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back to article What the world needs now is... a Bluetooth-enabled baby's dummy

UK startup Blue Maestro is about to solve the spit-the-dummy-out-of-the-crib problems forever with Pacifi, a toddler’s dummy that comes with a Bluetooth connection. The device combines silicon and silicone to measure the child’s temperature and can provide a level of monitoring which is not possible even with regular checking …

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  1. greenawayr

    Just what we need

    Another way of becoming addicted to monitoring our children to the extent that we become paranoid.

    My wife insisted on one of those infuriating sleep mat monitors, fine for the first 6 months when he was in a crib, but now he's in a cot and wriggling around, the bl**dy thing goes off at least a couple of times a night, which when you're a sleep deprived parent, is not what you need. She's now addicted to it though, convinced that the mat has saved the boys life several times and if she turns it off she'll not be able to sleep for fear of SIDS. We've agreed that will turn it off by the time he goes to Uni.

    Thankfully, our lad has never taken to a dummy so she won't be after this.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Alan W. Rateliff, II
      Reply Icon
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Just what we need

      Have you taken the wife to see a doctor? I hope that if I ever get that stuck on something, my wife would take me in.

      Says the guy on the Internet at 4:30 in the morning. She's snoring, so does it matter?

      2 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Throw down

    "The device also has a “leash” feature. Using the app, it can be set to sound an alarm if the Pacifi gets beyond a configurable distance, typically because the child has thrown the Pacifi out of its pram."

    I don't get it. If the idea is to monitor the little germ factory's vitals, just strap it on! Guaranteed not to lose contact.

    1 1 Reply
    1. Blue Maestro
      Reply Icon

      Re: Throw down

      Hi John, it is not recommended to tether a pacifier by a cord or any other form of lead to a baby due to the risk of them wrapping it around themselves. In fact it is illegal to sell a pacifier with a lead in the U.S.

      Kirstin, Blue Maestro

      1 2 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Throw down

        Kirsten, it was sarcasm. I actually think the whole monitor idea panders to the sick "helicopter mom" pathology. Should have used the /s I guess.

        1 1 Reply
  3. Allan George Dyer

    Guessing game:

    You baby has

    i) a high fever

    ii) thrown the pacifier into your tea (again)

    2 0 Reply
    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      Re: Guessing game:

      The clever baby will learn to put the thing on the radiator for a bit, to get it all toasty warm - and then be given Calpol.

      Most young children are Calpoloholics. It must taste really nice.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Gruezi
        Reply Icon

        Re: Guessing game:

        They are. It does. :)

        1 0 Reply
    2. Blue Maestro
      Reply Icon

      Re: Guessing game:

      Hi Allan,

      Pacifier is waterproof and will then measure the temperature of your tea!

      Kirstin, Blue Maestro

      1 0 Reply
      1. Benchops
        Reply Icon

        Re: Guessing game:

        Excellent!

        Can it be calibrated so that it will let me know when the tea has cooled to 72 degrees C?

        0 0 Reply
  4. SmallYellowFuzzyDuck, how pweety!
    Joke

    Also perfect for the offfice environment

    Rather than link to a phone it could link to a flashing sign that says "The boss is angry, keep your head down!"

    2 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Also perfect for the offfice environment

      Buddy, if your boss needs a pacifier, you need a new job!

      2 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Custard
        Reply Icon

        Re: Also perfect for the offfice environment

        I think most bosses do need them on a fairly regular basis - mine certainly have a bad habit of throwing their toys out of the pram at the slightest opportunity (usually about inconsequential things when most of the bigger storms are their fault anyway and so get glossed over).

        Such an alarm to know when their temperature is up and/or they're wandering away from their safe cubbie-hole would be most welcome.

        0 0 Reply
    2. Evil Auditor Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Devil

      Re: Also perfect for the offfice environment

      Perfect! I'm sure it would plug nicely into the bosses' arse. And they wouldn't mind, quite a few of them are a bit anal anyway.

      0 0 Reply
  5. MonkeyScrabble

    For God's sake why does no one think of the children??!

    Anyone who buys this pointless, overpriced tat needs to be taken out and shot.

    The average IQ of the human race as a whole would increase slightly as a result.

    Hint to parents about their baby. If something is wrong the child will let you know by opening it's expansive (also expensive) gob and loudly protesting.

