The Nanit Plus Video Baby Monitor & Sleep Tracker is an all-in-one device that lets you keep a safe watch over your child while also getting sleep tracking information. The sleep data collected by the monitor drives recommendations based on sleep science to help you and your baby sleep better.
Tracking Your Baby’s Sleep with the Nanit Plus
Sleep is notoriously elusive for parents and newborns alike, especially if it’s your first child. At the beginning you will have no information about how long they should be sleeping and how that should change over time. Especially after what can be months of disrupted nights, many parents opt to solicit the help of a sleep coach for their child which can cost hundreds of dollars. In reality, a sleep coach is actually a pretty logical step to take given how every baby is different and will require specific help. Not to mention that every parent is different too. In many cases it’s the parents who need the coaching; not the child. Therein lies the value of a baby monitor like the Nanit Plus that offers sleep tracking and recommendations. Most parents will want a monitor anyway, and to have one that also provides the service of a sleep coach is a huge bonus.
Features of the Nanit Plus Baby Monitor & Sleep Tracker
The Nanit Plus comes with a host of features that empowers you to feel confident as you put your kids to sleep.
Bird’s Eye View with the Wall Mount
When mounted on the wall above the crib, the camera has a bird’s eye view of your little one that automatically switches to night vision mode when the ambient light drops. With digital zoom you can get in close to see all the cute faces baby makes as they sleep. The cable concealer that comes with the monitor helps make sure that any cords are safely out of baby’s reach. The Nanit Plus monitor is best when wall-mounted since that’s where it’s going to get the best view so it can provide accurate sleep tracking via Nanit Insights.
The Nanit App
Nanit’s smartphone app brings the camera’s video and data from all the sensors directly to your smartphone. It leverages your home Wi-Fi or cellular data to bring the video to you wherever you go whether you’re in your house or out in the world. With 24/7 background audio enabled in the settings, you can stay listening to the audio from your Nanit monitor while your phone is locked or you’re using other apps too. The app can be setup to provide notifications when movement or sound is detected. The app is the source of all your sleep tracking data and analysis as well, and will provide useful information about how your child is resting (or not) through the night.
Nanit Insights
The monitor ships with a 30-day free trial of Nanit Insights which is your ticket to all the sleep analysis and insights you could ask for.
The Dashboard provides a snapshot of a few key metrics like total time asleep, how long it took to get to sleep, how many times you had to go to the crib to soothe or check on baby, and others.
The sleep trends screen shows a graph view of how much time throughout the night baby spent awake, sleeping, being soothed in the crib, and being taken out of the crib.
Night timelapse shows a timelapse video of your baby throughout the night with a focus on the moments when there was activity.
Sleep Tips is a section that shows you suggestions and information on how to help your baby (and yourself) have more restful sleeps. The app collects data over time and sends the information to be processed using sophisticated algorithms built with the input of pediatric sleep experts. As an example, if you routinely go in and pick up your baby right away when they wake up crying, the app may suggest trying to soothe your baby while still in the crib to help them learn to self soothe and put themselves to sleep.
After the 30-day free trial ends the service is offered as a 1 year subscription for $100 which provides 30 days of storage, or you can upgrade to unlimited storage for $300.
Editor’s Note: Nanit announces a new feature to help you capture precious memories
The newest addition to Nanit Insights, Memories allows you to save your baby’s most precious moments, even when no one is watching. The first time they fall asleep on their own, to the first time they slept through the entire night. The Nanit Plus captures it all, automatically, and saves it right in the Memories tab on your Nanit app. Easily and instantly share moments with your family and friends, and most importantly, watch your baby grow, even it feels like it’s all happening a little too fast. Memories lets and helps you create a digital photo album of your baby’s most important memories, so you never miss a moment.
Video & Camera Quality
The Nanit Plus camera offers 960p resolution which is higher than many other monitors in the market. Combined with best-in-class night vision, the view into your baby’s crib is one of the best you can get. There will be some nights when your little one is lying there in the cutest sleeping position, or maybe they’re making a hilarious face that you just can’t help but laugh at. Through the app you’re able to snap a photo using the camera that will be saved to your phone’s memory so you can cherish it forever and share it with friends and family. The camera uses your home’s Wi-Fi to communicate with your phone, so the video signal isn’t going over the internet before it hits your device. This is great since it means that if your internet goes down, you’re still able to keep an eye on baby as long as your wifi network is still working.
