Experts warn about the usage of Smart wearable baby monitors as they do more harm than good

Experts say that parents must think twice before making any purchase of smart wearables for babies as it was found that they do more harm than good. In the rapidly evolving world of Gadgets, many devices are in the form of wearables are now available even for babies. These are a wide range of Mini monitors for babies that can be hidden in socks, as a strap to legs and snap on to diapers.These wearables measure vital baby signs and send the information via smartphones to the parents who trust these products as a constant provider of information regarding their Kids safety.

Several companies claim that the monitors could help prevent Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). However, the devices are not adequately tested and approved as medical devices by Food and drug administration (FDA). Experts say that the devices are not necessary and many times lead to false alarms and overdiagnosis. These often lead to unnecessary tests performed on babies said Christopher Bonafide who is the pediatrician and safety expert in the children's hospital of Philadelphia.

He along with neonatologist Elizabeth Foglia of the University of Pennsylvania, and David Jamison, executive director of Health Devices at ECRI Institute, a respected nonprofit research organization that studies patient safety has published their observations in the journal  JAMA.

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They have reviewed five monitors in their study including one owlet sock monitor that tracks baby's heart and oxygen levels.The authors say that the devices often raise false alarms triggering panic among parents to bring their babies to the emergency room.This, in turn, leads to the conduct of lab tests scans and overdiagnosis.The authors further note that it is very much common to have drop in oxygen levels of the babies and the majority 80% of them are harmless.

The authors also remind the statement issued by the American society of pediatrics which says the cardiorespiratory monitors are not documented to reduce the incidence of SIDS. There is also no data regarding other devices which claim to monitor the vital signs of a baby.