What Age to Stop Using Baby Monitor?

Stop when you are comfortable not having it around. I agree with Dana, sometimes I wish I still had it for my 9 & 12 year old. LOL!

LOL! I wish I had a monitor for my 13 year old every once in awhile. Quit when you feel comfortable.

Never !!! DEMANED that they take it to collage!!LOL

Agree with the people who say when you are comfortable. There's no right or wrong answer - just when you think your kids are OK and it's no longer needed.

We honestly hardly ever used ours. I am a horribly light sleeper, so I hear just about everything.

Good luck with baby #2

We stopped using our when our son was old enough to get out of bed and turn it off and them come on our room, I think he was about 2 1/2. Do a trial run on a weekend and see if you can sleep with it off, since it is more of a comfort for mommy and daddy and not a needed item much anymore. I'm sure your son a scream loud enough if he really needs you. Sorry if that sounds rude or mean but it is the truth. Good Luck and Congrats on baby #2.

I STILL have our baby-monitor that we have used for our daughter, then our son... and presently, I still use it as a way to 'monitor' or listen to my kids.... if they are downstairs or upstairs and I am somewhere else in the house and I use it when they have friends over for play-dates. VERY useful.... and my kids, use it as a one-way 'intercom' to call me or tell me something if they are downstairs or I am upstairs etc.

So, a baby monitor, can be used for MANY things.

all the best,
Susan

age 18 or until they move out. :o)

We don't use it except for when we are outside doing yard stuff while our daughter naps (and she's only 9mos) I haven't used it at night since she started STTN a few months ago...I mean, I hear her when she cries at night anyway. If you have a large house, or your room is far from where the baby/toddlers rooms are, then you might want to get another one, but I would think that your oldest is plenty old enough that it shouldn't be an issue if you have a baby gate up or he still sleeps in a crib.

Our kids are two years apart. We stopped using a monitor with our first at 2, when our second was born. However, we found that even though the monitor was in the babies room, we could still hear our first child in his room with the monitor in the babies room. There rooms were next to each other, but the monitor was able to pick up sounds from both rooms!

We still have a monitor in our 6 year old daughters room. She has never been one to get out of bed if she needed us in the middle of the night (for nightmares or getting sick or anything). She would just call us from her bed. Since her room is on the opposite side of the house we need to be able to hear her. I think that it varies for every family, but I would consider whether your child could come get you if they needed you (will he still be in a crib?).

I stopped using mine when my son was about 12 months old. This was mostly for my own sanity - my son frequently wakes up in the middle of the night and talks and plays and then puts himself back to sleep. He was waking me up every time he did this, but he didn't need or even want me, and I needed my sleep! We sleep with our bedroom door (and his) open so that if he does need me, he can call. It took me a couple of nights of worrying to adjust, but he's now 16-months old and we've had no issues.

I am a light sleeper and when our 1st baby was nearly a year old I was talking about hearing him during the night just making slight noises, sometimes just breathing. She looked me straight in the eyes and told me to turn the dang monitor off. I should trust her, if he needed me, I would hear him! I listened to my dear friend and turned it off that night and didn't turn it on again. She was right, he was fine and I got a more sound night of sleep. Long story short - turn it off now unless there's a medical purpose or you can't hear from their room to yours (in that case buy a 2nd for the new baby). You'll be glad you did.

Mine is 2 1/2 and I still use it. I was thinking I could probably do without it now, but I don't want to. He is in a bed, and can come in my room. But his door is kept closed and occasionally he will wake up from a bad dream and I want to be able to hear it right away. I sleep really heavily so I worry I won't respond right away. If I had a newborn right now, I'd have 2 of them.

My thought is that I will probably quit using it when it stops being monitoring and starts being spying. :)

We stopped using a baby monitor when our daughter was almost two years old. We have a super small house so can hear when she gets up now or needs something (she is almost 4 so very self sufficient now). I would still be using the baby monitor when I go outside but I gave it to my aunt who had a surprise 5th baby and they had given away all their baby items years ago.

When my mother-in-law watches our daughter she still uses a baby monitor. Partly because she loves listening to the chit chat singing that my daughter does before she finally falls asleep... she also uses it because they have a bigger house and it is hard to hear if my daughter really needs something or is crying.

I kind of want to pick up another at a garage sale because it would be nice to just keep tabs on my daughter when she has friends over or even when I am outside... but maybe that is too much of a hovering mother thing to do.

I am also in the same situation. I am due with baby #2 on Thursday the 17th and my daughter is 20 months old now. She sleeps in a toddler bed with the door open, but there is a gate in front of her door so she can't run out into the house in the middle of the night and get hurt. I am a very light sleeper so I decided to just take her monitor out for the babys room. Their rooms are right next to each other so figure I'll be able to her my oldest thru the monitor anyways.

I used a monitor with my daughter until she was 2.5. The baby was in our room until she was 2.5 now they share a room. The main reason we kept using it is because we used to shut her door at night and we both sleep with fans on so I could not hear her unless she was really crying. Now they sleep with their door open (as do we) and I can hear either one when they wake up even with the fans on so we don't use one anymore for either child.

Updated

I used a monitor with my daughter until she was 2.5. The baby was in our room until she was 2.5 now they share a room. The main reason we kept using it is because we used to shut her door at night and we both sleep with fans on so I could not hear her unless she was really crying. Now they sleep with their door open (as do we) and I can hear either one when they wake up even with the fans on so we don't use one anymore for either child.

I stopped using one as soon as I realized that my (first) baby wasn't going to die in her sleep and I wasn't going to sleep as long as that thing was plugged in. That probably happened when she was about two.

For the second baby I probably used it for five minutes, because he slept in my room.

We don't use it at night anymore. I don't remember when we stopped doing that but still use it during the day if they are playing together and I have to leave the room. That was I can hear if someone is being "ornery"!

Our son is 28 months and we still use the monitor. I am a very heavy sleeper and do not hear my son throughout the night unless he is screaming. We are having another baby in about a month and we just bought a second monitor for him. I say use a monitor for as long as you like. Good luck.

Well to answer your question, they are old enough at 2yo that SIDS is highly unlikely, and they're usually in a good sleep pattern at that age, so as long as his room is toddler proofed and there's a gate over his door, I don't see anything wrong with transfering the baby monitor to the nursery. Honestly, I haven't had a monitor in my littlest one's room since he was 1yo.

That being said, I don't have the monitor in his room any more because it's a video monitor and I find it serves my purposes better by being mounted in a corner of the playroom. That way I don't have to be in there to supervise, but I can still "supervise".lol!

C.,

At your children's ages (when the new one arrives) I would purchase a second monitor.

Blessings......

PS...I thought Faith's answer was funny, because that's the first thing that popped into my mind!