Parents can say goodbye to sleepless nights thanks to the ‘Caring Cot’

PARENTS with babies could be saved from sleepless nights thanks to the invention of a new cot.

The Caring Cot detects when a baby starts to cry and gently begins to rock the child back to sleep.

In addition, the crib acts like a virtual nanny by detecting signs that the baby could be in danger.

Sensors monitor whether an infant stops moving for a worrying length of time and also keeps a watch on the room temperature as babies who get too hot are at an increased risk of cot death.

The Caring Cot is the invention of Garry Cho, a final year design student at Brunel University, who said he came up with the idea while child minding.

Mr Cho, 22, from Palmers Green, north London, has built a working prototype based on a standard wooden crib.

A microphone fitted to a sensor inside the cot detects when the baby begins to cry and sets off a mechanism which moves the crib up and down, a movement Mr Cho has found from research is more effective than side to side.

The movement continues for approximately 45 seconds. If the baby has not stopped crying, the crib will repeat the rocking motion two more times.

If the child is still crying then, the cot sends a signal to a handheld unit carried by the parent.

An alert is also sent to the unit if the temperature in the baby's room goes above or below certain temperatures.

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths recommend the correct temperature for a sleeping baby is 16 to 20 degrees Celsius.

Finally, the cot is equipped with a motion sensor which alerts parents if the baby does not move position for 90 minutes the time calculated by Mr Cho as how long infants remain in a deep sleep.

Mr Cho, who will showcase his design at an exhibition at Brunel University next month, said: "The concept for Caring Cot was born out of my experiences of child minding.

"Caring for young children often puts an intense amount of strain on parents. I wanted to develop a product which could ease that burden.

"By creating Caring Cot I hope to give parents an additional layer of reassurance that their child will be closely monitored even when they are in a different room."

Mr Cho spent about £200 on materials for the cot but believes if a manufacturer were to adopt the idea, it could have a lower price tag.