Angel care monitor........yes or no?

dchasteen1 · January 2012

We can't decide if we want to purchase one! C-section is Monday! We have been debating for a couple months! My friend has an angel care and swears by it! But they are a little expensive!

Jillibean85 · January 2012

I have one and we used it for about 2 days, haha! It was kind of a pain in my opinion... You have to get it just right for it to work, and sometimes it would go off and freak me out, but the baby was fine. So we ended up just using it as a regular sound monitor (without the motion sensor)... Soooooo... Meh.

AliciaS1411 · January 2012

what exactly is it?

ETA: nvm, I googled and looked it up.

The basic one isn't that bad at only $100 on amazon.

SOSUGRAD04 · January 2012

My friend swears by hers. She lost her first child to SIDS, and uses it with her second child. We purchased one, and it seems pretty neat, and I can't wait to use it!

AliciaS1411 · January 2012

Jillibean85:
I have one and we used it for about 2 days, haha! It was kind of a pain in my opinion... You have to get it just right for it to work, and sometimes it would go off and freak me out, but the baby was fine. So we ended up just using it as a regular sound monitor (without the motion sensor)... Soooooo... Meh.

Do you still have yours and are you interested in selling?

bpwife&mama · January 2012

I was JUST going to post this same question as I am looking into one. Seems pretty promising and worth the money.

LuckyBride06 · January 2012

I read you can get a lot of false alarms. That would freak me out too much. Some people do swear by it though, so it depends. We have a Summer video monitor and I LOVE it!!

christinamcarter · January 2012

We just bought ours.

Babys R Us has a sale on them for the weekend. 15% off.

https://trus.imageg.net/graphics/media/trus/011312B_Ds_BRU_MLKSale_SMXSXS.pdf

KAYLA919 · January 2012

I love mine! I've even bought another monitor for DS2. Using it has given us a great peace of mind when it comes to SIDs. False alarms have happened, yes, but you just need to up the sensitivity level a little bit. Or you can buy the deluxe angel care monitor which comes with two sensor pads rather than one (DS currently uses the one pad and we've only had 3-4 false alarms but that's because he was smash all the way onto one side of the crib or the other). We've bought the two pad one for DS2 to decrease false alarms. For my DH and I, we slept so much better knowing that we didn't have to wake up every hour to check to see if DS was breathing. Amazon had a great sale not too long ago for the ACM, but even their website is comparable to BRU with a coupon.

SheenaNash1 · January 2012

Meh, I'm not getting one. Plenty of people have survived being parents without them, they are a little overkill I think. Also, maybe I'm not very educated about this so I'm not trying to be snarky at all: how does it help? can anything be done if your baby has SIDS? I guess I don't understand how it really helps anything. I'd love to learn more though!

KAYLA919 · January 2012

SheenaNash1:
Meh, I'm not getting one. Plenty of people have survived being parents without them, they are a little overkill I think. Also, maybe I'm not very educated about this so I'm not trying to be snarky at all: how does it help? can anything be done if your baby has SIDS? I guess I don't understand how it really helps anything. I'd love to learn more though!

No one really understands the cause of SIDS. They speculate that it could possibly be due to a build up of carbon dioxide in the baby or the inability to wake up from sleep both of which can stop breathing. The angel care monitor isn't used to prevent SIDS however for some parents like myself who wake up every hour to check on baby, it allows me to sleep better at night. By knowing the moment my child stops breathing, I can begin CPR right away and have 911 on the phone. The CPR class that I took said that the first minute is vital and the best thing to do is to get oxygen flowing to the brain. I couldn't imagine finding baby 2 hours later and knowing that I couldn't do anything by then. Sure, many babies have survived without the technology, but my personal take on it is why risk it. I just read about a Sept mama who lost her 3 month baby to SIDS at daycare. Maybe if the daycare provider plugged in the ACM like she assure mom she would, baby would still be here. We'll never know now. Of course the best thing is to make sure that you put baby on their back with no loose blankets, a paci if youre ok with it and keeping a fan on in the room. This is just my opinion though. I know I can be more anxious than other mommies and that's why I love my ACM.

