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Tip 1. Heart Rate Alerts during Feedings.
Babies tend to have elevated heart rates during feedings. It’s normal that your baby has a heart rate that is higher than 160 BPM and triggers an alert. Don’t panic. It’s normal. The normal heart rate zone used in the NORA sensor is defined from 80 to 160 BPM. We don’t want to set the range too wide in case there is a real issue.
Tip 2. Use the Heart Rate to Tell the Baby is Sleeping.
One of the most challenging works for new parents is to get babies to sleep. You have to hold the baby in arms for quite a while. The question is how can you tell it’s time to put it down? You can look at the heart rate. When the heart rate slows down to close to 120 BPM for early-month babies, it means the baby gets into a deeper sleep and you can put it down. If you look at the heart rate hisotry of the whole night, you would find babies have very obvious slower heart rate during the deep sleep.
Tip 3. Accidental Roll-over.
Infants should always sleep on their backs, which is safer and it’s a good practice against SIDS. The problem is they start to learn roll over. At a certain time, usually 3-month-old, they can roll from on-back to on-stomach (on-belly), however, they can not roll back. As a result, you need to keep an eye on them during this period. This is where the NORA helps you. If the baby rolls on stomach, the NORA Baby App would sound an alarm. Before that, it requires the NORA sensor has been put on the baby for a while and it has detected a valid heart rate. Once the heart rate is detected, the on-belly detection is enabled all the way to the end. The on-belly alert is considered as a critical alert. Allowed by Apple, NORA Baby’s App overrides your iPhone settings and sound the alarm no matter what mode it is in. It ignores iPhone’s Do-Not-Disturb, Driving-Mode, and the Silent-Mode. You will get an alert in the middle of the night even if you turn on Do-Not-Disturb.
Tip 4. Allow Roll-over.
Reaching a certain age, you will be allowing the baby to sleep on-side or on-stomach, for example, my 5-month-old daughter is a side sleeper. It’s your decision. Please remember the sleep safety practice first. Since that age, you may consider turning off the on-belly alert in the App, otherwise, it’s going to alarm a lot during the night. At the upper left corner of the App, it’s all the options. Get in there and turn off the on-belly alert, the App won’t alert about sleeping position anymore. - NORA Team
Tip 5. Travel in Vehicles
If you travel alone with your baby in a vehicle, you would have a problem that as the driver you won’t be able to see your baby back there in the safety seat on the second row. How can you make sure it’s all good. This is where NORA can help you. You can put your iPhone on the dashboard and keep monitoring two things: the foot temperature and the heart rate. For the temperature, It becomes more challenging for parents to keep a steady and conformable ambient temperature traveling in a vehicle. The foot temperature is a good indicator for you. Another thing is the heart rate. Babies tend to sleep in moving vehicles. Keep monitoring their heart rate, you will be confident that they are good back there. It’s worth mentioning that the sleep history won’t be valid traveling in vehicle. Sleep history takes the motion as one of the inputs, so the moving vehicle would fool the algorithms that the baby is wiggling.
Tip 6. 'Diaper-Mode' Pros and Cons
NORA is the only one that supports ‘Diaper Mode’ and ‘Sock Mode’, so you don’t have to choose before the purchase. The ‘Diaper Mode’ has some pros and cons. It measures body sleep position more directly and accurately. It can tell it’s on-back, on-stomach and sitting, while the ‘Sock Mode’ can not tell it’s sitting. The ‘Diaper Mode’ can fall back to measuring the breathing when the heart rate can not be read out, for example, caused by an air gap between the sensor and the skin. It’s also easier to put on and take off the sensor. The last but not least advantage of the 'Diaper Mode' is that it's almost the only solution for babies beyond 8-month-old. Babies would grab and try to take off the sock, while the sensor hidding in the diaper won't get their attention. The ‘Diaper Mode’ has drawbacks as well. The first would be it has a shorter Bluetooth range because the sensor is more enclosed by the body. When the baby is hugged by parents, the Bluetooth range reduces dramatically to even less than 10ft because the sensor is sandwiched by bodies. Another drawback of the ‘Diaper Mode’ is that it’s not as sensitive as the ‘Sock Mode’ to the body’s temperature change. When the baby feels cold or hot, the temperature on the hands and feet changes the first. Accordingly, the ‘Sock Mode’ is better at catching that temperature change. 'Sock Mode' is sometimes better at catching the heart rate because there are more capillary vessels on the feet and it's because the sock is specifically designed to make sure the sensor has a good contact to the skin while the diaper is not. It’s up to you to select the best mode for your baby. The answer could be different at different periods of time. Overall speaking, the 'Sock Mode' is better at early months (0-6M), while the 'Diaper Mode' is better at late months (6-12M).
Tip 7. About the Bluetooth Range
If you need a longer Bluetooth range, you have to use the ‘Sock Mode’. The measured range is about 40ft. The ‘Diaper Mode’ has a shorter range, about 20 to 30ft. When the baby is hugged by parents in the ‘Diaper Mode’, that’s the worst case, because the sensor is sandwiched by bodies. NORA is continuously improving the Bluetooth range.
Tip 8. Breath View Availability
If you are wondering how can I see the real-time breathing, here is the answer. The breath view is not always available. The NORA sensor always tries to get the heart rate first and that's the only option if it's put on the sock. If you are in the 'Diaper Mode' and if the baby is in sleep, the sensor turns to monitor breathing if the heart rate can not be read out. Usually it's caused by the diaper is not tight enough and there is an air gap between the sensor and the skin. The air gap prevents the sensor from getting the heart rate, however, the good news is the sensor is sensitive enough to catch the air gap change caused by breathing. That's the only moment that you can access to the real-time breath view.