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Original poster

Movement Monitors - Essential or Waste of Money?

24 replies

Voyley · 16/02/2019 18:03

Hi Guys, we are expecting our first baby in April and my wife and I are busy researching all of the new born 'essentials'. I like the idea of the motion monitors; however, all of the brands have massively mixed reviews with false alarms being a key issue. Just wanted some thoughts on whether they are gimmicks or essentials and if so which one to buy.

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Muddysnowdrop · 16/02/2019 18:07

Well, I am going to contradict myself as I had one but you don’t need one - your baby according to guidelines should be in the same room as you for all sleeps anyway for first 6 months. If your baby did stop breathing the alarm would be likely to be too late for you to do anything, and might encourage you to take risks you otherwise wouldn’t take. I used one with dc1 (a pad) and I hadn’t understood about the sleeping in same room as you thing properly, so it seemed a good idea then. With dc2 I got on that clipped onto his nappy, with the plan that it was a back up for when I needed to leave him to cook or have a quick shower or whatever.

PCohle · 16/02/2019 18:14

I agree. The baby should be with you for the first 6 months at least eg napping downstairs with you in the evenings before you go to bed. Monitors can lead to a false sense of comfort that encourage parents to sleep in another room from babies before the 6 month mark. Unfortunately if something does go wrong a monitor is unlikely warn you early enough to help.

Why not wait until your DC is 6 months and then consider one?

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Voyley · 16/02/2019 18:16

Thanks for the comment, we are really torn on this one, clearly we will all be in the same room, heart says get something, head says 'these didn't exist until a few years ago' and plenty of babies have survived.

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Divgirl2 · 16/02/2019 19:40

I said I'd never get one - they're a waste of money. Then DS arrived and I couldn't sleep because I was just so, so worried. Possibly a bit of PNA going on but I was doing crazy things like setting alarms for every hour so I could check on him.
Mad.
Anyway, I got a Snuza (they clip on to his nappy) and it is worth its weight in gold purely for the peace of mind. I've not had too many false alarms with it either, but maybe I got lucky.
Only you can decide what's best for you and your family. If you can afford it and it would help you sleep at night then go for it. It's by no means an essential though.

dementedpixie · 16/02/2019 19:43

They dont prevent SIDS so I regarded them as a waste of money and didnt have one. I had an ordinary bog standard one instead

CallMeOnMyCell · 16/02/2019 20:33

Waste of money and they don’t prevent SIDS. You’ll have the baby next to or at the foot of your bed so you can check quickly if you’re worried. My DD is 8 months now and I automatically wake every couple of hours to check on her.

Muddysnowdrop · 16/02/2019 20:51

Correct me if I’m wrong though but aren’t monitors given to families where a child has sadly died from SIDS when they have a subsequent baby - I’m sure that used to be the case. I liked the idea that it would wake me from a deep sleep if required. Of course I never actually had a deep sleep, so not needed!

happymummy12345 · 16/02/2019 20:59

I don't think they're necessary. We had a video monitor, that I do think are brilliant, and our baby was in our room until 16 months (by choice). So it was never something we even thought about

juniperjune · 16/02/2019 21:08

We had one, I kept baby in my room for 10 months but still appreciated the security of the movement monitor. He had sleep apnoea when he was a little older and it alerted us a few times. It did give false alarms, mainly when he was older and had wriggled down the bed, it was worth it for the peace of mind though so I would recommend. We used it for my 2nd child too. It was an angelcare one. He was poorly when he was born and they used one that clips on his nappy in scbu.

Toddlerteaplease · 16/02/2019 21:11

@Muddysnowdrop yes you are correct. It's called the CONI scheme. (Care of next infant) I'm a paediatric nurse and if I am ever lucky enough to have a baby. They will have an alarm!

Celebelly · 17/02/2019 01:01

We just bought one for our week-old baby. I've found that I'm unable to sleep properly and wake up in a panic to check on her when I do fall asleep (and I've been sleeping with my glasses on so I can easily see her right away when I open my eyes!). We got a Nanny Brand one that has really good reviews. This is our first night using it, but we tried it out for a nap during the day and I was able to actually get some decent sleep for a couple of hours and was able to switch off a bit and not panic that she had stopped breathing, so it's worth the money for that for me.

