When your baby is asleep in the other room, it can be tempting not to check on them constantly to ensure their well-being. While your baby is likely safe and secure in their room while they sleep, it’s common for parents to experience anxiety when away from their child, even if it’s just during nap time. But with new advances in technology, it’s never been easier to keep an eye on your child, and even more, to monitor their health at the same time.
Miku is a revolutionary smart baby monitor that allows parents to track their baby’s breathing, sounds, and sleeping patterns. It’s a contact-free device, meaning parents don’t need to attach a wire or wearable to their infant, rather using its patented Sensor Fusion technology to track the baby’s patterns. The device is one-of-a-kind, and aside from giving parents peace of mind, it can also provide valuable information to your child’s doctor that can help them determine if and when something is amiss.
BabyGaga had the chance to speak to some of the brilliant minds behind Miku Smart Baby Monitor, including Colt Seman, Founder and CMO, Eric White, Founder and CEO, and pediatrician Dr. Jacqueline Winkelman, M.C., the Medical Advisor to Miku and Chief-Of-Staff at CHOC Children’s at Mission Hospital to learn more about the Miku smart baby monitor and also what parents should be looking for when shopping for a baby monitor to suit their needs.
Alexandra Sakellariou for BabyGaga(BG): What parts of a baby monitor should parents pay the most attention to when choosing one?
Colt Seman (CS): When shopping for a baby monitor, a parent is essentially looking for a tool to help when they’re not physically able to be in the same room. Something to help them do the things they normally would: see their baby, hear their baby, and without actually touching their baby, know that he or she is breathing and sleeping soundly. With that in mind, the most important features parents should pay attention to when choosing a baby monitor can break down to 3 basic elements: the device should provide great image quality day and night, allow you to hear your child clearly, and provide peace of mind that your little one is breathing and sleeping soundly.
(BG): Is there any aspect of a baby monitor that could be dangerous to the little ones?
Eric White (EW): Any baby monitor available on a market is required to be certified by the regulatory agency, like the FCC in the US. That being said, as with any electronic device that you use in the nursery or in your home, there is still a burden on the parent to ensure that you use safety with cords and anything hanging on the walls in the room like a baby monitor installed on a wall mount. When designing the installation experience for the Miku Smart Baby Monitor, we kept safety top-of-mind: cord conduits to protect from curious little hands and a locking base plate to keep the monitor securely fastened and stable on the wall.
One of the main advantages of the Miku Smart Baby Monitor is that it doesn’t require the baby wear anything, such as a wire or clip, in order to track their breathing and sleeping patterns. Can you explain a bit in depth how this technology works?
(EW): Miku’s proprietary SensorFusion technology uses a combination of multiple sensors, AI, and an internal processor to capture and analyze a baby’s breathing patterns in real time. SensorFusion is named for how it combines multiple sensor modalities, each one supporting and validating the others, as opposed to using a single modality, which is susceptible to noise and thus an unreliable solution. Essentially, Miku has eyes (camera), ears (microphone array), and touch (RADAR). SensorFusion has also been validated in a 5,000 hour IRB-approved study, and we published the results in our Miku White Paper. One of the many benefits of Miku’s SensorFusion technology is that it is contact-free. This eliminates the need for wearable devices (clips, socks, swaddles, pads), maintenance (washing, charging, outgrowing), and external risks (rubbing, re-adjusting, constant calibration). Plus, Miku works for any age!
(BG): Why is it especially important in this day and age with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to track your baby’s breathing and sleeping?
Dr. Jacqueline Winkelman (JW): In general, smart monitors give parents tools to “get to know their child” in new ways. Monitors give parents eyes inside the baby’s room and allows them to better understand their own child’s sleeping and breathing patterns. Despite the fact that children seem to fare well with COVID-19, young infants and those with special circumstances (prematurity, immune deficiencies, etc.) might benefit from extra attention and monitoring.
(BG): If the baby is symptomatic, what can parents keep track of to give to the pediatrician once they decide to seek medical attention?
(JW): Knowing your child’s baseline respiratory rate, oxygen levels, or heart rate is useful and can help determine if changes from that baseline, along with symptoms, would warrant a visit to the pediatrician or health care provider. They would be able to instruct you on what specifically might be helpful to continue monitoring until your baby is well.
