If you want to track your heart rate, there’s a wearable for that. If you have little ones, it’s a little different, but now there’s a big sock to help.
We’re over a decade into seeing what wearable health-related technology can do for us, with the first Fitbit rolling out into a pint-sized pedometer back in 2009, and building one to talk to your phone back in 2014.
Time has changed and in the years since, it seems as though health technology has grown in leaps and bounds.
You can find wearables on more wrists than the handful at first launch, and they’re in watches, bands, and even rings. Adults, teens, and preteens are the typical groups you can expect to find a smartwatch or smart band on, and even a few kids might have something on their person.
But depending on their age, kids mightn’t be able to wear something for tracking their vitals. While it’s unlikely your kids would need activities tracked, monitoring their heart rate and blood oxygen while they sleep is something that could end up letting you know if your baby is fine or whether something is amiss. Frustrating, it’s not something a baby camera can handle, even if select baby cameras are good for other things, such as monitoring temperature.
It’s why Owlet originally produced its Smart Sock, arriving in Australia with Owlet’s take on the baby camera. Owlet’s wearable was a little different, built to be a small health tracking sock made for a baby’s foot able to monitor those important vitals, communicating them to the phone of mum and dad while a child is sleeping.
Originally launched for babies aged from newborn to 18 months, the Smart Sock is getting an update in Australia for kids who might have a little bigger foot, with the Smart Sock Plus.
The Smart Sock Plus is more or less what it sounds like: a bigger version for parents still keen on monitoring the vitals of kids as they sleep. Feet grow, and so that’s what the Plus is, allowing kids as old as five to have their heart rate tracked while sleeping, all while wearing the special sock.
Inside, there’s a heart rate tracker and blood oxygen monitor (SpO2), with updated algorithms to monitor the vitals of slightly older kids, notifying parents when they go outside of preset zones.
“The desire and need to continue tracking your child’s well-being doesn’t stop at 18 months, and with the Smart Sock Plus, we’re providing a solution that parents have long been asking Owlet for,” said Kurt Workman, Co-founder and CEO of Owlet.
“As parents, just as we want to know our own sleep quality and well-being, we expect access to the same data and insights about our children,” he said.
“At Owlet, we fundamentally believe knowledge is power, so the more parents know about their little one’s well-being, including sleep trends and milestones, the more they’re empowered to provide the best care possible at home.”
Owlet told Pickr that the new larger variation of the Smart Sock was just that, and for folks with the smaller Smart Sock 3, there would be an upgrade pack to allow the original to match the size of the Smart Sock Plus, but going backwards — from Smart Sock Plus to Smart Sock 3 — if you end up having another child, that was something that may not be catered for at the moment.
For now, the Smart Sock Plus joins the Smart Sock 3 in Australian stores for a recommended retail price of $549, one hundred more than the smaller model for kids up to 18 months for $449.
