Automation for New Arrival

Irish Gunner

Ok not sure if this is the place to post or another forum. Have Alexa and Echo and some Hue lights and also Harmony Hub so everything working ok
However we have a Junior Gunner arriving soon and looking what else I can get to make life possible easier for ourselves for voice control and the baby camera that can be viewed on phone and can link in with Alexa or Echo
Anyone recommend anything or if Mod needs to move this to another forum go ahead

bk

Irish Gunner, congratulations

It is a very interesting question, I've an 18 month old myself.

First of all, we find using a colour Hue Bulb or Lamp in red colour to be a fantastic night light. It gives enough light to get into and out of her room without walking on toys (ouch!) while doesn't seem to disturb her sleep. Ideally a hue lamp is probably a better option then a bulb for this.

Also a Hue switch on the wall next to the old light switch is very handy in her room. It is a magnetic remote, so handy to take in your hand as your are trying to get her ready for bed and to adjust the lights from the bed without needing to get up from the bed.

Also as your child gets older, they will love playing with it

In terms of a baby monitor, we use an old fashioned, audio only, DECT Philips baby monitor. Nothing fancy about it, it works well and is dependable.

I've a Logitech Circle camera which I tried once or twice as a baby monitor, but never really got into it. It doesn't detect sound, so you still need the old audio baby monitor. If you heard noise, you could then check the camera on your phone, but I found it just took too long to unlock and launch, the app etc. If she was already awake she would be well crying by then. It was just easier for everyone if we just headed to her room when we heard noise on the baby monitor. Having said that, I live in an apartment, so her room is right next to us, so might be different if you have to run upstairs a lot.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has found a better camera out there for this? Seemingly the Nest camera has audio monitoring and notifications, so might work better as a baby monitor.

A Google Home or Echo would be handy for playing lullabies or other sleeping type music and handy that you can turn it off remotely with the app on your phone once she has fallen asleep.

I've been thinking about getting an air quality monitor for her room eventually, but I haven't really found any that have impressed me yet!

bk

Yeah, just reading up on using the Nest Cam as a baby monitor and it seems to be as I expect.

Most people are using it in one of two ways:

- They have a separate, simple audio monitor, in addition to the Nest cam and just check into the Nest cam the odd time.

- They have a dedicated old phone or tablet that they run the Nest cam app on all the time to keep an eye on the child.

You could of course do the same with any camera, not just Nest. No one seems to be using the Nest sound notifications.

Personally I'd always get a basic audio monitor. Video is a nice to have, but not necessary addition.

Irish Gunner

Thanks fun times ahead
Yeah we have the Hue go Lamp in our bedroom so that will be good. Looking at the Nest only works off Wifi so if that goes down cannot access it. Does not seem to have many others that you can access from your phone if I was in work. Had a look and most just monitor and sound but none you can view via app if need be. Good points about the Echo and lullaby. Was looking at getting the Google Home so maybe an excuse.
Hue bulbs in most bedrooms so can turn them down via Alexa if need be without treading on some toys
Wonder if any other options for those with new borns

bk

Hue Go Lamp sounds ideal for the kids room as a night light. We use an older Hue lamp to do the same, but I might get the Go some time in future.

Most IP cameras, allow you to access them to view the live view (maybe about a 5 second delay) while out and about on your phone. My Canary and Logictech Circle certainly allow me to do that. The Circle is actually really good for doing that, probably the best interface of them all.

Checking in on your baby while at work is certainly a great use for one of these. And I think the Logitech Circle would be a good option for this. It actually gives free 24 hours of recording and it automatically creates a day brief, a short video of all movement it detected during that day, which can be fun to see what your kiddo was up to during the day.

You can also talk to your child over it's speaker and microphone From this perspective I'd actually highly recommend it.

I just wouldn't recommend IP cameras as your primary and one and only baby monitor. They aren't reliable enough for that. Instead I'd use a reliable audio monitor for that and use the IP camera as a nice to have for checking in on them if you want.

IK09

Hey Gunner

Congratulations! Since you already have Alexa and Hue the thing I would recommend is the Samsung Smartthings starter set.

