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Strategy

Target Picks up Baby-Monitoring Wearable

For anxious new parents, a simple baby monitor – even the video variety – doesn’t seem like sufficient protection. To assuage those parental anxieties, or perhaps create new ones, wearable tech startups have been developing products like sleep-monitoring anklets and data-gathering diapers. A signal this trend is catching on? Retailer Target will soon be selling the wearable breathing and rollover monitor MonBaby in 444 of its brick-and-mortar stores across the country.

The MonBaby is a smart button that snaps onto anything in a baby’s wardrobe, from a onesie to footie pajamas. It sends stats like breathing movements, body position (whether the baby is on his/her back or stomach) and fall detection to a complementary app on a parent’s smartphone. The stats and sleep cycles are updated five times a second and sent in real time to the app. The device will also send phone alerts, if no baby movement is detected for 15 seconds.

The MonBaby will be a part of Target’s new Connected Home line, announced in 2015, which features a selection of smart gadgets from brands like iRobot and Samsung. MonBaby has been available on Target.com and on other online retailer sites since early 2016. “We’re excited about the expansion from an online presence with Target to placement within the retailer’s stores. It’s a big win for us,” says Arturas Vaitaitis, chief technology officer of MonDevices and inventor of the MonBaby.

MonDevices CEO Lev Grzhonko believes this development is just a sign of things to come. “The Internet of Things is becoming more and more commonplace as people incorporate it into their work, play and home lives,” he says.