Do I need one?

If you live in a small house or flat and can hear your baby easily wherever you are then you won’t really need a monitor. If the distances between the room your baby sleeps in most and other rooms in your house are greater then a monitor will reassure you that all is well. Respiration monitors sound an alarm if breathing or movement is not detected and may be useful if you are particularly anxious – they can be used as simple sound monitors if you find the respiration pad becomes an unnecessary feature. TV monitors allow you to watch your baby on screen and can be used as simple sound monitors when a picture is not required.

What to look for

Sound monitors work through radio waves and you should check for a good reception – the distances they work over varies from 50 to 400 metres. Units are either mains or battery operated. Mains operated monitors are the simplest and cheapest – but both you and your baby must be positioned near a plug which limits their flexibility. Battery operated monitors are entirely portable. Some come with rechargeable batteries which can save the expense and fuss of new batteries, others come with adapters for optional mains use.

Features

Features vary but may include:

• A moving lights display – which allows you to mute your baby’s sounds but still receive an indication if he/she is becoming distressed
• A choice of channels to help improve reception
• A volume control
• A night light on the baby unit
• A room temperature indicator
• A low power and/or out of range warning
• Clips with which to position baby and/or parent unit
• Clock

Respiration monitors have similar sound and visual display monitoring features but also use pads placed under the baby’s mattress which can detect movement and breathing. Features may include an optional alarm that sounds when no movement is detected for more than 20 seconds.

These monitors will either reassure you greatly or terrify you half to death. Most new parents worry a great deal about their baby’s breathing. Babies often have very shallow, hardly noticeable breathing or irregular breathing patterns and it is quite normal to be nervous and to keep checking, often unnecessarily, on your newborn’s breathing. 

Respiration monitors are designed to help and can be a great comfort and reduce the number of times you run in and out of your baby’s room. However, some parents find themselves worrying even more – the monitors come with a lot of advice on infant resuscitation and watching the monitor can become as much of an obsession as watching the baby but without the joys and complete certainties of seeing and being with your baby.

Vision monitors have similar sound and visual display monitoring features but will also show your baby on a screen – either a dedicated monitor or through your own TV. They may have to be physically connected by cables run through the house and may not be very portable. They can be expensive but can be used later for keeping an eye in a neighbouring room while a toddler is at play or for home security.

Test results in brief:

• Lindam Baby Talk
• Tomy 2 Way Monitor
• Mothercare Baby Sounds Digital
• Philips Babyphone
• Johnson & Johnson Intouch Baby Reassurance Monitor
• Safety1^st Angelcare Monitor  
• Tomy Baby Watch

Click here to go straight to full test results >>