Hi everybody,
I need some advice. Right now, I have a multi room monitor so I can monitor both of my children's rooms. It is not working very well (it's a couple of years old). Fortunately, I purchased the protection plan from Babies R Us so I am getting my money back for it. My question is, do I get another multi room monitor or a single room one. My son will be five in Sept and my daughter is three. I NEED to have one in my three year old's room. I don't NEED to have one in my five year old's room. More often than not, my five year old will get out of bed and come to the stairs if he needs to call me. But other times he just loudly yells MOM. It is helpful to have the monitor so I can hear him quickly. I'd say half the time, the monitor in his room is useful, half the time I don't need it.
A multi room monitor is about $150.00. A one room monitor is only about $40.
Those of you who have older kids, do you still use a monitor in their room? What age do most people stop using a monitor. I'm torn. Also, do you have any good recommendations for what monitor to buy? Anybody Love their monitor? Anybody Hate their monitor?
Thanks!
Thank you ALL for your responses! I can't believe how many people took the time to reply to my request. I learned a lot reading all your replies. For one, I need to step back and realize that my almost 5 year old son is not a baby anymore. I guess it's called a baby monitor for a reason! I am now using a single room monitor (private connections by fisher price) and it works great. If my son shouts very loudly I can even hear him through it. He is perfectly capable of taking care of his own needs (like the bathroom or the light or a drink of water). Maybe he will stop "needing me" so much after bedtime now. I gave him a walkie talkie also and the first couple of nights he used it a bit much but I think it was the novelty of it. Now that has worn off and he only uses it for an emergency (which has not happened yet).
Thank you all again for responding to me. Sometimes I just need to hear from other people what I already suspect myself. It's great to have a support system out there, even for the seemingly trival issues. THANK YOU!!
Here's an option nobody's mentioned yet: we use a Uniden cordless telephone which also has a room monitor function. Works perfectly! Just put a phone handset in whatever room you want to monitor & viola - instant baby monitor! I haven't found any brand other than Uniden that has this function on their cordless phones. As I said it works great. Good luck!
Hi Z.-
I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old and since my 4 year old will not get out of her big girl (twin) bed without an adult we need the monitor for when she is napping or in bed and we are downstairs.
Anyways I was looking for a multi-room monitor but couldn't find one. So I already had the sony babycall monitor that I love, and then my sister gave me a fisher price lights and sound monitor that she wasn't using.
They work fine together and don't interfere with each other.
Unless they have some sort of medical problems, I cannot see any reason to use a monitor at these ages. I defiinetly didn't use it past age 2, and by then it was only if a child was napping and I went outside. Save your money!
My kids are 3 and 8 and I don't use a monitor at all anymore. I stopped once I was sure I would hear them without one. Certainly with my first I had stopped using it long before she was 3 as well. I think you can probably save yourself the money!
Z.,
If you are getting the money back from the 2 room monitor, you should have enough for another one, correct?
It sounds as though you need the 2 monitors. Or, you need to have a talk with your 5 year old. :) You can enlist him to morning chores for wake ups, and go that route.
If you are comfortable leaving off monitoring the older child and working with the yelling in the AM, go with the one. OTW, from what you describe, 2 sounds best.
We have Fisher Price. One kid, one monitor. Works fine, except when you go out of line-of-fire (Ie: down a hill, like to do the laundry). All monitors work best on straight line reception. Downstairs works only because it is still within the house.
Good Luck!
M.
My five year old has not had a monitor in his room since he was 2 1/2, and moved into a big boy bed. He can get out of bed and get me, or, I can at least hear SOMETHING from the monitor in our other son's room (he's 3, but has a physical disability, and is still in a crib). I would say you could get away with a single monitor. That being said, I love my lights and sounds monitor from Fisher Price. It's old (got it when my first son was born in 2002...), but I can turn the volume down and just "see" the lights flashing if I want to tune out the sounds at any time. I haven't done anything except clean it in 6 years. (It has two receivers, too, so I put one receiver in our room and one in the kitchen and just leave them there.)
HTH
Good luck with your decision. I have not used a monitor for my children since they were 18 months old. They are now 4 and 2. I think 5 and 3 are old enough to not have a monitor but if you feel you must get one just do a single monitor. I think I had the fisher price brand and it worked so-so. Wouldn't recommend it though.
mY DAUGHTER WILL BE 4 AND i HAVEN'T USED A MONITOR IN HER ROOM IN CLOSE TO 2 YRS! I HAVE A LARGE HOUSE BUT THERE IS A GATE AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS SO SHE JUST CALLS ME.
