Mike Carr discusses the best sensors for determining sleep patterns for severely autistic children. He compares the Aqara sleep sensor, which is mounted on the wall and senses heart rate, to the Fitbit, which is worn on the wrist. He mentions that his son refuses to wear anything on his wrist, so they found ankle bracelets on Amazon that can hold the Fitbit. He recommends getting a waterproof Fitbit, such as the Inspire 3, which captures sleep data better than the Aqara and also tracks steps. He suggests that more expensive Fitbits can monitor stress and heart rate, allowing parents to anticipate meltdowns. Overall, he recommends Fitbit as the best choice, despite being more expensive than some similar alternatives on Amazon.
Finding the Best Sleep Sensor for Our Severely Autistic Son: Aqara vs. Fitbit
As parents of a severely autistic child, we know firsthand how important it is to ensure a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, for many children with autism, sleep can be elusive. Whether it’s trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or maintaining a healthy sleep cycle, the challenges are real. As a result, tracking our son’s sleep patterns became one of our top priorities to understand how his sleep (or lack of it) impacts his behavior, mood, and overall well-being.In this blog post, I want to share our journey of finding the best sleep sensor for our son. We’ve experimented with two popular devices—Aqara and Fitbit—and I’m here to tell you what worked for us and what didn’t. Consider this our own personal SmackDown comparison to help other parents like us make a more informed decision.
Our First Attempt: The Aqara Sleep Sensor
The first device we tried was the Aqara Sleep Sensor. We were drawn to it because it’s wireless and mounts on the wall above the bed, so there’s no need for our son to wear anything on his body. As any parent of an autistic child knows, many children are highly sensitive to the feel of clothing or accessories, so the idea of a non-wearable sensor was appealing.
The Pros of Aqara
The biggest advantage of the Aqara sensor is its non-invasive design. Since it’s wall-mounted, our son didn’t have to wear anything, which made it an ideal choice for him, given his resistance to wearable devices like watches or rings. The sensor tracks movement, heart rate, and overall sleep quality, which sounded perfect for us.
Another benefit was the wireless setup. We didn’t have to deal with a bunch of cables or gadgets cluttering the room, which is a huge win in our book.
The Cons of Aqara
However, the Aqara sensor had some drawbacks that made us question whether it was the right choice. For one, the setup process was complicated. We needed a hub to sync the data, plus a 2.4 GHz network router. This meant extra hardware and more expense than we expected. On top of that, we found the setup to be a bit frustrating.
But the real issue was the accuracy of the data. While Aqara did track our son’s sleep, the sleep reports didn’t always align with what we saw firsthand. For example, the sensor showed that our son slept less than seven hours, which didn’t match what we knew about his routine. This inconsistency made it hard to rely on the data, especially when we were trying to correlate sleep with his behavior and other daily patterns.
Enter Fitbit: The Smarter, More Accurate Choice
After giving Aqara a fair shot, we decided to try something different: Fitbit. Known primarily for its fitness tracking, Fitbit also offers some great sleep tracking features that intrigued us, especially since it’s a device that can be worn on the body. However, there was one major issue. Our son simply wouldn’t wear a Fitbit on his wrist.
At first, this seemed like a dealbreaker. But then, we stumbled across a brilliant solution that changed everything: ankle bracelets.
The Pros of Fitbit
Once we found a way to get our son to wear the Fitbit, we were impressed with how well it worked. Fitbit’s sleep tracking was far more accurate than Aqara’s. It monitors different stages of sleep—light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep—and gives us a detailed look at his sleep cycle. This was a game-changer for us, as it allowed us to track exactly how well he was sleeping.
But that’s not all. Fitbit also tracks daily activity, which let us see how his movements during the day affected his sleep. We could correlate his physical activity with his sleep patterns, which helped us understand whether certain activities were contributing to restless nights.
Additionally, Fitbit models like the Charge series come with heart rate and stress monitoring features. We found this especially useful for predicting when our son might be getting stressed or anxious. A sudden rise in heart rate or stress levels often signals an impending meltdown, so being able to track these patterns allowed us to intervene early and prevent escalation.
The Ankle Bracelet Hack: Solving the Wearable Issue
Getting our son to wear a Fitbit wasn’t without its challenges. At first, he refused to wear the wristband, which many children with autism struggle with. However, my wife found a game-changing hack: an adjustable ankle bracelet.
This clever solution allowed us to slip the Fitbit onto our son’s ankle while he slept, without him even noticing. The bracelet is made of soft, non-abrasive material and fits comfortably around the ankle. The best part is that it’s adjustable, so we could ensure it wasn’t too tight or too loose. Now, our son wears the Fitbit without fuss, and we can monitor his sleep with ease.
