Miku Blog

Fathercraft + Miku Pro: Best Baby Monitors of 2021

babies | baby monitors | parenting All Meet Ali, a mom of two sassy daughters and Miku Pro user. We sat down with her to talk about her experience with our newest smart baby monitor. Hear from her on why she finds that it “makes her life easier as a parent”. Hi, I'm Ali, I'm from California, I have two sassy daughters, Mara and Ella, when we had our second daughter, it was really important for us to figure out a new solution for sleep in the family. My first daughter co-slept with us and it was OK for a while, but it really started to not work out. And I knew that when we had Mara, we had to figure out something that was going to get everybody's sleep on a regimen and a routine so that we were all sleeping. When we researched what was in the market, it was not that many options and a couple options required Wearables. I love that the Miku Pro is completely contactless, super easy to use and there is no wearable. We went through a period of time where Mara had pretty fragile sleep and it was important that we kept one sleep sac, one lovey, and that was it in the bed. If we had to put a wearable on her and charge it, make sure it works, I knew that her sleep would be disrupted. When your little one gets to a certain age, they're capable of taking off a swaddle or any type of wearable that's required for some of this other technology to work. So I just knew that was not an option. My little one's not going to keep a swaddle on and I just needed her to be able to sleep and me, get the analytics. I need to know that she is getting restful restorative sleep. Miku Pro really allowed us to get her on a rigid sleep routine. So when I see that she's fallen asleep at a certain time and then I can see exactly when she wakes up, I know that she's gotten the proper amount of night's sleep and then I can measure the appropriate wake window for her age and determine what time naps going to be every day. That reliability and the analytics allowed me to set a routine that works for her every day. When I was looking and researching the options, it was super important for me to limit tech in the nursery. I think that people have the tendency of just putting all these gadgets in and it really can be overwhelming. I like to keep sleep as organic as possible. The Miku really packs all these different technologies into one. So I have my baby monitor, my respiratory tracking, the sound machine, all the analytics. It got rid of the need for all these extra things. And the best part is there are no wearables. It's completely contactless. It allows us to have really organic sleep for Mara. So right now we can see she's asleep. She's been asleep for an hour and 32 minutes, and she's breathing at a rate of about twenty-six respirations per minute. I can be anywhere in my house and get this information, but even better, I can really be anywhere in the world when I travel for business, I can pull this up, check her out, make sure she's sleeping and rest peacefully knowing that she's getting a great restful night, And I can too. Sitting here, I just got a notification. It says movement detected. So I take a look and I can see she's rolling around. It looks like she's starting to wake up from her nap. I recommend the Miku pro to all of my friends. It's more than just a monitor, It's a technology that works hard for you and makes my life easier as a parent. For more #MikuParents, visit our YouTube page where we share their stories of how the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor has helped them on their parenting journey.

