On their back, not on their stomach or any other position.But take their health and safety claims with a grain of salt, and always follow the AAP's safe sleep recommendations Opens a new window. Wright sums up, if you feel more reassurance than anxiety using these kinds of monitors, that's up to you. This can potentially lead to increased parental anxiety, associated sleep disruptions, or unnecessary medical visits.' There is some data to show that these monitors can result in false alarms or inaccurate readings, and in some instances fail to register clinically significant events altogether. Wright agrees: Apnea monitors and those that track movement “provide varying amounts of individualized information, but there is not significant evidence to show that they increase safety or decrease the occurrence of outcomes such as SIDS. 'One study found that parents of monitored infants said they felt more depressed, compared to parents of infants that weren't monitored.'ĭr. 'Parents may actually feel more fear and anxiety if they often use medical equipment to check on their healthy baby,' the AAP warns. In fact, says the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), 'Home apnea monitors give little or no protection from SIDS.' Opens a new window Research hasn't established a link between apnea and SIDS, and even full-term newborns may experience brief periods of apnea in their first few weeks. They are more often used to provide parents with a subjective level of reassurance around sleep and safety, although current evidence does not objectively demonstrate that they are actually useful for this purpose.” Jordan Wright, MD, FAAP, a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente in Denver, Colorado: “There really isn’t any data that tells us baby monitors are needed for safety. These types of monitors have led some parents to worry that they need a baby monitor for safety's sake.įear not, says Dr. Of course, there are also monitors that promise to watchdog and track your baby's heartbeat, breathing, or movements, sending an alarm if breathing stops (apnea) or when heartbeat is atypically slow. Some work in conjunction with an app on your phone so you can watch your baby from work or anywhere in the world some come with a separate viewing unit, some can accommodate multiple cameras, which are great for parents of multiples. Most often used to monitor your baby while they’re sleeping, baby monitors are a great way to put your mind at ease, and there are monitors for every need and budget. Baby monitors are audio and video devices that allow you to check in on your baby by listening in or watching live-stream video while you are in another room. In today's market, there are endless monitor options to meet the varying needs of most families. doi:10.1542/peds.Any parent who has tried tiptoeing around the nursery only to accidentally wake their sleeping baby can appreciate a good baby monitor. SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths: updated 2016 recommendations for a safe infant sleeping environment. Moon RY, Darnall RA, Feldman-Winter L, Goodstein MH, Hauck FR. Barriers to and interventions that increase nurses’ and parents’ compliance with safe sleep recommendations for preterm infants.

Postmortem review and genetic analysis in sudden infant death syndrome: an 11-year review. Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.Įvans A, Bagnall RD, Duflou J, Semsarian C.

University of Adelaide Press 2018.Ĭenters for Disease Control and Prevention. SIDS Sudden Infant and Early Childhood Death: The Past, the Present and the Future. Sudden infant death syndrome: definitions. Warning Letter, Owlet Baby Care, Inc.īyard RW.

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