I’ve written this post in collaboration with Argos.
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You’ve heard me complain a lot recently about sleep deprivation. We are currently in full-on survival mode when it comes to sleep – converting the little doses we are getting into enough energy to get us through the day with two young children, jobs, and everything else.
Argos wanted to know if anything from their range could help improve our night-time troubles. Unfortunately, they don’t sell magic ‘sleep through the night’ dust, so I opted for a Summer Infant Baby Touch Plus Monitor instead.
I think I’ve mentioned before that we haven’t been using a baby monitor for Rory. He’s in our room, so would only need one for the first few hours of the evening, and I can usually hear him easily enough from downstairs if I keep the bedroom door open.
At some point, I thought we would hand down Arlo’s baby monitor to use with Rory. But we are in no way ready to not have a monitor for Arlo. What with illness, nightmares, and falling out of bed, he still needs us quite a bit during the night, and we like to be quick to respond to him.
As Sam has hearing problems, if I were to go out for an evening, he really needs baby monitors for both children in order to hear if there is a problem. He is largely responsible for Arlo’s wake ups now that we have Rory, so Sam also needs a monitor for Arlo as his cries wouldn’t wake Sam up without one. I’d be sat there, feeding Rory, listening to Arlo’s cries through the wall, kicking Sam to try to wake him up without waking Rory up completely…. actually, that happens a lot regardless.
Increasingly I had been feeling that a monitor for Rory would be really useful. It won’t be long (hopefully!) before he starts having a proper nap upstairs, in which case I’d want to be able to hear him over whatever noise Arlo is making downstairs. And our lack of monitor situation during the couple of hours before I go to bed was beginning to annoy me.
Rory has been waking so much in the evenings recently that I was finding it hard to relax. I’d think I’d hear him crying, and was asking Sam to turn the TV down all the time so I could confirm if the crying was him or in my head. I also found it difficult to concentrate whilst working at my computer, thinking that the hum of the PC would muffle any cries I might hear.
Having a baby monitor is a massive help. Since we’ve had the Summer Infant Baby Touch Plus, I can relax in the evenings with the TV on and the doors closed (which would have to happen sooner or later anyway as Rory starts to get mobile). I’m no longer hovering at the bottom of the stairs because I wasn’t sure if I heard a baby cry.
The camera quality is more than enough. I can clearly see the position Rory is lying in whether day or night (the camera automatically switches to night vision in the dark), and there is enough detail to tell whether his eyes are open or closed.
Did you know that it’s not just a static camera? You can pan and tilt the lens using the parent unit to give you a full view across the room. This is really useful for toddlers’ rooms too and I’m very tempted to link up a second camera to Arlo’s room so I can keep an eye on him when he’s playing up there by himself.
Mobility was another big concern of mine before we got our video monitor. What happens when Rory starts rolling and crawling? I didn’t worry so much with Arlo, who was in an enclosed cot. But Rory is in a sidecar cot, and has free roam of our bedroom if he wants it. Having the option to keep an eye on him using a video monitor means that I can check that he hasn’t rolled too far across the bed, and will be invaluable in the months to come.
The introduction of a baby video monitor has not changed our childrens’ night time habits, but it has provided us with a very welcomed peace of mind.
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Disclosure: This is a partnered post
