Should i get a breathing monitor or might my anxieties get better, and do they work?

[mammainlove]

My DD is 20w.o. She co-sleeps with us at night and sleeps on our bed for naps in the day. I put the baby monitor as close to her mouth as i can and listen to her sleep in the living room. Sometimes i cant hear her breath that well as there is interference in the monitor, so i'm constantly tip-toeing upstairs to check her breathing. This has got worse since she started rolling over to sleep on her front (at night i wake up continuously to roll her back again,despite the struggle!) I have also got more anxious since reading about SIDS. My brother died in his sleep of cardiomyopathy when he was 17. I'm really,really scared. i cant get any housework done or relax when she's asleep+my health is suffering. She's a big (18lbs), strong baby,has good neck control. Am i being paranoid? Does any other parents feel/have felt like this? Is it worth getting a breathing pad/monitor,do they work? Any help and advice muchly appreciated.x

Riven there is a sensor pad (about A4 sized) that goes under the mattress and detects the slightest movement ie it can sense the slight body movements of breathing in and out. When I set ours up I tested it by just resting my hand in each corner of the cot and it could sense that! I was worried that it would be too sensitive and pick up floorboard movement etc but it seems just about right - it always senses DS except when we've taken him out and left it switched on!

Riven - no, it is really sensitive so as long as the mattress is on a firm surface (we have plyboard under it), it can sense the whole mattress. Admittedly our one and only false alarm was when DD went right to the end of the cot, but I think she was leaning more on the headboard rather than the mattress. She is usually at the edge of the cot, not over where the sensor pad is when I go in, and it doesn't alarm.

Riven - one time DS scooted off of the monitor mat completely (not sure of age but near 1, not quite 12 months yet) and the alarm sounded. We were in such a panic because while we had this lovely monitor, we had no idea what to do if it did sound. Fortunately, he was just scrunched up in the corner of his mattress. Ours was an older one, though (second hand), so perhaps the newer ones have more sensitivity.

I still wake and check DS' breathing in the night.

I got the angel care moniter despite DD's paediatrician saying don't doit (she has a health condition but it would have involved her losing consciousness at the time not breathing). It was great for me, the paed was right in some ways (he said it won't stop you worrying, it will falsely alarm every time she rolls off it) and I did develope a real phobia of loud beeps, I would go cold and get that awful gut wrenching panic if I heard a beep whether DD was awake or asleep or even nowhere near the moniter it could be out walking round town!

It went off twice, the first time she had a cold and so may have been blocked up for a bit and the second she had rolled off it. But for me it was the start of me feeling a bit better after serious panic about losing her, I wasn't sleepin at all before we got it and so just getting a bit more rest helped me feel less anxious.

the one i have has 2 mats so covers nearly the whole cot-he is 1 and never had a false alarm- if you have a fan it might detect the movements from that etc so keep that in mind. mine i think also alarms if breathing rate drops below ? a minute or over ? a minute. think its called nanny breathing monitor also it runs on batteries rather than electric-electric worried me too much

I', interested to hear how few false alarms you lot have had because the paediatrician is still trying to tell me that my baby (who has never been anything but still and central on the pad when it has gone off) is not having problems even though ours has gone off approximately 30 times!!

Oh dear, sorry to hear that, it must be very stressful for you. Which monitor do you have? I suppose you've checked if it's faulty etc.

Sorry to have butted in on the thread - hope hearing about it hasn't raised your anxiety further. We've tried two to check that it isn't just the alarm. As far as I can tell, it's quite rare. I have the Tommee Tippee one now which does only have one pad - erpahs the nanny one or the angel care one is better?

hi,
I have used the tommee tippee sensor pad since dd1 was born - it has helped me sleep! I am very anxious and spend each night in hospital checking she was still breathing. It has only given us one false alarm - i think tats because she is now in a cot and had wiggled so only her legs were on the pad. It has a little light that flashes everytime she moves and the alarm goes off after 20 seconds o no movement. It has meant I am able to get some sleep and would recommend it to anyone - am always forgetting to turn it off when I pick her up though!

Ah had forgotten the annoyance of getting DDout of the cot and in bed feeding then the alarm starting-was always forgetting to turn mine off too!

Bethylou ours had two false alarms but was the angel care rather than the tommy tippee.