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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We've noticed this thread is quite old and some of the product recommendations are a little out of date.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

softlysoftly · 22/03/2015 15:21

I disagree it just feeds paranoia. We went from watching 1st DC in shifts to sleeping the second we got one.

And if god forbid the monitor went off and intervention didn't help I'd still rather we awake and aware with my baby than wake hours later too a cold baby as my mother in law did to DHs little brother :(

GunShotResidue · 22/03/2015 15:26

"We went from watching 1st DC in shifts to sleeping the second we got one."

Just to second this. DD was in our room until 8 months but at 6 months we started putting her to bed in her cot a few hours before we came up. I went up to check on her a few times an hour until we bought the pads and video monitor. I probably peak at the monitor once or twice an evening, other than that I don't worry because I know the pad is on.

BalloonSlayer · 22/03/2015 16:55

I loved ours. My anxiety was off the scale before I got my first one. It calmed me right down.

With 2nd and 3rd DCs I even used it in the moses basket - I poked a hole in the covers and got the lead out.

My first monitor did DC1 and DC2 and was passed to a friend whose alarm had broken. She used it until it finally gave up - it must have had 7 years of constant use (it was a Johnson and Johnson one)

When DC3 was about 2.5 and in a cot bed DH told me he had offered the monitor to a friend. I was still bloody using it! Not with the alarm, as he could now get out of bed, but just seeing the green light flashing was so reassuring. That one did DC3, the friend's baby, my great-niece and I think I have only just got rid of it (although it might be in the loft).

WrappedInABlankie · 22/03/2015 17:00

Nope it was set up perfectly fine.

The thing was a nightmare! I only babysat on the pretence that I turned the bloody thing off.

I'm not really a worrier/paranoid one though, didn't get a video monitor for the same reason of I didn't want to be looking at it all the time and most the time Id turn the sound off of the baby monitor and just listen out for him but I lived in a flat and now in a house I'm upstairs most the time anyway

BalloonSlayer · 22/03/2015 17:29

I had some false alarms with all mine, when about 8 weeks old. I was told that it can happen at that time because developmentally the baby no longer breathes as deeply as it does when newborn, but it is not yet physically large enough for its breaths to register from elsewhere in the cot.

Scared me to fuck with DC1 though, and I ended up getting a new mattress which Johnson and Johnson paid for, as they said the one I had was not altogether compatible with the monitor. This was in 2000, so I must have had one of the first commercially available monitors. I think J&J sold the product on to another manufacturer pretty sharpish - no wonder when they had people like me ringing them up all the time and had to keep coughing up for new mattresses to avoid being torn limb from limb by a horde of anxious new mothers.

Kraggle · 22/03/2015 17:32

It gave us peace of mind until dd started moving round in her cot. That was when we started getting false alarms and turned that part off as my nerves couldn't take it! While they're tinies it's brilliant and reassuring.

missmillimentscardigan · 22/03/2015 17:52

I have the angel care sensor mat and it's been great. Still use it now and DS is nearly two! It doesn't matter if he rolls around or ends up sleeping upside down, because the pad is very sensitive. It was great when DS was very little. It went off a bit when he was tiny, but he was always fine when we checked. Don't have the he video monitor though - I don't feel we need it as well as the sound.

ClockwiseCat · 22/03/2015 18:01

I found it reassuring. Absolutely get it, they are extremely reliable and we never had any problems with ours.

Sillysausage2 · 22/03/2015 18:07

I'm not a very nervous parent and thought my SIL was way OTT getting this (in fairness she used to keep it up to her ear to hear the beeps?)
But then someone bought us this one as a present and I love it.
God forbid if anything happened I'd want to know asap while there was a chance of helping rather tha lb finding out too late in the morning.
We've been using it for 2 years now, we had a few false alarms recently when she has wedged herself up into a corner but it picks her up no matter where she is normally, it's not just if she rolls off the mat part.
I bought a Motorola one for my mams and it was barely used but broke after 6 months so I'd recommend the angelcare one

stargirl1701 · 22/03/2015 19:23

Sorry, HazleNutt. My understanding was that people used the monitors instead of following the guidelines.

We made sure our babies always slept in a room (naps and overnight) with an adult present until they reached 6 months. I didn't realise people used the monitor and stayed with their baby.

Koalafications · 22/03/2015 19:27

starlight I would use the monitor in addition to having the baby with me for all naps for the first 6 months.

toptomatoes · 22/03/2015 19:37

We had one for all 3 DC and followed SIDS guidelines too. It gave me peace of mind and we only ever had very infrequent false alarms if they managed to curl into a tiny corner of the cot but they were all when they were over 12 months so we raced up to them but thought this would be the case rather than not breathing if that makes sense! As soon as this happened a bit more often we stopped using the mat, around 18 months.

