Baby monitor reviews & recommendations

peteb2

Anyone got any recommendations as to baby monitors? I love my tech but don't necessarily know if there is any advantage in getting anything with video.

Also concerned with interference, etc. I've asked some friends and they've all different views. I've ruled out the angelcare monitor with the sensor mat as I don't need the anxiety involved. But am open to opinions on all else.

Thanks

pwurple

Hi Pete... I was coming in all ready to recommend the angel care!

I lost a sibling to cot death, so was super cautious about the monitor we got. The sensor mat gave us great peace of mind for that I have to say. You can switch off the sensor pad part on it too if you don't want that. It's good monitor in general, decent range. You can set room temperature warnings on it too.

I got the same one for my mums house, works there through their 1m thick walls (v old house). You can change channel etc. I can pick up 7 wifi ranges in our house at the moment (2 of our own, and the rest are neighbours) and we have not had interference on the monitor.

Video ones I find a bit creepy. I wouldn't want to be under video scrutiny while sleeping, so didn't want to set one up for my child. That's just me.

sillysocks

Well for a monitor we had Angelcare so if you've definitely ruled that out my recommendation prob isn't much use to you - couldn't recommend it highly enough though. It gave 100 times more peace of mind than it caused anxiety (think we had 2 false alarms in 2.5 years).

But on the subject of video monitors we didn't have one as just used Angelcare, however we did get an IP camera a few months ago because we were moving the little one into a normal bed and were afraid she'd keep getting out and roaming around. It's probably not necessary for a young baby and a lot of video monitors are expensive so don't think I'd bother with one at your stage. The IP camera was about 40/50 eur so down the line you can always get it separate to the monitor if you think you need it.

peteb2

Just a personal preference towards not wanting a sensor. Some people feel more secure with these things. I just feel the more things going on the more likely you are to panic unnecessarily about it.

cyning

I have the bt video monitor and I absolutely love it... I like being able to see her to make sure she's ok, I can see if she's just crying out in her sleep and I can normally soothe her back to sleep for a bit by shushing and cooing through the monitor whereas if I go in she will want a feed.

Like you I would hate the angel care but I like the security of being able to physically see her to make sure she's fine

Oh and no issues with any interference at all with it

implausible

I was all set to get a webcam going for the wee madam, but in the end realised I couldn't trust the wifi in our house (damn V0daf0ne), so we got this motorola one - great pic, no interference, only annoying thing is that it beeps when battery is low or it gets out of range.

Mink

I have the angelcare monitor but have never used the sensor mat. The monitor itself is excellent and if there's been a problem with interference there are several channels to choose from.

In hindsight I would have loved a video monitor just so I can see if he's settling down or if I need to do another dodie-run or has he gotten a leg stuck in the bars/kicked blankets off etc. We always go in to check on him but video would have been handy too. Failing that, angelcare is great and I'm sure there are people selling them 2nd hand without the mat even.

Hobbitfeet

I used the angelcare movement sensor, didn't get the monitors just the mat. The only time it went off was when I lifted him and forgot to turn it off!! We just recently got a sound monitor as we moved into bigger house, got a cheap Motorola one its grand.

delly

Just goes to show how far I've come, I was going to recommend the Tomy Walkabout Platinum Digital Baby Monitor, but just checked and they are long gone off the market. Would you believe 5 years on and I still use it? Call it paranoid first time parents and all that jazz, but delly junior has the habit of waking randomly and looking for me, so it still has it's uses. I've had to get a couple of replacement batteries over the time I have had it, but it has never let me down, gives great sound quality with zero interference. If you could pick up a second hand one then get a new battery, you could have a proven low tech but very robust piece of kit.

nesf

What gets to me about these sensor mats is that there is absolutely no evidence that they actually help. Rather, there have been SIDS cases where these mats were used (i.e. the mats didn't help). SIDS is very rare, there around 300 cases annually in the UK and around 700,000 births. That's 0.04% or around 4 in every 10,000 babies. It doesn't seem to run in families at all and has a whole host of other weird correlations like babies who sleep in their parents room are at a lower risk but no one can come up with any logical reason why this should be the case.