Listening in and 2-Way Communication
The Nanit camera features a microphone to let you listen in on your child so you know when they’re awake and in need of a feed or some attention. The Nanit app can be setup to alert you when sound, movement, temperature, or humidity changes are detected in your nursery. You can also speak through your smartphone using the Nanit app and have your voice played through the speaker on the camera. This can be useful if you want to let baby hear the sound of your voice so they soothe without seeing you expecting to be picked up. Having a communication link between the nursery and each parent is also helpful if you need to call for backup halfway through a diaper change.
Temperature, Humidity & Night Light
Everyone likes the climate in their room just so to get a great night’s sleep, and babies are no different. The Nanit Plus monitors temperature and humidity so you can learn what kind of environment suits your child and keep an eye out if things start getting too hot or too cold. The app can alert you when the environment is outside the optimal ranges you’ve set in the settings. The camera’s white body is semi translucent, and on the back of the camera there is a night light that can be controlled via the app. This feature is something other monitors don’t always include, and when you really need to find that lost soother or stuffed animal in the pitch black, a little light can be a life saver.
Monitoring Breathing with The Nanit Plus and Nanit Breathing Wear
Nanit took a very different route to breathing monitoring than most other monitors. Many monitors use sensors placed under the crib mattress or embedded inside the baby’s sleepwear to track breathing. Instead, Nanit created a line of their own swaddles and sleep bands that feature a custom designed pattern that the Nanit Plus camera can detect and use to identify the small movements of your baby’s breathing. If you love your own collection of cute sleepwear the breathing band is a great option as it simply wraps around your child’s chest so the pattern is visible on top of their regular jammies, sleep sack, or swaddle.
Security of Your Stored Video & Data
With Nanit insights you can store video history in the cloud along with your child’s sleep data. Nanit uses AES 256-bit encryption when it transmits data to the cloud, so your information is safe. You can also setup 2-step authentication to make sure that even if your device or password falls into the wrong hands, there’s an extra layer of security in place to protect your personal information. Nanit allows you to setup other user profiles for folks like family members or a nanny who might also benefit from certain sleep data when they take care of your little one. Permissions can be set and tweaked to allow more or less access to the information.
Nanit’s secure system of data recording and monitoring actually creates a link between your Nanit account and the physical device you own. Since I reviewed this monitor after another reviewer had already set it up with their Nanit account I got a notification that I would have to get in touch with Nanit support to have it unlinked so I could set it up with my account and use it. This was somewhat frustrating, but I was also impressed with the level of security and integration their system had.
Shortcomings of the Nanit Plus
The Nanit Plus is a great monitor, but no device is perfect. Here are a few things that stood out to me after having used it for a week and compared it to a number of other models.
No Stand-alone Parent Unit
Some parents may actually see this as a benefit of the Nanit Plus, but for me the lack of a separate parent unit that has a screen and controls for all the functions of the device is a downside. Often I’m using my phone and would much prefer to look over at a dedicated device that is always there to provide a view to the crib.
No Sleep Tracking Unless it’s Mounted
If you’re wanting to take advantage of the sleep tracking, which is a real selling point of the Nanit Plus, you’re going to need to mount your camera to the wall using the included mount and hardware. For me that wasn’t a great option since the unit I have is only on loan for this review, and the wall behind my son’s crib is a nice dark green; something my wife and I painted ourselves and hope to keep untainted by screw holes, electronics, or wires and their associated white plastic cable management parts. There is an optional floor stand accessory that comes in a different bundle with the Nanit Plus, but that will cost you a bit extra.
Final Thoughts on the Nanit Plus Baby Monitor and Sleep Tracker
The Nanit Plus is an excellent video baby monitor that has a slough of extra features that put it on par with the best monitors on the market. The addition of sleep tracking and recommendations are game changers for new parents learning how to get their babies sleeping through the night. I would definitely recommend this monitor to parents who want a high quality video monitor that will give them the peace of mind they need to sleep as soundly as, well … a baby.
Be sure to check out the video and visit bestbuy.ca to see the full details and specs on the Nanit Plus Baby Monitor and Sleep Tracker.