Baby Mara & Her Miku Pro

app update | babies | baby monitors | parenting

Analytics Update: New Design, “Away” State, and Light Level Graph

baby monitors | design | parenting All Parents gain a whole new level of real-time peace of mind with the new, upgraded, and unique features found in the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor. At Miku, our mission has always been to empower parents and caregivers with greater awareness and confidence to support their child’s sleep, health, and development. Now, with the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor, we’ve elevated the experience with even more accuracy and reliability. There’s a whole lot more to love about this next generation monitor. What’s included with the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor? SensorFusion Technology Our proprietary SensorFusion technology is now paired with an 8-core Qualcomm processor, so the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor delivers even faster, crystal clear 1080p HD video of your precious sleeping bundle. This upgrade enables you to see your baby breathing in real-time with no lag time at a whole new level of video quality. Camera Updates: Sensor, Wider Field of View, and Pinch-to-Zoom When it comes to baby, seeing more means everything, and with the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor, you can see more of your baby in three ways. First, this new smart baby monitor comes with a larger sensor that lets in more light to deliver crystal clear night video. Plus, with 140 degrees of visibility, you see more of your baby and their surroundings. And with the new pinch-to-zoom feature you can get up close to see every smile, snooze, and giggle. Connect to 5 GHz Wi-Fi Now, the Miku Pro is compatible with 5 GHz Wi-Fi, delivering a faster connection. Video is streamed with little to no lag time for instant reassurance. Typically, the 2.4 GHz spectrum can be crowded, which can cause connection issues when Wi-Fi performance is low. It’s important to note, however, even though 5 GHz has a faster connection, it will have a shorter range than 2.4 GHz. So, when you’re further away from a Wi-Fi monitor, we suggest still considering the 2.4 GHz connection. Adjust the LED Light Want to increase or decrease the LED light on your Miku? Now you can. The Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor offers the ability to easily adjust the LED button brightness through the Miku app using a slider control. Nursery & Surrounding Environment Conditions Miku Pro's digital light sensor can do more than just tell the camera to switch to night vision mode. The Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor measures the temperature, humidity, sound, and light in its surroundings, capturing data translated by analytics to provide a comprehensive picture of how the environment in the room is affecting your baby's sleep. This is Modern Parenting: The Two Features We Continue to Love Nothing to Wear Life as a parent is busy; there’s no denying that. We know how important it is that your essential parenting tools to care for your little one fit seamlessly into both your lives. That’s why it remained important to us that the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor was contact-free, which means there are still no wires, wearables, or anything to wash. Miku’s technology works with any swaddle, outfit, or bed. There’s nothing to charge or anything your baby must wear. Once you set up your Miku Pro, it’s set it and forget it. Everything from here on out is done via your smartphone device. Grows With Your Child Because the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor works without any need for wires or wearables, you can keep tracking their breathing and sleep patterns even after they graduate from the crib life. Welcoming the Next Generation Beyond all the new and upgraded features, the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor delivers something more valuable: real-time peace of mind to parents and caregivers looking to have the greatest awareness of how their newest family member is breathing, sleeping, and developing. The accuracy and the reliability of the technology we built into our smart baby monitors are really about delivering instant reassurance and real-time peace of mind. We know parenting is the toughest job; Miku is here to make it just a little easier. Have questions or need to reach out to us? Visit support@mikucare.com for some helpful resources.

Meet the Miku Pro Smart Baby Monitor

babies | parenting All Ah, parenthood. When you hear "it's Sleep Awareness Week", it may spark the awareness of the lack of sleep you’re getting. We feel you, but that’s for a different blog post. (Or is it!?) In this post, we reached out to our medical advisor, parent, and friend, Dr. Jacq, and had her give us her advice and insight on how to make baby’s sleep safe and productive. Keep it safe The most important sleep tip: safety comes first! Make sure to follow the ABCs of safe sleeping: A for ALONE Your baby should sleep alone, in a separate space, for EVERY sleep (naps and night-time). This could be a crib, pack and play, or a bassinet B for BACK The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends all babies sleep on their backs. Sleeping on the back has been shown to decrease risk. C for CRIB Babies should sleep in their own cribs (or bassinet or safety-approved pack and play) The crib should have a firm mattress with a tight-fitting sheet. There should be nothing else in the crib- no blankets, stuffed animals, toys, bumper pads, or pillows It’s never too early to start a routine We know newborns’ brains are still immature and might not be able to differentiate between day and night, but it is never too early to start a sleep routine. The order might vary but it usually includes a bath, reading a book, and a feeding before bed. Starting early will help develop those routines and make it easier when baby is older and ready for more structure. Baby’s room is best kept cool and cozy Keeping baby’s sleep environment comfortable will not only help baby sleep better, but it is also safer. Studies show a room that is too warm might overheat baby and increase risk. Experts recommend a room temperature of 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit. If babies could read textbooks How many hours of sleep does your baby need? The National Sleep Foundation has recommendations for hours of sleep by age. In general, they are as follows: Age Range Hours of Sleep Newborn 0-3 mos. 14-17 hrs Infant 4-11 mos. 12-15 hrs Toddler 1-2 yrs. 11-14 hrs Preschool 3-5 yrs. 10-13 hrs School-age 6-13 yrs. 9-11 hrs Sleep is for everyone- including YOU! For a good part of the early months of parenthood, we worry, sometimes obsess, over our baby’s sleep. But make sure you get your rest too! Everyone says: “sleep while the baby sleeps,” and while this is not possible for many parents, look for ways to ensure each parent has time to “catch up” every day. Try splitting the night feedings or having a helper watch the baby while you take a nap. A well-rested parent is a better parent!

