A baby monitor is an essential device that helps you protect and care for your child while it’s asleep. It basically allows you to keep an ear or an eye on your baby without being in the same room, so that you’re alerted immediately if there are any problems or if your infant simply wakes up unexpectedly.

Simple Audio Monitors

The simplest and oldest models of baby monitor were simple audio devices, which sent a low quality radio signal from a transmitter in the nursery to a receiver in the parent’s room. These early examples are quite limiting in that both transmitter and receiver needed to be plugged into an electrical socket, so the parent could not move freely around the house. They also suffered from interference problems, and often provided a very poor signal which could easily disturb parents’ sleep.

Digital Baby Monitors

More modern audio baby monitors use digital technology to all but cut out interference, and have mobile rechargable parent units with ranges in the hundreds of metres, so the parent can still listen in on their child while in any room of the house or even the garden.

More Features

Extra features on these more advanced models include variable sensitivity which will let you hear every rustle and snore, or just louder noises such as crying - invaluable for letting the parents get a better night’s sleep while still being reliably alerted if needed.

Many models also feature a talkback facility where the parent can talk to the child to soothe them without the disruption of entering the room. Some monitors also allow you to trigger lullabies and nightlights, and will even report on the temperature in the nursery so you can judge if a baby is restless because of heat or cold.

Video Monitors

The next development in monitors was the video monitor, where you could fix a camera above the cot so that you could see your child as it slept. At first these offered only grainy black and white picures during daylight, but these days you can expect high quality colour images in the day, and full nightvision in darkness.

Breathing / Movement Monitors

Finally, you can also buy advanced monitors which combine all these features with breathing and movement monitors which will sound an alert if no breathing movement or sound can be detected - this is probably over the top for most of us, but parents of babies with health difficulties may find the extra reassurance offered of great comfort.

How Much Do They Cost?

Prices vary widely, with as you’d expect cheaper models offering less features. Simple models can be found for £20 or less, with top of the range monitors going for over £100. You might not want to go to the expense of buying a full video monitor with all the bells and whistles, but at the minimum most people will want good digital sound quality and signal range coupled with a mobile parent unit to allow greater freedom while baby is asleep.

It pays to buy the best quality baby monitor you can afford, as an unreliable monitor is probably worse than none at all, buying a cheap one may well turn out to be a false economy.

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