Baby apnoea monitors

[NearlyGranny]

Yes or no? For what's likely to be a healthy, full-term baby, would you get one? I'm 30 years out of date and don't know whether to even mention the idea for the imminent DGC. Do they cause more anxiety than they ease?

Waste of money. I bought the mat that senses if they stop breathing and it never even came out of the box.

We wouldn't have wanted one, I'm pretty chilled out but I think it would definitely cause me to feel anxious!

(Video monitor on the other hand was one of our best buys!)

I did, my ex lost a brother to SIDS so buying one was the only thing that let me sleep now watch them like an insane person! Though the Drs don’t massively like them as I’m not sure how reliable they are.

The mats are crap but the Hero Go that f
Clips onto their nappy was brilliant!

Thank you all, I'm looking at the Pico snuza, which imports. The soon-to-be parent themselves was what they called a near-miss cot death at a few weeks old. It was the first time we had gone out and left them and my DM was sitting. Baby gave a big yawn and didn't recommence breathing. We came home to an ambulance outside the house. All was well but it shook me to the core and I was forever having to check they were still breathing when asleep, even into their teens, all three siblings!

How do I broach it without being alarmist though?!

We got the Snuza Hero last year for DD1. It just clips onto the nappy. Going to be using it this year for DD2. I couldn’t sleep without it.

I think it’s only £30 in Symths now. I was like £90 when I bought it

Sometimes it would slip and the alarm would go off but I’d rather have 100000000 false alarms than the alternative.

I’m naturally an anxious person though

We have an Owlet sock, which is great (if pricey), but I'm not sure I'd buy one for someone else. It's quite a personal thing and some people find the breathing monitors more anxiety-inducing, particularly as some are prone to false alarms.

You don’t mention it. Don’t pass your totally understandable anxiety onto the parents.

We used the clip on Snuza hero from smyths and it was fabulous, only just recently given it up reluctantly as he rolls around so much at night (10 months) that he started knocking it off. It’s been brilliant though.
He was premature and we had lost a baby so I was super anxious though and it really helped with that. I agree with PP that it’s up to the parents to be and if it’s not something they are worried about I wouldn’t project that anxiety on to them.

I cannot recommend a brand, but a few years back my friend had a monitor that not only checked for lack of breathing, but also alarmed if a seizure was felt. Some babies have febrile convulsions from a high fever. Her son had several, and didnt always have signs before bedtime that he was unwell with a high fever. She thought the monitor was great so she could give meds to control the fever, and also reassurance against SIDS.

We had Snuza Hero alarms too. Only got them because a) twins shared a cot and couldn’t use a mat and b) they had bronchiolitis and we were up 24/7 watching them round the clock before DT2 was eventually admitted and I was terrified of falling asleep and him stopping breathing

I wish I’d been able to get an Owlet as I think an o2 monitor is so much more important - when the twins were sick, they were breathing too quickly and inefficiently so the alarms didn’t trigger even though their o2 levels were dropping. If I had another baby that’s what I would get, but it really depends on what the parents feel comfortable with

It’s one of those things you hope you never need. I don’t know if the brands that make other monitors do a clip on one to go along side a regular video/sound monitor that you could buy as a bundle gift. Or I suppose you could buy a normal monitor and the clip on type and just say you weren’t sure if they’d want one/what type they’d want.

Clip over mat though, those mat ones aren’t great with a lot of false alarms.

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and honest advice! It's best left, I think, unless there's any reason later to think the baby is at risk. My mind is easier now