How Nanit’s AI supports parents every day

Parents can truly benefit from the extra help of AI tools, which can support your growing family as you learn your baby’s patterns and rhythms.

Here’s how Nanit’s behavioral AI technology can ease the demands of parenting and help keep your baby safe and sound.

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By Mackenzie Sangster

How Nanit’s AI works

As a parent, the insights you get from AI tools can benefit you and your baby significantly. And that’s exactly the goal Nanit’s founding parents had in mind when developing products like the Nanit Pro Camera. At the intersection of machine learning, computer vision, and sleep science, the Pro Camera tracks and analyzes baby’s movements in their crib.

Unlike the generative form of AI that’s become commonplace, Nanit’s monitor uses an AI model that focuses on learning individual behaviors, so you can track personal sleep patterns. As computer vision technology captures the scene in your baby’s crib, the Pro Camera collects behavioral data specific to your baby.

Over time, your Pro Camera uses these data to provide personalized tips and sleep insights via the monitor’s app. With nearly three billion hours of sleep tracked, Nanit provides expert recommendations that work for each individual family. Those customized insights can help make bedtime easier, unlocking a data-backed understanding of your baby’s sleep patterns. The result? Everyone gets more rest—on average, Nanit babies sleep 10% longer and fall asleep earlier than other babies.

What is machine learning, computer vision, and artificial intelligence?

The term AI, or artificial intelligence, gets a lot of buzz these days, but what’s the actual science behind the buzzword? According to principal research scientist Boris Katz, AI involves using computer models to recreate intelligent, human-like behavior. Machine learning, or the process of computers absorbing and applying knowledge to a complex problem, is a subcategory of AI. In practice, this can range from programming computers to learn languages or even detect when an infant’s wails are a distress cry.

If machine learning is how computers obtain information, computer vision is specifically how they learn to understand and interpret images. This is how Nanit’s video footage provides so much valuable data. As the algorithm reviews each frame recorded by the monitor, it gets better at analyzing your baby’s individual sleep habits.

What is Nanit’s AI capturing today?

The computer vision that powers the Pro Camera tracks all the nuances that go along with your baby’s changing sleep patterns. That includes parental sleep interventions, motor activity, and sound analysis.

Nanit notes the moment your baby falls asleep and wakes up, so you can get a sense of how long they’re sleeping. You’ll also be able to see exactly how well your baby is resting, with sound and motion clips that show if they’re actually sleeping or just playing in their cribs. And the best part? Your baby doesn’t need to wear extra sensors to collect this useful data.

How we use AI to innovate Nanit products

The science of parenting is an ever-evolving frontier. With that in mind, the algorithms that drive Nanit’s products are designed to always expand. By prioritizing innovation, Nanit delivers solutions that can be customized to each family. After all, no two babies are exactly alike, and this means Nanit is always learning what new features parents need the most. Nanit’s advanced algorithms have helped to inform the launch of the following features.

Breathing Motion Monitoring. Electronic-free Breathing Wear is made to pair with your Pro Camera’s computer vision. It safely detects baby’s breathing motion from all angles and sends you real time alerts when your little one needs comforting.
Smart Sheets. You can pair other sensor-free products with the Pro Camera to gain important health insights with computer vision technology. When your baby is all tucked in, Nanit’s Smartsheets track metrics such as height and growth.
Head and Body Pose. The Pro Camera also aggregates sleep position data, so you can learn exactly how your baby prefers to snooze right in your app’s sleep dashboard.
Developmental Milestones. Don’t miss a thing with tracking of your baby’s first big moments. You can capture landmark occasions, such as when your baby starts to roll over, or is able to sit or stand up in their crib.
Activity Score. Is your baby a deep sleeper or do they get restless when it’s time to slumber? You can monitor your baby’s night time activity level and even compare patterns over a two-week period.

What does AI mean for our innovation going forward?

After years of digesting insights from countless babies and parents, Nanit’s future roadmap is drawn from what families really need. As Nanit continues to leverage computer vision technology, parents are getting better data every day. And that means with each Nanit innovation, parents are more equipped to make decisions that make the most sense for them and their babies. It’s all about pushing the innovation of connected health forward for every member of the family, because baby’s and parents' wellbeing are inextricably intertwined.

