How Long Did You Use a Baby Monitor?

Til they are out of the house :)
JK.. I would be interested to know. I wouldn't say I am a control freak just more paranoid about someone breaking in and getting to my childs room before I hear them. Am I crazy?

I still use mine if I need to do something outside when my little ones are asleep.(ages 5, 3, 22months and 4months)

Ha, I think we used one 'til my daughter was six! We'd even take it out to the hot tub with us. Starting to understand my "overprotective" parents more and more . . .

We kept our monitor until our daughter was fully mobile / fully verbal and in a kiddie bed. If the child is still in "the cage"/crib I think it's a little cruel not be on call at all times. (Think Geneva Convention).

It probably depends on how large and/or soundproof your house is...can you always hear her cry? no matter where you are? even if the stereo or tv is on?

If the child isn't old enough to come and get you or to shout in coherent sentences, I can't think why you would get rid of it. Doesn't mean you need it all the time, but it's nice to have for those times when you otherwise might not be able to hear her if she needs you. And what about if she suddenly isn't feeling well? You certainly want to know if she is throwing up, choking, feverish and moaning, etc. That's obvious. But it's also nice to know immediately when she drops her favorite stuffed animal (blanky, paci) out of the crib or whatever. Hearing this immediately and solving the problem before she she fully wakes and becomes hysterical is infinitely preferrable (for all of you).

Is there a downside to keeping the baby monitor? I may be missing something here...

We still use ours (daughter is almost 2) because I like to know what she's doing--just waking up, still awake and not yet asleep...! Also, it's fun to listen to her sing and have conversations with her stuffed animals in the morning. I plan to keep using it until she's 16. :-)

Hi,
My daughter is 18 months old, and we still use the baby monitor....I want to make sure I hear her if she needs me, and I also like to hear when she is awake in her crib chatting and playing with her mobile.
It doesn't bother us to still have the baby monitor on, but obviously is a personal choice

We used ours until our sons were comfortable in their "big Boy" beds (aroung age 2 1/2). Once kids are in beds they can get out of without mom or dad they like to explore. So I would keep it until your daughter is sleeping peacefully in a big girl bed and stays in it all night.

Hi J.,

I would use one until she is in a toddler bed.

D.

i still use a monitor and my son is 3. i don't really need it as i can hear him regardless, but for some reason i still use it.

When I discovered that my husband had been turning the monitor base off in the baby's room for a week, and I had still be able to hear him. Was not a good night for hubby!
M.

We used the monitor until each of our kids were about one. We felt that we could hear them well enough by then if they needed to get our attention. I suppose it depends on how close or far your room is from your daughter's as well.

If your house is small and you feel you don't need you probably don't. But keep it on hand for vacations at other locations, etc. My kids are 5 and 2 but as we live in a town house we still use. Our TV is on the bottom level and the kids sleep on the top so we use after they are in bed so we can hear any monkey business going on up there.

Hi room was right next to ours so once he started getting up and yelling loud enough to were we can hear him then we stopped. He is 21 months and we don't use one

I still use one because our girls' bedroom (the two oldest- almost 5 years old and 3 1/2 years old-share a room) is kind of far away from ours. The ONLY reason I still use one is because those awful stories you hear about how a child was kidnapped from their bedroom at night w/o the parents knowing. I do sleep VERY lightly, so I'm always on my toes about stuff like that. In the morning when they wake up, I turn off the monitor and let them hang out for a bit before I finally get up. The nursery for our youngest (she's 14 months now) is attached to our bedroom, so no monitor for her. She sleeps 12 hours at night anyways... lucky me:)

We've never used a monitor, Erin has always been able to let us know what's going on, and we've always lived in apts. Once she was old enough to come and get me, I wouldn't have felt I needed one.

But if you're already spoiled...! I'm reading from other moms how they can be handy, and I'd never thought of the safety thing. If we ever have a house where her bedroom is really separated from ours, I might get one! Even if she's 16 by then. Hey, then it would be handy to hear of a boy is coming through the window...

Then there's a paraphrase form Vicki Iovine's "Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy', listening to your older kids saying, "hey, lets tie the sheets together and repel out the [3rd story] window!" Extra ears can be a good thing!

I'd say give it up when you're comfortable giving it up, and don't let anyone else tell you when that is. If you feel you must lighten your load, maybe chuck it when she's comfortable in a toddler bed.

-S. K

It is up to you and your comfort level. I stopped using mine with my third child around 5 weeks but live in a very small house with close bedrooms. She's certainly loud enough now at 21 months to let me know when I need to come and get her out of her crib!

My daughter just turned 2, and we still use one. I like to know how long it takes her to fall asleep, and I also like to hear her moving around at night. She'll whimper if her blanket falls off and she's cold. I don't see any problem with it!

