Comments on: Baby Monitor Lifespan

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:19:29 +0000

We enacted the let-cry rule when Dr. B said it was okay. My notes indicate she started encouraging that at six months. You can always check in with the triage nurse via phone, she’s typically nice and patient about those sorts of questions.

By: hoobing

hoobing — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:47:53 +0000

This is fantastic. Everyone has such different experiences. It really goes to show there are so many ways to skin a cat. It seems pretty inappropriate to use that idiom when talking about babies.

By: hoobing

hoobing — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:46:27 +0000

Ooh that happens to me too with the wine. I think it messes with your heart and makes it beat faster than it would when you are resting soberly (is that a word?).

By: jenny

jenny — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:36:06 +0000

i get the bad parent award…we’ve never used a monitor. i guess my reasoning for that is that if they are making some kind of quiet noise that would be amplified by the monitor and wake me up, i don’t really need to be aware of it. if the babe is crying loudly – either russell or i will wake up (we’ve always lived in very small houses) and can determine what kind of cry it is and whether it requires us to drag ourselves out of bed. after three months we figure they are developed enough to not be hungry so we just let them cry it out. so far, it’s worked like a charm for all three kids. the first night or two really suck because they cry. a lot. but after that they sleep like logs. it’s such a beautiful thing.

By: Tamara

Tamara — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:07:27 +0000

I can’t answer your baby monitor question, but I can say that if I have 2+ glasses of wine too close to each other as well as too close to bedtime, I sleep absolutely terrible. If I end up waking up, I might as well stay up.

Not sure what the deal is.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:04:45 +0000

Ok, I am the first to admit that I might be a slightly over-protective mom but we still have a monitor and our kids are 5 and 3. But just to make myself feel better, our bedroom is on a different level than our children’s rooms. Maybe that makes it ok?! I find so much comfort in being able to hear what is going on, even their cute little sleep breaths.

On a side note, one of our twins was negatively effected by Halloween this year. All of the scary stuff took root for the first time and she is afraid of the dark now. So the monitor also helps her a lot because she knows that I can hear her in her room. She even has me go to her room and talk to her in the monitor while she sits in our room – just to make sure it is working.

By: alecia

alecia — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:35:25 +0000

Thank you for the very thorough, excellent advice (as you are always able to provide!) The funny thing is that we very very seldomly go into the nursery at night if we do hear her peeping (using your word ) as she mostly goes back to sleep, unless there is something really wrong, usually hunger because she went to bed without getting enough to eat because she was too tired. The monitor seems to be most needed when first putting her down at night or for naps. If you think of when you started the Leave-The-Baby-In-The-Crib-By-Himself-All-Night Rule, I would be interested to know that.

Thanks again Laura!

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:25:44 +0000

I still keep my monitor on my nightstand, but I leave it off most of the time (T=14 months now). Since we now have a Leave-The-Baby-In-The-Crib-By-Himself-All-Night Rule (and I can’t quite remember when that started, but you’ll know when you make the rule at your house), we do what we can to prevent ourselves from hearing him cry if he does: monitor off, door shut, humidifier for white noise. Sometimes, my brain gets the better of me and begins to wonder if I hear him crying. At these times, to prevent myself from waking up any more than I have to, I turn on the monitor for a second to check. Sometimes, my extra-awake brain requires that I leave it on because: although I will wake up if he does peep (as we call it), I can comfortably assume that he’s not peeping if I can’t hear him, and thus have a better chance of going back to sleep. Or, when I have the luxury of trying to sleep until he wakes up (at an allowable time) in the morning, I’ll turn it on in the early morning if my brain is showing signs of trying to not sleep too deeply for fear of leaving him to cry way past his normal wake-up time.

It helped greatly when we formally made the rule to let him cry until 6am without intervention, if that’s what he decided to do. (Not that he does this.) But having made the decision together during conscious hours meant that my decision tree in the wee hours of the night was simpler. Baby quiet: try to sleep. Baby crying: put in earplugs* from nightstand drawer and try to sleep. No more waking myself all the way up wondering if I should go in there or not. (*Okay, okay… only one earplug. I sleep on my non-earplug side so I can check on the crying status by just lifting my head off the pillow rather than pulling out and then having to re-insert the earplug if my curiosity is keeping me awake.)

Bottom line #1: I use my baby monitor only when it will help me sleep better to have it on, backwards as that sounds.

Bottom line #2: I feel your pain! Not sleeping during sleeping time is SO infuriating. It has gotten easier to deal with my mom brain over time, and I’m hoping for continued improvement! And remind yourself: avoid keeping your marble collection in the crib or letting the neighbor’s pit bull sleep in the nursery and Belen’s bed will be a pretty dang safe place for her to spend those unattended hours. )