(BG): When shopping for baby monitors, what do most parents overlook? How does the Miku Smart Baby Monitor address these issues?
(CS): As more and more parents are opting for smart baby monitors and specifically ones that track breathing and sleeping patterns, parents should focus on both the short-term monitoring experience as well as the long-term benefits. How do you, as a parent, want your baby monitor to benefit your daily life, and how can it continue to provide value as your child grows?
At Miku, we understand that a product that provides accurate and reliable breathing and sleep tracking is a complex technology, so we designed the Miku Smart Baby Monitor to be simple and intuitive to fit seamlessly into a new parent’s lifestyle. With our contact-free technology, Miku empowers parents with a “set it and forget it” mentality so that your daily attention can be on your little one and not on a device. The Miku monitoring experience is unconditional, designed to capture breathing and sleep patterns in real-life scenarios regardless of lighting, clothing, or body position. Wearable solutions require charging, cleaning, and maintenance, and are only useful until a baby grows out of them after 12 months. Still, parents want peace of mind well beyond that. Miku tracks your child’s breathing and sleeping patterns at any age, providing you with a complete picture of your child’s wellness as they grow.
(BG): There have been a lot of scary stories recently of strangers hacking into baby monitors and violating families’ privacy. What technology does the Miku Smart Baby Monitor incorporate in order to prevent traumatizing situations like these?
(EW): When it comes to electronic device security, the most important and classically forgotten rule is to never reveal the measures you put into place. With that in consideration, we’re happy to share two basic security functions of the Miku Smart Baby Monitor: 256-bit data encryption and an embedded, tamper-resistant crypto chip, a feature unique to Miku.
(BG): Miku’s Smart Baby Monitor prides itself in being easy to install. What are some of the major mistakes parents make when installing a monitor in their baby’s room?
(EW): The product performs best when installed as instructed using the included wall mount or stand properly positioned over your child's crib. The major mistake that can be made is not carefully following the installation instructions and guidelines. For example, failing to use the included cord coverings and fasteners can create a danger to a baby.
(BG): On top of a baby monitor, what sort of gadgets can parents get for their baby's room to help ensure that everything is safe and well?
(JW): In general, pediatricians are not big proponents on “gadgets,” for two reasons: 1. Parents might get a false sense of security and for example, decide not to follow safe sleep guidelines. 2. Some parents might obsess over numbers and no new parent needs added stress! With that said, technological advances have helped parents, saved them time (and who couldn’t use extra time?), and reassured them all is OK with their baby. Can’t fault any parent for wanting that extra reassurance!
A smart monitor (like Miku) not only gives you information regarding your baby’s breathing and sleep patterns, but it also helps create an ideal environment for healthy sleep. It gives you information about the room’s temperature and humidity (both important for comfortable sleep), creates a peaceful environment with lullabies and soothing noises, and reassures parents that their baby is ok even from a distance.
One last thing…monitors and gadgets are great to give parents peace of mind, but they don’t replace safe sleep practices!
(BG): Do you have any advice for parents navigating the confusing world of baby gadgets?
There is a new gadget being developed for the baby industry every day. And understandably, it can be overwhelming for parents navigating the world of baby tech. Some help you with a basic task like mixing formula at the touch of a button while others are more complex, designed to give you additional insight into sleep trends or to give you peace of mind, like a baby monitor. At the end of the day, going for a reliable solution is paramount. Your day to day as a parent is unpredictable. Conditions aren’t always ideal. This was absolutely something that went into the development of Miku’s contact-free technology - a breathing and sleep tracking solution that was adaptable to any unpredictable lighting, body position, clothing, and movement in the nursery environment.
Also, lean into your community and ask what products or gadgets are working for other parents. Of course, what’s working for others may not always be what will work for you, but learning about your priorities and your needs will help you determine what you expect from your baby tech.
Thank you so much to Miku's team for taking the time to speak to BabyGaga. If you wish to learn more about Miku, and how a smart baby monitor can help monitor your child's sleeping and breathing patterns, you can check out their website.