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Every year, new baby products come out to not only help you with this whole parenting thing but to help give you peace of mind when it comes to your baby’s safety. When it comes to monitoring your baby while they sleep, it’s hard not to look at the Baby Vida vs Owlet baby oxygen monitors.
Despite the somewhat scary name, oxygen and heart monitors are simple tools used to help you make sure your baby is happy and healthy throughout the night.
Both options go right on your baby’s foot to ensure that they stay in place and that your baby doesn’t get too distracted by them throughout the night and if anything goes wrong, you’ll be alerted about your baby’s oxygen level or heart rate.
This is especially useful for when your baby transitions from sleeping in a bassinet in your room to a crib in their own nursery, but it’s also helpful for when you leave your baby in the care of someone else and want to make sure they’re in the best care possible throughout the day.
You can even use these oxygen and heart rate monitors outside of the home. More precisely, while on trips or away for extended periods of time. This can ensure that your baby continues to get used to having it slipped over his or her foot during the times of day when you want to monitor him or her the most.
As far as the Baby Vida vs. Owlet goes, there are certain qualities that they both share, and then some others that set them apart from each other. It’s going to be up to you to decide which one is better, but hopefully, this will nudge you in the direction of the stronger device of the two.
Baby Vida Oxygen Monitor
The Baby Vida Oxygen Monitor slips over your baby’s foot like another kind of sock, which can make it all the easier for them to get used to having it on them. Being both portable and wireless, the monitor connects to the app, which you can download to your phone and use to keep track of your baby’s vitals.
If your baby’s heart rate or oxygen levels go outside of the norm, you’ll get an alert on your phone. As scary as it sounds, being able to get this alert in the middle of the night can potentially help you help your baby from potential harms that come with sleeping unassisted. Usually, this includes rolling over and being unable to turn his or her head away from the mattress or having a blanket in the way of their oxygen intake.
Simply put, it can let you know that somehow your baby has managed to slip out of the sock, so you can go and affix it to their little foot once again.
When you start it up for the first time, you’ll have the option of choosing within your app what age range your baby is in, including 0-3 months and then 3-12 months, which both have different ideal heart and oxygen levels listed for your benefit. Overall, it’s not only easy to use, but also helpful and efficient.
Features
- Battery Life: The average battery life for the Baby Vida Oxygen Monitor is 18 hours before it needs another charge.
- Materials Used: The rechargeable battery is lithium-ion. Also, the actual sock is made from a mix of polyester and spandex.
- Age Range: It can be used for babies from 0-12 months.
- Where To Buy: You can find it on Amazon or in-store at Walmart.
Pros
- For most babies, the monitor likely feels like another sock more than anything, so it is in no way evasive.
- It works with its app using Bluetooth, so you don’t necessarily have to be on wifi for it to function.
- Although the recommended standard heart rate and oxygen levels are listed, you can go in and adjust at what levels you need to be notified, as opposed to other monitors, which might alert you when levels are far below the norm.
- With adjustable straps, the sock also comes in two sizes that allow it to grow along with your baby.
Cons
- Although it would be useful for preemie babies, the sock likely won’t fit over their smaller feet.
- There’s always the off chance that your baby just won’t keep it on since it wraps around part of the calf as well and in that respect, it becomes a gamble to purchase it.
- In some case, you might have to have the sensor part tightly wrapped around your baby’s foot, and that can get uncomfortable for him or her.
Reviews
“This is the ultimate peace of mind device for your child. I used to wake up a couple of times a night to check on my baby. Now I just have my phone charging next to me and know if I don’t hear an alert then everything is fine. Love this product.” – Jay Searson on Amazon.
“This is a GREAT product for anyone who is a new parent. Baby Vida gives parents peace of mind, allowing them to monitor their baby’s heart and oxygen rates wirelessly. It’s easy to use and effective. You can sleep peacefully knowing Baby Vida is helping to monitor your baby’s safety.” – Mary on Amazon.
“We bought this product for our newborn, and it works great. I still check on our baby a lot but when I have time to lay down when she is sleeping I feel way more comfortable. Once we put it on and had it in the support sock, we did not have any disconnect issues.” – Heather D. on Amazon.
“Love this product. Noted all of the reviews — think this is for healthy babies only. Spent time getting the strap just right and adjusted. Once you get, it figured out, great peace of mind. Performs well.” – Jerry DeVries on Amazon.
Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor
Like the Baby Vida, the Owlet Smart Sock 2 Baby Monitor slips on your baby’s foot in order to monitor his or her heart rate and oxygen levels throughout the night.
It’s also used with the Owlet app on your phone to track your baby’s vitals most efficiently and yes, and will also alert you if anything changes in your baby’s heart rate or oxygen. The Owlet monitor comes with three different socks for your baby to use at any given time, as well as charging cords to keep the monitor charged enough before use.
Wifi or data is required for the use of the app with the device, but as your cell phone likely has capabilities for both, it shouldn’t be a real issue. Owlet is so secure in their product, that they offer a free return within 45 days of using it, just in case it doesn’t work as well with your baby as you’d hoped.
To use the monitor, you connect it to its base via Bluetooth and connect to the app. It’s not very complicated, and since the monitor comes with three different socks, you’ll always have one ready to use for your baby.
Features
- Battery Life: For the Owlet, the general battery life is 12-18 hours before you need to charge it.
- Materials Used: It uses a lithium-ion battery, but the material itself is made from soft cotton.
- Age Range: The Owlet Monitor is meant for babies 0-18 months old.
- Where To Buy: You can find it on the manufacturer’s site and Amazon or in-store at Target and Toys ‘R Us.
Pros
- The base for the monitor can be dimmed, which is convenient when in your baby’s nursery.
- The app itself is easy to read and understand when it gives you readings of your baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels.
- You can use it up until your baby is 18 months old, which is longer than a lot of other baby oxygen monitors.
- Since the battery life is 12-18 hours, it’s more than enough time to last throughout the night when your baby is sleeping.
Cons
- If your baby is in a room that’s too brightly lit, the monitor might misread itself, so a sock over it would be needed in order to emit an accurate reading.
- When your baby makes sudden moves in their sleep, it might be harder for the monitor to get readings.
- Since your baby could take off the sock while sleeping or it could fall off, it could result in false alarms in the middle of the night.
The big decision point here for us was the more advanced technology and convenient app integration with the Owlet. It's more expensive, but worth it. Hands down.
Reviews
“If you, like us, just can’t help yourself from anxiously checking your baby’s breathing 200 times a night, this is a life-changing gadget. We still check up on him a few times a night and observe “safe sleep” rigorously, but seeing the baby’s vitals tracked has allowed us to settle into sleep instead of sleeping with one eye open.” – Eric on Amazon.
“We have a preemie that was born at 34 weeks. After two weeks in the hospital and some complications with breathing, we got the Owlet Smart Sock. It works great and gives me the peace of mind to sleep.” – Kayla A. on Amazon.
“We’ve been using this for four months now, and it works perfectly. No false alarms and I haven’t had any issues with the app. I’d recommend this to other parents in a heartbeat.” – Jenn Gauthier on Amazon.
“OMG Love this! We use it for our second daughter, and it lets me know exactly how she is doing while she sleeps day or night. It has a decent reach so I can have the base upstairs and baby be downstairs. My phone linked easily. This gives me so much peace of mind…really wish I had had this for daughter number one!!” – Charlotte on Amazon.
The Verdict
Since both the Baby Vida and Owlet monitors have a lot of the same benefits, including being able to read your baby’s vitals throughout the night and including an app to help you along the way, there are other factors to consider. First, there’s the cost.
The Baby Vida is half the cost of the Owlet for virtually the same thing. Secondly, there’s the battery life. For the Owlet, the battery life ranges from 12-18 hours, but with the Baby Vida, it lasts 18 hours.
For the Baby Vida, the sock also comes in two different sizes to accommodate your growing baby. Overall, the Baby Vida Oxygen Monitor is going to be the stronger option of the two, while giving your baby the kind of monitoring you as a parent need to have that strong peace of mind.
Final Thoughts
Although these kinds of baby monitors can do a lot in helping you keep track of your baby’s health and wellness throughout the night while they’re sleeping, they should never be used in the place of medical attention or help, if it’s needed.
At the core, these monitors are useful in acting as a more in-depth baby monitor for parents. However they are not a substitution for actual medical attention, should you think your baby needs it. But to help you feel better about your baby’s heart rate while they’re still in those early stages, it’s only natural to look toward a heart rate and oxygen monitors like the Baby Vida and Owlet.
Even if you never knew such a useful baby product existed, it’s something to consider, especially for newer parents who may be a little more worried about their newborns at any given time. And in this case, it looks like the best choice between the two similar products is going to be the Baby Vida.
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