The baby industry has recently been flooded with connected products, including connected onesies that double as sleep trackers and a robotic crib that's supposed to help rock a baby to sleep. Now, there's a new addition to the baby products market: a diaper sensor that detects when your kid goes to the bathroom.
Pampers has introduced a new smart sensor that will send parents a notification when their child has a wet diaper. The new device, dubbed as Lumi by Pampers, was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, according to KTLA.
The device, dubbed as Lumi by Pampers, is described as "the world's first all-in-one connected care system" that helps parents keep track of their baby's day-to-day activity and monitor their child around the clock, allowing them to determine patterns and set a suitable routine for their child.
How does it work?
The smart device is essentially an activity sensor that attaches to the baby's diaper (via Velcro) and detects when the diaper is soiled or wet before sending out a notification to the parents that it's time for a diaper change. The app will display one of three diaper statuses: dry, wet, very wet.
The diaper sensor comes bundled with a smart HD wide-angle night-vision camera capable of measuring the temperature and humidity in the room. This allows users to access all the information seamlessly via an easy-to-use app. With the help of Lumi, parents can keep track their child's feeding and diaper patterns in real-time and anticipate their baby's needs before they arise.
The sensor, which has been developed with the help of paediatricians, also tracks the child's sleep, including naptime, and prepares a chart over time so you can establish your baby's sleep routine. Lumi by Pampers is already available for purchase on the website for $349 and it includes an activity sensor, an HD video monitor and 10-days worth of diapers designed to keep the activity sensor securely attached.
Is it necessary?
Even though it's a good thing to keep track of how often your kid goes to the bathroom, especially during the initial few months after birth, parents don't necessarily need an app to tell them whether their baby has peed or pooped thanks to obvious signs such as the baby's cries, or feeling whether the diaper is wet or not with your hands.
Some diapers even offer lower-tech solutions like Pampers' own "Swaddler" line of diapers that display a blue line when they get wet. However, a Pampers spokesperson says that's just one of many things the product can do.
"Parents didn't ask for a poo or pee alarm; they wanted something more like the smart watches of today," the spokesperson told CNN Business. "The activity sensor tracks baby's sleep and since it's there on the diaper, it can also track ... if a diaper is wet."
