Baby Monitor

We're excited to share this post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we will be bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post from Kristina Sauerwein about outgrowing the baby monitor.

My friend posed this question on Facebook: “At what age did you detach yourself from the monitor with your child?” She was wondering if she should get rid of the baby monitor for her 4-year-old son who “sleeps with his door open…(and has been) talking/yelling in his sleep soooo much lately, (she) was up almost hourly to check on him.”

Related: What is it about mothers and their child's hair?

I left a comment telling her to retire the baby monitor. Honestly, I never really used our baby monitor much. My husband and I slept upstairs on the same floor as our kids, and I am the type of sleeper who would wake up if one of my baby’s coughed loudly. A monitor by my bedside would have revved my mind and kept me awake. Every little stir would have me evaluating my baby’s well-being and I would spiraled into an motherhood-OCD-worrywart hell.

Besides, as one mom said in my friend’s Facebook comments, if a baby’s stirs or cries are important enough, you’ll know.

That said, we did place a baby monitor in our basement since our baby slept two floors up. But even then, I could hear important cries sans monitor.

As for a video monitor, that would’ve wired me to no end so I never bothered. My friend said she used to watch it so obsessively, her dreams would be about her baby on the video monitor. Another friend said she watched the video monitor until she noticed her toddler boy could only get to sleep if he played with his private part and she just didn’t want to know that.

I will say there are two things I liked about the auditory baby monitor:

• Once my husband and I heard another couple in our so-called perfect town fighting about stupid things such as his overgrown nose hairs and her annoying food-chomping habits. We had no idea who these people were so it was rather amusing and we took it as free entertainment. I know, it was immature and bad of us but it was a train-wreck-we-had-to-watch moment.
• I never did this but I always wanted to turn the baby monitor on when my husband and his friends played cards, drank beer and watched back-to-back football games. After all the guys left, I’d ask my husband what they all talked about and he’d say “nothing.” Nothing? For six hours? I don’t buy it and so I always threatened to eavesdrop via baby monitor. My husband said all I’d hear is a lot of gas passing.

So tell me: Did you use a baby monitor? What kind? When did you ditch it? Did you ever eavesdrop on anyone or have any funny baby-monitor mishaps?

More great stories from BabyCenter.com:
3 simple holiday cookies to make with your kids
Do you force your baby to nap?
Does working make you a better mom?
9 Hanukkah crafts for kids
Kids birthday parties at home: Yay or Nay?

Source: Flickr User kona99

Lots of moms like to think out loud and Melissa-Emily is one of them. On her Life Beyond Base blog she highlights the baby products that make her life easier. Here is her latest post.

Who says you need to have a baby monitor when you have an iPhone? For moms who have an iPhone this BabyPhone App is perfect; not only does it work as a baby monitor but it will also call you on another phone once your child has awakened! For just $2.99 this is a fab deal compared to expensive baby monitors!

Want to see more? Start following Life Beyond Base or start your own OnSugar blog. It's easy, it's free, and we just might feature your content on our site!

Video baby monitors are a parent's security blanket. We took ours along on a recent visit to grandma's house. After putting our tot down for the night, we visited with family and friends well into the night. After checking our son one last time, we retired to bed and drifted off to sleep. A few hours later, I heard a noise and quickly tapped the button on the monitor to find a perfectly content lil girl curled up in a crib. My heart skipped a few beats as I raced down the hallway to find my child peacefully sleeping in his makeshift nursery. It seems my parents' next-door neighbors recently welcomed a baby girl and were using the same monitor as we were.

Have you ever picked up a neighbor's child on your monitor?

Lots of moms think out loud, and Celestialkat does too. Sleep Separation Anxiety comes from the From the Mind of a First Time Mom blog at OnSugar.

I'm typing this next to a baby monitor, listening to the sound of rain being transmitted with just a touch of static.  And I'm resisting the urge to sneak downstairs.  Our little girl is getting good at sleeping through the night, so we're trying her out in her crib.  I've never felt so far away from her since she was born.  This includes the times when she's stayed with her grandparents.

I just snuck a peek at her, she's sleeping peacefully, probably loving the fact that she's no longer as cramped as she is in the moses basket or her bassinet.  Me?  I probably won't sleep through the night, convinced that every little sigh and sound is her realizing that she's in a room all by herself.

Maybe I'll sleep on the floor...just for this one night...

Want to see more? Start following OnSugar blog From the Mind of a First Time Mom or start your own OnSugar blog. We may just feature your content on LilSugar.

When is a parent monitoring their child and when does it become voyeuristic? Baby monitors make keeping tabs on lil ones a piece of cake with their ability to capture the sights and sounds that come out of newborns' rooms. While many mamas become addicted to keeping an eye on their tots through their video monitors, others blame the lil machines' lights and buzzing sounds for denying them a restful night's sleep.

Once babies are sleeping through the night on a regular basis, some parents turn the monitors off for good. Others keep them going well past the toddler years, citing a desire to know what is their wee ones are doing when the door is closed. When did you retire the baby monitor for good?