Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor - Review 2022

Having a new infant is frequently nerve-wracking. The take chances of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) particularly is crusade for business concern equally your newborn is developing routines and getting used to sleeping outside of the womb. The Owlet Smart Sock 2 ($299.99) has cutting down on my worry considerably. It's a continued pulse oximeter that allows you to cheque on your baby's vitals any time through an app, and information technology will notify you automatically if at that place'southward a trouble. It works with babies up to 18 months, which is enough, since 90 percent of SIDS cases occur before six months and none occur later one year. The Owlet isn't cheap, just you go a off-white corporeality of peace of mind for the coin.

Thoughtful Pattern

The Owlet comes with three different socks to accommodate a growing infant (additional socks are available for $39.99 each), a sensor that slides into the sock, and a base station. The socks themselves are made of a very soft hypoallergenic cotton and are adjustable around the elevation of the foot as well as the heel, so while my petty one isn't crazy about actually putting information technology on, she'southward very comfy with it once it's in place. It comes with clear instructions to make sure yous're using the right size for your baby.

The sensor that slides into the smart sock needs to recharge every day by plugging into the base via USB cable. Lights indicate whether information technology'southward all the same charging or fully charged. The sensor uses pulse oximetry, much like the little one they clip onto your fingertip at the doctor's office. It communicates readings to your iOS device (iPhone 5 or later) via Bluetooth, and tin can last up to 18 hours on a charge.

The base station is where all the important stuff happens. It's a disc about iii inches wide, with a light ring around its circumference that tells you with a green pulsing light that all is well, or a red flashing calorie-free and sound if your babe'southward oxygen level or respiratory charge per unit are at dangerous levels. It tin can also alert you to poor sock placement and loss of signal by flashing yellow and blue lights, respectively; it emits audio with those alerts equally well, but they can exist turned off. All of the alerts are besides sent to your phone via the Owlet app.

The app is well-designed and intuitive to apply, but is only available for iOS. The domicile screen offers a photo of your baby surrounded by pulsing dots to indicate that readings are normal. Swiping upwards pulls up alive center rate and oxygen level readings and further information nigh how the readings can vary. From the app you tin can also view past notifications (battery, placement, red alerts, etc.) and explanations of those notifications.

The interface is simple, yet it offers lots of information for the concerned parent. I've never been interested in using a monitor of this nature, but now that I have experience with it, I'm finding it provides me with a new level of peace I didn't feel with my showtime kid.

Owlet Delivers

Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor

The instructions for connecting the base to the internet, choosing the correct sock for my baby, and understanding the indicator lights were easy to understand and follow. When the sock was too loose or poorly placed, the base and app notified me right away so I could fix it. Over several weeks of utilize, I only received one time false red alert (due to the sock being too loose), but I was glad to know that the warning was loud enough to wake me from a dead sleep. Obviously, if my babe wasn't getting enough oxygen, I'd want to exist alerted speedily and loudly.

The instructions say that base needs to be shut to the sock when it'south beingness worn, as it has a maximum Bluetooth range of 100 feet, which is a bummer for those who take the infant'due south crib in a room other than their own. However, I took the Smart Sock all over my house without losing connectedness, and so your experience will depend on your abode's construction and layout.

The lights and sound alerts from the base unit won't practise you lot much good if the base of operations is in a dissimilar room from where you sleep. If that'southward the case, you can turn the notification sounds off for the base of operations unit and receive alerts only on your phone.

Continued Care

Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor The Owlet feel volition soon undergo a makeover chosen Continued Care. Continued Care is a new app that aggregates the information from the Smart Sock into averages, graphs, and sleep tracking. I spent some fourth dimension with the new app in beta, and it's what I've come to expect from Owlet: simple to understand, yet loaded with helpful data.

On the beginning day I tried Connected Care I was feeling unusually sleep-deprived due to my 5-calendar week-old'south fussiness throughout contempo days (and nights). I opened upwardly Connected Intendance, and the bottom of the home page offered a tip: "Your baby is going through her first leap in mental development, known as the world of changing sensations…It'due south normal for infants to experience the three C's during mental leaps: crankiness, clinginess, and crying." I very much appreciated that timely tip, letting me know that everything is fine—physically and mentally.

Comparisons and Conclusions

At that place are a couple of comparable monitors on the market right now. One very similar monitor in style and function (but not price) is the Infant Vida Oxygen Monitor ($159.99). The sock pattern and app aren't equally polished as the Owlet's, and many reviewers complain of inaccurate readings. The skilful news is that information technology'south portable and doesn't rely on a base of operations being plugged in like the Owlet does.

While it isn't a pulse oximeter and doesn't directly monitor your infant's vitals, the Baby Delight Video, Movement, and Positioning Monitor ($229.99) uses a pendant-style move detector to measure your baby'due south breathing and position, and a Wi-Fi monitor lets you picket their room, if it's split from your ain bedroom.

The Owlet Smart Sock 2 is a solid infant monitor that'southward reliable and piece of cake to utilise. Information technology'south cut downwardly drastically on my tendency to sneak upwards to my sleeping newborn and hover over her until I can meet her chest moving. I sleep a scrap better (literally) knowing I'll be alerted if she'due south having problem breathing, and even though I've washed this "new baby" thing two times before, that worry never goes away. Luckily, we take the technology now to ease that worry, even if just a fiddling.