There’s no napping for Professor Michael Gradisar, director of the Child and Adolescent Sleep Clinic at Flinders University, as he resumes his 2019 research and clinical work.

Along with a new book, published in the UK, he’s again part of a US Pediatric Sleep Council global Facebook Q&A on World Baby Sleep Day on Friday (1 March).

The new book – Helping Your Child with Sleep Problems: A self-help guide for parents, by Rachel Hiller and Michael Gradisar (published by Little Brown Book Group, a Hachette UK company) – presents a range of possible solutions for specific issues.

Backed by years of research at Flinders, and at the well-regarded University’s Child and Adolescent Sleep Clinic, the book is a self-help manual for families containing practical advice on managing bedtimes, screen time and mealtimes, and more.

Along with a number of related research projects, Professor Gradisar’s team is also working with US sleep technology startup Nanit, a fast-growing innovative company behind an advanced baby monitor and sleep tracker.

The New York company has funded a postdoctoral researcher, Dr Michal Kahn, who will help test the benefits of the app that can accompany the Nanit baby monitor.

The company uses computer vision technology, machine learning and an HD bird’s-eye view camera to help sleep-deprived parents track and understand their baby’s sleep patterns and breathing motion. It’s the first smart monitor to merge computer vision with data-backed sleep science, to produce the most advanced and secure camera technology ever introduced to the home.

Nanit has ongoing partnerships with major universities and institutions including Technion, Weill-Cornell, Flinders University, Hospital for Special Surgery, Ben-Gurion University and the City University of New York to study the effects of infant sleep on the overall health of a baby and their family.

The company was featured in Time Magazine’s 2018 list of innovative inventions.