Introducing Bye Bye Baby Biometrics: A Movement Backed by Doctors and Parents to Expose Fear-Based Marketing in the Baby Tech Industry

Today, a coalition of 100+ pediatricians, OB-GYNs, sleep specialists, parents, and industry advocates, including the team behind Harbor, launched the Bye Bye Baby Biometrics Advocacy Group. This movement aims to reveal the harm caused by the fear-based marketing tactics used by baby tech companies to sell biometric devices. These products, while marketed as life-saving innovations that monitor infants’ breathing, heart rate, and other vital signs, often heighten parental anxiety and reduce adherence to safe sleep guidelines.

“I see new moms every week for their first postpartum checkup. I frequently get shown concerning metrics from these types of devices by worried moms who think their children are at risk,” said Jennifer McLeland, OB-GYN at TX Health and one of the founding members of the Bye Bye Baby Biometrics Advocacy Group. “Every practitioner I’ve spoken with has experienced some version of this… We hate these devices. Not only are they inaccurate, they increase women’s risk of postpartum anxiety.”

The Problem with Biometric Devices
Over the past decade, baby tech companies have increasingly used emotional marketing to sell biometric wearables. Promises to “monitor every breath” and warnings about the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) create a false sense of necessity, driving worried parents to purchase products that offer little proven benefit and ultimately lead to parents dismissing safe sleep practices.

Research from leading health organizations shows that these devices can cause more harm than good, increasing stress, disrupting safe sleep practices, and even leading to more emergency room visits due to false alarms. The Journal of the American Medical Association emphasizes that “there are no medical indications for monitoring healthy infants at home,” while the American Academy of Pediatrics directly advises against the use of home cardiorespiratory monitors as a strategy to reduce the risk of SIDS.

With postpartum depression surging from 15% to over 40% in recent years and with postpartum anxiety jumping from 29% to 72%, the pressure to rely on these unreliable devices only exacerbates the crisis.

“With my first child, I ordered a well-known breathing monitor because I was terrified he would stop breathing in the middle of the night. The first time we used it, I woke up to an alert. I ran into my son’s nursery full of panic, only to find that the monitor had fallen off,” said Emiley Chiasson, mom of three. “This scenario happened often, and I found myself obsessing over the app for reassurance, which only increased my anxiety during the postpartum period. Needless to say, we didn’t use it for our second and third children.”

Join the Movement: A Call for Accountability
The Bye Bye Baby Biometrics campaign is calling on baby tech companies like Nanit, Owlet and Philips to shift away from fear-based sales tactics and embrace transparency. The campaign’s demands include:

• Requiring independent clinical testing to validate the effectiveness of these products.
• Following FDA guidelines and providing clear information about device capabilities and the differences between “FDA Cleared” vs. “FDA Approved.”

Parents, healthcare professionals, and concerned community members are invited to join the movement by signing the petition. The goal is to stop companies from using fear to sell their products, ensuring parents have accurate information about baby biometric devices and their limitations.

“For too long, companies have preyed on the fears of new parents, making them believe they need wearable devices to ensure their baby’s safety,” said Kevin Lavelle, CEO and co-founder of Harbor. “As a parent, I’ve seen the unrelenting anxiety these companies create. As a founder in the infant care space, I cannot sit by and watch these companies profit from the fear they create. Our industry should do better. The reality is that these devices are not backed by science or the medical community and can create more harm than help.”

The Bye Bye Baby Biometrics Advocacy Group founding members include, but are not limited to:

• Jennifer McLeland, MD - OB-GYN, Texas Health
• Brian Welsh, MD - OB-GYN
• Taylor McCawley - Respiratory Therapist, Cook’s Children’s Hospital
• Kelly Brown, RN - Director of Nursing, Harbor
• Kevin Lavelle - CEO & Co-founder, Harbor
• McRae Brittingham - Certified Postpartum Doula, Newborn Care Specialist, & Agency Owner
• Pedro Silva - Co-founder, Milkify
• Samantha Rosenberg - Infant and Toddler Sleep Consultant & Parenting Coach
• Hillary Blackburn, PharmD, MBA - Founder, Rx4Mom

For more information, visit byebyebabybiometrics.com/.

Contact Information

Lindsey Sullivan

Organizer

Bye Bye Baby Biometrics Advocacy Group

Contact via E-mail