At CES 2021, baby technology continues to grow

This story is part of CES, where our editors will present the latest news and the hottest gadgets from CES 2021 entirely virtual.

As a pregnant woman, I went into CES 2021 looking forward to seeing the technology that could make the pregnancy experience easier. I want data to help predict whether things can go wrong, I want surveillance over the state of health of my pregnancy, and I want all the technology possible to facilitate the creation of a newborn.

Fortunately for me and all the other couples waiting around, pregnancy and women’s health are gaining momentum in the field of technology. Children’s technology has graced CES hallways for some years, including things like breast pumps, baby monitors connected to your phone, smart thermometers and tags that track how many words a baby speaks.

This year, there were some extra things as the technology improves during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as some updates for beloved devices like breast pumps.

Predicting premature births with a digital health tool

Premature birth, or babies born before 37 weeks, is the leading cause of death for newborns. So worrying are babies who are born very premature – aged 28 weeks or less – who are at risk for these risks extending into the first year of life, including an increased risk of SIDs. At the moment, the only way to predict premature birth is to ask a pregnant woman if she has given birth before.

“This approach captures only 7% of premature births,” said Dr. Avi Patil, CEO of Nixxi. His company has developed a digital health tool, called PopNatal, to more accurately predict premature births. “Our rate is about 75% sensitive to pick up women who are going to have a premature birth.”

PopNatal records more than 300 risk factors for premature birth for each patient. This includes being pregnant with twins, triplets or more; IVF conceptions; a short period of time between pregnancies; high pressure; diabetes; the mother’s age; smoke; drinking; stress; working long hours with long standing periods; and family history of pre-eclampsia.

PopNatal consolidates these factors in an algorithm that determines whether a woman is at high risk or low risk of premature birth. The form takes about 15 minutes to complete, and Nixxi will send the results directly to your doctor within 72 hours.

PopNatal has been tested on thousands of pregnant women and was developed by Patil, who is a high-risk obstetrician, and by Dr. Chad Grotegut, a specialist in maternal and fetal medicine. Together, they have 27 years of experience in caring for high-risk pregnant women.

They want it to be widely used, not just by those who have good health insurance. Currently, women who wish to use it directly can access the online tool to obtain an individual risk assessment and accompanying companion report. Nixxi is also looking to work with healthcare professionals.

Next, Patil told CNET that Nixxi is developing blood tests to identify high-risk women and to pick up babies who are most at risk of being in the NICU.

Wireless fetal monitoring during delivery

The electronics company Philips presented a fetal monitoring device at CES: Avalon beltless maternal and fetal monitoring solution. Adhesive electrodes are placed on the mother’s belly and magnetically connect to a central tube. This pod sends information via Wi-Fi to a base station as delivery progresses.

Instead of ultrasound, the fetal monitoring pod sends ECG and EMG signals to measure the fetal and maternal heart rate and uterine activity of the mother’s abdomen.

And being wireless, mothers in labor can adjust their position on the bed, walk around the room or even shower while they are still connected to the monitoring system. According to Philips, more freedom to move around during labor means less pain, more comfort, a shorter delivery and less episiotomies.

It can also be used simultaneously with Philips ultrasound transducer products, including the use of the same Avalon cable-free base station. Since it does not need a strap to hold it in place, it can even be used on mothers with high BMI and women who have had an epidural.

Smart breast pumps continue to gain strength

They’ve been around for a while, adorning the CES hallways of companies like Elvie, Willow tree, Freemie and Babyation.

This year, Philips updated its breast pump to include natural motion technology, which combines nipple sucking and stimulation for a more stable milk flow. The Philips Avent electric double breastpump extractor has silicone pads that adjust to the size and shape of the breast, eight stimuli and 16 levels of expression, pause and start buttons and a rechargeable battery.

It will hit the market in February and comes with a travel bag and a pumping bag.

Smart cribs to pack the baby to sleep

Cradlewise announced at CES that it is launching its smart crib in 2021 in the U.S. The $ 1,500 crib uses a built-in baby monitor and artificial intelligence to learn your baby’s sleep patterns. If he feels his baby is waking up early, he starts jumping and playing music to put him back to sleep.

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 report that the baby has woken up. Cradlewise acts on the first signs of awakening and automatically calms the baby back to sleep.”

It will also share your baby’s sleep data in an app.

You can order a Cradlewise Smart Crib now, but it is currently only available in mid-January for the San Francisco Bay area. For everyone else, you will have to wait longer.

Lamps for sleeping baby

Also on display at the virtual CES this week is an LED lamp that Japanese company First Ascent claims to be the world’s first AI-powered sleep trainer. For babies who have trouble falling asleep at night or wake up right after falling asleep, the Ainenne lamp mimics the natural morning light to set the baby’s biological clock to zero. You can choose the wake-up time yourself or the lamp predicts the best time based on setting an ideal circadian rhythm for your baby.

To help your baby fall asleep, it has a white noise and blue light function so that the eyes are not strained during waking in the middle of the night.

It will also help you understand why your baby may be crying. The artificially intelligent lamp has crying analyzes that are based on studies of 150,000 crying patterns in 150 different countries. He will advise you on how your baby is probably feeling, including hunger and sleep.

It then collects and analyzes your baby’s sleep and crying data and presents that data on the smartphone app.

The Ainenne lamp is currently in production, with the company planning to start crowdfunding for sales in Japan in March 2021. After that, it plans to expand to the US at a cost of around $ 400.

An alert system to let your baby in a hot car

Since 1998, 873 children have died in the United States after being left in a hot car. One is too much. The Tata baby seat system will warn you if you accidentally leave a child behind.

“It is not a discussion about whether you are a good father or not. It is purely a fact that we live a stressful and distracted life,” Rudolf Jantos, head of B2C marketing at Italian company Filo, told CNET.

The system includes a baby seat cushion that connects via Bluetooth to send notices to your phone. The pad detects whether a child is sitting in the chair, but the parent’s phone has left the area. Sends a warning at three minutes with a sound notification, at four minutes with a call and at seven minutes with a call to your emergency contacts. The pad is washable and uses round watch batteries that last up to one year.

Filo sold 1 million units in Italy last year, after Italy became the first country in the world to have a law that required all drivers to have a car seat reminder alarm device that prevents minors from being left behind in vehicles.

The launch in the United States is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2021 – but, as some states do not allow anything to be placed between a baby and a car seat, Filo has also developed a bracelet that attaches to the seat belt. He uses the same technology, feeling that he is touching a human being through his clothes. The company is also considering the direct integration of its technology with car seat manufacturers.

The Tata baby safety system costs $ 60 for the seat belt or cushion and would be sold by distributors like Amazon, as well as through its own website.

The information in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended for medical or health advice. Always consult a doctor or other qualified healthcare professional regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health goals.