Shoot the Monitor!:)

Shoot the Monitor!

July 11, 2011 by weissbluthmethod Audio and visual monitors for your baby might be useful in very few situations. For example, you are in your yard and you want to hear when your baby awakens from a nap. Or your home is multilevel and you think that you really will not be able to hear your baby awaken or cry. But the truth is that monitors are rarely needed. The sleeping brain of the mother is acutely sensitive and discriminating to her baby’s cry. Even a quiet cry is like an alarm bell going off in her head. A louder but distant siren will usually not awaken the mother because the brain recognizes that there is no close danger.
Audio monitors robs mother of deep long sleep because it amplifies very quiet sounds that do not need to be attended to. The visual monitor can make a parent compulsively watch their baby when there is no real need for watching. Monitor companies prey on the natural fears of new parents.
Shoot the monitor!
Marc
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The above is an interesting post from Dr Weissbluth's blog.  I think it has valid points and I agree with a lot of it, but not all.  I do know that when my babies started sleeping through the night, I turned off the monitor at night and it was BLISS!:)  It was so wonderful to finally have an uniterrupted night of sleep and not hear every little snuffle, whimper, sneeze,etc.  I do think a mother's ear is fine-tuned to her children and even though I had the monitor on as soft as possible, I would hear their minor noises during sleep (and babies aren't quiet sleepers, at least not at first) and it would disturb my sleep.  So it was a huge relief to turn off that monitor once we dropped the middle of night feedings.  All of our bedrooms were upstairs so I was confident I would hear them cry if they needed me.  But it was wonderful not monitor at night anymore.  We had an audio monitor (actually through our phone system, so that was really neat and dual purpose) and of course we monitored when we woke up in the morning (and husband is an early riser) and naps. 
We did not get a video monitor until our 2nd child was about 10 months old or so.  She was getting her legs stuck in the crib slats and going through a funny phase so I wanted to see what was going on.  Also our older daughter was taking off her socks at night (and waking early in the morning from cold feet!) so I thought a video monitor would be good to see what was going on with her:)  And I thought it would be useful when we would transition to the toddler bed and to make sure she was staying in bed.  So we get a monitor that had 2 cameras, one for each room.  It was really great! BUT I made a conscious effort not to get too wrapped up in them as I have heard how some moms get a bit "obsessive" over them and stare at them too much.  So my rule was when I got up in the morning I just turned on the phone monitor and never the video monitor  before 6:15 AM the earliest, sometimes closer to 6:30 AM.  I think you know when a lot of children are awake just because you hear them.  With my 2nd, when she wakes she starts to babble.  Or sometimes I'll hear a song like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" come over the monitor and know she woke up:)  So a lot of children do that.  Now my other daughter is a bit different and is quiet when wakes.  So it does help with her.  And also for settling at night, as it may be quiet but they aren't asleep.  So it's useful to determine overall sleep lengths and use that as a measurement tool.  BUT again, I will say to not become a slave to the monitor! It causes undue anxiety in some parents.  It CAN be a useful tool.  Especially in things like sleep training, and when they are going through funny developmental things (like learning how to roll over-for example you wouldn't want to go in all the time if you're not sure they are "stuck"),etc.  And it can really help in troubleshooting.  For example my 1st daughter was seeming tired a lot around age 2 and I think she was quietly awake earlier than I thought (2 yr molars or other issues) and it helped make sure she was well-rested overall by making sure she slept enough for naps and night (so that maybe meant adjusting naptime, bedtime,etc).  And it was very important for her as she got older and was weaning off her nap.  With the video monitor I could determine if she didn't fall asleep for nap til late (or skipped it!) and would do an ultraearly bedtime.  Without the video monitor I wouldn't really have known.  So there are definite advantages to a video monitor and I do recommend them . I personally don't think there is any need to monitor at night though.  Mom and Dad need the best rest they can get (although I actually think only Mom's would be bothered at night:)