Monitors
With almost 6 years of parenting under my belt, I’ve had some experience with a few different types of monitors, and I have friends and family with a few more. First I’ll talk about the different types of monitors out there and why I chose what I chose. Next, I am going to dive into a review of the monitors that I am most familiar with, and then some reviews I’ve gotten from all of you about some others, but just know that picking out a monitor doesn’t have to be that stressful.
The Monitor Checklist
I would start by deciding what’s most important to you and go from there. Do you want video or is sound only sufficient for you? Do you want Wi-Fi and the ability to use your phone as your monitor? Do you want to have a separate hand held monitor? Do you want both options? Do you want to be able to use it for multiple kids in the future?
Video
For me, video was always important for a number of reasons. First and foremost, when my babies were born I knew that I would not have them sleeping in my room. They all went into their own cribs in their own rooms on day 1. The AAP recommends that you keep your baby in your room for the first 6 months to reduce the risk of SIDS. This recommendation actually made very little sense to me because I couldn’t understand why having a video monitor wasn’t enough to reduce the risk as well.
It turns out I was right. The AAP recommendation is based on the fact that room sharing reduces the risk of SIDS, but not room sharing doesn’t increase the risk of SIDS. Feel free to email me and I can explain the math behind this, but the point is I never intended to room share and a video monitor was important for my comfort in this decision.
Way back in 2016 when we first became parents, we did buy some cheap sound monitors for travel, but we quickly realized how important the video was for us. L would stand up when he was ready to get out of his crib or when he needed something. Brief reminder that every kid and every person wakes up between sleep cycles (approximately every 45 minutes), and we usually just roll over and put ourselves back to sleep. Sometimes he didn’t do this immediately, especially if he was teething or it was early morning, and he’d roll around whining or even crying a little. But if he was laying down, I knew he was trying to put himself back to sleep. If he was standing though, it was all over. He was demanding to be removed from his crib. So I felt like I needed the video to avoid going into his room and disturbing him when he just needed the space to go back to sleep. I needed to see what he was doing.
Wi-Fi and handhelds
Ok so sound and video. Check. Next we had to decide Wi-Fi or non Wi-Fi, phone access or no phone access, separate hand held access or no separate hand held access.
A separate hand held was 100% essential for me. Having a monitor that only you can see is useless unless you want to a) be the only person who watches your kid or b) give other people access to your video monitor on their phones. I didn’t want babysitters having access to my videos whenever they felt like logging in for obvious reasons. But I also didn’t even want my parents or in laws to have this access, and felt this should only be reserved for me and Eric.
Ok. Video monitor, check. Handheld monitor, check. The next question is do I want wifi capabilities. A few things here. I did not want a Wi-Fi only monitor. You need Wi-Fi to use a Wi-Fi only monitor. If your Wi-Fi goes out, so does your monitor. I don’t sit and watch my monitor and I like to think I never did (although I probably did when #1 was born but I don’t even remember). But that doesn’t mean I don’t like to be able to check in. So all Wi-Fi was a no for me. BUT I did want to have access to the monitor from outside my house. So I would either need a monitor that had both Wi-Fi and non Wi-Fi capabilities (I don’t even know if that existed 6 years ago and it’s still pretty rare now to find both in one) or two monitors. When I was pregnant with L, we were given a free Nanit to beta test, so we ended up going with the two monitor route.
Adding multiple cameras
So the final question was do we want to be able to use in the future for multiple kids. This was an easy yes for us because we definitely wanted kids close in age and at least one of us definitely wanted at least three gremlins. So we needed at least a split screen option, but pairing up to four cameras was our ideal.
The Project Nursery
After some very technical research that Eric did because I don’t do tech, we ended up (he ended up) choosing the Project Nursery. I really love it and truly have no complaints. This monitor checked all of our boxes (handheld, multiple cameras, video) and has held up beautifully for almost 6 (!!!) years and counting. We have added 2 additional cameras since purchasing and I love the option to either show a split screen or cycle through the three rooms (although disclaimer - sound only works on one room on the split screen). I also love that you can pan the room from the monitor so if a rambunctious toddler knocks into it before bed you can move the camera after putting them down to be able to see the bed again.
Our original one also came with a mini screen not much bigger than an apple watch which you could throw in your pocket or actually attach a strap and wear as a watch. I LOVED this because it was so tiny and easy to carry around. We used it up until last year when it finally died for good, but I do not believe the current model has this option.
I also have a friend who uses this monitor. Her son is 10 months old so she purchased it much more recently than I did. Here’s what she had to say about it:
“I love it. My only complaint is that I wish it captured more in the camera view because we can’t see the whole crib. Not the furthest range but decent. Pretty easy to travel with and closed circuit (non wifi).”
Here’s my take on her take. I have never lived in a small NYC apartment as a mom, so the bedrooms my kids slept in were always big enough that the cameras didn’t have to be so close to the cribs. I could always see the whole cribs and beds with my project nursery. However, this may be something to consider if your little one does live in a smaller space where the camera may need a wider view to see what you want to see.
The range is 800 feet according to their website, but I have actually noticed that it doesn’t stretch quite as far between floors, so that’s something else to consider if you live in a bigger space or multi story home.
The Nanit
As mentioned, we also beta tested the Nanit. As far as Wi-Fi monitors go, this was fine. It was free and it watched our baby for us and it had Wi-Fi capabilities so we could see him when we were out of the house. It checked those boxes, but if I had to pay for it I would not.
Reason 1: It must be mounted (or attached to a non adjustable floor stand) above the crib, facing down into the crib. It cannot view the whole room. This is fine with a baby, but what about a toddler who climbed out at 18 months? Or a preschooler who sleeps in a bed but also occasionally climbs his bookshelves. The Nanit cannot grow with you.
