As a practical parent whose son has slept in his nursery since night one, I don’t know how I would survive without a baby monitor.  My relationship with our monitor, however, is a complex one.  It started off as a completely codependent one and I would stare at it from my bedside for hours, talk to it like my baby could hear me, and cart it around with me no matter where I was in the house.  As my baby and my confidence grew, I lessened my dependence on it dramatically – but I still rely on it to sleep well. In fact, I really sleep better than I did pre-baby!  Let me explain…

The monitor allows me to sleep better than I did before we had our baby because I can hear the sound machine through it, playing in my baby’s nursery.  I sleep better with white noise and I can hear his DEX Sound Machine through the monitor next to my bed, playing ocean sounds and seagulls or thunder and the sounds of a summer night.  It’s soothing and completely addictive!  Plus, because I can hear the sound machine, I know I can hear my son cry if he were to, which allows me such peace of mind.

In the beginning, I had a really hard time trusting that I could hear my son well through the monitor if he was crying because of one horrible night when I accidentally turned the volume dial too low (my husband wanted me to turn it down to find a level that wouldn’t keep him up) and my son was crying for hours, unbeknownst to me!  It was really traumatic when we discovered what had happened and I still feel guilty about those hours he cried alone.  For months afterwards, I was paranoid that I had turned it down too low, but once I realized if I could hear the sounds of the sound machine that I would definitely be able to hear him cry, my husband and I were able to sleep like babies – like our baby!

When choosing a monitor, I personally would fore-go the video monitors and the absence-of-movement alarms.  I think I would go blind from constantly watching the video of my son in those first months, but then again, I have many friends who couldn’t imagine not having one.  And I have friends who warn that the alarm for the motion detector monitors goes off sporadically and unreliably – I would freak out if it went off erroneously and it would absolutely rock my confidence and disrupt everyone’s slumber.  I mean, when your baby’s not moving, he’s sleeping!  I bought the Sony BabyCall Nursery Monitor and I highly recommend it for its portability, reliability, and simplicity.

You can purchase it new at almost all retailers and easily online.  I’m proud to tell you that I got mine from a nearby Craigslist mom for $5 (ahh…the beauty of a sweet deal).  However you get yours, hearing your sound machine from your nursery is the key to a sweeter night’s rest!

Happy Snoozing!  Whitney xo

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