JENandJEH · January 2012

We used/use one with DS1. We used the movement sensor pad until he was 6 months (relocated to Germany and the entire monitor wouldn't work due to electrical differences) and only had 1 false alarm. We moved back to the States when he was 18 months and have used the monitor as a sound alarm ever since and love it.

He's almost 4 so we've gotten 3 years of use out of one monitor with no issues that have required me to call for customer support. I love that it comes with 2 parent units so that I can keep one upstairs and one downstairs in the kitchen. I love that it displays the temperature of his room for me. The movement sensor pad allowed me to actually sleep when I was a new, FTM who was neurotic and terrified that something would happen to him.

We actually debated getting the new AngelCare video monitor for DS2 but ultimately decided to go with a Snuza movement monitor and a video monitor combination for this baby. I hated unhooking the movement pad and then setting it up somewhere else when we traveled. The Snuza is much more portable.

laurakaz13 · January 2012

NO! I am not this neurotic and could not live with this thing in my house.

adp23 · January 2012

I bought the Snuza monitor which I've heard people like much more than the Angelcare. Since its portable, it can go with them to daycare/overnight to Grandma's or wherever...its also good if they sleep in multiple places during the day like a bassinet or pack n play.

tartaruga · January 2012

Is there any evidence that these things actually do what they're supposed to? Frankly, they seem like kind of a scam to me.

Has anyone's doctor recommended it?

JWSchwarz · January 2012

The several hundred reviews on Amazon make it the highest ranked monitor. We got one and it was easy to set up. Even the sound monitor alone has some nice features that make it worth it- 2 parent units that also work as walkie talkies, big range (our house is 4700 sq ft), nightlight, temperature. Also, I dint love the idea of a video monitor so this was a good alternative. Baby isn't ere yet so haven't put it into use but tested it and the sound seems good. We got the AC401 version and added it to our Amazon registry which gave us an additional 10% off. Total with tax and shipping was $95

k.linn · January 2012

tartaruga:
Is there any evidence that these things actually do what they're supposed to? Frankly, they seem like kind of a scam to me.
Has anyone's doctor recommended it?

Here's the thing that bugs me about them--people buy into it thinking it's SIDS prevention. It's not. If your baby, God forbid, succumbs to SIDS, that is instantaneous. There is nothing you can do. Knowing the second they stop breathing does not change the outcome; you just know sooner. It seems like so many people get a false sense of security from these monitors. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I understand wanting peace of mind, I just think that it's a little misleading.

Of course, that's not to say such monitors are totally useless. If baby had some other sort of breathing emergency, of course this could help. I guess it just bugs me when people say they are preventing SIDS with these monitors.

nickert2000 · January 2012

If you have the money to spend go for it. If you would rather spend your money on something else. A regular monitor works just fine. With my 2 others we did not have a video monitor or anything I would hear them start to move or make a noise and I would go check on them or get them.

tartaruga · January 2012

k.linn:
tartaruga:
Is there any evidence that these things actually do what they're supposed to? Frankly, they seem like kind of a scam to me.
Has anyone's doctor recommended it?
Here's the thing that bugs me about them--people buy into it thinking it's SIDS prevention. It's not. If your baby, God forbid, succumbs to SIDS, that is instantaneous. There is nothing you can do. Knowing the second they stop breathing does not change the outcome; you just know sooner. It seems like so many people get a false sense of security from these monitors. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I understand wanting peace of mind, I just think that it's a little misleading.
Of course, that's not to say such monitors are totally useless. If baby had some other sort of breathing emergency, of course this could help. I guess it just bugs me when people say they are preventing SIDS with these monitors.

This is kind of my thinking. They seem like a terrific way to make tons of money capitalizing on the fears of new parents.

HopingForOne · January 2012

k.linn:
tartaruga:

Is there any evidence that these things actually do what they're supposed to? Frankly, they seem like kind of a scam to me.

Has anyone's doctor recommended it?

Here's the thing that bugs me about them--people buy into it thinking it's SIDS prevention. It's not. If your baby, God forbid, succumbs to SIDS, that is instantaneous. There is nothing you can do. Knowing the second they stop breathing does not change the outcome; you just know sooner. It seems like so many people get a false sense of security from these monitors. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I understand wanting peace of mind, I just think that it's a little misleading.
Of course, that's not to say such monitors are totally useless. If baby had some other sort of breathing emergency, of course this could help. I guess it just bugs me when people say they are preventing SIDS with these monitors.

