Baby Monitor
Taking care of a baby is a round-the-clock responsibility that requires your full attention.
Every parent wants to ensure that their baby is safe from any form of harm.
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At the same time, parents and caregivers may want to be involved in other activities within the family or even rest in some cases.
It may be exhausting for you to keep checking on your baby every few minutes to ensure that they are okay and not in any danger.
The use of baby monitors has made it possible for a parent or the person taking care of the baby to be able to keep tabs with their baby while getting involved in other activities in or around the house.
Baby monitors use the radio system to remotely monitor the baby’s sounds.
It is usually in two parts, an audio unit, and a receiver unit.
The audio unit is usually placed near the baby while the receiver unit is with the parent or the caregiver wherever they are.
The essence is to hear when the baby wakes up and so that you can attend to him or her.
The audio unit is usually designed to pick up the baby’s sounds like crying or whining when they wake up.
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The downside of baby monitors
As much it might be possible to hear your baby’s cries through the baby monitor, it has its limitations in the much it can do.
For example, baby monitors are not known to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
It has been reported that some babies have died while the parents and caregivers think that they are still sleeping.
They only get suspicious when they realize that the baby has slept longer than they usually do.
While there no known cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, it gives a parent peace of mind knowing that the baby is safe.
Sometimes, the safety of the baby is not assured when the baby monitor is next to the baby.
If your baby rolls over or crawls, they can come into contact with the baby monitor and probably put it in their mouth which can be hazardous for them.
This then means that you have to decide on how to place the monitor at a place that is not too near the baby but also not too far that it cannot pick up the sounds.
The general rule of thumb is to keep the baby monitors at least three feet away from where the baby is located.
Over time, the designs of baby monitors have evolved.
They have been improved to add more features that help the caregivers to be able to take care of their babies.
With the advent of technology, some concerns are usually raised on the effect of technology on different issues.
Some baby monitors can suffer from frequency interferences from surrounding areas.
This can confuse the parent or caregivers on whether the baby is crying or not.
This can cause anxiety and unsettlement in the caregiver.
There are also concerns about the impact the baby monitors have on the environment.
Most baby monitors do not last for a long time and need to be disposed of in about a year.
They are usually made of materials that are not recyclable or biodegradable.
These can, therefore, be detrimental to the environment.
Given the lifecycle of baby monitors and the cost of buying one, it can be a costly affair always buying baby monitors now and then.
Other technologies used to monitor your baby
Having seen the downside of using baby monitors, there is a need to explore other means of monitoring your baby’s safety without necessarily exposing yourself to the related hazards.
The following can be options to replace the use of baby monitors:
Motion sensors
These are placed under the baby’s crib to sense the baby’s movements as they are sleeping.
These sensors can be able to monitor the breathing motions of the baby.
If the movement of the baby stops for about 20 seconds, the alarm goes off alerting the caregiver of this.
This can be a good way to avoid and prevent incidences of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Baby cams
Baby cameras are slowly becoming a popular thing with time.
A video camera is fitted into the room and then connected to a monitor that can be turned on occasionally to check on the progress of the baby.
Most of these monitors have night vision to them so that they can be able to show pictures in dim lighting.
The parent or caregiver can check on the baby while sleeping.
It gives one peace of mind since it is almost like being in the room with the baby.
Use of smartphones as baby monitors
In recent times, smartphones have applications that can be used as baby monitors.
They mostly use the inbuilt cameras in the smartphones to connect to another similar device like a tablet or another phone.
There are myriads of applications to choose from to use as your baby monitors.
Once you download the application on the phones, you can set one in the baby’s room and have the other one with you.
The good thing with this is that you only need your house’s Wi-Fi system to connect the two phones to the same networks.
There are those apps that also use Bluetooth technology.
Once your two phones are connected to the same network, all you need to ensure that the phone is near the baby so that you can see the baby although not too near so that the baby can touch the device out of curiosity.
Walkie-talkies as baby monitors
Good old walkie-talkies can be used as baby monitors in the home.
They are not very expensive to obtain but are durable.
All you need are two walkie-talkie devices one for yourself and the other for the baby’s room.
These two can be connected and you can hear sounds from your baby’s room.
You can also be able to talk to your baby at the same time.
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