This is not a motion sensor in the familiar sense (i.e. a burglar alarm), rather it is calibrated to detect when an infant ceases its movements. The sensor is mounted beneath the baby’s cot, its visual or auditory alarm is activated if the baby’s breathing stops or becomes irregularly slow. Baby motion sensors have been available since 1992. The product is somewhat medical- technological in its appearance, in-line with the packaging’s assertion that it is ‘medically certified’.

Objects such as this reveal much about the anxiety of new parents when caring for very young children, and how manufacturers create products in response to this anxiety which are designed to ease parents’ fears. On another thread, the development of these products raises questions of whether these sorts of expensive product are really strictly necessary outside of the medical environment, and whether they ease or heighten the anxieties of parents.