Choosing a Baby Monitor
A baby monitor can give parents reassurance that their baby is safe and well, when they are not in the same room. There are a number of considerations to make when looking to buy a baby monitor.
First of all, you will need to decide if you want an audio monitor or a video monitor. Most parents opt for a simple audio product where you place the transmitter in the baby’s room and keep the speaker with you. But some parents enjoy the extra reassurance of being able to see the baby too. Families where there is in increased risk of SIDS may also want to look at audio and movement monitors, which help detect the baby’s breathing.
Once you have an idea of what is best for your family, these are the product specifications you should be looking at:
Frequency - Lower frequency models will often pick up other signals such as mobile phones or taxi transmitters. Higher frequencies give better clarity. If there are a lot of young families in your street you might want to look at models which can be switched to a different frequency as you may end up picking up the sounds from someone else’s baby monitor.
Volume control - Babies can snuffle a lot and be quite noisy when sleeping. Volume control means you can cut some of the less important noises out.
Lights - Sound activated lights can alert you that your baby is crying if there is something preventing you from hearing the monitor (for instance if you are listening to music).
Power Source - Battery operation is practical if you are moving around a lot but can be expensive if you are frequently replacing batteries. Models which allow both mains or battery operation are most flexible.
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