SIDS is weird and it is very, very scary for new parents. It bothers me quite a bit that so many companies effectively prey on this natural fear that parents have by offering products that are shown to not be effective.

pwurple

SIDS is more than likely a lot of different things. That's why the risk factors are so complex. I know for us we had it go off once when she seemed to be in a really deep sleep. I woke her, and she was fine. There are thoeries about viruses, brain glitches, overheating, underheating etc. for all we know all of them are true, or some combination of them. SIDS has dramatically reduced here in the last two decades, due mostly to extra awareness. This awareness is to be lawded and encouraged. Not dismissed.

I don't think it is preying on parents fears to provide something which provides simple watchfulness. When I was in the hospital with her, i literally couldn't sleep because I was watching every breath she took in case it stopped. I know I am the exception, as I have direct experience with SIDS. That little metronome of her breathing in and out was the best thing I ever bought. Saved me leaning over the cot listening for her breathing for two years.

I guess if you never saw a SIDS death, it wouldn't be as big a worry, and that's fair enough. But I am delighted it exists. I know people who had night nurses watch them every night after a cot death in the family.

Save your annoyance for the hawkers of choking and strangulation products for babies... The asinine amber teething necklaces which sell like hotcakes. Those can also be considered magic beans, but with seriously sinister risks associated. A sensor mat won't wrap itself around the babies neck in the middle of the night.. So even if it does nothing but pacify some jumpy parents, at least it's harmless while doing it.

nesf

I suppose my problem is that these devices don't help stop SIDS. SIDS has reduced for a variety of reasons but these mats aren't one of them but they are advertised hinting that they might help which is crap.

pwurple

nesf wrote: »

I suppose my problem is that these devices don't help stop SIDS. SIDS has reduced for a variety of reasons but these mats aren't one of them but they are advertised hinting that they might help which is crap.

SIDS is a blanket term for unexplained infant deaths, so it really is difficult to say what helps and what doesn't. There are undetected cardiac and metabolic disorders which could cause some of the deaths. No simple monitor would ever prevent those for a start. You have said it doesn't run in families, but it actually does in some cases, and furthermore certain ethnicities are more likely to have occurances. They do monitor temperature ( with high and low alarms ) which IS a SIDS risk factor, so they are certainly of some preventative benefit for SIDS for the temperature reason, even without the mat part ever being switched on. The mat is just peace of mind, for those of us who are so anxious that we need it. You are correct, it is no doubt a crutch for an irrational fear, as the risks are so low... But it's a crutch I welcomed.

Apart from that, it's even useful in general for other things. I have a friend with a disabled child who uses it to wake her when he gets out of bed in the middle of the night, even though he is seven, as he doesn't speak and he isn't as mobile as everyone else.

False advertising is bull alright, and I can't stand it. But to be fair to them, I can't find even a single reference to SIDS on this products website, or mentioned on the box itself. What it does advertise is peace of mind, which it delivered to me. Good for you if you don't need it, but some of us have histories where this makes a difference.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the company's biggest fan eva... I see they have a new version with one of those video monitor surveillence things, which I would never buy as I find them creepy. But I guess they make what the public wants to buy.

nesf

Personally I think dealing with the anxiety rather than allowing it to change your behaviour is healthier but your mileage may vary and so on.

sillysocks

Part of my 'reasoning' for getting the Angelcare was that while it might not help for SIDs etc, if, god forbid anything had happened to our baby when she was smaller it would be one less thing to say 'what if' about. I'm sure when something like that happens you'd wonder forever if you could have stopped it and would wonder if the mat might have helped.

As someone else said it doesn't do any harm to the baby anyway and if I was turning back the clock I'd still go for that one.

pwurple

nesf wrote: »

Personally I think dealing with the anxiety rather than allowing it to change your behaviour is healthier but your mileage may vary and so on.

Excuse me?

Please explain to me how using a baby monitor is in any way unhealthy?

nesf

pwurple wrote: »

Excuse me?

Please explain to me how using a baby monitor is in any way unhealthy?