Dr. Jacq’s 5 Tips for Sleep Awareness Week

baby monitors | parenting All When you begin looking for smart baby monitors, there’s no shortage of options. So how do you know which one is the best one for your baby? The Miku Smart Baby Monitor has some amazing features and is truly the best smart baby monitor for millennial parents. Let’s talk about 5 things you’ll love about Miku, recommended and written by a fellow millennial parent! Big tech in a little package As a millennial parent, chances are you know a thing or two about technology. And when it comes to technology for your baby, you want the best of the best. Miku’s proprietary SensorFusion technology has been validated in a 3rd party IRB-approved clinical study where it was compared against worn, medical-grade equipment. You can even check out this white paper published by Miku. The technology you’ll find in your Miku Smart Baby Monitor tracks your baby’s breathing and movement without any wearables - it’s all tracked through the monitor's internal, contact-free sensors! And when it comes to security, Miku makes safety a top priority. Miku houses a tamper-proof Crypto Chip to keep your data safe and secure! They even have some of the best technology when it comes to sound. Miku has custom dual Ole Wolff speakers with two-way talk so you can whisper "goodnight" to your little one. One of the best things about Miku’s technology is it’s constantly being tested in NICUs and home environments to improve their algorithm’s powerful artificial intelligence capabilities. Easy-to-use app When it comes to apps, the Miku app has it all. From the in-depth analytics of your baby’s sleep patterns to the live-stream video, you have everything you need right on your phone. Wondering if the nursery is too cold? Find it on the app. Your Miku app will help you learn your nursery’s environment to help your little one get the best sleep possible. Is your baby fussy and you want to play some lullabies to help them sleep? Open up your app! There are tons of great lullabies you can choose from or you can talk to them to help calm them down. You can even use the app when you’re miles away so you can always feel connected with your baby. No wearables necessary Unlike many of the other smart baby monitors out there, Miku doesn’t require wearables to track breathing and sleep. With a Miku Smart Baby Monitor, there’s no risk of a wearable getting mispositioned or soiled or even running out of battery. Plus it’s much easier to transfer your little one to their crib when they fall asleep while you cuddle them. The incredible SensorFusion technology detects breathing, sounds and sleep patterns - everything you need - without the added hassle of wearables. Upgrade automatically We all know how annoying it is when you splurge on a top-of-the-line product only to have it be out of date the next day. This will never happen with your Miku! As your baby grows and learns new things, Miku is doing the same! Miku will always be ahead of the curve with software versions that upgrade automatically. Design, design, design There’s nothing worse than putting the finishing touches on a Pinterest-worthy nursery only to clutter it up with a clunky, old-school baby monitor with annoying wires and an ugly interface. The Miku Smart Baby Monitor is about as sleek as your iPhone (and the packaging is too!). The clean, minimalist look of the monitor coupled with easy set-up and added safety features like cord covers and a baseplate lock make it an easy pick. The Miku Smart Baby Monitor seamlessly fits into your baby's nursery and your new parent lifestyle, making it the perfect solution for millennial parents!

