Do I need a baby monitor? DS nearly 6 months and going in his own room.

[redandyellowandpinkandgreen]

We don't have a monitor currently as DS is in a crib in the bedroom and from the living room we can hear him even moving when he's in bed. Then he is right next to me at night.

We are moving him in to his own room shortly and it isn't directly above the living room so I wouldn't hear him in the evening until he was fairly noisy. He very rarely wakes up in the evening anyway. At night I would hear him as our bedrooms are right next to each other.

What do you think? I feel a bit PFB to be buying one now but then also worried I am being too laid back about it all!

I never had a monitor for any of my 3

They keep you awake and stressed IMO

We never bothered - well that's not strictly true, we bought one but it never worked. We just leave DD2s bedroom door slightly open, leave the living room door slightly open and don't have the telly on too loud. We generally hear her, though we do have quite a few "Shhhhh!!! Was that DD???" moments.

I would get one - it will have many uses

• for now at home, in case he has a cough etc or throws up - you'll be able to hear him
• as he gets older you'll be able to hear if he's being a cheeky monkey climbing out of bed and playing with his toys when he's meant to be going to sleep
• you can take it with you when you stay at friends/family houses and the bedroom is a little further away

please don't get a tomy - they are rubbish (IMO) - the BT one we eventually got has been fab

Can you get one second hand? Or borrow?

We didn't use one until DS moved into his own room. I have it on a low volume so don't hear every sniffle but like the reassurance especially when he's ill. I also couldn't hear him without one as we're above him.

Well I expect there will be scores of people who will come on saying they never had one etc etc, but I would have been too worried not to have one, PFB or not.

I find it reassuring and did mean we heard ds vomiting when he was unwell etc, and I have woken up and find it reassuring to hear him breathing or squiggling about. Also, I find going to ds when he initially wakes up rather than when he is screaming means he's much more likely to go back to sleep sooner.

I fully intend to use one with this next baby too.

And yes agree with thelittlebluepills - Tomy one is rubbish but BT one excellent.

And still use it now with ds who is 2.5 because can hear him if he's messing about, getting out of bed etc. He also knows it's an intercom and I think finds it reassuring too.

We still have one for DD and she's 3. Although for a long time it's main purpose was that we could have the tv on at a reasonable level and the door to the sitting room closed (DD was a very light sleeper in the early part of the night).

It has also been very useful when she was sick too.

We'll have to wean ourselves off it before the next one arrives.

I have the angelcare monitor with sensor pad and alarm, when my son went in his own room at 7 months it gave me peace of mind, I still use it now and he is 10 months. Tried a digital one downstairs but didn't like it at all, they only pick up sound when the baby is crying and my baby usually wakes up and doesn't cry, the angelcare picks up every sound so if he is ill or sick can hear everything, you can always turn volume down if you don't want to hear every single murmur. The alarm went off (false alarms) a couple of times when he started moving around more in cot and so we turned sensitivity up slightly but it was reassuring to know that it works just in case :-))

Depends how big your house is. We never use it at night but we'd never hear him in the evening if we are in the kitchen. V useful piece of kit IMO.

We live in a fairly small new build house but still have one that we use in the evenings and during daytime naps, gives me reassurance when have the tv/ washing machine/exctractor fan are on. On the few occassions that I have forgotton to switch it on dd is in a right state by the time I hear her.

I don't use it at night, we sleep with the doors open and I am a really light sleeper. I have used it at night at other people's houses if dd is in a seperate room so that they don't get disturbed by the ineveitable middle of the night screaming.

Thanks I'm going to get one as I am not sure how well we'd hear him from certain rooms in the house. Not that it's a mansion or anything!

We have one with a camera and while it might make some people more paranoid, it makes me chill out. We can have the noise on zero with just a visual indicator (red light) if there is noise, we can have the picture on or off, have the noise turned up etc. We don't have it on at night as we are really close to her anyway.

We have it for the evenings as we wouldn't hear DD until she had worked herself up into quite a frenzy. It also means I can glance over now for instance and see she has woken from her nap but for the time being is quite happy kicking around for a bit.

D