Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Pregnancy

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

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

Angelcare sensor mat - yes or no?

76 replies

pinkie1982 · 22/03/2015 09:10

Can I please have any parents opinions on a monitor mat?
We are buying the baby things and this is something that we don't know whether to put on our list or not.
Would it give us piece of mind it make us more paranoid?

--------------------
Hello!

We've noticed this thread is quite old and some of the product recommendations are a little out of date. We've spent weeks speaking to parents and testing out baby monitors. Read our reviews to see which product was crowned best baby monitor.

We've also got some helpful advice on audio, video and sensor pad monitors in our baby monitors buyer's guide which might be useful.

Hope that helps! MNHQ

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 22/03/2015 09:11

It gave me great piece of mind. Worth every penny we spent.

Just make sure you have a suitable (flat) base for it to go on.

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 22/03/2015 09:12

peace

NeverHadHaveHas · 22/03/2015 09:12

Enormous peace of mind. Used it for two babies and best thing we bought.

Liquoriceallsort · 22/03/2015 09:14

I have one but haven't used it yet, I am very glad we got it. We got the monitor with video/motion/temp etc and have tested it out and am very pleased with it

changingagain · 22/03/2015 09:16

I'd also like to hear about people's experiences with these. I had a first proper look at what we need to get yesterday and thought these seemed like a great idea. My thoughts were that it would make us less likely to worry and check up on the baby every 10 minutes. DH on the other hand isn't keen as he thinks it would be likely to give false alarms and panic us for no reason.

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 22/03/2015 09:19

The only time ours ever went off was when I lifted DS out and forgot to put it on hold. Even when he was in a cot, rather than the Moses basket, it is still sensitive enough to pick up when they are breathing.

Having said that, DS isn't much of a wriggler, more or less stays in the centre of the bed.

I would rather be sent into a panic occasionally, for no reason, than be constantly worried and checking every ten minutes (and I would have been).

Whatabout · 22/03/2015 09:20

We have the tommee version, video and sensor. We had the odd night of false alarms, I've never run so fast in my life. We used it when my son went into the nursery at about 7 weeks and it did give me peace of mind. The video is still used now he is nearly 2, very useful to have a quick peak to see if me is lying down screaming or standing up.

af2000 · 22/03/2015 09:20

Our baby was a tummy sleeper from a very young age (he had reflux and for some reason this position was more comfortable for him). The alarm allowed me to get some precious sleep in those early days, really cut down the worry. As a pp said you need a firm base, my husband had to put a board under the mattress in the cot and we actually used our pram bassinet for sleeping when he was still tiny as it had a firm base which the moses basket didn't. hope that helps.. I would say that out of all the money we forked out on for stuff we never really used this is money very well spent!

Namechanged101 · 22/03/2015 09:21

One if the best items I brought same as others it really gives you peace of mind

Gingerandcocoa · 22/03/2015 09:23

I got it as a gift and never used the mat. I was worried about the power cable being a chocking hazard, though I know it shouldn't be if you install it correctly.

I have however been using the monitor without the mat and I'm very pleased with it.

anythingbutinsomnia · 22/03/2015 09:24

We used one with DD and it was perfect for us. Really helped us both relax when she was sleeping, especially when she was in her own room. It only went off once while she was on it - still don't know what happened but she was fine. Other than that our only thing was forgetting to turn it off when we lifted her (which happened all the time!). We will be using it again for DC2 once he arrives in a few weeks, although maybe not for so long this time - we used the sensor mat with DD until she was almost 3 as it worked in her toddler bed

Koalafications · 22/03/2015 09:26

Interested to read opinions on this as its on my baby list

TheTravellingLemon · 22/03/2015 09:28

We got the baby sense one. Fantastic. Worth every penny IMO.

Christelle2207 · 22/03/2015 09:29

I used it between 3 months ish- when DS went into the cotbed- to 8 months ish when he started causing it to go off while rolling off it. Gave me a lot of peace of mind. Got it 2nd hand on ebay.
Only issue is the actual audio monitor bit is quite awkward to work and the instructions are shit. We ended up using the alarm function but another monitor for general monitor purposes.

Carrierpenguin · 22/03/2015 09:32

Not worth it and not a good idea imo. I had a friend who got false alarms with one, very stressful. The BT monitor I had was great, no problems.

HazleNutt · 22/03/2015 09:33

yes I quite liked it, but I do admit that I'm quite a nervous mum and would have otherwise been checking up on him every 2 minutes. We only started getting false alarms after he moved into his big cot and started wriggling off the sensor pad - but by that time he was over 6 months, so I felt ok disconnecting the pad. We still use it as a normal monitor, works very well.

Artandco · 22/03/2015 09:37

I don't think it's worth it. Your really supposed to keep baby sleeping in same room as you until 6months. Then by 6months many babies can roll so would keep rolling off the mat and setting it off

WrappedInABlankie · 22/03/2015 09:49

I wouldn't use one.

Gave my friends of a premmie baby many of heart attacks because hed simply moved of the mat.

DS was in his own room from 4 months and never had one just had a BT pacifier baby monitor. Light show, music, temp, two way communications he could also hook his iPod to it

HermioneWeasley · 22/03/2015 09:54

Agree re peace of mind. DS's did go off once when he seemed to be on it. We'll never know if it was a false alarm or whether the subsequent noise and commotion started him breathing again.

Koalafications · 22/03/2015 09:55

I wouldn't mind having false alarms because the baby has moved. That wouldn't bother me.

museumum · 22/03/2015 09:58

We used ours for a few months only but it was worth it as he insisted on tummy sleeping which I hated.
The video has been the best best thing. If you're choising video or may then I'd say video but if you can have all three then do b

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 22/03/2015 09:59

Koala it hardly never did that for us, even when DS was right off the mat, it still sensed he was breathing.

You can adjust the sensitivity of them.

WrappedInABlankie · 22/03/2015 09:59

You say that until it's happened 10+ times and then you want to rip the thing out.

Koalafications · 22/03/2015 10:02

Oh, Wrapped you wouldn't say that if you knew me, I'm such a worrier I would reason that it's good to know it's working.

MarkingMyPlace9 · 22/03/2015 10:04

Yes yes yes! Helped me sleep like a Baby when my DS was a Baby! He's now 20 Months and I still use it for Him! And will continue doing so till He moves into a Bed, or we have another DC, whichevet comes first. Will, honestly, give you great peace of mind xx

Flip

1 2 3 4