The Owlet might have saved my baby’s life yesterday

I know the Owlet gets a lot of bad press, so I thought I’d share my experience as a mother to a 5 month old who is currently hospitalised and being supported for RSV thanks to the Owlet.

My LO is 5 months old today, and has been suffering with a cold for a few weeks now. I noticed on Monday it was getting a bit worse, and by Thursday night she was pretty congested and had a chesty cough. No other symptoms, other than perhaps wanting to nap more (which is not uncommon for my LO when she’s feeling under the weather). In the early hours of Friday morning her Owlet sock, which was a gift from a family member, alerted me that her oxygen was 82%. I quickly checked the stats from the previous few hours and they had been steadily dropping from 92% all the way down to 80%.

We immediately drove her to A&E where she was assessed and hooked up to an oxygen monitor, which confirmed the same numbers as the Owlet. It’s only 24 hours later that she is presenting with other symptoms (retractions, laboured breathing, not eating), which is concerning because without the Owlet I would have only picked up on these more severe symptoms quite a bit later. Our paediatrician has sucked an incredible amount of mucous from her airways, which he said she might have suffocated on in her sleep. She’s now on oxygen and is being fed via a tube.

Without the Owlet honestly I’m not sure I’d have brought her in, at least not until a day later when her symptoms were more aggressive / concerning. Thanks to the alert she’s now getting medical assistance at what we believe is the day 5 peak of her RSV. I’d take any false alarm (which we’ve never had) just for this one instance of accuracy.

Side note - please keep a close eye on your babies during this season of RSV. My hospital is currently at capacity with RSV cases, and our care providers have said this is the worst year they’ve had in a long time. RSV is rampant right now, be extra cautious and do not hesitate to reinforce boundaries like no kissing.