Why Miku Is The Best Smart Baby Monitor for Millennial Parents

baby monitors | parenting All Pregnant and looking for the best smart baby monitor out there? Have a newborn and want some peace of mind knowing that they’re sleeping safely? There are many benefits of using a smart baby monitor like the Miku Smart Baby Monitor. From tracking your baby’s sleep habits to checking in on your baby anywhere in the world, here are 6 of our favorite features. 6 Benefits of Using a Smart Baby Monitor Live Breathing Monitoring This is one of the best benefits of using a smart baby monitor. Your Miku device shows you your baby’s RPMs (respirations per minute) in real-time which offers incredible peace of mind. There are few things more valuable than having peace of mind while your baby is sleeping. There’s no need to sneak into their room to ensure they’re breathing – all you need to do is open up your Miku app to see their breathing rate right on the screen! High quality visual and audio capabilities Being able to check in and see what your baby is doing in their crib is a huge benefit of smart baby monitors. Are they crying because they’re no longer swaddled? Did they lose their pacifier? Is your newly potty-trained toddler telling you they have to use the potty? Having a good quality camera and speakers with your baby monitor makes a huge difference with kids both newborn to toddler! The video is also saved in the cloud so you can reference back to it. Maybe your baby is consistently waking up early (Is the sun waking them up? Maybe you need black out curtains!) or maybe they just had an adorable laugh or coo when you walked in the room that you can’t resist watching over and over! Open up your app and take a look! Check on your child anywhere in the world Are you on a work trip and want to peek in at your baby? On your first date night since having your child and want to ensure she’s sleeping peacefully in her crib? With a Miku you can do just that! Talk to your baby or turn on a lullaby without going into their room We all know walking into your baby’s room as they're going to sleep can only have the opposite effect that you want – waking them up more because they want you to hold them! With a smart baby monitor like the Miku, you can easily talk to your baby to soothe them or turn on calming music to lull them to sleep without going into their room. This is beneficial even as they grow up to remind them to stay in their bed or turn on white noise as a thunderstorm rolls in to drown out the sound of thunder. Sleep Analytics One huge perk of the Miku Smart Baby Monitor is the daily snapshots of your baby’s sleep patterns. As your baby begins to nap regularly and sleep through the night, you can know they’re getting the quality sleep they need. Sleep summaries can also show you when they fell asleep, how long they slept, and the quality of their sleep. Having this data can also help you with knowing if you need to adjust naps and bedtimes. You can also see things like the room’s temperature and humidity! This will help you easily correlate the data to see if an environmental factor is affecting your baby’s sleep. One less device that you need! With so many baby products, your kitchen counter (and just about every nook of your home) will be invaded! Bottles, burp cloths, diaper stations, toys and more seem to take over everything. With a smart baby monitor like a Miku Smart Baby Monitor, you don’t need another device to keep track of since it’s all on your phone! Most of us keep our phones on or near us throughout the day so you won’t even need to get in the habit of checking another device. There's even more to love There are tons of other amazing benefits of using smart baby monitors like the Miku Smart Baby Monitor. These are just some of the top features. Overall, these smart devices can give you peace of mind and also help your baby get the quality sleep they need. It could be one of the best investments you make!

