Baby monitor usage overnight..what do you do?

[baffledmummy]

DD is 7 months old, has slept through for quite a while but is a bit of a noisy sleeper (sighs, moves around a lot). Since going into her own room (room next door to mine) at 7 months I've slept with the baby monitor on and volume on low.

A couple of nights ago I switched it off by mistake instead of turning the volume down and woke up at 7am feeling AMAZING having had the best night sleep since before DD was born (and subsequently felt very guilty when I realised what I had done!). She was fine.

So....what do you do? Would it be reasonable to turn it off overnight? I would hear any big cries as she is only next door...Would still use it for naps and early evening as I can't hear her from downstairs...but...is this reasonable?

Mine were only downstairs too. Had them in with us until 4 months then in own rooms.
Once I go to bed a loud cry is enough to wake me. Best nights sleep ever once I shut the doors!!

Especially if baby is reliably sleeping through.

I didn't even bother with a monitor. Turn it off over night to get proper sleep. Everything will be fine

Have never used one - we live in a regular size house and don't see the need. Not even when she was small. Also if she calls I go to her.

I'm obviously very lame and pfb. My dd1 still has the monitor on at 3.4yo 😳

In my defence we are not within easy earshot if she calls out and I'm asleep, I have it very low so I can just hear shouts and cries rather than snuffles, and since loosing dd2 I've become a bit weird and worried about her suddenly dying in the night (which I know is utterly irrational)

I have been wondering, now ds is on the way, when I should stop using it. I tried turning it off and stupidly my anxiety kept me awake.

I guess the answer is as long as you are comfortable that you would hear her if she was crying for you then turn it off when you're happy to.

Our parent unit was always downstairs so we could hear them in the evenings when we were still up and they were asleep. Never used it upstairs as we could hear them without it. Left our door open too

I still use the monitor with my 3 yr old and by default by my 5 yr old as they share although ds1 can get out of bed and be sensible
Ds2 still wakes constantly at night. I have the monitor so I can get to him before he either
A wakes the whole house up shouting
B starts climbing out of bed and wandering about
It's also useful to prevent or be alert to nightmares and illness
But I will be in the minority!

Mine is off at night. I don't hear all the sighs and chatting. But when she cries I hear her and it wakes me.

I don't see the point of having them on at night unless you are a really heavy sleeper or baby is out of earshot when crying.

Kitty I'm the same as you and use one for my 3 year old! I wouldn't hear him if he cried out when we are in the living room with tv on and I'd feel dreadful if he was sick etc and calling for me.

We've got a 2nd monitor for our baby too. We have both with us overnight. Will probably still have them for a while yet!

Ours is on in our room all night. I wouldn't hear DD unless she was really screaming as its an old house with thick walls, and I wouldn't want her to reach that stage if distress.
As we have lots of cats we don't leave bedroom doors open as we don't want the cats coming in.
I expect we'll have a monitor in there until she's of an age where she can come and get us if she needs us.

I have a video monitor so I keep it on but turn the volume right down. DD is next door so I would hear her if she cried and that way I can pop on the screen to see if she's awake or just making noise in her sleep and is likely to settle herself. She is just over 1. I probably will keep on using it like this until she's in a bed.

Op I did the same as you a few weeks ago and inadvertently turned mine off (ds 8 months old tomorrow). It didn't make much difference to us as my ds makes a right racket when he wakes up anyway. I have put it back on low and will keep it that way for a long time yet. I'm a worrier though, I go through and check if I haven't heard him snore in a while!

Leave it off

We sleep with our bedroom door open and hear DD2 if she wants us too!

It's REALLY important that you get a good night's sleep too!

We still use ours for DD who is 3.5. However we are in a 3 story house and at night she is on the floor below us, so not easily heard especially once asleep.

We still use ours for our 3.5 year old. He's very softly spoken and if he has a bad dream or is feeling poorly he uses a very little voice rather than crying out. In our house we wouldn't hear him if we were asleep without using the monitor.

I use one for my 3.4 year old and plan to for a long time yet. He has has 3 rides in an ambulance in the middle of the night with croup. He can barely breath, let alone call out for me. I dread to think what might have happened if I didn't have the monitor on. The last time I heard the strangled breathing before he had fully woken up because of the monitor.