The biggest reason for this is for night feeds. Juggling a crying, wet and hungry baby is difficult while you grasp for the light switch while half asleep at 4am. Smartthings will let you have automation at your fingertips. I can only speak from my case as not only is everyone's baby different, but everyones home automation systems are different also.

In Smartthings I have a routine called "night feed". When my baby starts to stir, I press the night feed button, the lights turn on to 5% in the Nursery and the kitchen, the kettle starts to boil (I have a Samsung plug on the kettle). This may seem like a small amount of automation but it's exactly what I need. By the time she is ready to get up, the kettle is boiled so I can warm the bottle. As it's warming I change her. When she is ready, the bottle is ready. The lights aren't so bright that they will wake her (or me haha).

Altogether, the routine allows for both baby and Daddy to go through a night feed and seemlessly go back to sleep after. There's no fuss, no crying about having to wait for a bottle to warm up, no searching for the light switch, no hassle.

Some people might say "you shouldn't have to look for the light switch in your own home lol", before having a baby I would have laughed at the prospect, but when you are sleep deprived and getting used to having a little person to take care of, the little subtle aspects of home automation really pay off.

IK09

Just to add to this there is a product called "Flic", which is basically a bluetooth smart button which I have been looking into and will be acquiring soon. Ill leave a link below. As if the situation above is not automated enough...I dont want to have to be looking for my phone, opening smartthings, going to routines and pressing the "night feed" routine, so i am planning on putting one on the headboard of my bed to trigger the routine above. Before you judge me and call me a lazy b....watch the video...

bk

Great idea IK09. Though just to point out, you don't need Smartthings hub or switches to do this. You could do it all with IFTTT/Yonomi/Stringify and voice control to Alexa/GHome.

"Hey Google, night feed" to trigger a IFTTT routine which triggers a stringify routine to do all that.

Also I have to say it is very handy to use Alexa/Ghome with a Harmony Hub to turn on/off the Tv when you have a screaming baby in hand.

paulbok

IK09 wrote: »

In Smartthings I have a routine called "night feed". When my baby starts to stir, I press the night feed button, .

You could use the smartthings motion sensor to trigger that routine, with a time constraint, that way you won't need the switch and it more importantly it doesn't have to be you getting up....

Like others here, we have a colour hue buld in the baby's room and a dimmer switch. Have scenes set on the switch so can quickly change to a red colour when getting her to sleep, and can quickly toggle to a brighter scene in the morning of if there is an emergency during the night.
Use a sensor to turn on similiar dimmed red light in the kitchen when getting up at night.
I prefer not to have to talk to Alexa, or anyone if I can help it when I'm half asleep, taking starts to wake me fully.

Have a non- smart video monitor with a nightlight, but have remotely turned on the dimmed light for a better look via the monitor once or twice, saves having to open the door and risk waking her.
Also have a honeywell tvr on the radiator so can keep the temperature constant, and monitor it for extremes.
Had a iffft recipe to flash lights if it got too warm in her room, but deleted it as there is a temp alarm on the monitor.

Bacchus

That's brilliant IK09. I'll be looking into that idea with the kettle
One word of warning regarding the Hue bulbs in the bedroom. It happened to us last week... there was a power flicker one night and it was enough to turn all the Hue bulbs in the house on. And not just on to the dimmed setting we had them set to, but full blast, it's daytime in my room on  We now keep that light off at the switch during the night sleep.

Bacchus

IK09 wrote: »

In Smartthings I have a routine called "night feed". When my baby starts to stir, I press the night feed button, the lights turn on to 5% in the Nursery and the kitchen, the kettle starts to boil (I have a Samsung plug on the kettle).

Just on this... so do you have something physically holding the kettle switch down so that when the plug switches on the kettle actually starts boiling water?

bk

paulbok wrote: »

Like others here, we have a colour hue buld in the baby's room and a dimmer switch. Have scenes set on the switch so can quickly change to a red colour when getting her to sleep, and can quickly toggle to a brighter scene in the morning of if there is an emergency during the night.