6 Benefits of Using a Smart Baby Monitor

Baby in crib with smart baby monitor on wall

baby monitors | design | parenting All At Miku, our mission is to empower parents and caregivers with higher awareness of their baby’s wellness and safety. That’s why we decided to take a deep dive into the safety features of the Miku Smart Baby Monitor for Baby Safety Month! From easy, baby-safe installation to the live breathing waveform on your smartphone, and even the ability to show Miku analytics to your doctor to make more informed decisions…. We want you to know that the Miku Smart Baby Monitor has your back. Our team works every day to ensure that Miku is the safest, most trusted monitoring system on the market. This is safety by design. Baby-Safe Installation As you install your Miku Smart Baby Monitor, every element is designed to keep the environment around your baby safe, including conduits that keep little hands away from cords and a locking baseplate that keeps the monitor stable and fastened to the wall. Unless you have a superhuman on your hands, even the most curious little ones will struggle to wiggle their tiny fingers under secure cable guides or achieve the 50+ pounds of pressure needed to release the Miku baseplate. Real-Time Breathing For true peace of mind, monitor your little one’s breathing on the Miku App where you can track their respirations per minute (RPM) and see their breathing waveform in real time. According to substantiated medical research, respiratory rate can be one of the earliest indicators of illness. This is all possible with Miku’s proprietary SensorFusion technology, which uses radar, motion, and audio sensing and image and video processing combined with AI to capture and analyze breathing patterns. SensorFusion is named for how it combines multiple sensor modalities, each one supporting and validating the others as opposed to using just one modality. And our algorithm has been developed from a robust set of captured data: 15 billion breaths and counting! SensorFusion has also been validated in a 5,000 hour IRB-approved study, and we published the results in a Miku White Paper. True Contact-Free Monitoring One of the many benefits of Miku’s SensorFusion technology is that it is contact-free, eliminating the need for wires or wearables that require washing, securing, charging, or replacing. Plus, Miku works for any age! Contact-free monitoring also eliminates the risk of any potential uncomfortable marks or irritation that can be caused by wearable devices and gives littles ones the space and freedom they need. See Beyond Because SensorFusion uses multiple sensor modalities, your ability to monitor your little one’s breathing is unconditional. Your Miku Smart Baby Monitor can see breathing in a much wider range of conditions from light glares to total darkness, under a thick swaddle, and in any body position or location in the crib. And for sleepy parents, the Miku app now offers dark mode for easy reading, visibility in low-light conditions, and battery saving perks. Local Processing Our Qualcomm quad-core processor is the cherry on top. Miku’s local processor analyzes breathing data and delivers real-time alerts to a parent’s smart device, eliminating the need for cloud processing. These alerts are customizable to notify parents or caregivers of a range of events from movement to audio and sleep alerts. Your Miku can even continuously monitor and capture data with or without an internet connection. Safe and Secure Technology Last but certainly not least, Miku is built with tamper-resistant Crypto Chip technology that is completely unique to this Smart Baby Monitor. This technology takes your security to the next level by protecting your data on your device. Combined with 256-bit encryption, 2-factor authentication, and the ability to share access with grandparents or babysitters, Miku makes sure your data is secure. It’s safe to say that the Miku Team takes your family’s safety and security very seriously. At every step of the design - and believe us it was a lot of steps - we kept safety top of mind!

