New 'Smart' Diapers Help Detect Health Problems

A baby's crying can signal significant health problems that even health professionals may be unable to detect without extensive tests and research.

However, a new "smart" diaper may be able to help determine urinary tract infections, kidney dysfunction and dehydration that may have otherwise gone undiagnosed, according to The New York Times, 

Here's the way it works: A small patch located at the front of the diaper contains four small colored squares. Each react differently when they come into contact with certain proteins, water content or bacteria.  If an abnormal reaction occurs, the squares change colors and parents are signaled that something might be off with their baby's health, according to the Times.

Parents can also download an app that allows them to photograph the colored squares and gives parents precise information of their child's chemical data. That information is then transmitted to a doctor, who decides whether or not the baby will need to be examined further.

Yaroslav Faybishenko, the found of the company that produces the product, Pixie Scientific, said he expects this high-tech diaper to cost about 30 percent more than the regular one. He also admits that he was inspired to create this incredible technology because of his own daughter.

"I was driving with my wife and daughter one day, when my wife asked if the baby had wet herself," Faybishenko said, according to the Times.  "I realized she was sitting in data."