Yup, that is what I do. On the Hue Switch, I've the main on/off switch control the main room light, at full brightness. While I have the middle two buttons (usually for dimming) to switch on and off the Hue lamp to a dim red scene.

We find that fits perfectly for what we need in the room. Of course you could always get multiple Hue switches if you wanted to control each light/lamp individually, but no need for us.

paulbok wrote: »

I prefer not to have to talk to Alexa, or anyone if I can help it when I'm half asleep, taking starts to wake me fully.

True enough.

IK09

Bacchus wrote: »

IK09 wrote: »

In Smartthings I have a routine called "night feed". When my baby starts to stir, I press the night feed button, the lights turn on to 5% in the Nursery and the kitchen, the kettle starts to boil (I have a Samsung plug on the kettle).

Just on this... so do you have something physically holding the kettle switch down so that when the plug switches on the kettle actually starts boiling water?

No. When there is no power to my kettle the on switch stays down. So I just have the kettle plugged with the on button pushed down, plugged into the samsung plug with the plug "off" in the Smartthings app. Then when I trigger the routine, the plug switches on, and the kettle starts to boil.

AndyBoBandy

We have a Philips InSight HD baby camera. Bought it direct from Apple about 2 years ago.

I'm not aware of it connecting up to any other smart tech as I only use Hue, but the camera itself is brilliant regardless.

We view/get alerts on iPhone while at home or out of our network. I travel frequently enough with work and it's nice to be able to check in on the little fella while he's sleeping (it's somewhat comforting for me if I'm not getting a great night sleep in a hotel)

You can play baby melodies on it so if/when the little guy stirs in the night, rather than going in to him (which means he's up and it's 2/3 hours before we can get him back down), we simply turn on a lullaby via our phone which is usually enough to get him back down without going into his room.
(This feature alone is worth its weight in gold)

Stoner

Some great idea here.

I've a basic camera for my nearly two year old
However it has been great.

I'd use the Canary camera now though.

Google home and echo are great for kids

Regarding automation I've nothing much to add to the use of the smartThings usage.

I've used it to heat bottles before but never bothered linking it to my hue lights overall that's a great use for it.

You could add a IFTTT launch button for it on your phone or hack the Amazon ones

paulbok

Stoner wrote: »

Some great idea here.

I've a basic camera for my nearly two year old
However it has been great.

I'd use the Canary camera now though.

Google home and echo are great for kids

Regarding automation I've nothing much to add to the use of the smartThings usage.

I've used it to heat bottles before but never bothered linking it to my hue lights overall that's a great use for it.

You could add a IFTTT launch button for it on your phone or hack the Amazon ones

The Xiaomi thread mentions a cheap button that could be used instead of hacking an Amazon dash button as a quick launch for a night time routine.

bk

Not really Home Automation tech, but something I thought of over the weekend that has proven priceless is my Dyson Handheld Vacuums, being able to quickly clean up crumbs and spills without needing to drag out a heavy vacuum all the time * has proven brilliant. I wouldn't be without it.

Dyson is expensive, but Hoover now make a knock off that seems to be almost as good and a lot cheaper. Good deals on it at the moment over in the Bargain Alerts forum.

* After getting the Dyson hand held, we actually ended up giving our big old standard Dyson to my parents as we weren't using it any more and just use the handheld for everything now. But if you have a big house you might want to keep a standard vacuum around for the odd use.

beanian

paulbok wrote: »

The Xiaomi thread mentions a cheap button that could be used instead of hacking an Amazon dash button as a quick launch for a night time routine.

Yes I have a couple of these and they are great, they have single click, double click and long press functionality. You do need a hub of some sort too though so a higher barrier of entry i guess.

