Baby monitors are incredibly useful tools for sleep training a baby. Like many types of baby gear, there are many options out there for baby monitors. Unfortunately, the quality of different baby monitor products varies widely, and price isn’t always a great indicator. We’ll walk you through the features to look for, and then review three of our favorite baby monitors.
Contents
Benefits of Baby Monitors
Features to Look for in a Baby Monitor
Our Favorite Baby Monitor Reviews
Benefits of Baby Monitors
- Peace of mind. Baby monitors let you monitor a baby’s sleep without being physically in the room.
- Quick response time. It’s easier to hear when your baby They allow you to respond quickly when your baby starts waking up.
- A bit of freedom. Perhaps most importantly, they give mom and/or dad a chance to sleep or get things done around the house while the baby is asleep.
Important Features of Baby Monitors
There are lots of numbers and acronyms thrown around on the side of baby monitor boxes. When push comes to shove, however, there are a few features that you should care about.
- Frequency. In general, higher is better. That’s because a higher frequency usually means a stronger transmission signal, allowing your baby monitor a greater range. Don’t settle for less than 900 MHz; the high-end models usually have 2.4 GHz.
- Channels. Multiple channels are useful if you have neighbors using baby monitors, or notice interference with other electronics. Otherwise, they’re good to have but you probably won’t use them.
- Voice activation. This is actually one of my favorite features. Rather than just being “on” all the time, the monitor only transmits when it picks up noises. It’s pretty sensitive (on the Sony, at least) and saves battery power.
- Baby movement sensor. Some monitors, like the Angelcare, come with a sensor pad that picks up baby movements and sets off an alarm if it doesn’t detect movement for a certain period of time. This is a good idea for the overly safety-conscious, though I’ve heard that occasionally they give false positive alarms.
- Temperature sensor. This, I admit, is a nice feature if your baby’s nursery fluctuates in temperature. It transmits (remotely) the ambient temperature in the nursery to give you an idea of if it’s too warm or too cool in baby’s room. If the nursery is on the cooler side, a baby sleep sack or sleeping bag is a good idea.
Favorite Baby Monitor Reviews
Here’s our review of three of the most popular and well-reviewed baby monitors, which happen to be made by Sony, Angelcare, and Motorola.
| Sony Baby Call Nursery Monitor | Angelcare Baby Movement and Sound Monitor | Motorola Digital Video Baby Monitor with Color LCD Screen |
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| Best value: a solid, durable, basic voice-activated baby monitor | Peace of Mind: Baby sound, movement, and room temp monitor | Best features: Night vision camera with color LCD screen |
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| Review: We’ve used this exact model for all three kids and it worked quite well. The voice-activation mode is excellent; it picks up baby noises but ignores the fan. These are fairly durable too; we’ve taken them to family gatherings and on trips without any problems. I do wish that they had longer range, but this is a pretty good baby monitor all around. |
Review: The Angelcare is one of the best reviewed monitors on Amazon. The temperature and baby movement monitors offer some extra peace-of-mind that your baby is sleeping snug, warm, and healthy. And the night light is a practical feature that I really like; you can never have enough night lights. |
Review: Imagine being able to watch your baby sleeping via secure, remote video feed. Sounds great, doesn’t it? That’s probably why this is the #1 bestselling baby monitor on Amazon. The two-way communication feature is especially nice; you could even try soothing your baby remotely. Just about everyone who buys (and reviews) this monitor loves it. |
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| Baby sleep problems takes you through the most common sleep issues and how to address them. | Our video monitor reviews compare the latest cutting-edge wireless color video baby monitors. | Visit our sleep training section for strategies and tips for teaching your baby to sleep through the night. | Check out our reviews of Essential baby gear for helping babies sleep at night. |