We also found it helpful to get a waterproof Fitbit model. Our son is very active and loves swimming, so the waterproof feature was a must-have. The Fitbit held up perfectly during baths and even while he swam.
The Verdict: Aqara vs. Fitbit
So, which device comes out on top? In our experience, Fitbit wins hands down. While Aqara offered a non-invasive design, it came with a complicated setup and unreliable data. The Fitbit, on the other hand, provided accurate and consistent sleep data, plus additional features like activity monitoring, heart rate tracking, and stress level tracking. These extra features proved invaluable for understanding our son’s behavior and helping us intervene before problems escalated.
The only downside to Fitbit is the need for your child to wear the device. However, with the ankle bracelet hack, this challenge became much more manageable. We now have a reliable, all-in-one tool for monitoring our son’s sleep, activity, and overall well-being.
Why We Recommend Fitbit for Tracking Sleep
Here’s why we think Fitbit is the best option for tracking the sleep of a severely autistic child:
- Accuracy: Fitbit provides reliable sleep data, helping us understand our child’s sleep patterns and make informed decisions about his care.
- Multi-Functional: Beyond sleep tracking, Fitbit also tracks steps, activity, and even heart rate and stress levels. This gives us a holistic view of our son’s health.
- Durability: With its waterproof capabilities, Fitbit holds up well even with active kids who love to swim or shower.
- Comfort: Thanks to the ankle bracelet, our son can now wear the device comfortably throughout the night.
While Fitbit might cost more than some of the cheaper alternatives, the comprehensive data it provides is well worth the investment. If your child is prone to meltdowns or has difficulty with sleep, the ability to track stress and heart rate can make a big difference in preventing those difficult moments.
Final Thoughts: Finding What Works for Your Family
Every child is different, and the best sleep sensor for your family will depend on your child’s specific needs and preferences. While Fitbit worked wonders for us, it’s important to try different options to see what works best for you and your child.
Sleep is crucial for every child, but it’s especially important for children with autism. The right sleep sensor can provide valuable insights into your child’s sleep patterns, helping you make better decisions about their care.
If you’ve used sleep sensors for your child with autism, we’d love to hear about your experience. Feel free to reach out with your thoughts or suggestions—we’re always looking for new ways to improve our approach to parenting.
Thanks for reading, and we hope this comparison helps you find the best sleep solution for your family. Stay tuned for more tips, hacks, and product reviews in our future posts. Until next time, take care, and best of luck on your parenting journey!
Transcript
Mike Carr (00:08):
Today we’re going to have a SmackDown as to what sensors best for determining sleep patterns for your autistic severely autistic son or daughter. We’ve looked at Aqara and we’ve looked at Fitbit, so that’s what the SmackDown is all about. Now, I’ve talked about Aqara before, this little sleep sensor wireless doesn’t have to wear anything because our son won’t wear anything on his wrist, won’t wear a ring, refuses to do that. You mount this on the wall above his head and it senses his heart rate. It senses how well he’s sleeping during the night. The problem with this is you’ve got to get a hub. It also goes on the wall so it connects, and then you have to get a 2.4 gigaherz sensor or a network router. So a lot of hardware, a lot of expense ended up costing us maybe three, $400.
(01:03):
And the problem is here’s the sleep data showing that he slept less than seven hours yet. Here’s the Fitbit sleep data. Almost a little bit more than eight hours, and so we think the Fitbit is a little bit more accurate than the Aqara. The problem of course, is you wear a Fitbit on your wrist, not necessarily. So here’s the trick for today. My wife found on Amazon ankle bracelets, so she just took off the wrist bracelet and put on the Fitbit. Put on the Fitbit. This ankle bracelet, it’s adjustable. So you’ve got this little adjustable thing right here. You can tighten it as much as you want, so it fits nice and snug on his ankle at night, and it bugs him at all. It’s very soft material. It’s not abrasive. You can have it a little bit loose until he gets used to it, and that solves the problem.
(02:02):
We strongly recommend that you get one that’s waterproof. I don’t think Fitbit sells anything that’s not waterproof anymore. You can go out to Amazon and get Fitbit clones for like $22. The one that we like is the Inspire three. It’s like a hundred bucks, but it’s waterproof. And we’ve taken Michael Swimming, we’ve put ’em in the shower. This thing is great. It captures sleep better than a carra. It also captures his steps. So you can take reading on his exercise and see how that relates to his behavior. So the winner between that SmackDown is Fitbit and we recommend strongly that you go forward with that. And the more expensive Fitbits will even monitor stress and heart rate. So you can determine if a meltdown is fixing to go or fixing to happen before it actually happens. So Fitbit isn’t paying us anything for this, but we’ve used it for years and we still think that’s one of the best choices out there today, even though it’s a little bit more expensive than some of the clones you can get on Amazon. Have a great week. Until next time. See you.
