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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Breathing monitors

13 replies

puddleduck16 · 19/11/2013 20:17

Have been looking into baby monitors and see that a few of them come with a sensor pad for breathing. The angelcare looks to get a good write up.

Do these work and I assume really helps against cot death? If this is the case, why would you not go for one (unless cost was an issue). Bit confused by it all. (First timer as you can tell!!)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

paperlantern · 19/11/2013 20:29

had one for both of mine. don't know whether it does but I found it reassuring. fwiw however I didn't use it for long with ds as he wriggled off it from quite young

K8eee · 19/11/2013 20:30

Hi puddleduck. We've had one bought for us (and we chose it) for when baby #1 arrived in march. They do work, and my uncle had one when he had my cousin in her cot as a baby and an alarm sounds if the sensor mat doesn't have any movement over it. Also, just something to think about, as you have I put it under the mattress you can use foam matresses and another material (can't think what at the moment sorry!) but they're worth it if you think you'll be a bit of a worrier (which I know I will be!)

Iwish · 20/11/2013 13:12

We had one for my DS and am using it again this time for my DD. It was so reassuring last time xx

FobblyWoof · 20/11/2013 17:20

We didn't get one, nor did we get a video monitor. Firstly, we planned on having baby in with us for the first six months anyway. We didn't quite reach this stage as she outgrew her Moses basket and our room isn't big enough for anything bigger. We bought our monitor after dd was born (as we obviously didn't need it in the early days. All her naps were with us in the room) and we quickly realised she was a monster wriggler. She still is and can and will end up all over the cot all night! So she would have definitely wriggled off the sensor mat pretty quickly.

We also wondered if we did use the sensors and videos etc, when exactly would we stop using them? How do you make that choice? It was something we didn't want to have to choose iyswim?

Also, we didn't buy a video monitor because, to us, it just feels so intrusive. I know that dd would not have known any better (still wouldn't at nearly 2) but it just didn't feel right to us! (Though the fact that we often creep into her room to just stare at her sleeping is obviously fine )

I'm not sure whether the sensor mat monitors have caused a reduction in SIDS. Most of the time when they go off they're false alarms, but I suppose even if they've saved just one baby then it's more than worth it. It would be very interesting if they could do a study on it. I think it's just that extra reassurance where it makes a difference.

FobblyWoof · 20/11/2013 17:21

Christ, that's a lot of waffly shite, isn't it?

Please ignore my pregnancy addled brain and take anything you find useful out of that (if anything) and ignore the rest!

ilovepowerhoop · 20/11/2013 17:31

Sensor Monitors haven't been shown to prevent cot death and we didn't have one. We just had a bog standard one so we could hear the kids when we were downstairs and the kids were in their cot.

ilovepowerhoop · 20/11/2013 17:34

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/document.doc?id=43

WillSingForCake · 20/11/2013 18:29

Yep, we had the Angelcare one. Never had any false alarms and found having it really reassuring. Stopped me incessantly bending over DD to check she was breathing!

Original poster

puddleduck16 · 20/11/2013 19:10

Fobblywoof, that wasn't waffly shite. All good points.

Thanks everyone, that helps a lot!

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PastaBeeandCheese · 20/11/2013 19:13

I loved the Angelcare and will use it again for this one. Aside from being reassuring you can unplug the sensor mat when they start to wriggle off it and are left with a really good monitor with a great range.

DisappointedHorse · 20/11/2013 19:17

I had one for both mine as i knew someone who lost a child to SIDS and it was brilliant, so reassuring.

I know they haven't been proven to prevent SIDS but my thinking was, you're far more likely to be able to resuscitate seconds after they stop breathing than hours. Sorry if that's sensitive.

It's a personal choice but mine was great.

fruitloop84 · 20/11/2013 19:19

We have used one for both our babies. I def recommend them. ours went off once when ds was s few weeks old waking us up, he was right next to me in his Moses basket but when I picked him up he was really hard to rouse. It still scares me what could of been, we will never know but I'm so grateful we had it

NCISaddict · 20/11/2013 19:31

If you do get one make sure you also know how to do CPR on a baby. Really important for every parent to learn anyway.

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