June 8, 2026
Owlet Dream Sock: Is It Worth $300?
Reddit parents are deeply divided on the Owlet Dream Sock. Is it worth it?
What It Does
The Owlet Dream Sock is a wearable pulse oximeter for babies. It straps onto your baby's foot and tracks heart rate and blood oxygen levels while they sleep. If readings fall outside preset ranges, it sounds an alarm on the base station (and optionally your phone). The Dream Sock is FDA-cleared as a consumer pulse oximeter — meaning it measures what it claims to, but it's not a medical device prescribed by doctors.
It costs around $300 for the sock alone, or more bundled with Owlet's camera.
The Good: Peace of Mind
The single most common thing parents say: it is helps sleep through the newborn nervous phase
I just straight up couldn't sleep for the first couple of weeks because I was constantly peeking over at the bassinet. We follow all the safe sleep practices and the Owlet is a safety net underneath all of that. As an anxious person, it quite literally changed my parenting experience.
For parents with postpartum anxiety, the Owlet lets them sleep. They just needed to know an alarm would go off if something was actually wrong.
I don't use the app at all but it's reassuring to look up and see the green light on the base anytime I wake up.
Beyond anxiety relief, some parents credit the Owlet with catching real medical issues. Stories include detecting RSV early, catching fevers via elevated heart rate before other symptoms appeared, and identifying dangerously low oxygen during illness.
This past winter, we were at a higher elevation when my child got a cold and ended up in the hospital on oxygen when the owlet correctly read oxygen levels at 84%. I am so thankful. My husband and the friends we were with thought I was being over the top worrying about it but baby ended up on oxygen for 48 hours.
Our Owlet let us know our baby's hr was super high. He ended up having SVT. We would have never caught it without it. Or caught it too late.
I always, ALWAYS recommend the owlet sock. Those damn things read better than our pediatric pulse ox's on the ambulance. I've used them on both my children with airway disorders. I've literally never had a false alarm, but I HAVE had a real alarm. It helped push doctors to diagnose my babies sooner.
The Bad: False Alarms, the App, and Unreliable Connectivity
The most common complaints:
False alarms and connectivity. Some parents report the sock disconnecting multiple times per night, triggering loud alarms that wake the whole house — including the baby.
Owlet sock has so many false alarms. Just as baby starts to sleep it goes off. The range sucks. Want to put the sock on in a different room or feed the baby in a different room? Alarm goes off. Everyone wakes up. Need two minutes to put the sock on? Alarm goes off because it doesn't detect baby. Bouncing the baby to go to sleep? Alarm goes off because too much movement.
It's a giant piece of overpriced junk, app rarely works, bugs out all the time. In hindsight I wouldn't pay $75 for this, and yet the sock and camera costs a whopping $300+. Major regrets buying it.
The app is almost universally disliked. Even parents who love the sock itself complain about the Owlet app — freezing, incorrect sleep data, and a $99/year subscription push for "full health data" that feels aggressive after paying $300 for the hardware.
So my wife and I really love the Owlett Sock. But the app is awful. It never updates and the caching is terrible. We have to close and reopen the app 3 to 4 times before we finally get an accurate sleep window or a good look at her current sleep session.
Sensor durability. Several parents report the sensor dying or degrading around the one-year mark, with Owlet suggesting a $120+ replacement since it's out of warranty by then.
The anxiety paradox. For some parents, the Owlet makes anxiety worse. If you're the type to obsessively check data or if false alarms will send you spiraling, it might not be for you.
I had one with my first when I was suffering from PPA and was convinced I would love it. I got one false alarm and had a nervous breakdown. I kept getting them because of the shape of my daughter's foot. I ended up just sleeping on the floor of her nursery for the first six months.
A nurse who's also a parent offered the most balanced perspective on false alarms:
Do I get false alarms? Yes, a few, but not many. However, a hospital-grade pulse oximeter will give "false alarms" sometimes if the patient is moving or whatever. Doesn't mean it's a bad device.
The Verdict: Would I buy it?
Based on hundreds of parent experiences, here's the pattern:
It's probably worth it if you:
- Have anxiety or PPA and find yourself constantly checking baby's breathing
- Had a NICU baby or a preemie and are used to (and comforted by) monitoring
- Want a safety net for when baby is sick with respiratory illness
- Can afford it without stress and treat it as "set it and forget it" — just let the base glow green
You should probably skip it if you:
- Tend to obsessively check data and numbers (like constant Apple Watch heart rate checking)
- Are easily startled and would spiral from a false alarm
- Have a very wiggly baby or one with unusually shaped/fat feet (fit issues = constant alerts)
- Are on a tight budget — a good video monitor plus safe sleep practices is enough for most healthy babies
Pro tips from experienced Owlet parents:
- Put a regular baby sock over the Owlet to keep it in place
- Make sure the sensor lights face each other through baby's foot (behind the pinky toe)
- Don't look at the app constantly — just trust the base station alarm
- It works best after baby is 1 month old and at least 6 lbs
- Skip the Owlet camera — get a separate non-WiFi monitor instead
It completely solves my anxiety around sleep, I don't use the app (lot of people that get more anxious using owlet are sitting looking at the app) the base glows green you know baby is ok. I put a normal baby sock over the top and it stays in place with no connection issues.
The bottom line? Personally I would not get it. While it seems like the the Owlet sock is a useful device, I might not be the right parent for it, the false alarm would be too nerve-wrecking and for the price, I expect more. However, for a parent who needs reassurance to stop hovering and just sleep — it might be the best $300 you ever spend.