Baby Monitors

There’s one stage of parenthood this writer is pleased to put behind him. And that’s the infancy phase. Talk about stressful. But perhaps it was a personal thing. Because for some reason the obsession of whether said young one was breathing or not was of constant worry. It’s not that the little pea ever had breathing issues. But doctors and that naughty, dark companion – the Internet – jam stuff into your head that the next thing you know if you’re not watching your baby every waking (and sleeping) second he or she will simply drop dead.

Well, it worked! We watched that guy like we were the CIA in the Cold War Soviet Union. Sleeping was an afterthought, and when we first bought a baby monitor, the joy was literally overwhelming. The notion you could simply turn said monitor on, place it on the nightstand, blast the sound up to 10 and rest was incredible. It still doesn’t solve the problem of trying to get a nice 8-hour sleep, but the difference in your quality of life pre and post baby monitor is extreme.

Nowadays we can’t imagine trying to raise a young one without one. To be frank, if you have a baby, are reading this post, and don’t possess a monitor, drop what you’re doing (not the young one, gently place him or her on its back) and snuggle in. We’re going to kick this off with some helpful tips when considering that first baby monitor purchase. Up first, be sure to choose a model that has a frequency of 900 MHz of more. We can’t stress this one enough. Reducing interference and increasing clarity is at the top of the list. Achieving those two things will immediately put you on the right path.

Next, the model you find should have a prominent, low-battery light. This is an underrated, handy feature. We learned the hard way here. Without this the monitor will lose juice without advising you, and wow, we can’t express how tragic that is. Third, go wireless. Did you hear us … go wireless!!! So, so vital, especially nowadays because you’ll be lugging this thing around the house and unless you can get a signal in every room you’ll be in bad shape. Four, find a model with a sound-activated light. Let’s be honest, once you’re asleep, you might be sound asleep. This feature will enable a flash when it detects a noise, so if you see the flashing when you’re vacuuming for example, you’ll be notified.

And finally, really consider stepping up and getting a video monitor. Low-light quality of the picture will give you the best view. One thing is sound, but another is your eyes on that bundle of joy. With all this said however, we’re glad we survived this stage. And we couldn’t have done it without a baby monitor.