This $150 smart baby monitor uses AI to reassure you that your baby is breathing

As a new mom, I find my anxiety is the highest when I put my baby daughter, Juniper, down to sleep. Luckily, there are plenty products out there to help you keep an eye on your sleeping baby.

Cocoon Cam Plus is one of them. It's a baby monitor that uses motion detection and artificial intelligence to reassure you that your baby is breathing. And unlike other products that monitor your baby's breathing, this does not require a wearable.

In order for it to work, it needs to be mounted to the wall 5 feet above the crib. It connects to Wi-Fi and then an app monitors your baby's breathing and will send alerts if there is anything to be worried about.

The image quality is amazing. The HD camera and night vision on this monitor are better than others I've tried.

I love the breathing detection. With other monitors, I would find myself zooming into the image to see Juniper's chest rise and fall to double-check she was OK. This camera handles that for me by showing animations of her breath. It's not a medical device, however. The company will not and cannot claim that it could help prevent sudden infant death syndrome, but it does give me peace of mind.

Some parents fear that false alarms will wake them up throughout the night with a product like this, but I did not get any false alarms while testing out the camera.

Another great feature is the activity log on the app. It tells me when Juniper woke up and fell back asleep throughout the night. As we're in the middle of sleep training, it's very helpful for me to see Juniper's sleep patterns each night.

Also, there's a feature called swaddle stories, which is just for fun. It takes time-lapse images of her sleep each night and you can download the video to keep or share. Grandma and Grandpa love it.

The Cocoon Cam certainly isn't perfect. My husband thought drilling and installing the cam onto the wall was a pain, and once she's too old for the camera, we'll have to patch up those holes. You're also left with this ugly power cable dangling along the wall, which seems like it could be a safety hazard for the baby since it is so close to the crib. The company said it is coming out with a new model later this year, the Cocoon Cam Clarity, which comes with a stand.

Also, the artificial intelligence and the app can be a bit glitchy, and loading the video on my phone sometimes takes a while.

I also find it a bit annoying that the only way to monitor Juniper is by using my phone. I don't like to look at my phone in the middle of the night for fear that I'll be tempted to check social media or read work emails, but with Cocoon Cam, it's my only option to check in — short of walking into her room. The monitor I normally use, the Infant Optics DRX-8, has its own dedicated video monitor that I keep next to the bed.

Also, you can't travel with it since it's mounted on the wall. So for parents like us who take lots of trips, you will need another monitor for your vacations.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this one since it's got some drawbacks.

But at $150, it is actually not a bad price. The picture quality and the peace of mind that the breathing monitor gives me make it well worth the money.