You should just hang on to it. You never know when you might need it. I stopped using ours after my son was around 15-18 months, but now I'm using it again at 2 1/2 years old. He is in a part of the house that I can't hear him well once down stairs and we almost close it door at night so other sounds don't wake him. So it is such a relief to go down stairs in the mornings and not worry about listening hard for whether he is up. I think the main reason though, is that I can hear what he is saying once up in the morning to know what his needs are before I get to his room. His talking is what makes it different and fun actually, from when he was very young. Also, I love hearing him sing at night or play his little scenarios with the stuffed animal in his bed in the evening before he falls asleep. During his naps I've used it if I need to go into the basement and work. There is no running up and down to see whether he is up. I know exactly what is going on. In addition, it is been nice when traveling to my parents home in another state. If he is napping and we sit on the porch or deck you know what is going on. I hope this doesn't sound like I want to be too much in control. Really, I just love to listen to him.

A little about me, I'm a 44 year old mother of one son. He is such a blessing in our lives. We tried for 11 years for a child.

My daughter is turning 3 next week and we still use one. Her bedroom is on the opposite side of our house and we are afraid we may not hear her if she got up at night. If her room was right next to ours we probably wouldn't.

my girls are almost 4. i still use it even though their room is next to ours. like the other poster said, i am afraid of night intruders. that is my only reason. hubby sleeps very lightly, i sleep with earplugs because of the oh so loud snoring from my better half :). but with monitor in the room, in my night stand i feel more comfortable. we have also gone through getting high fevers in the middle of the night without any warning signs. and i have only heard a light whimper from them through the monitor and have been able to attend to them. i don't think i would have been alerted about the high fever had it not been for the monitor. i plan on using it for years.

Well, my daughter is 19 months old and we still use it. But in our case, her bedroom is upstairs and ours is down so we couldn't hear her without the monitor. I always keep it on the lowest volume and if she's crying, sometimes we just turn it off for a while and let her get herself back to sleep.
A friend of mine heard strange noises one night through the monitor in her daughter's room, and when she went up to check, the room was on fire!!! The warm mist humidifier that was running (her daughter had a cold) had caught fire and they heard the crackling of the flames even before they smelled any smoke or the smoke detectors went off! I know that's a really freaky thing to have happen, but I (personally) like to be able to hear everything that's going on in my daughter's room.
Plus, when she's a teenager, you could hide it under her bed and really know what's going on with her :) Just kidding!!!!

I never did use a baby monitor.

We still use one and my son turned 3 2-wks ago. You never know when something might happen. Also when he started potty training, he would call to us when he was first waking up to go potty and by the time he cried out loud, it was too late. I would keep it.

I have a 3 level house, so I used a baby monitor well into the toddler years- at nap time. This way if I was in the basement, I could hear them the minute they started to wake from a nap, and got to them before they got into trouble.

My oldest is 3 this month and we still have his set up. He's definately able to yell loud enough to get our attention but I like it incase he's having a bad dream or if the weather is bad I hear him before he gets histerical. Plus during the bed transition stages and potty training that will be happening soon, it'll be good to have it on hand as well.

I actually used a monitor for my daughter until she was old enough to get up on her own and come into my bedroom to wake me, which has been within the last 6 months or so (she turned 3 in November). Until then, she would call for me when she woke up and unless I had the monitor on, I was unable to hear her because of the fan I have going in my bedroom.

For a long time - into the toddler years. It is helpful as long as they nap or when they are sick, if you are afraid you might not hear them. It also depends on your house layout...how close are the bedtrooms, etc.

You have gotten a lot of good advice. I agree that you should go with your gut. You know your situation and your child best. I still use the monitor for my 18 month old, but his room is far from mine in our home so I can't really hear him without it. I must say, though, there is nothing nicer than for me to wake up in the morning hearing him talking and singing to himself in his crib.

We used one until she was almost four - her room was some distance from ours, and I didn't quite trust her not to go getting into trouble around the house. I basically wanted to know when she left her room. But we could probably have safely gotten rid of it closer to three.

Anyway, you might want to keep it until she learns to open doors and get in and out of a bed, so that you know she is safe and not roaming the house. She needs to have the maturity to come get you if she needs you. At one, you still have a lot of change in her seleep routine ahead of you and I think you want to be able to hear her.

My daughter is 28 months old. We stopped using ours for the longest time and then now we are trying something new to get her to stay in her room at night...shutting the door. So, I have her baby monitor back on and using it at night when noone is in her room with her (my sister shares the room with her but stays out a lot of nights now).

I didn't use mine very long. I live in a townhouse, and could always hear them without it. When they were little, I was almost always on the same floor as them anyway. When they napped, I worked upstairs, putting laundry away and cleaning, or took my laptop up there. They moved out of cribs early because they were climbers (14-15 months) so they could get out of their beds when they woke up anyway.

