Baby monitors, and thoughts

[ethansarmiento]

Hi, I'm a GCSE student studying Design and Technology, and I'm also 16.

So my project is to design and make a better nightlight or baby monitor, than other possible products out there.

Can I ask what your opinions are about these sleeping/monitor products, why you've used them and if they've worked, but also if your time as a parent has been improved, or been made easier?

Thanks a bunch, any comments or thoughts would be appreciated

Ethan

Can you design a video monitor that includes a full pan/tilt/zoom and also a white noise function. I couldn't find one that did everything and none with a white noise option! Yet lullabies seem to be standard now.

lullabies
whitenoise
nature sounds
classical music

One that has a parent unit but you can also access via Wi-Fi like using an app for sign in on the go. Most seem to have either a parent unit to watch video on or sign in to watch footage - not both.

One that you can add extra cameras to- and always white noise

One that can be easily operated with one hand. This was an issue on the room unit on our Angelcare. There is a good chance you will need to operate it whilst holding a baby.

If it has a sensor/movement pad then it needs an easy to use button to turn this off on the room unit. I lost count of the times I went into resettle/feed DD2 at Stupid O'Clock without remembering to turn off the mat first. I'd have just settled into feeding her when the alarms would start going nuts. Cue desperate scramble (with small baby latched to boob) back into our room to jab at the screen/fight with the shitty 'wing' buttons on the main unit (see above) before DH and DD1 were woken. It needs to be simple and idiot proof for half-asleep and sleep-deprived people to use.

My first monitor (with DD1) was brilliant. Incredibly simple to use, no bells and whistles (I can't help feeling an 'over-monitoring' leads to greater parental anxiety). It did sound, gave us the temperature, had a wide choice of nightlight colours (some colours lit the room better, depending on the colour of the room in the first place) at a level that lit the room without blinding anyone, and had a parent unit that still worked at the far end of the garden (swanky Angelcare managed half way).

Oh, and a belt clip that actually secures the parent unit. Crappy Angelcare was forever popping off and smashing on the floor.

Hi, thanks for everyone's feedback!

I've taken in what you've said, and I could even share my test product with you all in a few month...

I’d like a parent unit where the lights can be turned off - flashing lights from he baby snoring would keep me awake so I stopped using it.
As I’m typing this I realise I probably could have used masking tape on it...

We have an an old BT baby monitor for DS which projects stars and moon onto the ceiling. It is awesome and he loves it (even at two and a half). Unfortunately they discontinued this and the new version doesn't have the stars. The monitor is falling to pieces and we need a new one for our DD as well but we're going to have to buy a video monitor for each of them, and a separate star projector.

From researching video monitors recently there are not a lot of really good ones on the market, especially those with multiple cameras. They get fairly poor reviews.

I also agree with a PP that there is a major gap in the market for a monitor that uses a digital signal within the house but you can log in with an app. We don't want a WiFi-dependant one because the WiFi in our house is iffy, so we need one with a digital signal. It would be brilliant if we could have that but also have it connected to the WiFi so we could log in with an app as well.

Good luck Ethan.