Having a baby very much reminded me of getting married. The options were endless and you can literally spend as much or as little as you want. Take monitors for example. I couldn’t believe the available options: number of headsets, belt clip, battery option, camera, vibration, movement sensor, nightlight, 2-way speakers, travel size, blah blah blah… starting at $39 for the basic, all the way up to $339 for the deluxe versions.
At first I thought I should go as deluxe as possible. After all, no amount of money was too much to ensure the safety of my child. But then I started to really think about it, and it all seemed a bit crazy. Was it realistic to watch and monitor her every second of the night? I guess for some people that is realistic, but not for me. I just wanted a simple monitor so that when I was downstairs I could hear my baby crying upstairs.
Graco has numerous models on the market, and the Graco Ultra Clear Baby Monitor was the monitor we chose in the end. With two handsets, we can keep one on our main floor, and one in the basement, and with the light display screen we can ‘see’ our baby cry even if the hockey game is on at top volume. And it has two channels, so if one has interference, then you can switch to the other.* It’s functional, reliable, and it gets the job done.
I paid about $69 CAD at a Canadian Department store, but it looks as though Graco sells it on-line for only $39 USD.
* For some reason the website description says it has a nightlight, but I think that is a typo?
For our second baby, we got Philips Baby Monitor (with DECT technology) – it was 100 dollars but totally worth it! We had the Fisher Price monitor with our first baby and there was always so much static… very annoying!
This is the link about the Philips baby monitor:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2470714
Apparently it has gone up in price – it is showing 199.99 now? Wow… but I will say it’s an excellent monitor!