Just to add to a few of the baby/toddler (we have a 2 year old & 3 year old) things people are doing in their homes:

• We have a hue light in the kids room inside one of these. We have a hue dimmer on the wall to trigger scenes (bright, story time, nightlight )and similar to bk use it as a red night light which works very well.
• Every day at 6:30pm I have a bedtime routine automation which fires. It announces over the sonos speakers throughout the house that "It's Bedtime", The living area lights start color looping for 1 minute and a notification message is displayed on the TV also saying "It's bedtime". As crazy as this sounds it works really well and the kids love it. As soon as it comes on they grab their teddy's and wait at the bottom of the stairs to be brought up to bed!
• We use a foscam as a baby monitor. There are some good iPad/Android apps which trigger when the sound breaches a certain threshold. They then cut to a live view of the room. I have not integrated this into Home Assistant as we are using it less and less as the kids get older.
• I have some hue GU10 bulbs that got delivered today that we are going to use in the bathroom. My son has just started toilet training so I the plan is to have them come on a dim light if he leaves his room to go to the toilet in the middle of the night.

Irish Gunner

Thanks for all the replies

 Have to get Sparks in to see where to install new plugs for Baby monitor. Was looking at the Canary and that looks good

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canary-All-One-Security-Device/dp/B014KWCCQI/ref=sr_1_1?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1494330362&sr=1-1&keywords=canary+camera

 Also the foscam

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foscam-R2-Security-Digital-Detection/dp/B014VB2PUQ/ref=sr_1_6?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1494330637&sr=1-6&keywords=foscam

 both are not the cheapest but can monitor from your phone just need to check if we can have it on both our phones. I have another basic monitor which we can use for day to day stuff but this camera would be added bonus. Just wondering if anyone has any personal input on these cameras?

bk

I have the Canary, it is good as a security camera, but I don't think it would be well suited to a baby monitor.

First of all it won't notify you at all of noise, only motion.

Second it is rather large and fixed. It isn't possible to mount on a wall, etc. More for being left on a table.

I also have a Logitech Circle:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Circle-Security-Camera-Monitoring/dp/B015STE0A8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494332452&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+circle

which I use for a baby monitor (in addition to a basic DECT audio only baby monitor). It also doesn't have noise notifications, but otherwise I think it is better suited to be a baby monitor. It is much easier to place, mount on a while, etc. and it can even go completely wireless due to a built in battery, but only for about 30 minutes.

You get more free online recording with it too (full 24 hours versus 12 for the Canary) and the app is quicker and easier to use for the purpose of baby monitoring.

Now I'm not saying it is the only choice, Nest Cam etc. also looks good (specially with audio notifications) but of the two I have the Circle is pretty good for this use IMO.

fergalom

Another vote for foscam, use a Fosbaby P1, c/w temp and humidity.
Foscam Link
Will also work off a usb battery pack and its own wifi hotspot so handy if you travel etc.

Also easy to scrape the temp / humidity / noise & movement alarms into my HA / TV system (handy for room heating etc).

Found this to be the best app http://tinycammonitor.com- will monitor sounds levels with screen off at night time and v good battery use.
All squelch and alarm levels very configurable.

You can use the foscam with a cloud service (foscams or others) but personally I think its a bad idea.

FastFullBack

bk wrote: »

I also have a Logitech Circle:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Circle-Security-Camera-Monitoring/dp/B015STE0A8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494332452&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+circle

which I use for a baby monitor (in addition to a basic DECT audio only baby monitor). It also doesn't have noise notifications, but otherwise I think it is better suited to be a baby monitor. It is much easier to place, mount on a while, etc. and it can even go completely wireless due to a built in battery, but only for about 30 minutes.

You get more free online recording with it too (full 24 hours versus 12 for the Canary) and the app is quicker and easier to use for the purpose of baby monitoring.

The Logitech Circle in white is down from £129.99 to £99.99 on https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Circle-Security-Camera-Monitoring/dp/B015STE0A8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498384984&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+circle for anyone interested. Just ordered one.

Stoner

Irish Gunner wrote:

Also the foscam

That's the one I used for my child can't fault it.

I've the canary now too. Much better picture but the foscam does the trick

Irish Gunner

FastFullBack wrote: »

bk wrote: »

I also have a Logitech Circle:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Circle-Security-Camera-Monitoring/dp/B015STE0A8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494332452&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+circle

which I use for a baby monitor (in addition to a basic DECT audio only baby monitor). It also doesn't have noise notifications, but otherwise I think it is better suited to be a baby monitor. It is much easier to place, mount on a while, etc. and it can even go completely wireless due to a built in battery, but only for about 30 minutes.

