Image Source: Courtesy of Owlet, Inc.
The Owlet Dream Sock found me at the perfect time. Everyone told me having a baby would disrupt my sleep – but I thought that I’d at least be able to sleep when the baby was sleeping. Instead, for those first few surreal nights, I found myself wide awake while my newborn dozed; I’d stare at his precious face and watch his chest move up and down.
I was enamored with him, yes. But I was also afraid to take my eyes off him for even a moment. Newborns seem like such fragile things, and some instinct inside of me was telling me, “Watch him.”
This was, of course, totally impractical and unnecessary. I was exhausted, and I needed to at least try to sleep during those all-too-brief windows when the baby was sleeping. Enter: the Owlet Dream Sock ($299), a smart baby monitor. It wraps around one of your baby’s feet, where it monitors your little one’s pulse rate and oxygen saturation levels while also tracking their sleep. If something seems amiss, the Owlet will emit a piercing alarm, alerting you to check on your baby.
Owlet gifted me a Dream Sock, and it arrived when we’d been home from the hospital with our newborn for just a few days – just in time. To me, it felt like an extra pair of eyes watching my baby, which gave me enough peace of mind to get a little more sleep myself. Keep reading for my unfiltered review of the smart baby monitor, here.
What I Like About the Owlet Dream Sock
The Owlet Dream Sock helped ease at least some of my postpartum worries. In the first few weeks of my son’s life, he slept in a bassinet right by my bed, but I was so sleep-deprived, I worried that I wouldn’t necessarily wake up if he was in distress. Knowing the Owlet Dream Sock was tracking key health measures and would alert me if one of them dipped was reassuring.
The Owlet Dream Sock is also easy to use. It loops around the baby’s foot and is secured with Velcro; an actual sock or a footie PJ can help keep it in place. It never seemed to bother my son. The battery life lasted from when he fell asleep to well into the morning, and charged quickly during the day.
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Mirel Zaman
The Owlet Dream Sock comes with one sensor and four “socks” – one for each foot, in two different sizes. That was convenient when it came to washing the sock; we could switch to the other side while the first one dried. And we did end up using both sizes before eventually outgrowing the need for the sock when he was a couple months old.
What’s Worth Noting About the Owlet Dream Sock
First and foremost, the Owlet Dream Sock is not meant to be a substitute for checking on your baby, and it doesn’t claim to be able to catch every possible disturbance – but by keeping tabs on your baby’s health and offering alerts when a measure dips to a worrying level, it can provide parents with peace of mind.
The Owlet Dream Sock connects to your WiFi; if the WiFi connection is interrupted, the monitor sends out a loud alarm to let you know your baby’s health is no longer being tracked.
After a couple of nights, I learned that my house had a couple WiFi dead zones. When my baby needed to be fed, we’d go to a separate room to avoid disturbing my husband. And more often than not, the Owlet would lose connection and start to alarm – waking my husband anyway and stimulating my baby more than I would have liked.
You can turn off the alarm by pressing the charging station, but it comes back on every few minutes until the WiFi connection is restored unless you turn off the tracker altogether via the app. I usually did that, but sometimes forgot to turn it back on when the baby went back to sleep. That said, this was a minor annoyance, and for me, the benefits were worth the hassle.
We also didn’t get a ton of use out of the sleep tracking features, since we only used it for our baby’s nighttime sleep. But I could see them being useful for parents who want some extra assistance with figuring out wake and sleep windows.
Who Is the Owlet Dream Sock Best For?
The Owlet Dream Sock is intended to be used for infants between ages 1 to 18 months, 6 to 30 pounds. Owlet also notes that the Dream Sock is intended for healthy babies; it shouldn’t be used with babies who’ve had cardiovascular issues previously, for instance.
It’s a great sleep monitor for any parent who would want some extra reassurance that their baby’s being kept tabs on during the night. That said, parents may find that the additional tracking makes them more anxious about their baby than less. It comes down to your own family’s needs.
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Mirel Zaman
Is the Owlet Dream Sock Worth the Splurge?
The Owlet Dream Sock is $299, so it’s a significant cost. If you already have a sensitive baby monitor or just don’t feel like you need the additional tracking, it may not be worth it for your family. But for me, the Owlet Dream Sock is definitely worth the cost. It helped give me the extra reassurance I needed to make bedtime a much happier and calmer occasion – and in those newborn days, the extra sleep felt actually priceless.
Also worth noting: HSA/FSA dollars can be used toward an Owlet Dream Sock.
Additional Details
- The Owlet Dream Sock offers real-time tracking of your baby’s pulse rate, oxygen levels, wakings, and sleep states.
- In Nov. 2023, Owlet received de novo clearance by the FDA for its Dream Sock, which indicates that the product was clinically tested by an independent lab and proven to be an accurate medical-grade baby monitor, compliant with all safety standards.
- The Owlet Dream Sock comes in four colors: mint, dusty rose, deep sea green, and bedtime blue.
- Owlet also sells accessories (such as a travel case) and accompanying gear, including a sleep sack and a video monitor.
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