As the other poster pointed out, and as you alluded to, if your child stops breathing, it's not dead instantly. You at least have the chance to be warned and start CPR...(and on that note, I highly recommend that everyone take an infant CPR and first aid course before baby is born

Now, don't get me wrong...I'm also a little skeptical about how effective it is or not. But I had one, and loved it. I tested it every way possible to determine if I think it did what it was supposed to, and couldn't find a fault in it. So I DID sleep better knowing that if the alarm wasn't sounding, my baby was still breathing.

I rarely had a false alarm, and I used it until my child was two with the sensor pad, and still use it without the pad. I also like that it has a temperature gage on it that beeps if the nursery gets too cold or too hot (you can set the exact temperature you want it to do that at). And I liked that it doesn't have a constant "fuzzy" sound. It's completely silent unless the baby makes a noise, and then the sound kicks on. So even without the pad, I still like that better than other monitors I've seen.

HopingForOne · January 2012

Also want to point out...I think it's a real personal preference, and it depends on your personality. For some, it provides peace of mind...for others, the worry about a false alarm leave them more stressed. So really, it's up to you.

Some people swear by video monitors, and I have no desire to have one. That doesn't mean the other parents wasted their money...it just means that I would have if I had bought one.

tartaruga · January 2012

HopingForOne:
k.linn:
tartaruga:

Is there any evidence that these things actually do what they're supposed to? Frankly, they seem like kind of a scam to me.

Has anyone's doctor recommended it?

Here's the thing that bugs me about them--people buy into it thinking it's SIDS prevention. It's not. If your baby, God forbid, succumbs to SIDS, that is instantaneous. There is nothing you can do. Knowing the second they stop breathing does not change the outcome; you just know sooner. It seems like so many people get a false sense of security from these monitors. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I understand wanting peace of mind, I just think that it's a little misleading.
Of course, that's not to say such monitors are totally useless. If baby had some other sort of breathing emergency, of course this could help. I guess it just bugs me when people say they are preventing SIDS with these monitors.

As the other poster pointed out, and as you alluded to, if your child stops breathing, it's not dead instantly. You at least have the chance to be warned and start CPR...(and on that note, I highly recommend that everyone take an infant CPR and first aid course before baby is born

But the thing is, CPR can't stop SIDS either. CPR is primarily for people who have suffered a heart attack, had an accident like drowning, or a drug overdose, and even then it's not very effective (only about 30% of the time). So even if you're alerted to the fact that your baby has stopped breathing, there's not really anything you can do about it unless it's due to something like choking or being smothered by a blanket (which obviously you can prevent by not putting these things in the crib in the first place).

I'm just really skeptical that this isn't just another basically useless product designed to make tons of money off of scaring new parents. "Well, isn't ANY amount of money worth it for your CHILD'S LIFE??"

I'd be interested to know if anyone's doctor recommended a device like this.

HopingForOne · January 2012

Actually, CPR is a LOT more effective when done on infants and children compared to adults. I believe that 30% statistic is for adults only.

And since SIDS is not well understood, we do not KNOW whether or not you'd be able to help your child using CPR if your discovered the problem early enough. You could be right, and maybe nothing could be done. Or you could be wrong, and I could have a point. We just don't know.

I'd rather have the option, so no "what ifs" were in my mind (and this applies to other parenting decisions I make as well). Others may not feel the same way, and that's okay. But it doesn't make me stupid or naive - it just relates to my own personal comfort.

tartaruga · January 2012

HopingForOne:
Actually, CPR is a LOT more effective when done on infants and children compared to adults. I believe that 30% statistic is for adults only.

I think it's the other way around - for infants under the age of 1, CPR is only effective about 2% of the time when performed outside a hospital. And for children under 17, it's about 10%.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Arrhythmias/18811

Overall, 1,551 children received conventional CPR from bystanders and 888 had chest compression only. Bystander CPR significantly increased the rate of favorable neurologic outcome (4.5% versus 1.9%, OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.81 to 3.71).

