5 Essential Smart Home Gadgets For Parents

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Smart home gadgets make everyday life more convenient, helping you monitor and control all the different appliances and devices from an app no matter where you are in your house or even when you're away. They can also help you save on utility costs and improve your physical security. Plus, they look so good that they add meaningful aesthetic value to your home. However, a home with children calls for specific smart home gadgets.

Luckily, there is an abundance of smart home gadgets tailored for parents to help them look after their children in a much more efficient and convenient way. But with so many options to choose from, it can be difficult to figure out which ones you truly need and which are actually worth splurging on. To help you out, we've selected practical options that are both reliable and reasonably priced, as well as easy to use — most of them are plug-and-play and don't require any pre-installed equipment.

We've picked gadgets to boost the sleep quality of your child, a baby monitor, smart plugs, and a video doorbell. Together, these will help you protect your children as well as help them build and maintain healthy routines without you having to be intrusive or physically present with them at all times. Even better, they're all available on Amazon for easy purchase and fast delivery.

One of the biggest challenges for parents with infants, toddlers, and young children is setting and managing their sleep schedule. Night lights and sound machines help, but splurging on both individually is far from ideal. The Hatch Baby Rest provides an all-in-one solution, combining a sound machine, a night light, and an alarm clock. It costs $79.99 and is, in fact, one of the most popular baby sound machine-night light combos on Amazon, as evident by its 4.8-star rating after more than 36,000 reviews.

Parents particularly love its remote control feature. A dedicated app lets you control the sound, volume, light color, and brightness from anywhere in the house, allowing you to tend to your kid's sleep without having to step into their room and risk waking them. You get an array of sounds, including white noise and sounds of rainfall, wind, etc., giving you multiple options for creating predictable sleep schedules for your child. One reviewer noted that "The white noise sounds smooth and calming (not harsh or mechanical), and it really helps signal sleep time for our baby."

Speaking of options, the Hatch Baby Rest is available in five colors: mint, peach, putty, greige, and beechwood. Another standout feature is the one-on-one chat option with certified sleep consultants. It's available via the app itself, and consultants are available Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm EST. "I really love the insights that the app provides about sleep for all stages of life. It's helpful as a first-time parent," an Amazon reviewer stated. Just note that your initial purchase includes three months of Hatch+, but if you'd like continued access to expert support, curated sleep guides, and other premium content, you'll have to get its $69.99/year or $6.99/month subscription.

A humidifier is a handy smart gadget to include in your child's room or nursery, as it can protect them from an overly dry environment, which can irritate their skin and nasal passages and disrupt their sleep. The Levoit Sprout Humidifier is one of the most highly rated smart humidifiers on Amazon, with a solid 4.4-star rating from more than 63,500 reviews. It's currently priced at $169.99 for a 3.8-liter tank that provides coverage for up to 219 square feet.

It comes with a dedicated external sensor that automatically detects humidity in real time and directs the humidifier to act accordingly. Levoit claims that the Sprout uses "natural evaporation to add mist-free moisture to the air," and real-world users back up those claims. One Amazon user said, "the air feels softer and more balanced," and that their baby now sleeps "much more comfortably." The humidifier is also easy to maintain day to day, thanks largely to its top-fill design and an auto-drying feature that helps minimize mold growth. It's also safe to put it in a dishwasher.

Parents will also appreciate how quietly the Levoit Sprout runs. One Amazon reviewer noted that "there's no buzzing or distracting noise." This makes it particularly useful for babies who are light sleepers. The humidifier comes with dual filters inside, which Levoit claims can remove up to 99% of air impurities that are 0.5 microns or larger in size. Lastly, the top section of the humidifier has a soft nightlight, with controls for both brightness and color temperature, ranging from 2,000K to 3,500K. However, the nightlight is entirely optional, so you can also choose to have the humidifier emit no light at all.

The New York Times ranks the Nanit Smart Baby Video Monitor — rated 4.6 on Amazon — as one of the best Wi-Fi video monitors. You can choose between a wall mount or a floor stand setup, both priced at $290. If you also want a dedicated baby monitor, it will be $400. That said, it's optional, since Nanit's camera feed can be played on multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, and even Alexa and Google Home. As one reviewer put it, "Downloading the app and connecting the camera to the app was so easy."

