Browsing Category: Babies

Sensor jumpsuit monitors infant motor abilities

Sampsa Vanhatalo, Manu Airaksinen and University of Helsinki colleagues have developed MAIJU (Motor Assessment of Infants with a Jumpsuit,) a wearable onesie with multiple movement sensors which they believe is able to predict a child’s neurological development. In a recent study, 5 to 19 month-old infants were monitored using MAIJU during spontaneous playtime. Initially, infant […]

Pacifier sensor detects glucose levels in babies

UCSD’s Joe Wang has developed a soft, flexible, pacifier-based biosensor that continuously monitors glucose levels in saliva to detect diabetes in babies. Until now,  continuous glucose monitoring in newborns,  available only in major hospitals, requires piercing the infant’s skin to reach interstitial fluid. The team created a proof of concept pacifier where small amounts of saliva […]

Wearable acoustic sensors track fetal cardiac activity, skeletal development

Acoustic sensors are increasingly used in monitoring fetal health. Imperial College’s Niamh Nowlan is using low cost, non-transmitting accelerometers and acoustic sensors to continuously track fetal movement to understand skeletal development. Acoustic sensors enable discrimination between the movement of the fetus and mother. Israel’s Nuvo Group is continuously monitoring fetal cardiac activity using acoustic sensors and ECG […]

EEG detects infant pain

Caroline Hartley and Oxford colleagues studied 72 infants during painful medical procedures.  Using EEG, they found a signature change in brain activity about a half-second after a painful stimulus. They seek to understand its use in monitoring and managing infant pain, as well as  the use of EEG in adult pain treatment. EEG is more precise than current heart rate, […]

Baby wearable gauges development, suggests interactions

ApplySci predicts significant growth in the use of wearables for babies, toddlers, and  pregnant moms.  The Smilables system combines a baby-worn ankle bracelet with an app for parents that suggests structured interactions. The baby is monitored in real-time to identify the times that he/she would be most receptive to interventions.  Caregivers are alerted throughout the […]

Toward embryo brain activity tracking

Hari Shroff and NBIB colleagues have developed open-source 3D software that might lead to the ability to track a human embryo’s brain activity and development. To date, the technology has only been tested on worms and will be part of a 4D neurodevelopmental “worm atlas” that attempts to catalogue the formation of a worm’s nervous system. Shroff believes […]

Wearable monitors newborns within 40 mile radius

WAAA!  is a text-based neonatal surveillance system developed by David Swann of the University of Huddersfield.  It is a finalist project of UNICEF’s Wearables for Good Challenge. Appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiratory data is captured, via a patch, during the first day of life.  Any deterioration triggers an immediate text alert to a carer. Globally, more […]