Scientists invent pacifier that helps monitor children’s health

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a pacifier that monitors a baby’s electrolyte levels in real time.

According to a press release on 4 March, the invention makes monitoring of children’s vitals easier and saves babies the pain of being pierced with needles every time for monitoring their electrolytes.

Making child care easier

When caring for newborn babies, health practitioners often have to take blood samples from the tiny patients through invasive means like the use of needles.

This is usually a painful experience for the baby and a stressful one for the caregiver but thanks to this new invention, all of that is in the past now.

Going forward, there is no need for repeated invasive blood draws as the pacifier collects data about the baby and sends it to doctors remotely.

Hong Yeo, an associate professor and Harris Saunders Jr. Endowed Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, came up with the pacifier idea at a pediatric technology conference.

“Physicians told me about the blood draw issue, which happens over and over again as babies sometimes have to stay in the NICU for weeks and even months. I wanted to come up with a noninvasive solution for constant electrolyte monitoring, and I decided to focus on something babies like: pacifiers. I immediately thought, ‘OK, I can do something with that.”

How the pacifier works

The device was constructed with a tiny tunnel, or microfluidic channel into the body of the pacifier. The opening at the pacifier’s nipple draws saliva into the channel.

The channel then guides the saliva through the device and into a reservoir equipped with ion-detecting sensors where the sensors react to sodium and potassium ions, constantly measuring their levels.

Hojoong Kim, a research professor at the WISH Center who developed special electronic circuits specifically for the pacifier device said:

“To make the pacifier wireless, we designed an ultrathin, membrane-based electronic circuit, We used our technology to make the circuit extremely thin and floppy, so it is flexible and soft in a way that it can be mounted to almost any surface.

With the constant data flow, doctors can monitor the baby’s condition in real time and know when to take action to save lives.