Losing a baby to SIDS was my greatest fear before ours was born.  For those that have, my heart goes out to you, it is devastating, and sometimes, no matter what precautions you take, it can't be prevented, please accept my sincere condolences to you and your families for your

terrible loss.

There is a wide variety of baby monitors on the market at the moment, these have been designed to ease parent's worry in regard to this happening to them.  Many well known, trusted brand names, and they have a wide price range ranging from around AUD $60 – AUD $299 +++  They are becoming a very popular item for new parents as they stock up on items for their nursery.  They are designed to give parent’s comfort, knowing they can monitor their baby from afar while they sleep.

The average baby monitor comes with a transmitter unit that goes in the baby's room, and a parent pack that you have where ever you are in the house.  Most units have quite long range, so they are good in large houses, and you can also take them outside. They sport a whole pile of exciting features and designs, including, and sometimes combining the following:

1. Sound monitor
2. Wireless monitors
3. Battery monitors with electric power options
4. Extra parent packs
5. Walkabout clips for your belt
6. Wrist strap parent packs
7. Night lights
8. Light shows
9. Cartoon characters
10. Video Monitors

I’ll limit the features to a total of ten, however there are far more, I am sure you get the idea.  Of course, like all products, the price varies with the amount of features the monitor offers, and how well known the brand name is. 

Now I am not knocking any particular brands, neither am I recommending any particular brand.  However, for me, the main purpose of a baby monitor is to give me peace of mind so that I can sleep well, at night, or go about the house or outside doing things knowing that my baby is sleeping safe and well.  Many people who offered us unsolicited advice  told us that it was nonsense, and that they never had one, so we didn't need one.  We felt that if there was something we could do to help prevent our baby being a victim of SIDS then that was an option we would take. 

• A sound monitor makes sense, you can hear your baby if it wakes and you aren’t within earshot of it’s room. 
• Wireless – well, that could be handy – in fact it is, and most of them are wireless.
• Battery power can be more convenient, with the option to use electricity, this is good, if your power goes out, the battery will kick in and the monitor will still function.
• Extra parent packs are great, for if you were in different rooms, or miss placed one, you would have a backup.
• Parent packs, that clip to your belt – well, I guess if you were really active, had the stereo or some power tool blasting and couldn’t place your parent pack beside you, this could be handy.
• Wrist straps – well, I guess it could be handy for the same reasons as above, and at some future point, it may even become trendy.
• Night lights – well, I guess we don’t want our kids to be afraid of the dark, even if they are too young to learn to be, so this is nice.  I guess you will be in a better position to find them if they cry and you come running too.
• Light shows – aww how nice, something sweet for them to look at as they drift off to la la land, that is always nice.
• Cute cartoon characters – these look great if they match the décor of the rest of the nursery, and your guests will love it.  The baby will also learn to appreciate it by the time they are too old to need the monitor.
• Video monitors, now this could be handy, you might see your 6 month old prince busting a move, or your little 8 month old princess sneaking out on a date.  You might stare at it until you too fall asleep, or you can see they are awake when you hear they are awake - well it must be good it usually costs more.

How are any of these products going to alert you if your baby stops breathing?  You won’t hear a baby stop breathing, the baby will be quiet… dead quiet.  You won’t see a baby stop breathing, it will look peacefully asleep… forever.  You certainly won't hear your baby stop breathing... Heaven forbid that it ever should.  The cartoon character isn’t going to run out and tell you, neither will any of the other super features that you bought in good faith.  If you want a monitor that will help your baby, you need to get one that will tell you when your baby stops breathing.  You need one that has sensors and monitors the movement from the baby and alarms when it doesn’t sense movement – i.e. breathing, heartbeat etc. 

There are now a couple of brand on the market that do provide this feature.  We have one of them, it is the best investment that we made in a good nights sleep for all of us, and everyone that looks after our baby boy and it is mid range in price – though if it cost more, we still would have bought it.  We take it everywhere to use in the port-a-cot also, and the sensors adjust; test them each time you take them to a new place.  Things like the type of cot, mattress, floor coverings etc. can all affect the sensitivity, however this is easily corrected.   For the record, ours has alerted us twice when our baby stopped breathing, he was a couple of months old, and had a very heavy chest infection - we had to pick him up get him to breath again.  Another time it was just a random event, he seemed well, however his wrap had got up around his neck and he was still breathing, but barely.  Lately, it alerted us when he climbed out of the cot, so we knew that he was out and about - I can't speak highly enough of the benefits of having a sound and movement monitor.  It is also very handy for hearing if your toddler is sneaking out of bed and getting up to mischief when you put him down for a nap or 'big sleep'. 

Whether you have one now, or you are thinking of getting one – don’t purchase anything until you decide what is the most important feature for you. Then do your research thoroughly before you purchase anything.  Knowledge is power, and buying the sleekest, best looking, full featured option is all that the sales people want you to do.  I want you to buy the best, safest, most reliable option that could help save your baby - not decorate your home with stylish pieces that are useless or just the latest technology.  Ensure you read the instructions thoroughly and test it out each time you move it to make sure the settings are at the optimum level for your cot/mattress/room/floor etc as these are important.