Among children who had arrests of noncardiac origin, bystander CPR resulted in a higher rate of favorable outcome (5.1% versus 1.5%, OR 4.17, 95% CI 2.37 to 7.32), but conventional CPR resulted in better outcomes than did compression-only CPR (7.2% versus 1.6%, OR 5.54, 95% CI 2.52 to 16.99).

Children who had arrests that were cardiac in origin fared better with bystander CPR than with none (9.5% versus 4.1%, OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.08 to 4.54). However, they did equally well with either type of CPR (9.9% versus 8.9%, OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.55 to 2.66).

Children younger than 1 year had uniformly poor response, with only 1.7% favorable neurologic outcomes.

It's certainly better than nothing and I would never say that you SHOULDN'T do CPR. But it's also not incredibly effective either.

Monicagail1 · January 2012

Jillibean85:
I have one and we used it for about 2 days, haha! It was kind of a pain in my opinion... You have to get it just right for it to work, and sometimes it would go off and freak me out, but the baby was fine. So we ended up just using it as a regular sound monitor (without the motion sensor)... Soooooo... Meh.

This exactly. When we moved DD1 to a twin bed we got a video monitor, and we'll add a second camera for DD2. I wish we would have gone with a video monitor from the start.

HopingForOne · January 2012

tartaruga:

HopingForOne:
Actually, CPR is a LOT more effective when done on infants and children compared to adults. I believe that 30% statistic is for adults only.

I think it's the other way around - for infants under the age of 1, CPR is only effective about 2% of the time when performed outside a hospital. And for children under 17, it's about 10%.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Arrhythmias/18811

Overall, 1,551 children received conventional CPR from bystanders and 888 had chest compression only. Bystander CPR significantly increased the rate of favorable neurologic outcome (4.5% versus 1.9%, OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.81 to 3.71).

Among children who had arrests of noncardiac origin, bystander CPR resulted in a higher rate of favorable outcome (5.1% versus 1.5%, OR 4.17, 95% CI 2.37 to 7.32), but conventional CPR resulted in better outcomes than did compression-only CPR (7.2% versus 1.6%, OR 5.54, 95% CI 2.52 to 16.99).

Children who had arrests that were cardiac in origin fared better with bystander CPR than with none (9.5% versus 4.1%, OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.08 to 4.54). However, they did equally well with either type of CPR (9.9% versus 8.9%, OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.55 to 2.66).

Children younger than 1 year had uniformly poor response, with only 1.7% favorable neurologic outcomes.

It's certainly better than nothing and I would never say that you SHOULDN'T do CPR. But it's also not incredibly effective either.

Really? This ticks me off - not that you posted it, of course (actually thanks for that). But every single first aid class I've taken - and it's been many - including those that were part of nursing and paramedic training - said the opposite! How children are SO MUCH MORE likely to respond to CPR than adults!

I hate getting completely conflicting information, especially about something so important!

sanriobaby · January 2012

I got a combo of the Angelcare Sound Monitor (no movement) w/the Snuza Go. After a ton of research I found that this was the combo that would work best for us. Since DH and I both have mild cases of sleep apena, it was really important to us to get a movement monitor. I perfer the Snuza Go over the Angelcare Movement monitor b/c you can ajust the alarm time w/the Snuza Go, it's very small yet loud, and completely portable, which is important to us b/c we do travel and LO won't always be sleeping in her crib you know. Since the Snuza Go clips onto thier diaper pretty securely, most pp say that it won't come off even when babies start moving around and turning in their sleep. My main issue w/the Angelcare sensor pad is that once LO starts moving, that's when most pp complain that they get a lot of false alarms.

Another reason why I chose the Angelcare Sound only Monitor was b/c it has consistantly got great reviews over the most popular brands and most pp don't have any interference w/it. I still get all the other features I like such as the temp, nightlight, ect, but w/o the sensor pad. The only downside is that it only comes w/one reciever but that's not an issue for us b/c LO will sleep in our bdrm.

I highly recommend the Snuza Go!

SuperCuteBenz · January 2012

We have used it with both kids and swear by it. We recommend it to all of our friends.

