This article examines how the use of emergent smart baby monitors re-mediates parent–baby touch, notions of connection, parental sensing and the interpretation of babies’ bodies, and contributes to the formation of subjectivities. Domestic baby monitors are a mid 20th-century phenomenon which normalizes parental anxieties. While baby monitoring is not new, the ‘next generation’ of wearable bio-sensing baby monitors offers a different relationship to the body via the physiological tracking of babies, and the sending of information or alerts to parents’ via connected mobile apps. These devices have been associated with creating unnecessary parental anxiety and the digital ‘replacement’ of parental touch, although little research exists on their use in the context of parent–infant interaction or touch. The authors present a qualitative case study of one such technology, Owlet, to explore how parents experienced, understood and negotiated the discourses of parent–infant touch that circulate around and through Owlet, with particular attention to the relationship between visual and tactile resources. The study focuses on both its multimodal design and take-up by parents through analysis of interviews with the Owlet designer, Owlet as a product, focus groups with parents and families’ home experiences of Owlet. Data is analysed through a tri-part lens, which first combines multimodal social semiotic and sensory ethnographic approaches, and then the analytical concept of governmentality. The findings are discussed in relation to four analytical themes: (1) creating a desire for digitally mediated touch; (2) spatiality of digitally mediated connection; (3) formulating the ‘right kind’ of touch; and (4) reconfiguring ‘knowing touch’. The authors discuss multimodal discourses pertinent to the shaping of parent–baby touch practices including: rationality and efficiency; individualism, autonomy and freedom; and self-improvement and empowerment. They conclude that the discourses that coalesce around Owlet contribute to the reconfiguration of parent–baby touch and the formation of neoliberal subjectivities.

本文探讨了如何使用新兴的智能婴儿监视器来调节亲子接触，连接概念，父母感知以及对婴儿身体的解释，并有助于形成主观性。家庭婴儿监护仪是20世纪中叶的一种现象，可以使父母的焦虑情绪正常化。尽管婴儿监护仪并不是新生事物，但可穿戴式生物传感婴儿监护仪的“下一代”通过对婴儿的生理跟踪以及通过连接的移动应用程序向父母发送信息或警报来提供与人体的不同关系。这些设备与产生不必要的父母焦虑和父母触摸的数字“替代”相关联，尽管在父母-婴儿互动或触摸的背景下对其使用的研究很少。作者对这种技术Owlet进行了定性的案例研究，以探索父母如何体验，理解和协商在Owlet周围和通过Owlet传播的父母-婴儿接触的话语，尤其要注意视觉和触觉资源之间的关系。通过对Owlet设计师（Owlet作为产品）的访谈进行分析，该研究集中于其多模式设计和父母接受的研究，并与父母和家庭对Owlet的家庭经历进行了关注。数据通过三部分进行分析，该方法首先结合了多模式社会符号学和感觉民族志方法，然后结合了政府性的分析概念。结合四个分析主题讨论了这些发现：（1）创造了对数字介导的触摸的渴望；（2）数字媒介联系的空间；（3）制定“正确的”接触方式；（4）重新配置“了解触摸”。作者讨论了与父母-婴儿接触实践的形成有关的多模式话语，包括：合理性和效率；个人主义，自治和自由；自我完善和授权。他们得出的结论是，围绕Owlet的论述促进了亲子接触的重构和新自由主义主观性的形成。