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Do You Use a Baby Monitor?
January 5, 2009 at 2:27 PM by Cafe Suzanne - Comments (23)
photo by AdrinaBabyMama
I registered for a baby monitor and got one at my shower, but I've never really used it. I always hear my baby no matter where I am—home, my mom's house, my in-laws. As soon as she peeps, I'm at her side. But some moms don't use baby monitors because they don't want to hear every breath the baby takes (or static from the monitor). They want to be able to relax a little—sleep, eat, or shower and not be interrupted by every little sound.
Some parents keep the monitor on during the day and when the baby naps, but turn it off at night. It's not just so they can sleep, it's so the baby can sleep too. Anonymous writes in Answers: "Lately my husband and I are jumping at every sound she makes and go make her a bottle, but come back to find her fast asleep because she was just tossing a little. We thought we would turn off the baby monitor and when she really cried out we would race to feed her. Because we are right next to her we will hear any crying. Is that a bad idea?"
Most of the moms who responded agreed that turning off the monitor was perfectly fine.
"I have an 8-week-old daughter and her room is right next to ours. I am a light sleeper so when she cries I can get up in a snap. As long as you don't think you will sleep through her hunger cries, you should be fine." —blueeyes71883
"Turn it off! You need your rest and so does she."—momofsaee
"Turn it off. You'll get used to the different cries and know when you need to run in and when she's just settling back to sleep. My dd still wakes up and fusses at 16 months for a few minutes and goes right back to sleep. She's two rooms down and I hear her fine."—ferdo0204
"At that age, if they need you, they will let you know!"—KDW211
"What monitor do you have? I want it! I want to hear every breath!"—hendrickson
How about you? Do you have a baby monitor? Do you use it?
Comments:
i really dont have much use for the monitor as i thought i would.. i put the sony babycall montior on my registry.. it does its job. when i first brought her home from the hospital i always kept her end on and the receiver off.. until one day i accidently switched the bottom channel of the receiver will leave me in the house of another family with the same type of monitor. since then i only use it if im going in the shower (waterproofed !) or i have to run outside other than that it stays off
My daughter is right outside my door in her room if she is crying for real and awake I wake up all the time, if it's just a toss and turn fuss, she usually is back asleep within a minute or two but I still have the monitor on most nights on very low. Has a video cam too
I have a video monitor. The nursery is right next to our room and I'd certainly hear her if she cried but I LOVE being able to look at her while she sleeps without risking waking her by opening the door to her room. In our house, I feel the video monitor is a neccesity. But that's just me.
mine are 4 and 2yrs old and I still use it in the 2yr olds room. I like it at night because with it on we can hear my 4yr old if he needs us for any reason at all. We sleep with a fan on besides the ceiling fan because hubby likes the white noise, so I guess with that going he doesnt seem to mind little noises that tend to creep up on a monitor other than her crying or calling out.
During the day I have a 5 month old in my care and I dont use the monitor for him, he is in my bedroom which is near the living room so we leave the door open to listen. Plus with him, I check on him every 15mins so I found that I didnt need the monitor on. Using at night with my kids is more peace of mind and old habit for me, I guess it just depends on how you feel and what makes you comfortable.
I love my monitor. Although my baby's room is clear across the house from my bed room I need mine but if I'm up and not in my bed room I leave to monitor off. I guess I've gotten use to sleeping with his noises. I can tell what hes doing with out having to look at the monitor anymore.(I have a video one).
i have one. i dont use it in our appt. before when i lived at my aunts for a few months i did use it once in a while. if i had to run out into the yard or wanted to watch tv with my aunt(who might as well be going def) while they are sleeping in the other room i can hear them and respond quickly. now we live in a small two bedroom apt and i can hear everything anyways.
yes!!! our DD's bedroom is upstairs, and we are down stairs. I also hear everything anyways, but in the event that I would be sleeping hard and miss something, I feel more confident knowing it is there, and on.
I have two monitors. one in my 3 yr old daughters room and one in my boys room (ages 7,5, and 19 months) My children are prone to night terrors and and if they cry out in the middle of the night I want to be able to get to them as quickly as posable.
We're living with my mom again in a split level raised ranch. Lily's crib is in the same room as ours and now that we've stopped co- sleeping and are teaching her to sleep in her crib again, I NEED to have the monitor on so I can hear her crying or see what she's doing in there. (we have a video monitor too)
I usually put her in the crib, turn on her crib soother, and go upstairs. I need to be able to hear her, though, so I know when the cries go from fussing to "HEY! MOM!! ARE YOU STILL HERE?"
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I always felt better having the monitor and having it on. There were a few times that I forgot it was off for one reason or another and she was fine anyway and I still heard her if she woke up even if it wasn't over the monitor. I could hear her more loud and clear when the monitor was on, but I could still hear her with it off too. I still used it anyway, just for my own peace of mind. Maybe it is not actually needed though.
AprilD32 Jan. 5, 2009 at 2:54 PM