At CES 2021, baby tech continues to thrive

This story is part of THESE, where our editors will bring you the latest news and the hottest gadgets from fully virtual CES 2021.

As a pregnant woman, I entered CES 2021 keen to see a technology that could facilitate the reproductive experience. I want the data to help predict if things are likely to go wrong, I want monitoring of my pregnancy health, and I want all the technology I can get to make a newborn baby’s education easier.

Lucky for me and all other future couples, pregnancy and women’s health are gaining ground in the tech realm. Baby tech has been hitting CES hallways for a few years now, including things like draws milk, baby monitors connected to your telephone, smart thermometers and tags that record the number of words spoken to a baby.

This year, there have been a few more things as technology improves during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as a few updates from popular devices such as breast pumps.

Predict premature births with a digital health tool

Prematurity, or babies born before 37 weeks, is the leading cause of neonatal death. Equally of concern are babies born very prematurely – at 28 weeks or less – who have these risks during the first year of life, including a higher risk of MIS. Right now, the only way to predict preterm birth is to ask a pregnant woman if she has given birth prematurely before.

“This approach only affects 7% of preterm 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 around 75% sensitivity to pick up women who will give birth prematurely.”

PopNatal identifies more than 300 risk factors for premature birth for each patient. These include being pregnant with twins, triplets or more; Conceptions of IVF; a short period between pregnancies; arterial hypertension; Diabetes; mother’s age; smoking; while drinking; stress; working long hours with long periods of standing; and family history of preeclampsia.

PopNatal consolidates these factors into an algorithm that determines whether a woman is at high risk or low risk of preterm delivery. The form takes approximately 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 Dr. Chad Grotegut, a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine. Between them, they have 27 years of experience in the management of high-risk pregnancies.

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

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

Wireless fetal monitoring during childbirth

Electronics company Philips presented a fetal monitoring device at CES: Avalon Beltless Maternal and Fetal Monitoring Solution. Adhesive electrodes are glued to the mother’s tummy and magnetically connect to a central capsule. This pod sends information over Wi-Fi to a base station as the delivery progresses.

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

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

It can also be used simultaneously with Philips ultrasonic transducer products, including using the same Avalon wireless base station. Because it doesn’t require a strap to hold it in place, it can even be used on mothers with a high BMI and women undergoing an epidural.

Smart breast pumps continue to gain traction

These have been around for quite some time, gracing the CES halls of companies like Elvie, willow, Freemie and Babyation.

This year, Philips updated its breast pump to include Natural Motion Technology, which combines suction and nipple stimulation for smoother milk flow. The Philips Avent double electric breast pump has silicone cushions that adapt to the size and shape of the breast, eight stimulation levels and 16 expression levels, pause and start buttons and a rechargeable battery.

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

Smart cradles to put baby to sleep

Cradlewise announced at CES the launch of its smart cradle in 2021 in the United States. The $ 1,500 crib uses a built-in baby monitor and artificial intelligence to learn your baby’s sleep patterns. If he feels your baby is waking up early, he will start bouncing and playing music to put him to sleep.

The cradle 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 let you know 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 on an app.

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

Sleeping baby lamps

This week, an LED light is also on display at virtual CES, which Japan-based First Ascent says is the world’s first AI-powered sleep trainer. For babies who have trouble falling asleep at night or who wake up shortly after falling asleep, the Ainenne Lamp mimics natural morning light to reset your baby’s body clock. You can choose your own wake-up time or the lamp predicts the best time based on setting an optimal circadian rhythm for your baby.

To help your baby fall asleep, it has white noise and blue light function so that the eyes won’t get tired during waking up in the middle of the night.

It will also help you understand why your baby is crying. The Artificially Smart Lamp has a crying analysis that draws on studies of 150,000 crying patterns in 150 different countries. It will tell you how your baby is likely to feel, including hunger and drowsiness.

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

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

A warning system for leaving 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 many. The Tata Infant Car Seat System alerts you if you’ve accidentally left a child behind.

“This is not a discussion of whether you are a good parent or not. It is purely a fact that we live a stressful life full of distractions,” Rudolf Jantos, head of B2C marketing at the company, told CNET. Italian Filo.

The system includes a cushion for the baby seat that connects via Bluetooth to send warnings to your phone. The keypad detects if a child is sitting in the seat but the parent’s phone has left the area. It sends a warning at three minutes with an audible notification, four minutes with a phone call, and seven minutes with a phone call to your emergency contacts. The pad 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 a car seat reminder alarm device that prevents minors being left behind in vehicles.

It plans to launch in the United States by Q4 2021 – but because some states don’t allow placing anything between an infant and a car seat, Filo has also developed a band that attaches to the seat belt strap. . He uses the same technology, feeling he is touching a human being through clothing. The company is also considering the direct integration of its technology with car seat manufacturers.

The Tata baby safety system is priced at $ 60 for the band or seat pad and would be sold through distributors like Amazon, as well as on its own site.

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