Honestly, I didn't buy it until DD was almost 2 weeks old, and I had barely slept. I didn't think twice about SIDS or anything like that until she was here, and then it was all I could think about it. No, it does not prevent SIDS, and I knew that, but it did give me piece of mind that I would be alerted if she did stop breathing for any reason.

We did have an episode where it went off, and I went into check on her. I picked her up, and she was almost limp. I started screaming hysterically. She finally opened her eyes, and then started crying, probably because I freaked her out with my screaming. I am guessing she was in a very, very deep sleep. I don't know, nor do I want to know, what might have happened if I hadn't been alerted that she hadn't taken a breath in a while.

Also, I have seen a few cases on here where the monitor also warned mom about a possible issue. One baby was diagnosed with sleep apnea and I can't remember what happened with the other one.

I went along with what a bunch of ladies on here said, but in the end I ended up getting it, and I am so glad that I did.

redheadedgirl · January 2012

I love mine. It gives me a great piece of mind and once you get it set for the correct sensitivity there are very few false alarms

MomtoH · January 2012

We have one and love it. When DS was less than a week old ours went off and when we ran in to pick him up he was totally limp. Now I know newborns can be pretty limp when sleeping so he could've just been in a deep sleep, but it took us 20 seconds to get him to wake up. I don't know if it was a false alarm or saved my baby so yes, we'll be reusing ours.

My advice is play with it a little bit. The lower you can keep the sensitivity-closer to the 1 on the 1-5 settings (so less can interfere with it) the better. We found ours worked well around 1.5. It was sensitive enough to pick up his breathing if he moved around a little bit, but not sensitive enough to pick up the air from the ceiling fan.

They also make one that goes on the diaper called a Snuza. We have it for travel. I don't think it's as comfortable when they start sleeping on their bellies though (I think DS started rolling to his belly to sleep around 7 months.

TaylorandMel · January 2012

TaylorandMel · January 2012

tartaruga:
HopingForOne:
k.linn:
tartaruga:

Is there any evidence that these things actually do what they're supposed to? Frankly, they seem like kind of a scam to me.

Has anyone's doctor recommended it?

Here's the thing that bugs me about them--people buy into it thinking it's SIDS prevention. It's not. If your baby, God forbid, succumbs to SIDS, that is instantaneous. There is nothing you can do. Knowing the second they stop breathing does not change the outcome; you just know sooner. It seems like so many people get a false sense of security from these monitors. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing, because I understand wanting peace of mind, I just think that it's a little misleading.
Of course, that's not to say such monitors are totally useless. If baby had some other sort of breathing emergency, of course this could help. I guess it just bugs me when people say they are preventing SIDS with these monitors.

As the other poster pointed out, and as you alluded to, if your child stops breathing, it's not dead instantly. You at least have the chance to be warned and start CPR...(and on that note, I highly recommend that everyone take an infant CPR and first aid course before baby is born
But the thing is, CPR can't stop SIDS either. CPR is primarily for people who have suffered a heart attack, had an accident like drowning, or a drug overdose, and even then it's not very effective (only about 30% of the time). So even if you're alerted to the fact that your baby has stopped breathing, there's not really anything you can do about it unless it's due to something like choking or being smothered by a blanket (which obviously you can prevent by not putting these things in the crib in the first place).
I'm just really skeptical that this isn't just another basically useless product designed to make tons of money off of scaring new parents. "Well, isn't ANY amount of money worth it for your CHILD'S LIFE??"
I'd be interested to know if anyone's doctor recommended a device like this.

I really don't agree with this. I am an RN and have worked in the Emergency Room. Often times when kids go into cardiac arrest, it is respiratory related, and rescue breathing could be initiated immediately if a monitor signaled that the baby was not breathing. The reason CPR is not very effective pre-hospitalization, is because many lay persons who attempt CPR do not have adequate training (which is the reason why ONLY doing chest compressions is being taught to first responders now).

Also, my co-workers sister rolled over her baby in her sleep and it died. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be "SIDS," because she didn't want to right out say "you killed your baby." So just because a baby dies of SIDS, doesn't mean that the death was not preventable.

We ordered snuza's for our babies, and I would rather be woken up 1000x to a false alarm than to a dead baby. In fact, how do you really know that is ever was a false alarm? Maybe the sound/vibration startled the baby to start breathing again?

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