SAVE THE MONEY
I used the monitor for years - when the kids got older and they were sick - when my grandmother (lived until 91!) started to have a hard time getting around we used it in her room!
go with the single room. now is a good time to make the switch. it is really hard to have a working monitor in your child's room and just decide to pull it out. use this excuse!
Hi Z.
I have a 6wk old daughter and 4 year old daughter. I use monitors in both rooms. My 4 year old will not come out of her room first thing in the morning so it is helpful if I am around the house to have the monitor. I don't use it at night though. I have a seperate monitor for my 6wk old. I have the older FP Sound n Lights for my daughter and the newest FPrice Private Connections and haven't had any issues. Though I do really like the newer Private Connections.
I have 5. the oldest is 12 and the youngest is 2. I stopped using a monitor by the time they were 1. my house is pretty large but the bedrooms are all on the same floor . I guess it depends on where your bedrooms are. i used a sony nd loved it. We even used it when both our dads were sick. It worked like a gem.
Hi Z. I just bought the safety 1st monitor that monitors 3 rooms it was also at babiesrus. I love it it scans or you can monitor whatever room you need to. It was only 90 dollars. Good luck
I have a 4 year old son, and 9 and 11 year old dtrs who share a room. I keep the monitor in my sons room, but I can hear if the girls door opens and they are coming downstairs to get me. So if the rooms are close enough together, you'll still hear your older one call for you through the monitor, even with doors closed. I hate my Fisher Price monitor, too much static and electrical interference.
I'd say you can skip the monitor for the 5 year old. My 4 year old shares with my 2 year old - I mostly use the monitor during the day to make sure they aren't killing themselves. My little one is still in the crib - she will be getting out shortly but I'll keep the monitor to referee. I love the Graco monitor - not sure if they still sell it but I never got static interference or anything.....I just love it....ultraclear baby monitor http://www.gracobaby.com/catalog/product.aspx?modelNumber...
My oldest will be turning 4 in October. We stopped using a monitor with him at about age 2 1/2. We would have stopped when he was younger but we moved to a new house and the layout is such that you can't hear anything while you're in the family room. Once everyone was familiar with the house we took it away. My youngest is 16 months old and we still use the monitor with him. Again, we can't hear the kids from their rooms while we're in the family room (where we spend the majority of our time) and he isn't able to communicate with us. Once he is talking clearly and is louder we'll get rid of the monitor.
As for monitors - we use a very inexpensive one by Fisher Price and have had no problems.
I don't have advice on age to stop with the monitor, but I can tell you about a monitor that I recommend:
I love my Graco imonitor Vibe with 2 receivers - it is a digital monitor with a private connection that we purchased about 6-8 months ago when we realized on a certain channel we could hear our neighbors on the Fisher Price Sounds & Lights monitor that we had. It was about $80 for the single room version, but the do sell for 2 rooms - it even lights up different colors for different rooms. Also I dropped one of the receivers in the pool about a month ago (oops!). After letting it dry out for 2 days it worked perfectly again.
They sell it at Target, BabiesRUs, and many other places.
We have a 2 way transmitter from Radioshack. We leave it on the locked position upstairs so I can hear the baby when I am downstairs. Unlike the baby monitor we had, we can take this outside and still hear what is going on perfectly. I think we paid under 80 dollars and it works really well.
I have found that the new monitors are very sensitive. how close are your children's rooms and do you leave their doors open? I have a Cape Cod style home and the secone floor is a bathroom and 2 bedrooms. I have a Fisher-Price monitor and I have found that it picks noise in both rooms. it is in the room of my younget, but I cal also hear the older on also. I would try using one monitor ans see how it goes. If your son yells for you when he needs you it would deffinately be picked up inn the monitor in the other room.
Hi Z.,
I don't use a monitor at all anymore...I still have a 19 month old, 3 year old and 6 year old, but they don't need me at night and I don't want to hear every breath they take. I keep my door open and I can hear if they really do need me. If you do need one, I'd definitely say you can skip the multi room monitor at this point. I don't think a 5 year old needs monitoring like that.
Your question reminded me that I have a monitor plugged in and probably on under my daughter's crib...but the receiver hasn't been on in over 6 months. I bet the neighbors are getting an earful!! Better remedy that!
Oh, is there any way you can just get one monitor and place it in the hall by the steps? Or how about get a walkie talkie so that they can "call" you if they need something? Just some other ideas.
D.
