Ever since we moved Baba G into his nursery (at around the five-month point) we've been using this Philips AVENT baby monitor and it's been great. I'll have a post dedicated to it one day.
BUT... within the span of the last few weeks, Baba's gone from hoping against hope that he could reach the top of his Pack 'n Play to pull himself up...
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| I think I can I think I can |
... to being able to do it. Within like 2 seconds.
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| How ya like me now? |
Not only is he pulling himself up to a standing position, but last night he started jumping up and down like a wild man. It was like he was flaunting it.
And then this morning my husband found him standing up in his crib at 6 a.m. We have friends whose sons have learned to climb down from their cribs at the nine-month mark (BG's at seven months), so we're thinking we better throw in the towel and get a video monitor.
I was REALLY wanting to avoid getting a video monitor early on, because I figured I would obsess over it and watch it constantly. Now I think I'm over my mega-worrying stage and believe a video monitor would simply come in handy when trying to determine whether or not BG's going to be able to get back to sleep vs. remain stuck in a standing position vs. be on the verge of catapulting himself onto the rug.
I remain a little freaked out about getting a video monitor, however, and the reason is two-fold:
1) My friend Nerdy P had a Paranormal Activity-like experience with one while babysitting for her nephew. She said the screen would randomly flicker just like in the movie, and... well... that would definitely be enough to spook me.
2) I've read that in a city, video monitors can pick up the feeds of other video monitors. Um... NO. If a flickering screen would send me over the edge, then I don't even know what would happen if I awaken in the wee hours and in my groggy state see a long-curly-haired baby GIRL or something. I believe monitors with DECT technology help avoid this problem (something about the channel frequency), but I haven't researched it too much yet.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
- e
Fun blog E! I'll write this from the point of view of a person who never had a video monitor (and very seldom used our audio monitor). I think it's just one more thing to obsess over, like you said. Maybe in the middle of the night when trying to figure out what he's doing, but honestly in those cases I preferred to just go check (she's right across the hall from me, though). Any video monitor I know of will pick up babies in different houses, even in the suburbs where people can coordinate channels. If it will make you feel any better, Abby is 2 1/2, huge for her age, and still can't climb out of a PNP. Cribs are much easier to escape :) He is SO cute!!
ReplyDeleteI like my Summer Infant monitor a lot:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.summerinfant.com/Products/Monitoring/Video-Monitors/Best-View™-Handheld-Color-Video-Monitor.aspx
But even though it's a color monitor, at nighttime everything turns Paranormal-Activity green. I keep the video part off, using it just as an audio monitor, until I hear some crying and touch the video button just to see what's going on. It still creeps me out sometimes, though.
I've never had any interference problems, but I don't live in a neighborhood as dense as yours.
I have the same Summer Infant monitor as Holly. I have to say, I haven't even seen Paranormal Activity 2, but I've been creeped out watching him on the night-vision with it. But, like Holly said, I really just use it for audio and then flip on the video when needed. I like that you can pan and zoom with the remote, too. My only complaint about it is that you can't (as far as I know) get an additional handset. You can get more than one camera, but I'd like to have two handsets for one camera, and I don't think they have that option.
ReplyDeleteWatch it now!! Brad quickly learned to sling his leg up over the edge, and, yup, over he went with a thud. A few pitter patters later he showed up in front of me and scared the s*** right out of me. : ) Baba G is moving and "a groovin."
ReplyDeleteI have the Motorola which I really like. Also gives you temp reading which has been useful? Ok at least interesting. The night vision is a tad creepy ... Glowing eyes and all. But a very good quality monitor. And it has an intercom feature which I bve never used. Maybe you can gt on it and tell baby Desmond not to climb out.
ReplyDeleteI love my summer infant Baby touch monitor. It has a big screen (that's touch screen), you can pan the camera with the monitor and the picture is very clear. Like others said, you dont have to have the video on. You can push the top bottom to turn the screen off and just use the audio portion. No complaints on this except that sometimes it cuts off my wifi signal, which is kinda odd. But other than that, no interence and overall the quality is great! Buy at buy buy baby to get 20% off! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Summer-Infant-Touch-Digital-Monitor/dp/B004B762AK
I love reading your blog! I can remember feeling exactly what you write about! Anyway, we have had several video monitors. They have all been just fine (and the cheaper ones have been the best). I agree the glowing baby eyes are funny to see, but I love being able to "look" in on him during the night without going all the way across the house, and up the stairs. I also have really loved hearing his sounds (especially when he first started "talking"). I have never obsessed over having the monitor on; I've just enjoyed it. Also, you are just supposed to have the "screen shot" of the pillow area only. That way, if anyone is looking at your monitor feed; they can't tell who it is, or where it is exactly. Good luck!
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