Baby Safety Month: Miku Celebrates Safety by Design

babies | baby monitors | parenting All Today’s baby monitors have changed the way parents tend to their children. They have extended our eyes and ears beyond the nursery, and now, beyond what we are natively able to detect. Newer versions of more advanced smart baby monitor can measure vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen levels, and breathing. But not all monitors are created equal, and it’s important to know as a parent that you’re paying for quality, reliability and safety. WHY PARENTS WANT A SMART BABY MONITOR Let’s face it, a sleeping baby is the most beautiful thing to watch as a parent. While the days of sneaking or crawling into a baby’s room to make sure they are safe might be waning, checking in on your little one will never fade. Parents need what is best for their baby, starting when they’re in the womb until the day they can no longer tend to their children. We instinctively want them to be safe, healthy and happy, and monitors help parents be present, available and reassured. WHY PEDIATRICIANS DISLIKE THEM As a pediatrician in practice for almost 20 years, I can attest to the fact that, in general, pediatricians dislike these new-generation baby monitors that measure vital signs for several, valid reasons. Up until now most have been unreliable, producing lots of false alarms, with many contact lead issues (babies wiggle a lot!) and unnecessary visits to the ER. This includes hospital grade monitors as well. But luckily, technology has caught up dramatically to parental needs in the past decade, and I now feel much better about the practicality of some monitors. WHY BREATHING Let’s back up and talk about what’s important to measure. Newer smart baby monitors measure different vital signs— some measure heart rate, others monitor oxygen levels. Personally, I would choose one that measures breathing, and here’s why. Normal respiratory rates in newborns and infants range anywhere from 30-60 rpm (respirations per minute) while awake, and between 20-40 rpm while asleep. Respiratory rate is an important vital sign in infants and children because changes in respiratory rate can often be a first indicator of apnea and many other concerns. Measuring breathing in contrast to many other vital signs, allows a baby monitor to be useful later on, helping you make decisions about your child well into childhood. WHY MIKU I’ll be honest, until recently, I was one of those skeptical pediatricians who thought smart baby monitors were a waste of money and created more anxiety than reassurance for parents. But then I met with the Miku team. The technology, testing, and overall philosophy convinced me otherwise and made me a believer of this spectacular device! Let’s discuss why it sold me. Technology Miku Smart Baby Monitor is the most sophisticated and technologically advanced monitor on the market. Its SensorFusion technology, Qualcomm processor and HD night vision optics deliver clear, immediate and understandable results. And Miku requires no belts, clips or socks of any kind. Nothing in contact with your baby. How cool and soothing is this as a parent? Their local-processing approach decreases lag time to give you real-time breathing waves and, in the end, sleep tracking as well. Other monitors on the market send their signals to a cloud and then back to the smartphone, creating lag time and potential security problems—and if you’re tracking a breath, this can be a serious issue. Miku provides higher real-time accuracy, period. The mom in me loves the high-def speakers playing custom sleep sounds and the two-way talk, and the pragmatist side of me knows the temperature and humidity sensors can really help parents understand the daily conditions of the nursery to adjust accordingly. Those detailed sleep analytics provided in the easy-to-use app help to see your baby’s quality and consistency of sleep. One of my favorite features as a working mom is having the ability to connect with and see your baby where ever you get an internet signal. Extensively tested As a doctor and a scientist, this is probably most important to me. Miku has been extensively tested not just in homes, but in a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) against medical grade equipment with excellent results and the highest degree of reliability. Miku has gone above and beyond what the standard of testing requires for a consumer product, and as a pediatrician and parent, this means the world to me regarding safety, reliability and reassurance. Miku's Philosophy Miku is focused on raising parental awareness. They aim to help parents establish a safe and ideal sleeping environment from infancy through childhood. Research has shown time and time again how important healthy sleep is to developing brains and to the overall health of people of all ages, therefore Miku allows parents to support early healthy sleeping patterns that endure. Miku also believes that knowledge is power, and as a parent, knowing your baby’s normal breathing patterns, sleep cycles and nursery conditions will empower you to seek medical advice when things don’t look right. It also gives you the comfort of knowing your baby is immediately ok and provides the data to spot ongoing events and patterns. I hope to have shed some light on the subject of measuring breathing as an important tool for you in your quest to keep your child safe and healthy. I also hope my belief that the Miku Smart Baby Monitor can serve as an ally and resource to you by helping to provide your child with safe, quality sleep now and for the developmental years ahead. Jacqueline Winkelmann, MD, FAAP (Doctor Jacq) Board-Certified Pediatrician and Former Chief-of-Staff CHOC Children’s and CHOC Children’s at Mission Hospital Chairman, Medical Advisory Board, Miku