Unlock the power of Nanit analytics with an Insights plan. You’ll get invaluable sleep data, developmental tracking, breath monitoring, and the cutest autocaptured baby moments in your app. Nanit’s Basic, Premium, and Ultimate subscription plans prioritize learning models that are meant to understand the state of parenting today. Learn more about our app and Insights plans here.

Insights Basic subscribers get:

Our base sleep data with personalized analytics
Breathing Motion Monitoring
Alert Zone (when using the Flex Stand)

Insights Premium subscribers get:

More data, and more adorable moments to save
30 days of sleep data and an autocaptured monthly growth compilation video
Access to two full days of video history
The opportunity to save up to 200 cute moments
Up to 10 users

Insights Ultimate subscribers get:

All our best + industry-leading developmental tracking
The most advanced sleep data analytics, including head and body position tracking
Detailed developmental milestone tracking
Unlimited days of video clips AND sleep analysis
Access to seven full days of video history

AI has the power to make parenting a little easier (really!)

Parenting will never be 100% easy, but the more you can simplify, the more time and energy you can save. If AI is about working smarter, not harder, its role for parents is to fill in the gaps where they need it most. With advances in machine learning, tools like Nanit can support parents’ peace of mind, as they learn how to support their baby’s developing sleep health. The less parents have to worry, the more you can enjoy the important stuff—soaking up every precious moment with your baby.

Nanit is dedicated to delivering high-quality, reliable content for our readers. Our Parent Confidently articles are crafted by experienced parenting contributors and are firmly rooted in data and research. To ensure the accuracy and relevance of the content, all articles undergo a rigorous review process by our team of parenting experts. Additionally, our wellness-related content receives further scrutiny from Nanit Lab, our think tank of scientists, engineers, physicians, academic experts, and thought leaders.

Our primary objective is to furnish readers with the most current, trustworthy, and actionable information concerning a host of parenting topics. We strive to empower our readers to make informed decisions by offering comprehensive and respected insights.

In pursuit of transparency and credibility, our articles incorporate credible third-party sources, peer-reviewed studies, and abstracts. These sources are directly linked within the text or provided at the bottom of the articles to grant readers easy access to the source material.

CONTRIBUTORS

Natalie Barnett, PhD serves as VP of Clinical Research at Nanit. Natalie initiated sleep research collaborations at Nanit and in her current role, Natalie oversees collaborations with researchers at hospitals and universities around the world who use the Nanit camera to better understand pediatric sleep and leads the internal sleep and development research programs at Nanit. Natalie holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of New England in Australia and a Postgraduate Certificate in Pediatric Sleep Science from the University of Western Australia. Natalie was an Assistant Professor in the Neurogenetics Unit at NYU School of Medicine prior to joining Nanit. Natalie is also the voice of Nanit's science-backed, personalized sleep tips delivered to users throughout their baby's first few years.

Kristy Ojala is Nanit’s Digital Content Director. She spends way too much time looking at maps and weather forecasts and pictures of Devon Rex cats and no-cook dinners. A former sleep champion, she strives to share trustworthy somnabulism tips with other parents—praying for that one fine day when no tiny humans wake her up while it’s still dark out. Her kids highly recommend 3 books, approximately 600 stuffies, Chopin’s “Nocturnes,” and the Nanit Sound + Light for bedtime success.

Mackenzie Sangster is on the Brand and Community team at Nanit. She supports content development and editing for Nanit’s Parent Confidently blog as well as other marketing initiatives. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her friends, cooking, being active, and using the Pro + Flex Duo to keep an eye on her fur-baby, Poppy!

Holly Hays is a contributor and writer for Nanit, channeling her years as a mama and former magazine editor to create fun, useful content for fellow busy, trying-to-do-their-best parents and caregivers. Holly has written for a wide range of brands and media outlets (Ergobaby, HGTV, Manhattan Toy Company, OXO), loves to cook and read mystery novels, and leans heavily on her two daughters to keep her up to date on all the latest slang.