why aap doesnt recommend smart baby monitors

With so many different types of baby monitors on the market, it can get confusing to know what is the best kind for your family. Many options are more advanced, and while they may seem like the better choice, they may not be.

There are reports from the Journal of the American Medical Association that warn specifically against parents using newer “smart” baby monitors that sync to their smart phone, to warn if their baby stops breathing.

Wearable baby monitors are designed to monitor a baby’s heart rate and breathing and alert parents or caregivers if their baby stops breathing. For example, the Owlet sock monitor and other options are pulse saturation technology, similar to what you would find in a hospital. These are designed to be as accurate as possible and not alert a parent unless it’s a true emergency. Because newborns have irregular breathing, this is a common issue most monitors try to address.

Many parents use wearable monitors for peace of mind, but the monitors do also pose a risk if they fall off or become faulty.

Non-contact baby monitors are devices that do not actually touch your baby. They may simply transmit sound from your baby’s room to a base monitor and use night vision technology to allow you to look at your baby at all times.

Non-contact baby monitors have usually focused on letting a parent or caregiver see or hear the baby, but newer models are taking the monitoring up a notch by promising to track a baby’s heart and breathing rates as well.

Raybaby, for example, is a non-contact monitor aiming to be the world’s first to accurately monitor a heart rate and breathing.

This is just one example of the push for more ways to use technology to keep a constant eye on our babies.