Seeking Input on a Sleep Sensor for Newborn

Hello,

I know how you feel. My is 15 years old now. But I can remmmber just about everthing when he was a baby. If you feel uncomforable about him sleeping in his bed. Let him sleep in a car seat temp. Or the carrier that you carry him around in. Just for a while.

I didn't use the sleep sensor, but my sister-in-law did & she loved it. You lay your baby on this mat & it will detect the movement of their chest as they breath. If there is no movement for 20 seconds then it sends of an alarm to a hand held unit that you cary with you. My nephew rolled off the mat a few times setting the alarm off and everyone around would go running. I think this would be better over the video monitor b/c if your not looking right at the monitor at the right moment then you would never know if something was wrong.

I'm not trying to use scare tactics....My 2 month and 23 day old son died last fall from SIDS. He was on his tummy.....noone will ever be able to say, yes, he would have been here if you put him on his back, but noone could ever tell me he would have died anyways.....I put all 3 of my boys on their tummies, they were all 3 healthy, full term, I'm a nonsmoker etc...My son died E.. With the risks your son already has, please don't risk it unless your pediatrician is advising you to....I have made it my mission to try to prevent moms from feeling the same agonizing guilt I will feel for the rest of my life, and always wondering, what if.....if you would like to know more about SIDS, you can message me.....

Love,
E.
www.logan-jarman.virtual-memorials.com

E.,

Congrats on your daughter. What a delight isn't it!

My son Peter has a Baby Sence V monitor. It starts with one plate below the mattress for 0-3 months and once they start moving more it has a 2nd plate so they can't "crawl off of it". It detects motion even when he's laying right up to the side of the crib which he does often. Peter was a full term healthy baby. We live in a non-smoking house and hardly any carpet in here. We were careful not to put anything with allergins in his room etc. Peter's alarm went off and it wasn't a false alarm either. I swooped him up with in a a couple seconds of the monitor going off and he gasped for air before turning to regular breathing. I've had a 2 others during the week that were false alarms. And since then the only time it goes off is when my husband picks the baby up and forgets to turn it off!! LOL

I highly advise it... it works even when YOUR sleeping, allowing you to sleep better. You can't watch a video monitor all night and get sleep. We didn't need a sound monitor, I can hear even the faintest of cries as his bedroom and ours are right next to each other and I'm in a ranch style home.

Peter has slept on his tummy since he was about 3 weeks old also.

Hi E.,
Congratulations on your new baby girl! I received a monitor called Angel Care for my baby shower. At first I thought that it was going to be a waste of money, but I used it as directed. It has a flat base that sits under the mattress and it actually does detect every move your baby makes even breathing. You can use it just like a regular monitor, or the motion detector. It was actually the greatest gift I have ever received! One night, my daughter had an acid reflux attack and choked on it. Her monitor went off and we went running in there and got her breathing again. She had thick acid in her mouth and nose. I had to suck it out with a bulb and did a couple of breaths and she was fine ( I couldn't sleep for about the next week though). Yes there were times that she would wiggle out of the range of the sensor and it would go off, but I would much rather get up and find her ok than not knowing that something horrible has happened to her. I give that monitor now at every baby shower I go to. She is now 13 months old, and I still find myself turning on the mattress monitor every night! Good luck to you!

Hi E.,
I'm not familiar with the "Sleep Sensor" from Babies R Us, but if your daughter has episodes of Apnea, her pediatrician should be able to prescribe an apnea monitor for her to wear at home. I hope you know this already, but babies should NEVER sleep on their stomachs, although, I don't know all of your details and realize it may be possible your pediatrician has given you specific instructions and preventative measures to take, if you are putting her to sleep on her tummy. My son had an apnea monitor for quite a while and it was a huge peace of mind. There were a few false alarms, but I'd rather have the alarm sound and him be safe than be without one and need it. Hope this helps some!
M. M.

My girlfriend had this sensor and she LOVED it she said it was expensive about $100 bucks, but worth it. She said that if her baby stopped breathing for I think it was 20 sec. or less a alarm went off loud enough to wake the dead! She let me borrow this because my son was a tummy sleeper also but I never hooked it up because I was such a worry wart he slept in the pack in play next to my bed with my hand on his back to feel if he was breathing until he was about 4 months. May I ask what the hurry is to put her in her crib? You probably wont get any sleep wondering what is happening in her crib anyway. Good luck to you and god bless you.

If this is the thing that goes under the matress a friend of the family had one and they took it back because it kept beeping false alarms all the time. So unless technology on them have improved I wouldn't waste the money. Just make sure her matress is firm and you have no blankets in the crib except for the one she's somewhat tightly swaddled in if you choose to do that.

We have the Angel Monitor they sell at Babies R Us, I got it as shower gift and we have been using it for almost 11 months now. I have a very healthy 11 month old that was full term and born healthy and I still use the monitor. We are also a smoke free home and have very few SIDS risks, but I feel better knowing that it is there. If she moves off the sensor area and is at one end of the crib or the other it does give a false alarm. But like many of the others have said I would much rather have a false alarm then have something really go wrong and not know until it was too late. Sometimes it goes off when she is right over the sensor and seems to wake her enough so she moves a little and then it shuts off the buzzer. I can't say for sure if it is a false alarm or not. I have also had it go off and have gone in to check her and found her over the sensor, not moving at all and when I picked her up, she seemed limp to me and then after a few seconds she came around, again I don't know if it was a false alarm for sure. But I can say I have a piece of mind when I go to bed that it will go off if something is wrong. I have found that if I position the fan in her room so it is blowing on the crib the monitor won't work properly. I also test it every once in a while to make sure it is working before I put her to bed. When I get her up in the morning I leave it on to see how long it takes to go off to make sure it is still working. I am really glad we have it and will continue to use it with her and any other children we have. I hope this helps. -E.

Will your insurance cover the rental of a sleep monitor from home health care.? My cousin had one for her preemie son but she said the thing scared her all the time by going off. I would check into the rental vs the buy first-some of the monitors on the market are just junk they are peddling to make money off mom's fears. Will she sleep on her side with a positioner? My son was a tummy sleeper too no matter what I tried but if she is moving her head around good and holding her head up you probably don't have much to worry about.
Good luck,
C.

Hi E.,

I have used the Angel Care monitor for both of my children (my son, now 22 months old, and I'm still using it for my daughter, who is only 8 weeks.) Best thing ever, I tell you. It gives me such peace of mind, I can sleep better. Seriously, I've only had 3 false alarms over the last 2 years, and like a previous poster said, I'd much rather deal with a few false alarms than to regret not using this monitor. It really is a great thing. When your daughter is older, you have the option of turning the sleep sensor off and just using the sound portion (like I did with my son.)

Oh, by the way, you might be able to ALSO purchase a real cheap video monitor. My husband found one online when my son was an infant for $70. The video monitor cannot tell you if your child is breathing or not, but it's just nice and convenient because you can see that when your child cries in the middle of the night, if she is truly awake or not (some babies cry and make noises in their sleep, especially toddlers because they dream so much). I know there are several times when I hear my son start to cry that if i go in his room, he WILL wake up. But I can see on the video monitor if he's still actually sleeping or not, a ndthat determines if I have to go in and "rescue" him.

Here is the link to that Angel Care sleep monitor. I really would invest in it. It's expensive, but it has 2 parent receivers, and it's well worth the money...two years later and we are still using it...

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=226725...