Reason 2: The nanit gave me a lot of information about how much my baby was sleeping based on movement. L doesn’t move much at night so at the time I thought this was great. I’d get daily or weekly updates telling me my kid was asleep 97% of the night. Woohoo! Except. We all move while we’re sleeping. That doesn’t mean we’re awake. This type of information can be incredibly anxiety inducing, especially for a recovering sleep perfectionist like myself. J and G both move a lot more in their sleep, or wake up and go back to sleep frequently. This information would have turned me into an actual crazy person.
I have a friend who has a Nanit for her 14 month old, so she purchased it many years later. They’ve added a few more features, and here is her review.
“We’ve been using the Nanit for the past year and mostly like it, though it has its pros and cons. We originally purchased it because of the breathing monitoring capabilities - Nanit uses a special patterned swaddle and will tell you if your baby’s breathing is irregular. That was comforting in the first few weeks, although we did get several very loud false alarms in the middle of the night which was very scary. After those first few weeks, we stopped using this feature and just used Nanit as a regular monitor. We like not having to carry another device around the house in addition to our phones, but there are some issues with the app. Sometimes the sound drops out, and sometimes it gets stuck trying to turn on or off the camera. Also it’s a little complicated when we have other people watching the baby - they either need the app on their phone, or we need to use an iPad. Overall we like it - the video quality is great, and the built in sound machine and nightlight are very useful.”
The Nest
Eventually after a few moves and a few more baby registries, we actually got rid of our nanit and got a 3 pack of nests. I love the Nest. It is not specifically designed as a baby monitor, but it does exactly what we need it to do. It views the room, notifies you of any sound or movement (but it is not as sensitive as the Nanit because it’s not positioned directly over the crib with the specific purposes of watching movement), and works through Wi-Fi so it can be viewed from the phone. It does not have a separate handheld device so it doesn’t check that box, but other than that I love this as a second monitor.
I have a friend with a nest and here’s her review.
“Great for when kids are home with a sitter, grandparents, or even dad (edited to add I love this, I also creep on dad :-)). It gets the widest view range so we can see the entire room. It is Wi-Fi only. I love having access to my phone for notifications for movement and using it as a nanny cam. It has auto settings so that you can turn it on and off based on time of day, or you can turn it on and off from your phone.”
Axvue Travel Monitor
The last monitor is our travel monitor. It. Is. The. Freaking. Best. Seriously. It’s from Amazon, and it’s an Axvue with a smaller screen perfect for traveling. The range is incredible and I’ve used it in some really big spaces. I also have been able to add 3 cameras to one screen on a rotation (it’s too small for a split screen), and I believe you can add up to 4. I cannot say enough good things about it. It is not a Wi-Fi monitor, but I have never needed that for travel purposes. The one we bought a million years ago is not made anymore, but I have friends who have purchased the updated versions and have had similar success.
Here’s what one friend had to say:
“I love it. Really great range, easy to use, and has a surprisingly good amount of picture in the video so I can see a lot of the crib even on a small screen. It’s really easy to travel with.”
Motorola
Unfortunately I cannot do an in depth review of a monitor I’ve never used, but I know A LOT of people with some version of a Motorola monitor. It seems to be one of the most popular brands, so I reached out to a friend who has it and this is what she had to say:
“We use the Motorola MBP36XL, and I love it. I knew I wanted a handheld monitor that wasn’t connected to WiFi or my phone. I’ve had it for 18 months, and so far haven’t had any problems. It’s a clear image, I can rotate the camera around the room, and it works very well in the dark. The range is great, and I often sit outside watching it with no issues. I believe I can also add a second camera and use the split screen. While the camera itself is portable and can work without being plugged in, we were able to easily mount it on the wall. My only complaint is that the temperature reading is pretty inaccurate, but it’s not a big deal to me. Overall, it’s very reliable and we’re happy with the simplicity of it.”
But, who doesn’t have a monitor with an inaccurate temperature rating, am I right?
Now this was a review for a Motorola that does not have Wi-Fi capabilities. But I also have friends with a Motorola that does have Wi-Fi capabilities. This seems to be the answer if you want BOTH phone access AND a separate hand held. I haven’t heard any bad things about this option either.
All of the other monitors
I also reached out to friends and followers for reviews on their monitors, and this is what I received.
“I’m obsessed with my Nanit!”
“Love our split screen baby sense. I tried them ALL before this one. Great picture quality.”
“Infant Optics Pro! Love it!”
“Love the Eufy! Great quality. Limited range with thick walls though.”=
“I liked that the VAVA had longer range so it didn’t cut out/lose connection in bigger spaces, going into our yard, etc. It has a great clear picture. I love adding additional cameras to it (up to 4) and that it’s non Wi-Fi (although I know that’s important to some).”
“I love our Motorola!”
And in the wise words of my sister and hopefully one day business partner:
“I feel like they’re all the same, but some are cheaper.”
Yes, sister, this seems to be the vibe I’m getting here from the responses I got. Everyone has a different monitor at a different price point and everyone loves their monitor. So my biggest recommendation when picking a monitor would be to make your own checklist and find one that checks your boxes.
Here’s my check list for reference:
Must have separate hand held screen
Ability to add extra cameras for new babies (quick note about this - if you’re not planning on having kids close together this may not be as useful as they market it to be. Cameras get updated and discontinued quickly and they stop making the one for your original screen. We were able to buy our third camera on Ebay but it definitely not “new” quality.)
Ability to see the whole room
Also a Wi-Fi option to see from phones (for us this meant getting two monitors)
Must have video and sound