angelcare monitor?

sliz

I am freaked out about SIDS and want to get some type of monitor to help ease my fears...

many of you recommend the angelcare monitor - it generally gets good reviews on amazon but there are some that say it doesn't work, is staticky, has false alarms or is unreliable (i.e. removing baby from crib doesn't cause an alarm)....it has a bad rap from the Baby Bargains book

if you have one, what is your experience? can I get one at BRU or BBB? can I take it on the go i.e. to a hotel room and use it in a pack and play?

also, is an angelcare better than a sony monitor (that is very sensitive and can pick up the baby breathing?) - I guess the difference is if you are sleeping, the sony wouldn't alert you that the baby was having a problem....

you'd think with all the technology out there, they could come up with a simple anklet/bracelet type monitor that could pick up the baby's oxygen level or respiration rate -  i mean they make HB monitors for exercising adults....

 

 

jamalynn

We used it for DD and liked it for the whole SIDS thing.  We never had problems with static, but we did have false alarms when she would roll off of the monitor.  My biggest complaint was that DH dropped the handheld monitor just once, and it broke.  A year later, he dropped the other one and it broke too.  So it's not ideal, but for the whole SIDS thing, it was worth it to me.

laura1

We LOVE ours.  We used it for DS until he was rolling all around the crib and would get into a corner and it would alarm because he was way off the pad.  Then we switched to a video monitor (around 8+months).  Now we are using it for DD (who is still in our room in her co-sleeper). 

We have had a few false alarms since she has been born, but that was fixed by increasing the sensitivity setting on the alarm.  We had no problems with static that I noticed, but DS sleeps with white noise, so it might be hard to tell!! 

We got ours at BRU, and actually had one of those 20% off coupons so it was a nice deal (usually around $100 for the basic one).  But I would have spend twice as much for the peace of mind that it has given me.  It really is the only way I was ever going to get sleep when both DS and DD were first born.  And we have brought it with us when we traveled, but it doesn't really work with a pack and play, that I can figure out.  I can't figure out how to put the sensor pad under the pnp mattress, if that makes any sense.  It works nicely with the co-sleeper, though! 

Good luck...I would definitely recommend it!

rockvillebride

We have one and loved it. It did have some false alarms, but that's usually because the baby moved around too much in the crib. You can really only use the movement sensor until they become more mobile or it will go off all the time. We then took the movement sensor pad out and just used it as a traditional monitor. My DH is also hugely paranoid, so he also invested in the Summer Video monitor which we used back then, too, but now we just use that and love it!

I don't think the movement sensor would work in a pack n play, but I could be wrong on that.

AvaLikeLava

We had one, had false alarms and got rid of it within the week.The motion sensor pad is pretty small, so with a wiggly/rolly baby doesn't work well. Also whenever you pick up DC from their crib you HAVE to remember to turn it off, otherwise it goes off too.

The idea of the constant false alarm was too stressful for us, so we decided it was not the right device for us.

missyjg

LOVE ours!! It needs to be placed on a hard surface (ply wood in our crib) under the mattress so as for changing it from crib to PNP etc, I'm not sure. We had a couple of "false alarms" but we bought another sensor pad from the company and you can hook them together to the same nursery monitor, therefore, we've had no more false alarms since.  I have the monitor next to my bed that shows the temp and her movements on a ticker, and we also have the video monitor on her as well. I sleep well knowing the monitor is there.

gramos1128

It works beautifully as far as static and sound quality.  We set it to only make noise if DS makes a significant noise.  To be honest, yes we have had false alarms.  If he squirms out of the sensor it will go off.  It gives you a heart attack.  However, DS had really bad reflux and we later found out he would get apnea from it. It lets off a warning beep first and there were a coupld of nights where it just did that and we went in and he was fine.  Honestly I think the beep startled him to breathe.  So as nerve wracking as it can be I believe it could have possibly saved DS's life so we recommend it to everyone.  Now that he is older (I think even starting at 6-7 months) we stopped using it.  we have a small house and can hear him and he moves to much. 

GreenEyedGal

No static problem here.

Yes, we have gotten false alarms but that started happening when he was more mobile and scooting off to the side of the crib or cuddling up in the corner. It's no big deal though, we just increased the sensitivity of the monitor and moved the sensor pad towards where he prefers to sleep.

We test it before we use it overnight. Meaning we leave him in with the monitor on and then take him out. If it goes off well then it works. My guess is that the people who said it is unreliable had the cieling fan on or a fan that vibrates next to the crib, which "fooled" the sensor to think it was a breathing baby. You can still have the cieling fan on, just turn up the sensitivity and play with it until it goes off with no baby in the crib.

We've never tried to use it with a pack and play but then again, we haven't traveled recently.

I got mine at BRU. 

All in all, I love that thing. It has saved my sanity in so many ways.

PS: You have to get a thin piece of ply wood to put inbetween the coils and sensor pad. You can get one at Home Depot for like $5.