Baby Movement Monitors

uneek1323 · January 2015

Lurker looking for advice...

Hi friends!

I've been looking into these movement monitors like https://tinyurl.com/nx98dop and https://tinyurl.com/ktzjqou . Reviews are mixed, pros and cons are mixed. Has anyone used one of these or something else similar? Any thoughts about them in general?

jobiann · January 2015

I thought about it but all my friends that tried them said how often they go off with no cause. So I decided against it. DS slept in a Rock n Play next to my bed for the first 3.5 months. Then when he went in his own room I got a wonderful Motorola baby monitor and I can see him breathing on there so I felt pretty comfortable.

I know the reviews are pretty mixed, some love them, others say they go off too much with no cause so it just deprives their sleep and gets them concerned for nothing. Hopefully others will chime in since we never had one. GL!

pkaren · January 2015

I actually used one similar to the Levana one....a Snuza. My friend used it for her baby and passed it down to me when B was born. If you look at the dimensions of it and think about how tiny a newborn is, the thing is huge. It's almost 3 inches long and bulky. B was 6 lb 07 oz and like 22 inches at birth and she was too tiny to use it. It literally took up her whole torso. You clip it onto their diaper, so it's usuless until their belly button stump falls off. I didn't even start using it until B was about 3 months old I think mainly because It was so big and she was so little. We had a couple false alarms I think, but not many. However, the battery ended up dieing eventually and it's a special little battery that was expensive to replace and hard to find. After I changed the battery the thing would still randomly die and I would have a false alarm every single time I used it. So it may be fine for the first kid, but you have on planning more if doesn't seem to have that great of a life span.

The good stuff: It does give a peace of mind and I know I slept better knowing it would go off if anything happened. If you have a bigger baby, it might work better than it did for my tiny munchkin child. I moved B into her own room at 8 weeks so I was glad to have it. And I got it for free so I didn't lose any money on it.

It's one of those sad thing though that unless you really need it (ie - your baby does stop breathing) then you wasted alot of money having peace of mind. I looked at the reviews and alot of parents are really happy with it because it did actually alert them of a problem.

Not sure if this helps or not?

ETA: I should also mention that I also have a Motorola video monitor, so being able to see her whenever I wanted was amazing and gave me more peace of mind than the Snuza. If you're debating where to spend the money, I would recommend the video monitor over the motion sensor.

princezjk · January 2015

We have the angel are monitor for sound and motion, similar to the one you have linked. However, at 6 months old L has only slept in his crib for a few naps. We ended up having him sleep next to us in the bassinet. We are transitioning to the crib now and I think he will just move too much for it to be effective. Though I do know a loss mom who still uses it with her 3 year old.

Like @Qfrump‌, I was advised that steps like sleeping in the same room, sleeping on his back and no loose blankets were more effective preventative steps to take.

I think if you plan to go straight to the crib it could be worth it, but if you think there is a chance of using a bassinet or co-sleeper it might be better to hold off.

uneek1323 · January 2015

Thank you all for your input. We plan on having her sleep in the bassinet part of the pack and play in our bedroom right next to me. I am terrified of sleeping when she's sleeping.

Wifey xo · January 2015

My guy slept in his crib in my room for the first 6 months, then we moved him upstairs because of the hourly symphony of noises he made. I think the silence was worse than the hand sucking. I still look at his video monitor 14 months later if I wake up, but we are all sleeping pretty good these days. We also have a good quality Motorola that we love. Got a cheapo monitor as a free gift with purchase I had in the living room, but the quality sucks. All the best, Mama! Exciting times!

misternmiss · January 2015

I personally opted to give myself less things to obsess over and get myself worked up by, and chose not to get a movement monitor OR video monitor. C slept in a RnP next to me for the first 2 months (and I'd wake up constantly to shine my phone in his face and make sure he was still breathing.

Especially after he had croup!) Im not going to lie, I spent a lot of those early days just fearing the worst. But I think its natural and I think you'll still worry, even with all the gizmos and gadgets. As long as you're doing it all right (no loose blankets, sleeping on her back, firm mattress, etc) the fear will eventually subside.
But do what brings you peace of mind.

Mama knows best.

SunshinyLees · January 2015

We had purchased an angelcare movement and video monitor originally because I was so paranoid not having it. But it drove us crazy!!!!! Constant false alarms and being the sleep deprived parents we were with a newborn we kept picking her up forgetting to turn the damn thing off!! Cue alarm ugh!! The monitor ended up getting recalled so I sent it back and got my money back from Amazon. We never did get another monitor and we've been fine with that. Our house is small so we can hear her if she cries from any room. She slept in a basinet next to our bed for the first three months anyway and eventually the paranoia about sids disappeared. Long story short, if u do want a monitor just get a regular one, I really don't think it's worth getting the fancy movement ones! Excited for you Uneek!!!

ksyknelvr73 · January 2015

I might be the exception here, but I have the AngelCare sound/movement monitor and I love it. I've used it with my older DS and now am using it with the baby. I have gotten a handful of false alarms, and recently it went off and I am pretty sure LO had an episode where he stopped breathing. It terrified me, but I was so thankful to have that monitor.

We actually also have a Snuza but I never used it, the couple times I tried I got a lot of false alarms.

Both boys initially slept in our room next to me (either in the PNP or RNP), but DS1 we kept in for maybe 3 months, and DS2 we kept in our room for one month. To me, having the AngelCare monitor was the only way I could be okay with them sleeping in their own rooms.

If you have LO in the room with you, next to you, etc, you will be able to just reach out and touch them and check on them. I would always reach over and touch both of them to see if they were still breathing.

Baby Movement Monitors

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