Internet Connected Diapers – Pampers Introduces The Lumi System

Pampers is the latest company to jump into trendy, wearable devices with a new “connected care system” called Lumi that tracks babies’ activity through a sensor that attaches to diapers.

The sensor sends an alert to an app notification when a diaper is wet. It also sends information on the baby’s sleep and wake times and allows parents to manually track additional info, like dirty diapers and feeding times.

A video monitor is included with the system and is integrated into the app. Pampers didn’t say how much the system, which is launching in the US this fall, will cost.

The announcement on Thursday (July 18) from Pampers, which is part of Procter & Gamble, is a sign of the growth in the “baby tech” industry.

However, with the increase in “smart” options for babies and younger children, too, parents must make decisions about how much tech to use as they seek to raise them in an increasingly connected world.

“Even an infant or a toddler deserves a little privacy,” said Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of bestselling book “How to Raise an Adult.”

From smart diapers to social media, today’s parents are grappling with an ever-expanding crop of privacy concerns triggered by widespread connectivity of devices. Posting photos, tracking their development in an app or even searching for information on their health conditions can help big tech develop digital profiles that could follow those children for the rest of their lives.

In many cases, it’s still unclear how data for children’s connected devices are used and how secure it is. Take baby monitors and security cameras: There are dozens of examples of baby or child monitors being hacked or otherwise compromised.

The Lumi system encrypts all data and uses “the same standard of security as the financial services industry,” said Pampers spokeswoman Mandy Treeby. The system does not currently include two-factor authentication, something security experts consider key to avoiding unauthorized access to systems.

The goal of the system is to alleviate stress for new parents, and feedback from those testing the system has so far been positive, Treeby added.