This is where technology is a good thing and where it should stop the naysayers in their tracks. All the people that think people playing on their iPhones and iPads will never amount to anything need to listen up. A group of Brigham Young University students are developing a system using an iPhone that could someday prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
As a parent, I can safely say it's probably the biggest fear with an infant, that you'll walk into the baby's bedroom someday and they won't be breathing. SIDS is all too real. Although my children are now 16 and 19, I can remember those days all too well. My son is a loud sleeper, but my daughter sleeps very quietly. I would have to put my hand on her chest or under her nose just to be sure she was breathing. Truthfully, it was only a few years ago that I stopped checking in on them every night before I went to bed, just to be sure they were breathing, otherwise I wouldn't be able to fall asleep.
These students at BYU are working to end that nightmare for parents of infants, to give them some piece of mind. They are developing a “smart sock” that will go around an infant's foot. If they stop breathing, the “Owlet Baby Monitor” will alert the parents via an app and an iPhone. It's like a smartphone baby monitor. It works by measuring the baby's heart rate and blood oxygen levels.
Jacob Colvin, one of the group that is working on the device, a father himself, stated, “If we can hear just one mother say that we made a difference, it would all be worth it. That makes all the difference in the world.” Amen to that.
Photo Credit: byu.edu