If you are unsure, then I say keep it a while longer, and pay attention to how often and when you use it. Everyone is different, and it's better to go by how comfortable you feel and how often you use it in your own situation that to go off of what everyone else thinks.

My son will be two this week and we still use it- not so much for at night, but for when he is playing in his room or when he wakes up from his nap. Our monitors our in the office and the den so that I can hear him during the day.

I guess it depends on the situation. I have four kids, the oldest is 7, the youngest almost 5 months. Since my baby is almost always with or near me, I don't actually need it for him. Instead I use it to keep track of the girls when they are upstairs...it helps to cut down on the arguing because they know mom is always listening...lol

Hi J.:

I may be a bit neurotic, but I still use one, and my son is 2 1/2 years old. The doors in our house block sound really well and we sleep with the doors closed because we have 4 cats that we don't want to bother us while sleeping.
The monitor came in handy about a month ago when he had a stomach bug at 1AM. There was no way he could come and get us in time, but I heard him and went in to help him. I don't know how long I'll use it, I guess until it feels right to stop using it. Go with your gut and what works for you.

Take care,
B. M.

if you cant hear your child and you want to be able to hear them then you need one. some dont care to hear their kids because they feel there is no need to. others have such a small house they can hear the baby if they were to cry without a monitor. then some parents want to hear every peep their child makes because it makes them feel safe. it's really what you want to do. so if you want to be able to hear your daughter wake up and you cant without it then you should continue to use it.

My oldest is 12 and I use the monitor so that I can hear what's going on the top floor while I am in my office in the basement.
Now that my kids are older (12, 10, and 5) it's more to make sure that my daughter isn't jumping on the beds and my sons aren't wrestling to the point of death. LOL

We used a monitor until we moved them out of the crib. Before then, I was afraid I would sleep through their call. After they were out of the crib, I figured they could come down the hall to me if I didn't hear them...

Hi, J..

I agree with most of the other moms. You have to do what feels right for you. I don't really think that there is a right or wrong time to use or stop using a monitor. My oldest child slept in a room across the house from ours so we used the monitor for a very long time. My youngest was right next door, so we didn't need it as I could easily hear her.

When we used a monitor, it sometimes created problems for my husband as my younger children made a lot of noise in their sleep. They shared a room, and believe it or not would actually argue in their sleep as they got old enough to talk.

If your monitor interrupts someone's sleep, perhaps you can find a compromise--you could use the monitor when your daughter isn't feeling well and rely on another tactic when all is well.

My children are all in school, and I still use a monitor during illnesses and when i feel the need to "hear" what is happening in my absence.

I think Maura nailed it in her answer.

We never stopped using ours. We have a unit with two recievers, so we have the base upstairs on the 2nd floor and one reciever on the ground floor in the kitchen/family room area and the second reciever in the basement, in our office down there.

My oldest is 4 1/2 now and her baby sister is 9 months, so now the base is back in the nursery, but it has given us a handle on what is going on upstairs, when we're not.

It's good to use until you get the baby out of the crib, so that they don't have to work themselves up into a fit for you to hear them; after the crib stage, so you can hear if they get out of bed and 'wander around' upstairs; and definitely during potty-training time so that when they need to go and start crying, YOU can get up there quick to help them out. If you want to leave the house to do some gardening while baby is napping in the crib, its good to take the monitor (or leave it facing the open window) to the side of the house you're working on.

Ours is a must-pack item when we're traveling and will be staying at a relative/friend's house, since the layout is different every time.

I can't see *why* you'd get rid of it, you just change the places and reasons why you use it. = )

Honestly I had 4 kids my youngest being 8 and I never used one! I put them down for a nap and make sure to go and check on them here and there. Usually they will make some sort of noise when they wake up so it's not really needed.

Annie R

My girls are 7 and 4 and we still have one in between their rooms so we can hear them while they are going to sleep and we are downstairs. We no longer have one in our bedroom.
For what my opinion is worth :)

my kids are 2 and 3 and i still use it. use it as long as you like, there is not right/wrong time to stop.
but once your kid is sleeping thru the night you dont really need it. i use mine when i am dressing or showering so i can keep an ear on what the kids are doing. ive had to drop what i am doing and get after them on more than one occassion. so the monitor has come in handy. i will probably use it until they either learn to behave (which is never) or go to kindergarten.

At almost 6 and just turned 4, we still use ours but not for night really. Our bedroom is right across the hall from theirs so we never used it at night. I use it when I'm downstairs at the computer and they're awake and playing so I can hear monkey business and respond as necessary. I really loved having it from 2-3 in my daughter's room so I could hear her talking to her animals before she went to sleep.

The only time I used my monitor with my oldest was when I was in the shower. The only time I use my monitor with my youngest is if he is asleep and I am outside with my oldest.

We used our monitor until our son was almost 2.