You get more free online recording with it too (full 24 hours versus 12 for the Canary) and the app is quicker and easier to use for the purpose of baby monitoring.

The Logitech Circle in white is down from £129.99 to £99.99 on  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-Circle-Security-Camera-Monitoring/dp/B015STE0A8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498384984&sr=8-1&keywords=logitech+circle for anyone interested. Just ordered one.

Damn missed this must keep an eye on this. We have a basic monitor so may just get the Logitech for seeing the little one while I am at work or out

Irish Gunner

Ok Junior Home and looking for hints and tips and skills we can use to help us on Alexa downstairs and echo in bedroom. Things like feeding time reminders,nappy change reminders etc. Trying to set repeat reminders every 3 hours as that is when junior is to be fed.

So any skills etc let us know as all new to us in a good way

bk

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Ok Junior Home and looking for hints and tips and skills we can use to help us on Alexa downstairs and echo in bedroom. Things like feeding time reminders,nappy change reminders etc. Trying to set repeat reminders every 3 hours as that is when junior is to be fed.

Congratulations Irish Gunner

Nappy change reminders - Haha, don't worry, your baby comes with a highly automated nappy change reminder feature that you are going to become very familiar with :P

Pretty much same with feeds, Junior will be sure to remind you :P

Use Alexa to play lullabies (or in my case Rammstein!) to help your child sleep.

I also highly recommend getting an IP camera to keep an eye on your child, I use the Logi Circle. Comes in very handy as they get older and saves you bursting into their room every ten minutes and waking them. But do also use a standard audio baby monitor as the primary device. IP cameras aren't reliable enough.

Irish Gunner

bk wrote: »

Congratulations Irish Gunner

Nappy change reminders - Haha, don't worry, your baby comes with a highly automated nappy change reminder feature that you are going to become very familiar with :P

Pretty much same with feeds, Junior will be sure to remind you :P

Use Alexa to play lullabies (or in my case Rammstein!) to help your child sleep.

I also highly recommend getting an IP camera to keep an eye on your child, I use the Logi Circle. Comes in very handy as they get older and saves you bursting into their room every ten minutes and waking them. But do also use a standard audio baby monitor as the primary device. IP cameras aren't reliable enough.

Yeah junior reminding us ok thus reason for early posting :-)

We just ask alexa to set reminders for feeding each time and work sleep around that. First night we are like zombies but we will learn.

Trying to get alexa to play soft songs and lullabies but not successful yet although did play lullaby by the cure which is not a bag thing

Ok time for sleep :-)

AndyBoBandy

bk wrote: »

I also highly recommend getting an IP camera to keep an eye on your child, I use the Logi Circle. Comes in very handy as they get older and saves you bursting into their room every ten minutes and waking them. But do also use a standard audio baby monitor as the primary device. IP cameras aren't reliable enough.

I've got the Philips InSight HD baby monitor, and in fairness to it, it's hardly ever missed a beat in almost 2 1/2 years. Picture quality was excellent (both day & night), over wifi or 3G, no problems at all.

Best feature of it when he was very young was the ability for it to play lullabies, triggered remotely from an iPhone, at any volume from 0% up to 100%, meaning we didn't have to go in to his room if he woke during the night, as 99% of the time, turning on a lullaby was enough to get him back to sleep.

One of the best bits of tech I ever bought.

J.pilkington

Also have a wifi camera, best thing ever if you are missing them waking up / going to bed due to work, makes being away from them

Irish Gunner

May look at ip camera later.

Alexa and echo good for setting feeding alarms and timers. Hue lights good for turning on lights while feeding via Alexa and same goes for Harmony for TV. Now I we could just automate sterlizing bottles :-)

AndyBoBandy

Irish Gunner wrote: »

Now I we could just automate sterlizing bottles :-)

you probably could with a smart socket.

On our Tommee Tippee steriliser when you pressed the on button (when not plugged in), it would 'remember', and the next time it was plugged in/energised, it would run it's sterilising routine.

So you could time it to happen when you wanted, or trigger it on the fly via the app