I heart my Motorola Video Monitor!

Finding out you're going to become a mother brings much joy into your life and (for super-organized teacher types like me) a lot of decision making! As a first time Mom, it is challenging to grasp exactly what you are going to need when it comes to baby supplies. Ask any retail establishment for suggestions and the list will be long in order for you to achieve Super Mom status. Asking friends with kids is a great starting point, but the best teacher has been my own experiences. A lot of suggestions from friends have helped me create my list of "must have" baby items, but it is important to to realize that your parenting philosophy will have a lot to do with determining what baby products are Needs, Wants, or Must Haves. Likely a baby monitor will make your list of Must Have baby products and if you're like me, a lot of research goes into selecting a product like this one. Our original choice of baby monitor was the Safety 1st Digital 2st Audio Monitor. We started using our baby monitor the night the girls came home and although the girls were across the hall in their own room we felt the need to have the monitor cranked. Within days the monitor was off as we could easily hear the girls down the hall. Eventually we only used the monitor when we were in our rec room watching TV or entertaining. The background noise from the Sleep Sheep and the space heater were so loud not only could we not actually hear our girls, but it was distracting to hear while talking or watching TV. We quickly abandoned the monitor as it caused more frustration than assistance. 

Then we entered the world of sleep training. Let me tell you, during this time, we did not need an AUDIO monitor to inform us about our girls behaviour. Their bedtime and nap protests were crystal clear in any room in our house, including our front porch. My neighbour suggested we purchase a video monitor as she found it highly effective to be able to SEE what her son was doing while she was trying to sleep train him. Sometimes they are crying because they want to be picked up or are fussing because they are resisting sleep....at these times, I didn't want to go into their room to check on them. But when one of the girls would get their arm or leg stuck between the bars, it was nice to be able to see what was going on and go in to comfort them and free up their twisting limbs!

We purchased a Motorola 3.5" Colour Video Monitor with 2 Cameras (one for each girl's crib) The fact that you can pan, tilt and zoon the cameras offer the ability to see both girls even though they move around all over their crib when they sleep. The infrared night vision allows us to see the girls sleeping even in low-light conditions. The monitor even has a great microphone that allows for two-way communication; we can hear them if we have the volume on and with the press of a button we can speak to them. The monitor has an excellent range as we have been able to walk to our neighbours 2 doors down and chat outside with them while still viewing our girls sleeping. Other features include an out-of-range alert, a room temperature display, a sound level indicator and a low-battery alert. There is even five lullabies programmed into the monitor to help you clam and lull your little one to sleep. The only feature I wish the monitor had was a display of the time which would come in handy during sleep training.
 
Now that we have a video monitor we use it consistently throughout the day. It is a great way to check on our girls without entering their bedroom and possibly disturbing their sleep. It is also great when you wake in the middle of the night to hear your baby crying that you can see (in our case who is crying) and what they are doing. While the monitor was on the more expensive side, it was worth every penny and we were lucky enough that the monitor went on sale for $100 off. This is definitely one baby product I would highly recommend to my future friend Moms.