    An iCrap connected dummy will not assist in this instance since it will not be in the yawning chasm of earache that is the childs screaming yap at that time.

    I'm amazed any child survived before the invention of this useless shite.

    7 6 Reply
    1. Mike Taylor
      Reply Icon

      Re: For God's sake why does no one think of the children??!

      My favourite piece of baby-shite are those anti-cat smothering net things. Based on a myth that goes back several hundred years. Absolutely refused to over-monitor my kids when they were babies, ditto now they're adolescent.

      0 0 Reply
  6. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Joke

    Unexpected consequences?

    Let's hope those bright primary colours are fast. We wouldn't want the little munchkins to leach out the dye and get, er, blue teeth.

    1 1 Reply
    1. Blue Maestro
      Reply Icon

      Re: Unexpected consequences?

      Hi,

      Yes the primary colours are moulded into the silicon cover and are completely fast. Blue teeth would not be a good look!

      Kirstin, Blue Maestro

      1 1 Reply
  7. Ed 13
    Mushroom

    From the shop with big windows

    ...because they saw you coming.

    Given a quick check of the boots website indicates that ordinary pacifiers cost about a fiver.

    I wonder what happens to them when you put them through the steam steriliser (see icon)?

    0 1 Reply
    1. Blue Maestro
      Reply Icon

      Re: From the shop with big windows

      Hi Ed,

      They are completely watertight and can with-stand steam sterilisation.

      Kirstin, Blue Maestro

      0 1 Reply
      1. greenawayr
        Reply Icon

        Re: From the shop with big windows

        Problem is, a lot of people use microwave sterlisers

        0 0 Reply
  8. dogged
    Meh

    Better idea

    Yes, Bluetooth if you like but a locator instead.

    Finding where my horrible spawn hurls the bloody things more easily would actually be worth money.

    I do wonder how this miracle idea is supposed to stand up to eight minutes in a superheated steam sterilizer, though.

    1 0 Reply
  9. Suricou Raven

    Simpler solution.

    Those stretchy coiled wires that tether dummy to pram.

    0 0 Reply
    1. JDX Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Simpler solution.

      How does that measure temperature?

      0 0 Reply
      1. Blue Maestro
        Reply Icon

        Re: Simpler solution.

        Hi,

        There is a thermistor inside the silicon teat that takes the temperature.

        Kirstin, Blue Maestro

        0 1 Reply
  10. petur
    FAIL

    No wireless near my baby

    Call me paranoid, but I never let any wireless device near my babies when they were young. Even the monitor was in the opposite corner of the room.

    So kudos for sticking a transmitter in their mouth at that young age. I'd not take the risk, whatever low power they claim to use.

    0 4 Reply
    1. JDX Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: No wireless near my baby

      You're paranoid. You sound like the type who would not give their child MMR.

      They're near a wireless device every time you go somewhere with WiFi which probably includes your house. If you can get a WiFi signal next to baby's head, they are being irradiated.

      3 0 Reply
      1. petur
        Reply Icon

        Re: No wireless near my baby

        @JDX schools here are fobidden to use wifi if there are kids younger than 6. Indeed.

        0 0 Reply
    2. Steve Todd
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      Re: No wireless near my baby

      If it is low enough power to run for a year on internal power then I'd be much more concerned with other sorts of RF, like next door's WiFi, passing mobile phones etc. You need to keep all babies in a Faraday cage don't you?

      2 0 Reply
    3. Blue Maestro
      Reply Icon

      Re: No wireless near my baby

      Hi,

      This was a concern for us in the design of the pacifier.

      Pacifier transmits 3 milliseconds every 5 seconds, which means for over 99.99% of the time it is not transmitting at all. This is compared to radio signals from a phone or wifi which can be transmitting constantly. Also, when it does transmit, its signal is very weak, may 100s of times weaker than a wifi router. We have designed the pacifier that it can be switched off from transmission mode at any point a parent wants to, such as when they are not taking the baby's temperature, for example.

      The FDA has also done a study on wireless devices such as phones on children and found no health risks (please see http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmittingProductsandProcedures/HomeBusinessandEntertainment/CellPhones/ucm116331.htm).

