baby monitors

[nametaken]

Serious question - what are they for exactly?

Mine is used during daytime naps,
The house is quite big and so I don't tend to hear my DS without the monitor, also it means I can go out in the garden and take the monitor with me.
Then I know when he has woken up and to go and get him.

But i do not use it during the night, think that this is a complete waste of electricity and because the house is so quiet at night I always wake to the sound of him crying, if he has a bad night.

Mine is a Fisher Price one, it is the second one we have had. The first was a Tommy Tippee, Crystal Clear - it was anything but 'crystal clear' as it was very buzzy and then after only a couple of months it gave up and didn't work at all,
swapped it for the Fisher Price sounds and Lights, much cheaper and the sound is much clearer, no background buzzing.

I agree. Handy for daytime naps if you want to go out in the garden.

so you can shut all the doors between you and sleeping child so House / CSI / Dr Who doesn't wake them up but you can still hear them.

and for staying in PIL's unfeasibly large rambling house.

agree no point during the night though

I think a lot of them have 50m range so you can even pop next door/across the road. I need one for DD1 as her nursery is at the end of the hall and DS1 and DS2's bedrooms are in between and I want to wake up before they do! Also bedrooms are all upstairs and living downstairs - and we are not the only ones with a baby in the street ... I hardly used one for DS2, but we were living in an apartment that was all on one level. The best one I have had was a Phillips.

oh thanks everyone, I was asking because my sister is pregnant and on a low income and I said they were'nt necessary because you can always hear a baby crying and to be honest, she could do with spending the money on other stuff.

Not a necessity then, more of a luxury.

oh yes

and tbh for the first few months the baby spends most of its time in a moses basket next to you anyway (at least when not attached to boob)

Well, it obviously depends whether you can hear them at night or not without a monitor. Agree with MrsBadger for evening noises - espesh if dh has (very loud) family over.

We can't hear dd from our bedroom, so I do prefer to have monitor or have her with us if we haven't got it, even though she can really now come and get us if she needs us. (Is weird layout not huge house!!)

Not a necessity for first year if they are in room with you and you can hear them of course. Tell her to try freecycle if she thinks she'll need one!

Def don't bother with anything fancy though - ours has a special thing so you can turn the sound down and not hear them crying... prebaby I thought this would be useful .

I agree that it is not a necessity straight away
not useful until the baby is in a routine of longish daytime naps.

You could look on ebay if there is nothing on your local freecycle

and a cheaper version does everything that you might need, you don't need one which is all singing/all dancing

have just heard my DS waking up on the monitor, so gotta go

At first, the monitor was very handy for me to know that dd WASNT crying! I got so paranoid I used to imagine I could hear her . Especially when I was in the shower! It was a godsend tbh.

I use mine. So far mainly for daytime naps, so I dont need to stay in the same room. I live in an old cottage with thick walls and big firedoors. Doors are also kept closed as I have 3 cats thats arnt allowed in bedrooms or the living room since having DD. There is no way she would wake me up in the night from her own room without a monitor so we would need one..

I agreee with the suggestion about freecycle. I was on a very low budget when I had my DD and freecycle was a godsend, dont know what we would do without it!

Can't bear those ones that monitor the heartbeat and breathing. Christ, my friend had one. After sitting in her front room for 20 minutes, I was a nervous wreck!!

I was given one, I never used it. I live in a small 2 bed house and I have ears, I could hear her.
From what I gather most people have them and breathing/movement monitors now though?
I have an only and clearly missed out the PFB thing, or I'm relaxed or totaly lax but hey, it works for me!