Choosing a Infant Monitor

By Margery Haman

A baby monitor is an essential purchase for expectant parents, as it will impart you the serenity of being able to check on your sleeping baby wherever you are in your home. Unluckily, these monitors are the kind of device which you are implausible to have any experience of until the time comes when you need one, and it can be tough to know which type to purchase.

There are three classic types of monitor: audio, video, and movement or breathing.

The audio monitor is the most common kind, and at its most basic comprises of a sender that you place in your baby's nursery, and a pass catcher that lets you 'listen in', alerting you if your infant begins to scream or otherwise shows signs of waking. The very cheapest models will have a fixed receiver that needs to be plugged into a wall socket for power, but most models nowadays have a rechargable moving pass catcher which you can take from room to room, or even outside so long as you stay in range.

The range of your monitor system will depend on a number of factors, including the structure of your home - thicker walls will reduce the range - and any sources of interference such as neighbouring monitor systems, computer wireless networks, and even microwave ovens with some models.

Intervention is less of a problem these days, as most models will now let you select from a range of transmits to operate on, so if you do encounter intervention problems, you can change to a new channel to hopefully clear things up. Several units just possess two or four channels which you have to manually select, while the more advanced models now have hundreds of channels which will be selected automatically to minimise intervention in the current conditions.

The more stylish monitors, like so much else these days, use digital technology. What this means in practise is a clearer signal, and an enhanced range of operation.

Those are the basic principles of audio monitors, but there are other characteristics available depending on the model. A modern one is an intercom or talkback system where you can talk to your infant through the monitor, assisting you to soothe her back to sleep without the disruption of going into the nursery. Other models may have nightlights or lullabies which you can set to play either automatically or manually, again without entering the room, while another common feature is temperature alarms where you can see how warm the nursery is, and be alarmed if it falls outside a safe range.

The last point to consider when taking a monitor system is price. The range is huge, from only a few dollars up to a few hundred. For something as important as a monitor though, it is valuable getting the best model you can buy, as after all, if the system does not work well and you can't trust it, then it is efficaciously a waste of time. - 30443

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