Owlet Dream Sock review: A welcome aid for anxious parents?

If you were familiar with Owlet’s original Smart Sock, you may be wondering why it disappeared from the market. In a nutshell, Owlet was issued a warning letter by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the Smart Sock was being marketed without the required clearance or approval.

Since then, Owlet made a few tweaks and has now released the Dream Sock, medically certified in the UK, the US and the EU. This improved wearable baby monitor measures ‘sleep quality’, as well as monitoring your baby’s pulse rate and oxygen levels as accurately as medical-grade baby monitoring technology. In practice, this is a monitor for parents that want a little extra reassurance, or those who just like to track things like sleep cycles and wake windows.

It’s also worth noting that while the sock doesn’t come with a camera as standard, the brand does sell one that you can sync up to the accompanying Owlet Dream App, along with the sock, for truly comprehensive monitoring. You can buy this separately, or you can buy the sock and camera as a bundle, potentially saving you a serious chunk of cash.

Owlet Dream Sock review: What do you get for the money?

The box comes with a Velcro-fastening smart sock, a small base station with a mains charger and additional sized fabric socks. You’ll also need to download the free Owlet Dream App, which doesn’t require a subscription to use. If you want to use the sock alongside a camera, you can buy the Owlet Cam 2 separately for £159, or as part of a bundle with the Dream Sock for £399.

It’s worth noting that, while the camera can obviously still be used as your baby gets older and becomes a toddler, the Dream Sock is only suitable for use up to 18 months. Owlet do sell larger socks intended for use up to 5 years of age, but these are for use with the now-discontinued Smart Sock and are not compatible with the Dream Sock.

Owlet Dream Sock review: What’s it like to use?

The Owlet Dream Sock is fairly easy to set up. Arguably, the trickiest part is connecting your smartphone to the base station via Bluetooth. The app is available for both iOS Apple and Android devices and downloading it is easy. After the base station has connected to your smartphone, you can charge the sock wirelessly. The sock charges quickly – Owlet claims an eight-hour charge takes just 20 minutes, and an hour and a half for a full charge – but they do advise that you charge the sock at least once per day.

Once you’re all charged and set up, you need to put the Dream Sock on your baby’s foot, which can be a little tricky to get right initially, especially on very small babies. It needs to go against bare skin but can be worn beneath a footed babygrow.

From here, you can use the app to receive real-time readings of your little one’s pulse rate, oxygen saturation levels, wakings and sleep trends. If these readings fall outside the preset ranges – below 80% oxygen, or a pulse rate under 50bpm or over 220bpm – you’ll receive an alert in the app and a prompt to the base station.

Over time, you’ll also start to see sleep trends, with the sock’s ‘Predictive Sleep Technology’. This can be helpful for understanding your baby’s waking/sleeping patterns and creating a good sleep routine.

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Owlet Dream Sock review: What isn’t it good at?

The Owlet Dream Sock is an expensive device and whether you feel it’s worth it will depend on what you find reassuring.

For some parents, constant monitoring may make them feel better – especially if they have a premature or small baby – but for others, it may make their anxieties worse. Although it wasn’t something we experienced during our testing, some users have reported false alarms which, understandably, could be quite scary and create unnecessary stress.

It’s also important to note that, despite its certification, this isn’t a prescribed medical device and shouldn’t be thought of as an extension to any hospital care your baby may have had.

Owlet Dream Sock review: Should you buy it?

If you’re looking for a smart device to offer extra peace of mind in those early days of parenthood, the Owlet Dream Sock is a very clever device. While not essential by any means, it can provide extra reassurance to nervous parents and, perhaps most usefully, it may help you create a good sleep routine with your baby – one that’s based on science-backed data.