It comes with a 1080p HD camera with support for infrared night vision, so it works well even in the dark. An Amazon reviewer said that "The picture is crisp and clear, and the night vision works really well without that grainy look some monitors have." We also like that Nanit secures the live video feed with strong 256-bit AES encryption. Plus, there's two-factor authentication (2FA) and an option to set user-level access permissions.

Coming to the features, it comes with an array of customizable real-time notifications capable of tracking not only whether the baby is asleep or awake, but also when they cry or cough, stand, move, or get out of bed, as well as the temperature and humidity in the room. It also comes with two-way audio, which, as one parent reviewer said, helps them "talk to [their] baby or soothe them if they start stirring." Your purchase also includes a three-month free trial of Nanit Insights, which gives you AI-powered sleep tips and the ability to store video footage for two days.

A smart plug is a cheap and convenient way to turn everyday devices and appliances into smart gadgets with app-based remote controls. But it can also double up as a handy tool for parents — especially those who are frequently away from home — allowing them to control and monitor when and how much their children use devices such as gaming consoles and TVs. We tested the best smart plugs and found that the GHome Smart Plug is one of the most user-friendly and value-for-money options you can get right now.

A pack of four of these costs $26 on Amazon, where they're rated 4.4 stars on Amazon after more than 4,500 reviews. Parents can also use these smart plugs on charging outlets to limit their children's ability to juice up their devices overnight or in their absence, as well as to turn off lights or bedroom lamps that the children forgot to turn off. One of their standout features is the GHome app. All of the smart plugs are displayed neatly on the main app interface, along with a simple on/off button right next to them.

Plus, they support voice control with Alexa and Google Assistant. We also like just how compact they are. Each plug measures just 2.1 x 2.1 inches, meaning it won't block any adjacent outlets. They're also easy to set up, with the only caveat being that they work over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only. An Amazon reviewer said that they "connected to my Wi-Fi without any issues and paired with Alexa in just a few minutes." Another user echoed a similar sentiment, saying that "it simply works, so easy to connect to Wi-Fi, had it working in about 20 seconds."

A video doorbell with app-based remote monitoring goes a long way in ensuring your child's physical security, especially for parents who are frequently away for work and leave their children with babysitters or pets. We found the Google Nest Doorbell Wired 3rd Gen to be one of the best options right now. It's priced at $117 on Amazon and enjoys a solid 4.4-star rating after more than 1,000 reviews.

It gives you 2K HDR video with the widest field of view — 166 degrees — on a Google Nest video doorbell, as well as night vision for around-the-clock clarity. One of its biggest strengths is the Familiar Face feature. PC World tested it firsthand and found that "it almost never failed to accurately identify faces when they came within range of [the] camera." It also comes with searchable history, allowing you to simply chat within the Gemini app and look up specific events, such as when the dog walker passed by.

Moreover, it can also turn the recorded hours into short clips or previews, so you're up to date with your front door activity without having to constantly monitor it. It also includes real-time alerts for people, packages, vehicles, as well as animals. We like that important features such as these detection alerts are free and don't require a subscription. However, if you want features like Familiar Face alerts, 24/7 continuous video history, and up to 60 days of event video history, you'll have to get a Google Home Premium plan. There are two to choose from: the Standard plan costs $10 a month, and the Advanced plan costs $20 a month.

Our goal was to cover devices that serve parents with children across different age groups. From infants to toddlers to young teens, there's something for everyone here. Once we zeroed in on the gadget types we wanted to cover, we only picked models from reliable and renowned manufacturers such as Google, Hatch, Levoit, and Nanit. We also only selected products after carefully studying their features and whether they work as well as advertised.

To do so, we looked at hands-on reviews by both everyday users and experts. We also stuck to picking gadgets that offer excellent bang for your buck instead of niche ones that cost hundreds of dollars and are very case-specific. Parents who pick from our selection can instantly improve their quality of life, starting from as little as $25 for smart plugs, for instance.

Furthermore, we ensured that none of these gadgets require any pre-installed infrastructure or technical know-how. Most of them simply work via mobile apps and require little to no expert support when it comes to installation. Lastly, each of these is available to buy on Amazon right now, so you can enjoy easy and fast shipping as well as a swift refund should anything not work out for you.