      As others point out, the ambient RF a baby is exposed to is likely to be many times higher than what the pacifier produces.

      Kirstin, Blue Maestro

      0 0 Reply
      1. ItsNotMe
        Reply Icon

        Well Kirstin...

        ...if you ever hope to sell this item in the US...you had better keep in mind HIPAA compliance...because you are in effect sending patient data via your Bluetooth connection, and any HIPAA regulated data such as this has very strict security rules regarding its transmission.

        0 1 Reply
        1. Swarthy
          Reply Icon

          Re: Well Kirstin...

          I wouldn't think that it qualifies as HIPAA data being just a time/temperature, as it will measure the temp of your tea (see comments above) as well as the baby.

          If it were programmable to the point where it had the child's name, or any personal Identifier, it may cross into HIPAA territory.

          0 0 Reply
      2. Ed 13
        Reply Icon

        Re: No wireless near my baby

        "Pacifier transmits 3 milliseconds every 5 seconds, which means for over 99.99% of the time it is not transmitting at all."

        According to my calculator 3ms every 5000 gives a 99.94% duty cycle.

        0 0 Reply

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. David Bilsby

    Perhaps I should shelve my invention idea

    Given the stick this wonderful (NOT) idea has had, maybe I should shelve my patent on the iShatMySelf nappies. These where to have featured constant monitoring by Browntooth of the rectal evacuations of your little bundle of joy. Analysis of the stool contents to determine if you are feeding it too much sugar, fat or gin on the Pacifi. Immediate alerts of a wee and irrefutable to prove that it was the dog which has farted and not the baby.

    1 1 Reply
  13. EssEll
    Thumb Down

    Unnecessary

    "The device also has a “leash” feature. Using the app, it can be set to sound an alarm if the Pacifi gets beyond a configurable distance, typically because the child has thrown the Pacifi out of its pram"

    If the child's not well, they will wake up. And scream. If the child loses their dummy, they will wake up. And scream. Then the parent will wake up. And scream.

    This is an iConnected device too far, instilling fear in (usually first-time, I'll bet) parents. And yes, I have been there, done that and got the sleepless nights to prove it.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Blue Maestro
      Reply Icon

      Re: Unnecessary

      The article wasn't clear on this point - the leash feature makes the phone sound an alarm, not the pacifier. Although a trusted phone can make the pacifier sound an alarm too (like when trying to find it). A feature of the device though, is it will not sound an alarm if it registers it is in a baby's mouth. We also display a warning if someone is going to use the "find me" feature in the pacifier, to check that it is not with their baby.

      Kirstin, Blue Maestro

      1 0 Reply
  14. Matt Piechota

    Thankless

    I don't have much to say about the product, but bravo Kirsten for trying to keep the cynical hordes here well-informed. It's a thankless job. Well, except for this thanks I guess. :)

    2 0 Reply
  15. Swarthy

    Meh

    I can see the good things about this, mainly being that it will be easier to get a child's temp from a pacifier. I usually used ear-canal thermometers on the sprogs, as they can (sometimes) get the temp before the wee spawn wriggle lose. I can also see it being useful for an illness to track the temp, to know when the antipyretic has kicked in.

    I can also see overly nervous parents using this obsessively and neurotically to constantly monitor for "early signs of illness" and driving themselves insane with worry over every quarter-degree variation. (factoid: A fever of up to 39.5C/103F will not do lasting damage, and is only doing its job. Above that is when it's time to worry).

    The "find me" feature is a beautiful idea.

    1 0 Reply
  16. ShellShockeD
    Paris Hilton

    chips in the microwave

    having a 12 day old son and having14 and 19 years old kids i see the value in this but

    how can you put these things in a microwave oven and not distroy the chips or battary inside ?

    paris because i may be having one of them moments

    0 0 Reply
    1. ShellShockeD
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      Re: chips in the microwave

      oh dear i read steamer and automaticaly used my own experince of micro wave steamers looks like a cup of boiling water is the way forwad with it .

      I think i need some sleep.

      gets dressing gown

      0 0 Reply
  17. Simon Rockman

    The problem I see with this is..

    If it's completely sealed you don't have a little hole in the teat. And if you don't have a little hole how can it work as a pacifier? I mean, how do you get the whisky inside?

    Simon

    0 0 Reply

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