Baby Monitors and the Lawnmower Conundrum

I can tell you now, as a father to a two-year-old daughter, we would not have coped without a baby monitor. Even though she spent her first year sleeping with us in the same room, we still used a baby monitor to keep track on her when she wasn’t in sight. 

Baby monitors are a must-have for parents. And, getting the right one is important. My partner and I discovered this when we ran into a few problems with our audio baby monitor.

What You Need to Know About Baby Monitors

I’ll keep it short and sweet here but it helps to have some background information about baby monitors if you’ve never used one before. 

Audio baby monitors allow you to hear your baby when they wake up, cry or move around.

Video baby monitors allow you to see what your baby is up to without having to go to them. 

Being the technical person I am, I always dig into the detail when checking out a product. Like the time I reviewed a range of the most popular video baby monitors.

Why a Modern Video Baby Monitor is a Good Idea

Baby monitors manufactured by reputable brands are as reliable as you expect them to be. But as my partner and I learned, no matter how good a product is, mishaps can happen. So, while I’m always on the hunt for gear to make parenting simpler, I’ve learned you still need to be on alert.

One evening, after recently getting an audio baby monitor, we decided to check in on our daughter sleeping in her own crib. She’d recently transitioned to her own room so we were naturally a bit apprehensive about relying completely on the audio baby monitor. Especially when it wasn’t giving us a signal.

Imagine our shock when we found she had turned 180 degrees in her crib with her face up close to the crib’s bedding bumpers. It never crossed my mind that she would decide to turn around in her bed and end up with her face where it shouldn’t be. 

Another time, the baby monitor did pick up a sound and sent out an alert signal. Not quite sure what the noise was, we frantically ran to her room, only to find her sleeping like an angel. Only then did we realise it was the neighbour’s lawnmower triggering the baby monitor! 

Two Lessons Learnt About Audio Monitors

Firstly, picking a video baby monitor would have meant we could hear and see what was happening. This would have saved a lot of dashing to our daughter’s room when we didn’t need to. Secondly, lawnmowers can set off baby monitors! Now back to you. Would you get rid of the lawnmower and keep the audio monitor or you’d rather get one with video capabilities?

Balint Horvath is the Founder of Projectfather