sensor mats? Yey or ney?

[CalaLilly]

What do you think about angelcare or tommee tippee sensor monitors? I was totally against them as I can see myself becoming a bit "hooked" to it and always wanting baby to be on it even for naps if I start using them whereas if I never use one I'll learn to tune into baby's breathing pattern and won't need the assurance of the mat. I also don't like the worry of false alarms or false assurance if the mat malfunctions. However, I got some devastating news today that has made me want a sensor mat- a friend's 6 week old has just died of cot death! I feel so sad for them- I've heard news like this before but it has hit me harder seeing as it's so close to home with me being 34 weeks pregnant. I now wonder if I should get a sensor mat that would spot an apnoea, just in case?! Better to be safe than sorry or better not to rely on modern technologies when babies have survived without them for years? What do others think?

I know others will disagree but tge first night I used one i was able to sleep - before that I would watch my dd for hours. I had a nanny sensor made by lindam and only ever went off once. I don't know whether that was cos she had taken too long to breathe but I ran to her cot faster than I knew i could. Post 6 months it became less useful as my dd used to roll off it. I'm not sure whether it has any real impact on cot death rates but it did give me peace of mind.

i used them for both DD and DS. Recommended by a mum who had a not very well little one and they gave her lots of reassurance

With DD they were reassuring and we only ever had one (false?) alarm. With her they were very reassuring and I think used it til she ws about 6 months and moved around the bed lots. It was good with DS at the start as he throw up a lot BUT DS was a fidgeter and always slept in odd positions on the bed, after lots of false alarms I gave up much earlier.

If I had my time over I think I would still use them. Not sure I would ever rely on it to stop a cot death but they can't harm either.

I didn't use them for my two, but in your situation, I suspect it would provide you with a lot of reassurance, as the chances are the tragedy your friend has suffered will play on your mind when your dc gets here. I would get one.

So sorry to hear of your friends loss :( We used one for DS and we had it go off a few times. Once when he was about 5 months and had managed to get the blankets up and stuck over his head, got stuck and must have got distressed. We then had a few false alarms when he rolled off the sensor mat. Baby number 2 due any day now and we will def be using the sensor mat again. Its the tommee tipee one we have. Even with the mat we were still aware of the SIDS guidance and DS stayed in his cot in our room till he was nearly 12 months.

We used a 'respisense' monitor for our premature DD.
It gave me peace of mind, and it did go off a couple of times by accident (it fell off her nappy), but there were a couple of times it went off, and it did take, what seemed like an eternity, to wake her up.
I'll never regret having ours.

If it would give you peace of mind then go for it.

We bought one but have never used it, but maybe if the risks seemed closer to home then we would have used it.

I used one for my DD and I found it very reassuring. We only had one or two false alarms (not counting the many times we forgot to turn it off when picking her up for night feeds!). So it certainly didn't cause me any extra worry. I will be using it again for DC2, due in June.

We had an Angelcare one for DD, no complaints. Was especially reassuring when she moved into her own room at 6 months. Will be using it again for #2

We're using one at the moment for ds (5 weeks old) and I really like it and think that in your position it'd be very reassuring, so sorry to hear about your friend, can't begin to imagine how she feels.

Please can I jump in? I bought an Anglecare monitor, however have been given a crib by my SIL that swings on hooks, are the two articles compatible?
Reason I bought the Anglecare one was due to reviews on Mumsnet, so trusting it will be good!

I looked at this but cot death charity says they do not help prevent cot death - as they wait too long to alert you to no movement.