Dr. Jacq Answers Your Breathing Monitor Questions

baby monitors | parenting

Never Miss a Moment: Miku Smart Baby Monitor Adds Sound Alerts

Cry Detection (Sound Alert) Feature from Miku Smart Baby Monitor

babies | parenting

Baby Nika & Her Miku

babies | parenting All Helping your newborn sleep is definitely one of the more stressful parts of being a new parent. And, while all the advice moms receive about newborns and sleeping is certainly well-intentioned, it doesn’t always make things easier. Find out which of the common baby sleep suggestions you don’t need to listen to. Newborn Sleep Myth #1: You have control over how your baby sleeps Reality: In the first few months of a baby’s life, their circadian rhythm (the instincts that tell a person when to sleep and when to wake) aren’t yet totally developed. This means that they can’t necessarily tell whether it’s daytime or nighttime. “Some babies’ sleep cycles will be short and some longer,” says Jacqueline Winkelmann, MD, board-certified pediatrician and chief medical board advisor of Miku. “Babies, especially newborn babies, will sleep when they are ready and will wake up because they need to be fed, changed, or even because they’re upset and just want company.” It’s OK if your newborn doesn’t seem to be on any sort of sleeping schedule. It’s still important to have a bedtime routine, but don’t worry if it’s not resulting in predictability right away. Myth #2: Adding rice cereal to your baby’s bottle will help them sleep Reality: No matter who’s told you this one ... don’t believe it. No studies have shown that putting rice cereal in your baby’s bottle will help them get to or stay asleep. In fact, “Introducing solids, including cereal, before four months of age can cause digestive problems in young babies and is not recommended,” says Dr. Winkelmann. Myth #3: Keep your baby awake in the day and they’ll sleep better at night Reality: It might sound logical that keeping your baby awake in the day will help them get to sleep at nighttime – after all, don’t people sleep better when they’re tired? – but this myth is false. “Sleep begets sleep,” says Dr. Winkelmann. "A baby who doesn’t sleep well during the day will be overtired, grumpy, miserable, and fighting sleep!” Myth #4: Babies Only Sleep in Silence Reality: Babies actually don’t need perfect quiet to fall asleep. Just think about where they started from – your womb, which is a pretty noisy place! “Complete noise deprivation can actually be counterproductive,” says Dr. Winkelmann. “Noise machines and natural noises will create a more natural environment for baby to sleep.” Myth #5: At 3 months old, babies should be able to sleep through the night Reality: The good news is, nothing’s wrong with your baby if they aren’t sleeping through the night by 3 months old. The bad news is, your baby won’t necessarily be sleeping through the night by 3 months old. They’ll likely be sleeping in longer stretches by this age, but don’t expect eight hours from your infant. “Sleeping through the night is not the adult version,” pediatrician Andrew Adesman, MD, author of BabyFacts: The Truth About Your Child’s Health From Newborn Through Preschool told WebMD. A more reasonable expectation might be five or six hours a night, which is still a major upgrade from just a couple hours at a time! Myth #6: You'll know exactly what to expect Reality: We’ll let some real moms take on the myth that anyone can tell you exactly what to expect with your own baby’s sleep. “I’ll hear people say, 'Cry it out' or, 'This or that is the answer for every kid.' But I’ve learned that all babies are different,” says Carrie Steenlage, mom to a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. “Our first never could have cried it out because she was too strong-willed. My second really needed to cry to get to sleep – it was how she calmed herself down. Figure out what works for your baby, and don’t get wrapped up in what other people tell you to do.” Rebecca Kruge, mom to a 1-year-old boy, agrees that you don’t need to get too caught up in what other moms tell you is going to happen. “People overhyped that every baby will be a terrible sleeper, and that it takes all this work to teach them to sleep,” she says. “Maybe I got lucky, but he’s a good sleeper. I didn’t need to worry as much as everyone told me.” This article was originally shared by Mom.com here.

