Baby monitor - do I need one?

[Trickytricky]

That's it really. Do we really need a baby monitor? I plan on having the baby in our room to start with and then DC will only be across the hall from our room. Surely I'll hear the baby crying from our bedroom if I leave the doors open?

I've witnessed friends become obsessed with the video portion of their monitor. So if we do get one I think a sound only one might be all we need. What are people's thoughts?

I didnt

I didn't either. Unless you have a rambling house I can't see how you wouldn't hear a crying baby!

We didn't use ours for the first 6 months but use it now when she's in bed before us and having naps.

I use ours every day. 11 month old DS goes down at 7 so I plug it in downstairs so we can hear if he wakes up before we go up to bed. I then plug it in when we go to bed because DP insists on the worlds noisiest fan so I wouldn't hear him if he did wake up.

So to summarise. Yes, I use mine a lot!

I've found our one invaluable. Its a sound only bt one and was about 30 quid.
We didn't use it for the first few months though. As baby is still in with us, We mostly use it when put him to bed before I go to bed. Is good as I can here him stirring before he actually starts crying, and means I can start to get my evenings back to myself!

I like a monitor for naps so I can shut the door & listen to the radio while doing jobs/the evening so can watch TV without worrying about hearing baby. Never use it at night.

How far is your living room from the baby's room? Will you be able to hear the crying over the TV in the evening?

I find it handy for naps, as I'm often downstairs making noise, and might not hear DS cry; have also used it so I can go outside. Have also used it when staying with my Mum, as her house is quite big.

We only have a sound one; video seemed pointless, and so far we haven't missed it.

If you don't feel you'll use it, then don't bother for now; you can always pick one up easily enough in a supermarket, or order it online if it turns out that it'd be handy.

I've got a fairly large house and we heard dd crying wherever we were without needing a monitor.

(Think the entire street heard her actually)