We recently had our Nappy Bag Review that was extremely successful for showcasing the latest and greatest trends in nappy bags for new mothers. So I decided to give you another review to help you with an item of more significance to your baby’s sleep and health – the baby monitor.
Many new mothers use a baby monitor to keep an eye on their baby while sleeping (especially since SIDS is a big worry for a lot of first-time mums), so I decided to put some of the most well-known brands to the test with our son to see which is the best for new mums to choose – because if you’re like me, you’ll purchase a baby monitor based on a recommendation.
Below is a brief overview of the monitors I reviewed over the last two months with my son. A few of them were very similar (and it was literally splitting hairs to choose between them), however a couple were slightly different with differing features that would suit premature and newborn babies best.
An Overview of the Baby Monitors in this review:
| Brand | Price | Baby Unit Specs. | Parent Unit Specs. | Night Light | Lullabies | Temperature Monitoring | Talk Function | Other Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angelcare | $179.00 | 2 sensor pads to detect movement/breathing, alarm set off through parent unit if movement undetected | Easy to read LCD display, detects motion from sensor pads, 8 digital channels to select from. | Y | N | Y | Y | Portable and rechargeable parent unit, |
| Oricom | $359.00 | Motorised pan-tilt camera; Baby-friendly night vision; 3x digital zoom | 3.5” Touchscreen; 480x320 resolution screen; Vibration alerts; 6.5 hours | Y | Y (19 lullabies, white noise, nature + womb sounds) | Y | Y | Light Show Option; displays up to 4 cameras |
| SafeToSleep | $299.00 (USD) | SafetoSleep-STS200 mat filled with fiber optic technology for breath sensing to send signals to the Smart Phone Apps about baby’s breathing and sleep patterns. Designed for babies between 2-10kg. | N/A - Connects to Smart phone through 2 apps | N | Y | Y | Y | Connects to Smart Phone through App, recording option for lullabies |
| Uniden | $229.96 | Comes with 2 cameras; Options for zoom, pan and tilt; infrared night vision | 5.8cm Colour Screen with many features including recording | Y | Y | Y | Y | secure and encrypted transmissions to avoid hacking; quad, auto-scan or individual views for up to 4 cameras |
| VTech | $289.00 | 260 degree pan, 55 degree tilt; infrared for night vision and digital zoom; 2.4GHz FHSS technology | 4.3 inch colour display; 2.5 hours active monitoring | Y | Y | Y | Y | Baby Monitor shaped as an Owl; displays up to 4 cameras |
Which Baby Monitor will we continue with?
As I mentioned, the video monitors (Oricom, Uniden and VTech) are all very similar in their features so it was hard to choose a standout. We used the Angelcare system for my son for the first 7-8 months of his life, but it honestly made me anxious with all the false alarms it set off.
With any future newborns, I will definitely be trying the SafeToSleep-STS200 with them as I love that it goes to my phone and I can keep track of their sleeping over several days.
However, for our boy now we are going to keep using the Oricom Secure870 as we love the light show option to calm him down in the middle of the night.
What do you think – which Baby Monitor stands out to you? Check out my reviews below!
