You can buy a 'smart' diaper for your baby—but is it worth the money?

There are tons of products out there to make new parents' lives easier, from a diaper pail that contains all the stink to a tiny laundry machine designed specifically for baby clothes. And soon there will be another game-changing gadget on the market: a smart diaper.

This fall, Pampers is coming out with Lumi, an all-in-one system that includes a diaper sensor, an app for your smartphone, and a Logitech video monitor so you can track your baby's activity. Before you add your name to the waitlist, we asked our parenting expert to weigh in on whether or not the smart diaper is worth spending a little extra money on below.

What does the smart diaper do?

The sensor (which clips directly onto the diapers) does a whole lot more than just let you know how wet your baby's diaper is. It will also monitor your baby's feeding schedule, sleep cycles, and movement and store the data automatically on the app so you don't have to enter it manually.

Plus, the Wi-Fi video camera has a wide-angle 1080p lens, two-way audio, and even night vision so you can keep tabs on your little one 24/7. And, as an added bonus, it will measure the humidity and temperature of your baby's room.

Who is the Pampers smart diaper for?

While there are features that any new mom could benefit from, our parenting editor, Anna Lane, says, "I think that it would be a wonderful gadget for moms who are worried about breast milk supply issues. Since it alerts you to wet diapers it would be easy to track if your babe is getting enough fluids, which is the first thing pediatricians ask about when it comes to breast feeding."

She adds that she personally would've loved the smart diaper when she had her first son: "I was such a clueless first-time parent, and also very anxious about everything, so I can definitely see how this would give someone peace of mind."

Is the smart diaper worth buying?

If you're a first-time parent, Lane says yes. However, she cautions, "I don’t really see it being something one would use for subsequent babies (other than the baby monitor part) simply because you know more what you’re doing the second/third/fourth time around, and you understand what the baby is crying about."

She also questions how well the smart diaper will work. "I wonder how comfortable it is for the baby and if it really stays clipped to the diaper," she says, explaining, "My kids were able to get out of anything, so I’m always wary of something that says it will stay on a kid 'securely.'"

And our smart home editor, Sarah Kovac, is equally skeptical. While the price of the Lumi system has yet to be announced, she says, "The average parent would probably do better to watch their baby's cues and the clock to know when it's time for a change," adding that a regular diaper with a wetness indicator would likely be just as good (and cheaper).