Common Newborn Sleep Myths Feat. Miku Medical Advisor Dr. Jacq

baby monitors | parenting All How it all Started A lot of people ask me “What prompted you to make Miku?” To be honest, when I began working on the Miku Smart Baby Monitor, starting another business was the furthest thing from my mind. Rewinding 5 years back, I was employed working for the Department of Defense and had an engineering consulting business on the side that was really starting to take off. On top of all that, my wife and I had just welcomed our first child into our lives, our daughter Madilyn. Our hands were full! When my daughter was 3 months old we decided to transition her from the bassinet in our room to the crib in her nursery. We had registered for the best baby monitor on the market at the time. The monitor had video, audio and advertised that it even worked with my smartphone. I was really excited to use it the first night. Right off the bat our experience was extremely disappointing. The video quality was so low I could hardly make out Madilyn. The audio sounded like garbled static. And most problematic issue, I couldn’t tell if my daughter was actually OK. The night vision video basically looked like a motionless, black and white blob. After a few minutes of staring at this blob on the screen and holding the static-filled speaker to my ear to try and determine if my daughter was breathing, I put it down and went into her room to check on her. Thankfully she was fine, but I woke her up in the process. Over the course of the next few months, this became a pattern. Whether my wife and I were sitting on the couch watching TV, or woke up randomly in the middle of the night, we would check the monitor. Not being able to tell if she was OK, we would run into the room and check on her. This was exhausting. We could never fully fall into a deep sleep at night. We needed something that we could quickly check and see if she was OK and breathing. Something that would alert us if she needed our help. So we turned to Google. Developing Miku We found these motion pads that you can place under the mattress to monitor movement and different types of wearables, but they had accuracy issues, warnings, and loose cords. They required special clothing or clips, nightly charging, washing and maintenance. Some required purchasing new sizes from newborns to 18 months to insure fit. My wife was completely against it and didn’t like the idea of attaching an electronic device to our kid. After all, these are the same type of batteries you hear of every day catching fire in phones, laptops and electric cars. We had suddenly become those scared, sleepless, helicopter parents we never thought we would be. As an engineer, I knew better technology existed to solve the problem, but why hadn’t anyone else done it yet? After some research, the answer became clear. There are very few companies that innovate in the baby monitoring space. The incumbents had carved out their niche developing low-cost solutions and there was little to no competition forcing them to spend research and development dollars to innovate. The big tech-giants certainly could have developed something better, however the baby monitoring market is just too small to move the needle for these large corporations to justify innovating in this space. Our Proprietary Technology The only way to get the monitor I was looking for was to build it myself. I studied Electrical Engineering at the University of Central Florida, and I worked in one of the top computer vision research groups in the world, so I took on the challenge. After that, I spent the next 10 years of my career working for the Department of Defense. I helped build sensors that allowed soldiers and law enforcement to “see” through walls so they knew if someone was there inside before they entered a building and sensors that could detect landmines buried in the ground. I helped design backpacks that were worn by soldiers that prevented Improvised Explosive Devices (IED’s) from detonating when they walked around dangerous areas. Most related, I developed sensors for a DARPA project that could remotely detect vital signs of a fallen soldier in a battlefield. It was the combination of these two life experiences of being a first-time parent and developing sensor systems for the military that enabled me to truly bring Miku to life. I began working on Miku when Madilyn was only a few months old and over the next three years my daughter’s nursery looked a bit like an engineering laboratory. All kinds of sensors and cameras were hanging on the wall and a long data cable that ran under her door and into laptop in the hallway outside of her room. Every night, I would get home from work and help put my daughter to bed. Once she went to sleep, I would sit on the floor in the hallway outside of her room and developed our initial algorithms on my laptop. The 'Final' Product Over the course of months and then years, the prototype came to life. My wife and I would constantly crack open my laptop to see if my daughter was safe and breathing. It worked like a charm and gave us the peace of mind we were yearning for. We showed other parents and they were were astounded at what they saw and asked if I could build one for them. By the summer of 2017, I gathered some funding, thanks to our angel investors and a National Science Foundation grant. Finally, I was able to take my rough prototype and turn it into a product and, the Miku Smart Baby Monitor was officially born. Naturally, Miku had some growing to do. It took another two years of prototyping, testing and programming to get to the product you see today which launched in January of 2019 at the Consumer Electronics Show. Miku was founded on a personal pain point that was shared with parents and caretakers all around the world. We will continue to dream and discover applications for Miku in our ever-advancing world.