GunShotResidue · 22/03/2015 19:41

We followed all SIDS guidelines too, and used the sensor pad when we were in the room with her. Without the pad I'd frequently wake up, roll over and watch her for a minute to check she was ok. With the sensor pad I knew I'd be woken if anything happened so was able to sleep.

HaveYouTriedARewardChart · 22/03/2015 19:53

We have used for all 3 dc (following sids guidelines) and it's given huge peace of mind. I would recommend 100%.

Also, I think it's possible the alarm would startle a baby into breathing again.

LemonYellowSun · 22/03/2015 19:55

My friend used one and it caused many false alarms so created a lot of stress. Her doctor advised her to stop using it because she was so worried unnecessarily

museumum · 22/03/2015 20:30

We used ours at around 6mo when he went into his own room. Started sleeping more deeply and rolling onto his tummy. We probably used it from 5.5-9mo.

HazleNutt · 22/03/2015 20:37

DS only went to his own room when he was 8 months, and we stopped using the monitor soon thereafter. We followed all the SIDS guidelines - but as others have said, I used to wake several times just to check if he's still breathing in his cot next to me. Monitor helped.

Thepurplegiraffe · 22/03/2015 20:41

After hearing a couple of bad stories we got one after dd was born and we are still using it at 17 months. We have had a few false alarms but for me they have been worth the peace of mind I get on a day to day basis.
We will continue to use it until the next one comes along in July then use it for them.

Sizzlesthedog · 22/03/2015 20:41

I used it for 2.5 years.

I'm a real worrier and it was wonderful.

We got a square of mdf cut at B&Q for 10p for the mat to sit on. The instructions mention you need to do this to prevent false alarms.

Worked perfectly. Only had one or two false alarms in all the years I used it.

I liked the tick tock I found it reassuring.

Worth every penny to us. You can also use it as a normal monitor without the mat. Picks up tiny sounds, but you can adjust the sound settings on the parent monitor so it doesn't sound so loud.

BeforeIChangeMyMind · 23/03/2015 11:50

I babysat for a friend who had one of these once. Her baby was a bit older, getting on for a year old at the time. All was quiet. Then, after a very uneventful evening, the alarm went off.

I ran up the stairs and was confronted with an unfamiliar stair gate, alarm going off all the time. Briefly, I wondered about diving head first over the gate... I fumbled for the catch... meeeeeeeeeeep.... I pulled and pushed.... meeeeeeeep, finally the thing opened. I burst into the baby's room, to find the baby fast asleep half-on, half-off the mat. I pressed reset and went downstairs, heart beating like a drum.

This happened THREE MORE TIMES before the parents came home. I was a nervous wreck. And the last time, it woke the baby up, luckily as the parents were walking through the door.

The funniest part, though, was when she came to babysit at my house.
"Where's you baby monitor?"
"We haven't got a baby monitor?"
Cue an expression which meant she clearly thought we were mad as hatters. In our defense, we did live in a very small, very flimsy house, and the only time we failed to hear DS was when watching a documentary about Pearl Jam.

Short answer: no, I wouldn't get an Angelcare monitor, it would make me into a nervous wreck. But it's essential kit for some people.

TheTravellingLemon · 23/03/2015 12:19

Just popping back to say we have never had a false alarm with our baby sense branded one. DS (who is quite the wriggler) is over two now so we will be using it for our new arrival in a few months time.

McFox · 23/03/2015 12:25

We have one and it has been brilliant. We've only just stopped using the mat because DS is now a very active and wriggly at 9 months so we'd had a couple of false alarms.

Although we live in a smallish flat, I'm hard of hearing and this monitor has been a godsend for me, especially as DH works away a lot, it gave me peace of mind and meant that I didn't spend all night checking on him.

BubGal13 · 23/03/2015 12:54

No direct experience (we have video mon) but DPs work colleagues said these are awful, went off all time with false alarms, sending into complete panic mode, so removed pretty quickly and complete waste of money.

As others said- you keep baby in same room for 6 months- and will constantly be waking/checking on them anyway not to mention hearing them beside you. After that in cot bed, they move around so much its pointless.

GunShotResidue · 23/03/2015 14:03

If they're set up correctly most monitors should cover 80-100% of the cot. Ours still picks DD up when she's stood still right in the corner. We've had probably 1 false alarm in about a year of using it and DD goes from one end of the cot to the other about 10 times a night!

If you've followed all instructions and still get regular false alarms take it back as faulty.

LovelyWeatherForDucks · 23/03/2015 14:11

We didn't get one, lots of friends did. Baby was never far enough away from us / asleep long enough for us to worry! We did upgrade from a normal monitor to a video one which was brilliant.

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