To have people comment I'm paranoid continuing to use 'baby' monitor

[Gemma273]

My wee one is nearly 3 and I still religiously use baby monitor every night, I don't think I'd settle without it, it's rarely needed as wakening up at night is very rare but I've had a few comments from family/friends that I'm being ridiculous and far too over protective. It's really annoyed me to be fair, any alone else still use their monitor for older kids?

You're not kidding. That's terrible.

How on earth do they justify that @orwellwasright ? And does she know?

I never had one because mine had reflux and you could hear them across the road (not joking)

From now on, don’t tell anyone what you are doing and continue to do what makes your house a happy and calm house.

Yeah we had ours in use for years and got comments from smug judgy types about how they never needed one, what's the point, our kids just sleep through, etc, whatever. Fine for them, but we needed a monitor. Both mine have always struggled with sleep, I struggle with insomnia, bad mix. I had to wear earplugs so exH's extreme snoring and farting didn't constantly wake me, so the monitor would be an extra reassurance I'd hear their early waking signs. If I had earplugs in and somehow slept through the early whinges it would escalate and DD would very quickly scream and make herself sick (reflux and allergies which continued way past weaning). It worked for us, just do whatever gets you the most sleep. Not used them since youngest turned 4 and suddenly started sleeping through thank god.

My Ds is 9 and we haven’t used one for years but this week I wished that we still had it. Poor Ds woke up vomiting in the night. I don’t know how long the poor lad was shouting for before we heard it but he’d been quite sick by then so it may have been a while. Couldn’t come and get us as he normally would as couldn’t leave the bucket!

I advise not telling people anything tbh. If they are going to judge, just limit what you tell them.

I never had a monitor - but I could hear everything anyway as they were in my room until about 3, and then after that we had paper thin walls and doors ajar.

You will get rid of it at the right time I am sure.

Our son is a few months shy of 4 and we still use a monitor! Do it if it makes you happy op.

We still use one for DC aged 2.5 but they’re a particularly shit sleeper. Wouldn’t hear them if we’re still downstairs and with the monitor I wake straight away if I’m asleep rather than risk the whole house getting woken.

@Mumoftwoinprimary Bless him, hope he was ok. The person I know who is watched is my step son at his mums home. They have a video camera one and watch him in his bedroom, well, it's the step dad that watches him.

My DS is 3 next week, I still use mine and didn't think anyone would find it strange until I saw this post. Our walls are quite good for soundproofing so I'm not sure I would hear him cry otherwise, this only tends to happen when he's poorly.

We used ours until the children were out of cots and they could come into our rooms.

If the child can't or won't get out of bed themselves and find you, and if you wouldn't hear them crying, then why not use one? I use one downstairs still but don't need it upstairs as small house. I don't want to hear every single noise anyway, just extreme screaming!

I wouldn't use a camera past age 2 or 3 though I think that's a bit odd. Just audio is enough.

My child is 3 and a half and I still use it every night. He wakes fairly often and I just feel more secure if I can see him. I couldn't give a hoot what others think.

It's perfectly reasonable to use a monitor for a 3 year old if you wouldn't hear them without it.

I'm not sure why so many people have commented about your use of baby monitors. How to do they know?

I would love to use one but their bodies are welded to mine all night so no point.......and they are old 5 and 10 they have always just climbed in and i need sleep so thats what happens in our house and i really dont care I cant see it being for much longer now.

My dcs are older but share a room and I still use an audio one (which they are aware of!). My oldest is autistic and can be very vocal if he wakes in the night and my youngest frequently gets nosebleeds which wake her and cause her distress. The reason I have the monitor is so I can get to them before they wake the other up. When we are able to move and give them their own rooms there will no longer be a need.

We still have one for our 3.5 year old. In the middle of the night she can yell loud enough or come to us if she wants us but before we go to bed we wouldn't be able to hear her if she needed us so we still have the monitor while we're awake.

Your home, your kid - do what works for you.

We still use one for DS5, but he’s disabled so it’s perhaps a bit different. He can wake multiple times a night and after 5 years of chronic sleep deprivation it’s not guaranteed we’ll hear him other wise and he can’t be left unattended if he’s awake.

My DS is 3.5 and we still use it. It's weird, because we don't live in a massive house or anything but if he cries or whinges, or anything really, we can't hear it at all! It's just a cheap audio one.

I mostly use it for listening to see if he's messing about after putting him to bed 😅

Unless there’s a specific reason then yes, I’d think it very over-protective.

Why do you need to hear them? What do you think is going to happen?

I wondered why they see you as overprotective, but maybe it's this?

I still religiously use baby monitor every night,
When you say that you use it religiously, do you mean that you have the moniter right by you all the time, or that you're often watching it instead of focusing on visitors etc?

If there's just an audio monitor at the other end of your living room that you dont take any real notice of unless there's a real need, then they shouldn't have a problem. But if you're attached to it or hovering over a screen while they're visiting, I'd say that you are being a bit OTT.

We used one for ages but mostly as an intercom so we could provide reassurance, explain that the cuddly toy was probably on the floor or explain thant no it still wasn't time to get up yet without any of us being woken more by having to shout or get out of bed.

That's creepy

I use an owlet for my 3 year old have used it since birth !