At CES 2021 baby technology continues to flourish

This story is part of CES, where our editors will bring you the latest news and the most popular articles from the all-virtual CES 2021.

As a pregnant woman I went in CES 2021 eager to see technology that can facilitate the fertility experience. I want information to help predict if things can go wrong, I want to monitor the health of my pregnancy, and I want to enable all the technology to make the education of a newborn easier.

Luckily for me and all other couples who are expecting, pregnancy and women’s health are gaining strength in the technological field. Baby technology has graced the halls of CES for several years, including things like breast pump, baby monitors connected to your phone, smart thermometers and labels that follow how many words are spoken to a baby.

This year there were a few extra things as technology improves during pregnancy and during childbirth, as well as some updates beloved devices such as breast pumps.

Predicting premature births with a digital health tool

Premature birth, or babies born before 37 weeks, is the leading cause of newborn death. Similarly, babies born very early – at 28 weeks or less – who have these risks, up to the first year of life, including a higher risk for SIDs. Currently, the only way to predict premature birth is by asking a pregnant woman if she has given birth earlier.

“The approach only picks up 7% of premature births,” says 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 picking up women who will give birth prematurely.”

PopNatal counts for each patient more than 300 risk factors of preterm birth. This includes that you are pregnant with twins, triplets or more; IVF perceptions; a short period between pregnancies; high blood pressure; diabetes; the age of the mother; smoke; drink; tension; work long hours with long periods; and family history of preeclampsia.

PopNatal consolidates these factors into an algorithm that determines whether a woman is at high risk or at low risk of giving birth. It takes about 15 minutes to complete the form, 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, a high-risk obstetrician, and Dr. Chad Grotegut, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine. Between them, they have 27 years of experience in caring for high-risk pregnancies.

They want it to be widely used, not just by people with good health insurance. Currently, women who want to use it directly can access the tool online to get an individual risk assessment and companion report with guidance. Nixxi also wants to partner with healthcare providers.

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

Wireless fetal monitoring during childbirth

The electronics company Philips has unveiled a fetal monitoring device at CES: The Avalon beltless solution for maternal and fetal monitoring. Adhesive electrode sits on the mother’s stomach and magnetically connects it to a central pod. The 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 heartbeat of the fetus and the mother and the uterine activity of the mother’s abdomen.

And because it is wireless, mothers in labor can adjust their position in bed, walk around the room, or even shower while still connected to the monitoring system. According to Philips, more freedom to move around during labor means less pain, more comfort, a shorter birth and fewer episiotomies.

It can also be used simultaneously with Philips’ ultrasonic converter products, including the use of the same Avalon wireless base station. Because it does not need a band to hold it in place, it can even be used on mothers with high BMI and women undergoing epidurals.

Smart breast pumps still pull

It’s been around for a while now and has graced the halls of CES from companies like Elvie, Wilg, Freemie and Babyation.

This year, Philips updated its breast pump to include natural movement technology, which combines suction and nipple stimulation for a steady milk flow. The Philips Avent dual electric breast pump has silicone pads that fit the size and shape of the breast, eight stimulation and 16 expression levels, pause and start buttons and a rechargeable battery.

It comes on the market in February and comes with a suitcase and pump bag.

Smart cribs to get baby to sleep

Cradlewise announced at CES that its smart crib will be launched across the US in 2021. The $ 1,500 cradle uses a built-in baby monitor and artificial intelligence to learn your baby’s sleep pattern. If it feels like your baby is waking up early, he starts bouncing and playing music to get the baby back to sleep.

The cradle can be used from birth to 24 months. “We designed a crib we wanted as parents,” said Radhika Patil, co-founder and CEO of Cradlewise. “Modern baby monitors only let you know that the baby has woken up. Cradlewise responds to the early waking signs and automatically calms the baby back to sleep.”

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

You can now pre-order a Cradlewise Smart Crib, but it’s currently only available mid-January for the San Francisco Bay Area. For everyone, you have to wait longer.

Lamps for sleeping baby

This week, an LED lamp will also be displayed at the virtual CES, which according to the Japanese company First Ascent is the world’s first sleep coach. For babies who fall asleep at night or wake up after falling asleep, the Ainenne lamp mimics the natural morning light to restore your baby’s body clock. You can choose the waking time yourself or the lamp predicts the best time based on the optimal circadian rhythm for your baby.

To put your baby to sleep, it has a white noise and a blue light function, so that the eyes are not tense when waking up in the middle of the night.

It will also help you understand why your baby may be crying. The artificially intelligent lamp has a cry analysis used in the studies of 150 000 cry patterns in 150 different countries. This will give you advice on how your baby is likely to feel, including being hungry and sleepy.

It then collects and analyzes your baby’s sleep and crying data and presents this information in the smartphone app.

The Ainenne lamp is currently in production, and the company plans to start crowdfunding for sales in Japan in March 2021. He then plans to expand to the US at a cost of about $ 400.

A warning system to leave your baby in a warm car

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

“It’s not a discussion of whether you are a good parent or not. It’s just a fact that we lead a stressful life full of distractions,” Rudolf Jantos, head of B2C marketing at Italian company Filo, told CNET said.

The system includes a cushion for the baby seat that is connected via Bluetooth to send alerts to your phone. The pillow felt like a child was sitting on the seat, but the parent’s phone left the area. It sends an alert at three minutes with good notice, at four minutes with a call and at seven minutes with a call to your emergency contacts. The cushion is washable and uses round watch batteries that last up to a year.

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

He wants to start in the US by the fourth quarter of 2021 – but because some states do not allow anything to be placed between a baby and a car seat, Filo has also developed a strap that is attached to the seat belt strap. . It uses the same technology and feels like it touches a person through the clothes. The company is also considering integrating direct technology with car seat manufacturers.

The Tata baby safety system costs $ 60 for the strap or seat and will be sold by distributors such as Amazon, as well as its own website.

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