Wearable, baby monitoring devices prove ineffective

Wearable devices to monitor the vital signs of infants have no proven effectiveness, according to a British doctor.

Medical professionals and consumers should note that such devices "have no proved use in safeguarding infants or detecting health problems, and they certainly have no role in preventing (sudden infant death syndrome) SIDS," said David King from the University of Sheffield in Britain.

Wearable devices for infants are marketed as tools to give "peace of mind" to parents with regard to their baby's health. Costing around $200 to $300, they are a growing industry worldwide.

In the 1980s and 1990s, similar products were developed and sold with the intention of reducing SIDS, and studies showed that they were ineffective.

Health care professionals "should not recommend these products to reduce parents' fears of SIDS but should instead focus on interventions that have been proved to work, such as encouraging parents to put infants on their back to sleep", added King.

In the US, these products do not require Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, have no published data to support their claims, and do not need to provide this data as they are sold as consumer rather than medical devices.

"The risk is that the substantial amounts of money that parents pay for such devices might lull them into a false sense of security," said King.