Video monitor rec?

[alison]

Hi everyone!
Drive-by posting here, since the house is turned on its head from having a houseguest (ETA: two guests: one of which was a 12-week old baby).

M seems to be getting into a sleeping groove (aside from last night, which I attribute to a growth spurt, since she is eating us out of house and home).

Dh and I check on M obsessively, and haven't been turning on appliances, because they drown out her crying.

I'd like a video monitor, because I just don't think a sound monitor is going to do it for us. (I worry about her suffocating on her swaddle blanket--she always wriggles an arm free.)

Do you have any recs for a good video monitor? Jenn?

[migirl]

We don't have a video monitor, but what about a Sound and Lights monitor? We have this one

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Lights-M.../dp/B0000DH5TU

The receiver lights up when the monitor detects a sound, it's good for when you're doing something noisy (vacuuming, running appliances, etc.). We've had it since DS#1 was a baby, and it's worked fine for us. But I guess that doesn't help if you want to actually *see* her...

[alison]

Thanks, Jane.
I bought a Mobi video/audio monitor, brought it home, and the thing didn't turn on. I thought I was too stupid for the machine, but dh gave it a go, and still nothing. I would indeed like the monitor to take video, but it seems that maybe the technology is a bit ahead of itself.

[MrsK]

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ct_skn=126819#

I've heard this one is good. I'll let you know in about 12 weeks.

[Auspicious]

We have this one. You can see it in action here. IRL there are no horizontal floating bars on the screen--that's just the result of taking video of an LCD screen with my camera. Most of that video is with the bedside lamp on, skip to the end to see what the night vision looks like.

I am glad to have a video monitor and have definitely used the video part many times, but assuming you can go higher-end than ours, definitely do that. On ours you can't necessarily make out if her eyes are open or closed, but we can see if her leg is caught between the bars and if she's up or down. We have the camera part mounted about six feet from her, on the opposite wall of the nursery.

Definitely a portable monitor (the parent part, I mean) would be a plus--ours needs to stay plugged into the wall.

Also I don't know if all baby monitors are like this, but ours is really LOUD. Like even if you put it on the quietest setting, it blares the smallest noise. And since we play white noise in her room, most of the time we just have the sound off.

Good luck finding the right one for you.

[alison]

I don't need to see M's eyes, so the quality of Auspicious' would be fine. I just want to know if her leg is caught, if she's got the swaddle blanket in her mouth, etc. I've had some bad mom moments when it came to tilting her mattress up - yes, she did end up at the foot of the crib WITH her swaddle blanket in her mouth! I think I cried for hours after that one...

[OrionGrad]

Since this thread is kind of old, I thought I'd check to see if anyone has any updates on their favorite video baby monitors. Any brands you love? Any you hate? I'm leaning toward the Summer Baby Touch Color Video Monitor because I have a friend who loves hers, but it's pretty expensive and I'd like to get something cheaper if possible.

[ladymoreta]

Definitely do not go with the Babies R Us store brand. It interfered terribly with our wifi, and it just didn't work that well. It finally died completely and we splurged on the Motorola MBP36. I love it so much! I can scan around the room, very helpful once they're in toddler beds. It also has a microphone so I can tell DS to get back in bed.

[SoonerTexan]

We just got the Foscam something from groupon goods. It has 2 way audio and you use a computer or iPhone for monitoring. You can set it up to monitor from your phone anywhere in the world. We don't have the iPhones set up yet but the video quality on the computer is impressive. It's actually a security camera so I think it has motion detection too. It was under $100

[GreyhoundsRUs]

LM - that. is. awesome! It's like God talking

[OrionGrad]

I've heard good things about the Summer Baby Touch Color Video Monitor, but at this point I'm not sure what features we'll need and what we can do without. (He isn't actually sleeping in his own room yet, I'm just trying to plan ahead.) I'd like the option to view the camera on my iPhone, but I'm not sure how much I'd really use that (versus just looking at the monitor that comes with the device). I'm also wondering how the white noise machine we use will impact the audio.

[SoonerTexan]

It's a nice option for daddies at the hospital who want to check in and say goodnight to babies

[MrsK]

Ours was $$$ (ILs bought it). We rarely used it and didn't like it when we did. The light from the moniter kept us awake and there was lots of static.

[OrionGrad]

Ours was $$$ (ILs bought it). We rarely used it and didn't like it when we did. The light from the moniter kept us awake and there was lots of static.

Do you know what brand it was, so I know what to avoid? The static issue would be very annoying.

[MrsK]

I'll take a look. I packed it up recently. You may want to wait and see before getting one. Our babies sleep on a different floor of the house than we do and we always here them when they wake, climb out of bed, etc. even when their door is closed.