Before she arrived, I hadn't considered one.

Merename · 17/02/2019 16:58

I never had one, we just had a video monitor. You can mostly hear baby breathing with it. I felt the false alarm risk would stress me out. Although flame me if you like, we’ve never kept baby sleeping downstairs with us. Generally for first few months I was going to bed soon after baby anyway, and I just feel the advice to be in the room with them every waking minute is unrealistic and disproportionate to the risk of SIDS. Parents are taught to be extremely fearful these days which I don’t think is good for babies/children.

caughtinanet · 17/02/2019 17:03

I'm pretty sure they weren't a thing when my children were babies , I don't know anyone who's had one, for me it would fall into the waste of money category.

Are they even reliable, I'd worry about them giving a false sense of security.

caughtinanet · 17/02/2019 17:05

Pressed post too soon, the risk of SIDS is so tiny as to not need anything more than the recommended guidelines anyway imo

PixieDust20 · 17/02/2019 17:17

I'd always have one. I'm looking at them myself. My sister had the tommee tippee one. When I was looking after my nephew the alarm sounded when he rolled onto his front, Ive never moved so quick in my life.

femalepresentingnipples · 17/02/2019 17:20

The evidence is that they don’t reduce the risk of your baby dying. They do have lots of false alarms though which are scary to experience and I feel they make people more willing to take risks like leaving the baby to sleep alone or without following other safer sleep guidelines.

They are especially useless if you don’t know how to resuscitate a baby. If the alarm tells you that your baby isn’t breathing by the time you have summoned help it will be too late.

MustBeAWeasly · 17/02/2019 17:24

We got one because I had awful PNA and ended up with post natal insomnia not sleeping for 4 days I was checking on her that much. We followed all the safe sleeping guidelines and it was comforting to see the light blinking away.
The alarm sounds after 15 seconds of no breathing so the way I saw it it may not prevent SiDS but there's a lot more you can do after 15 seconds of no breathing than if you were sleeping and it had been 15/20 minutes!
Never any false alarms either.

I'd also consider a video monitor essential for safety once you get to the 6 month mark.

Yes babies survived before but the SIDS rate was also much higher

caughtinanet · 17/02/2019 17:45

Yes babies survived before but the SIDS rate was also much higher

I'm not clear what you mean, SIDS rates have decreased but it's not due to monitors or at least I can't find any reference to research that shows that

dementedpixie · 17/02/2019 17:48

Research shows they don't prevent SIDS. Back to sleep and sharing a room do

dementedpixie · 17/02/2019 17:49

And I never had a video monitor either

Boxlikeahare · 17/02/2019 17:57

I had one, supplied by the hospital because I had a very premature baby who spent her first four months in the NICU and stopped breathing when she fed for months after coming home.

Supplied after she was found grey and listless one morning in her cot next to my bed, she was admitted for several days and loads of tests including one where some sort of dye was injected into her that I can't remember the name of. The side effects (all the things you google when you shouldn't) were scary.

I remember it as my own particular hell on earth and unless you have a history, medical condition to deal with or some other very good reason I really wouldn't bother.

Boxlikeahare · 17/02/2019 18:05

They are especially useless if you don’t know how to resuscitate a baby. If the alarm tells you that your baby isn’t breathing by the time you have summoned help it will be too late

This is so true, I resuscitated DD twice in her first few months at home which has never left me.

greendale17 · 17/02/2019 18:15

It saved the life of my friends little one when the alarm detected that she had stopped breathing in her cot.

Original poster

Voyley · 18/02/2019 18:55

Thanks for your comments everyone, plenty of food for thought and it clearly splits opinion. I am a qualified first aider and would be confident of being able to positively intervene if something happened. We will clearly follow all of the sleep guidelines and will try one for comfort at least in the first few weeks of baby coming home. Will likely then be based on how we are getting on and maybe when baby moves into his own room. I think, having reviewed all of the comments, its the one thing I would be happy to waste money on.

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