New York baby monitoring company Nanit has introduced an AI-powered textile that lets parents measure their baby’s height and track their growth using the firm’s computer vision technology.

Many parents find measuring a wriggly baby with a ruler or tape measure difficult, and often inaccurate. With Smart Sheets and Nanit’s HD nursery cameras, parents can track and monitor their baby’s height and growth progress.

Parents simply lay their baby or toddler down on a Smart Sheet in the crib. In-app tools mark the key measurement points on the baby, then the computer vision technology processes the baby’s height based on its calibration against the proprietary pattern printed on the Smart Sheet.

“Nanit was designed to help parents learn about their baby and support their journey during the first few years of a child’s development,” said Nanit CEO Sarah Dorsett. “We are excited to expand our offering with the introduction of Smart Sheets and to provide an incredible, safe new way for parents to easily stay connected to their child’s health and well-being.”

Parents can see a real-time reading of their baby’s height in the app, and can then store those measurements and track growth progress over time. Further features including a growth chart and time-lapse video compilation will be rolled out later this year.

“Tracking a baby’s height is an important and helpful way to understand their development in between doctor’s visits,” said Natalie Barnett, director of clinical research at Nanit. “This can help provide parents and caregivers with a complete picture of their overall well-being when combined with Nanit’s ability to monitor sleep and breathing motion.”

Smart Sheets have no sensors or electronics on the baby’s skin or in their crib. They are made of 100% cotton, machine washable and fit a standard full-size crib mattress (70 by 132cm).

Available at launch in Pebble Grey, additional colours will be released later this year. They will sell for $35, and work with all models of Nanit cameras, including the Original, Plus and new Pro. One sheet will also be bundled into the Nanit Pro complete monitoring system, which includes everything needed to track a baby’s sleep, breathing motion and growth in one package starting at $380.

The Nanit Pro can track a baby’s sleep, breathing motion and growth. It provides parents with personalised guidance to help their baby sleep better and feel confident when putting their baby in their crib. The overhead view of the baby’s crib day or night uses 1080P HD colour video and digital zoom.

The cameras include a small Breathing Band to track the baby’s breathing motion in real time.

An upgraded chipset allows for faster processing and higher quality real-time video display as well as added security and on-board storage. An improved internal speaker delivers higher quality sound and audio for features including two-way talk, white noise and nature sounds, background audio, and real-time sound notifications.

“As we expand the Nanit brand in 2021 and beyond, Nanit Pro will serve as our flagship product delivering on our mission of supporting the parenting journey through lifestyle products that connect parents to their baby’s well-being, memories and overall development,” said Dorsett.

Nanit’s products keep parents connected and informed while providing personalised insights and guidance to support their baby’s sleep and well-being. From the AI-powered HD camera that tracks and analyses a baby’s sleep and growth, real-time breathing motion monitoring with Breathing Wear, to capturing moments with the in-app memories feature, Nanit helps parents see and understand everything happening in and around the crib.

Since launching in 2016, Nanit has tracked over 211 million hours of sleep, 42 million parental visits and more than 21 million morning wakeups.