selecting a smart monitor, you need to be careful to find one that is committed to the best possible security. IoT devices, like the smart tech in baby’s room, can be particularly susceptible to hacking, and the last thing you want is a stranger online seeing your precious sleeping little one — or worse.

Smart Sound Machine

Baby sleep experts almost across the board advocate for use of sound machines, which mimic the noise of the womb and provide baby comfort as they rest while drowning out distracting and startling house sounds. Smart sound machines give you the opportunity to adjust the noise remotely; you can increase the volume if your little one needs soothing to continue sleeping, or you can turn off the sound to help baby wake up on schedule.

Smart Changing Pad

If you are one to track every detail of baby’s development, you might enjoy having a smart changing pad in the nursery. This tool takes notes on baby’s weight, which can be incredibly useful if you need to know about baby’s size in between doctor appointments. The scale is sensitive enough to detect grams or ounces, so you can weigh baby before and after a feeding to understand how much baby is eating and feel comfortable about baby’s growth. Currently, Hatch makes the only smart changing pad, which connects to an app on your phone.

Smart Thermometer

When baby might be sick, you don’t want to waste time with an old-fashioned, inaccurate thermometer. Some smart thermometers live in baby’s clothes to provide real-time temperature monitoring, so you know the second baby’s temperature reaches a dangerous level. Other smart thermometers provide lightning-quick readings using infrared technology, so you can be sure of temperature accuracy even when your little one is vexed and squirming.

Ceiling Fan

One nursery feature that is always smart to include — even if you don’t need other elements of baby’s room to connect to the web — is a ceiling fan. Though researchers still aren’t sure what causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), they have some clues about ways parents can limit baby’s risk. Studies have found that babies who sleep beneath ceiling fans reduce their SIDS risk by 72 percent. You might install ceiling fans with lights in any rooms where baby is going to sleep, so you can keep them safer and give yourself peace of mind.

Little ones grow up surrounded by all sorts of technology, so why shouldn’t you make sure that tech makes your parenting job easier? The above smart products aren’t must-haves, but they are practical and fun tools for a high-tech nursery.

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