Baby Monitor

I don't like to give a lot of advice because everyone is different. Every baby is definitely different but I am going to break my own rule and shell out side advice that applies to everyone. Spend time looking around for a good baby monitor. If you think about it, every parent is so nervous to leave their precious little one in another room for the first time. It is very reassuring to know that you have a crystal clear connection to your baby via a baby monitor. Some people want just sound, some video, and some video and sound. I'll say if your household is not a geeky one like mine with lots of phones, wifi, wireless dvd players and such you can get a really cheap baby monitor. However, if your household is like ours, it can be hard to get that crystal clear reception without all of the static. Jim and I have suffered through endless hours of static on our baby monitor with the volume maxed out to make sure we can hear the baby over the static. I was tired of it at week 3. We just did something about it last week.

I really don't like spending money no matter what anyone says. Well, I don't like spending money on me. I would gladly spend all of my money on Libby and Jim. We tried to get nice things when it came to Libby to make sure they were good quality and lasted. So when a friend recommended a baby monitor and basically said they were all the same I totally believed her. It made sense to me. We had a list of things we were looking for though:

• Has 2 parent units - We have a multi level home and wanted one unit in our bedroom and one in the living room area. This way we never forgot to bring it anywhere we were. Because, you know, you would forget. (not really =))
• Lights for sound - Another thing that was a must was the ability to 'see' how loud she was getting via lights. I absolutely love this feature. This way if you are watching TV you can turn the monitor down and you don't have to hear every single thing but can see it if she gets fussy.

That was about it. Easy enough, huh? Well, we got a unit for about $30 and was pretty happy with it. Except for the static. Oh the static. It also was supersonic. That wasn't a complaint and was more of a plus in my book. I didn't always like hearing what was going on 3 blocks away....but at least I always knew I would hear the baby. Back to the problem - the static. Oy! It would keep me up and night. I made it my mission to fix this only (major) problem.

There are several ways to fix the baby monitors. Throw them out the window or get one that is not on the same frequency as your phones and other electrical appliances. Easier said than done in our household. If you want the cheapest way to do this, in my opinion, look what frequency your phones are on and then buy a monitor that operates above that frequency. There are also the digital monitors that apparently would not interfere. It is a very tricky business. I, sadly, spent countless hours researching baby monitors. I did find the one that was hands down the best one that guaranteed no static. It was the one we purchased in the end. It is the Philips Avent DECT. It met all of our criteria (however, if you only need one parent unit, there is an option for that at the same price with even more fun, pretty gadgets on it!) and guaranteed no static! It is super pricey but we ended getting it on eBay for a lot less. I love eBay! I charged it last night and plugged them in this morning to use and there is absolutely no static. They have rechargeable batteries in both parent units and the base for the baby's room also takes batteries in case of a power outage. I love that feature! The only complaint I have heard about this unit is it is a battery hog. I know we only plan on using the batteries if we have to carry the unit somewhere but they will be recharging on the base the majority of the time. So far, this unit is absolutely outstanding. I'll let you know if that changes. =) But my advice won't, even if you don't want this expensive option, please do your research on the baby monitor.