May 2017 Moms
luckywife10
member
Baby monitor suggestions
luckywife10
member
First time mom here, what baby monitor(s) worked well for you or did not work well? Is yours smart phone compatible? Did you find that a video monitor was necessary? What's your favorite feature of your baby monitor? Anything to watch out for or specifically look for in a monitor?
Re: Baby monitor suggestions
I picked one (vtech brand) that didn't have wifi ability because I had kept hearing stories about creepers that were able to hack and watch the kids. That alone bugged me and I didn't need wifi to begin with. Other features we like: zoom in option, temperature stat, we can get another cam for #2 and continue to use the same monitor, talk button option although we don't really use it but I know some of my fellow s14ers did.
Here's one of the sites I looked at, but I've checked many others too.
https://kidsaversnetwork.com/newborn/which-baby-monitor-is-safe/
May '17 labor memes
I've only ever had/used this one (with a video screen) but I wouldn't ever choose an audio-only one, and here's why. The noises that came out of his room, when he was younger, like rolling into the rails, or kicking the wall, or making a little cough or talking to himself, were the weirdest sounding noises over the monitor, and only by using the video screen could we get used to exactly what was what. If it were audio-only, I think it would've been more of a challenge to suss that out. (Our living room is right below his bedroom and we live in an old house, and the floors are echo-y and weird. So even him rolling over in the crib or dropping his paci sounded like a huge thunk, so I'm glad to have had the video screen to get used to what those sounds were.) Plus, I loved to see exactly what was going on. He always ended up sleeping the short-ways across the crib, not the long-ways, and it was super adorable, and sometimes he'd sleep with his head fully into one corner and then aim his snuggle-sacked body diagonally out (too funny!) and I would've missed out on those little quirks.
99% of the time it's dark in the room so the night-vision feature needs to be highly recommended on the model you choose. I think they're all fairly decent but that'd be a feature I'd look for in people's reviews if I were to buy another one.
A note about longevity: Our little guy is 3.5 years old and we still have the monitor-camera up on the little shelf, turned on, and we grab the parent-monitor every night after he's put to bed. (Sometimes I wonder if he's too old to still have it in his room... and I'm probably right about that... but our house is such that unless he's stomping around we can't hear him talking, chatting, crying, coughing, yelling, so I prefer to have the monitor at hand to keep an ear out.) Once during its lifetime, maybe after a year of heavy use, the parent part ended up not holding a charge. It kept getting worse and worse, like, it'd be plugged in all night and all morning charging and I'd unplug it have it turned on during a nap but then it'd quit like a half-hour into his nap and I'd have to run and get the charger and it became a hassle to have it plugged in without the portability. We looked online and people's suggestions were to change the rechargeable-battery inside the unit, so we ordered the battery online, changed it out, and it's been fine ever since. Holds a charge just like new. At first we were like "a $300 monitor and it only lasted a year!?" and we were peeved but with the battery swapped out it's a non-issue.
Travelling: When we travel to visit with family, we always stay at their houses. And it's not until you have a little travelling companion do you realize exactly how someone's house is set up in terms of layout and acoustics. Some people's walls are super well insulated and you can't hear a thing! Having the monitor for audio/video was a huge help and gave peace of mind. Also, when he was in the "climbing out of the pack-n-play" stage, having the little speaker was helpful in giving a quick "get back in there! go lay down!" without having to traipse all the way to the room he was in (and arrive there after the deed was done; easier to catch him in the act and say something fast). *We didn't use that talking feature that often but for those few times, it was handy to have. *The lullabyes and music sounds, too, we personally never used, but I know some people do like having them to broadcast in the room to re-settle their little ones.
One more thing: If you buy a monitor, I suggest to unpackage it, get it set up, and try it out, because your walls/floors/stories/wifi might have weird interference or blockage and it's best to test that out before you actually would be using it. You may need to try a different brand before you find one that works for your setup/situation. Do all of that ahead of time in case you have to make a return to the store. (And for setup in general, we had to put a little shelf up to get the right angle into the crib; thought the dresser top would work but we were sooo off the mark. Glad we did it before the little one was around.)
B born 7/15/13, C born 3/2/15, #3 on the way May '17
I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been up linked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech low-life. A cutting edge, state-of-the-art bi-coastal multi-tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond! I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot-wired, heat seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.
May17 Siggy Challenge
Labor
May '17 labor memes
Have you ever told your son he can reply back to you through it? Or is it just beyond trying at this point?
For now I'm okay with him not knowing how well I can hear him because he will play and jabber by himself in his crib for 30-45 minutes after he wakes up on the weekends! I hear him so I'm not asleep but hey, I'm still in bed. If he understood his mom summoning skills my mornings in bed might be over.
May '17 labor memes
(My son, too, happily chats to himself and tells stories... I love it... Related topic: I think our sleep training style, as in "not running in every 2 minutes at every cry" helped him become this independent type. Did you have a similar style? IMO, I attribute it to that.)
This time I know better! I definitely think I created a problem getting him up after every peep and this time after the intitial newborn haze I'm going to step back some and relax.
May '17 labor memes
Married 8/27/2011
BFP #1 9/28/2011 DS born 5/22/2012
BFP #2 4/24/2013 m/c 4/25/2013 at 4w
BFP #3 1/31/2014 DD born 10/14/2014
BFP #4 1/20/2016 m/c 2/12/2014 at 7w2d
BFP #5 8/19/2016 DS2 born 4/29/2017
BFP #6 3/7/2018 EDD 11/18/2018
We thought about the Motorola but I have a friend who had one and wasn't impressed so we skipped and tried this one. I'll never buy Motorola now that I've had this one
ETA I also love the zoom quality. I may or may not still sometimes zoom in just to make sure he's breathing haha
Anyone have suggestions with WIFI ones?
ETA there's a new version now since Dropcam was bought out by Nest, but mine has used the same app as the new version since the buyout so I'm assuming the camera is much the same, if not better
And I was used the Infant Optics DXR-8 Video Baby Monitor and I think it is the best baby monitor for any kind of parents