It's not. I'm talking about something broader. If you are very anxious about something beyond the point of being rational about it, that is a very good time to try and learn to deal with anxiety because as a parent you will deal with a lot of anxiety in your life and putting off dealing with it by using something to allay your fears like a monitor isn't in your best interests long term because you will at some point be faced with things where there aren't things you can reasonably do to allay the fear.

pwurple

nesf wrote: »

It's not. I'm talking about something broader. If you are very anxious about something beyond the point of being rational about it, that is a very good time to try and learn to deal with anxiety because as a parent you will deal with a lot of anxiety in your life and putting off dealing with it by using something to allay your fears like a monitor isn't in your best interests long term because you will at some point be faced with things where there aren't things you can reasonably do to allay the fear.

"Beyond the point of rational"? How utterly patronising. It's hardly irrational to monitor cot death risk when you have experienced it first hand. It's a fair leap to assume I would be irrationally anxious about everything in the universe.

nesf

pwurple wrote: »

"Beyond the point of rational"? How utterly patronising. It's hardly irrational to monitor cot death risk when you have experienced it first hand.

You said yourself:

You are correct, it is no doubt a crutch for an irrational fear, as the risks are so low...

pwurple

You are both misinterpreting and extrapolating wildly and I am actually wondering if you are genuinely confused, or simply trolling at this point. Obviously it is irrational for those with only the stats to go on, but it's not irrational for those of us who have discovered a baby who has died in this way.

I'm not going to stop children riding bikes or travelling in airplanes, because of this. I'm just going to use a simple baby monitor.

Orion

pwurple: nesf did respond to something you actually said and I think you're reading his response as a personal attack incorrectly. He also didn't say using a monitor was unhealthy (in fact in his response he specifically said it's not unhealthy) - he said dealing with anxiety is healthier - there's a difference.
nesf: Your posts could be read as inflammatory as seems to have happened so maybe choose words more carefully.

Let's not row about this, all take a deep breath and get back on topic please.

onedmc

We got one of those anglecare with the sensor mat.

Probably on the first night we installed it we all jumped up with the alarm going off only to find baby fine. A few hours later same thing and on the thirds alarm it was unplugged never to be used again.

pwurple

onedmc wrote: »

We got one of those anglecare with the sensor mat.

Probably on the first night we installed it we all jumped up with the alarm going off only to find baby fine. A few hours later same thing and on the thirds alarm it was unplugged never to be used again.

RTFM. You need to adjust the sensitivity before use.

Suucee

I got a camera monitor and found it great in the begining as it runs on batterys and i am a fairly nervous mammy so found it great when newborn was having a nap and i wanted to have a shower or hang clothes on the line. If she made a noise i could have a look to make sure she was ok.. It interfeared with wifi so i got a motorolla sound monitor that never interfeares. She started sleeping through at 4 weeks but was such a noisy sleeper i moved her in to her own room at 8 weeks at which point i got the angelcare movement monitor. It was the only way i could get some sleep. I was nervous about putting her in her own room but between her snoring and moaning and moving about i hardly got a wink of sleep. So the angelcare gave me the assurance that if she did stop breathing i might have enough time to intervene . We have never had a false alarm (except if she was taken out of cot before turning it off). But one night the smoke alarm went off and i nearly lost my life thinking it was the monitor and ran in to her room to check. When i moved her she woke with a confused look wondering what was going on while OH went to check the smoke alarm (batt was dying). At 11 months i still turn on the angelcare monitor at night (habbit at this stage i think). I use the motorolla sound monitor all the time now which is great, i have to turn the volume down a good bit because shes even noisier now. I use the camera monitor when she is playing in her room. I have her bedroom baby proofed with a gate on the door and some times i let her play while im doing a few bits and i can keep an eye on her .

Hobbitfeet

pwurple wrote: »

RTFM. You need to adjust the sensitivity before use.

The angelcare manual says do not adjust the sensitivity before use. If its going off a lot then you should maybe turn the sensitivity down.

onedmc

It would make a good scene for a sitcom with me reading a manual at 4am trying to figure it out while the other half lost it.

Anyway the child came with no manual and we got it working eventually.