The Many Benefits of Baby Monitors

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It is always a joy when a child is born. The moment their little hands touch yours is truly a wonderful feeling. Because babies need extra special care and attention, having to part with them is difficult, even for a few minutes. You must keep watch of them at all times. With this need, the invention of baby monitors came. Now, you can keep your baby a step closer when you are away.

Baby monitors are used to keep track of your baby's or children's activities. There are a lot of these devices available for parents to choose from. The two basic categories are audio and video. Two of the best monitors are the Philips Avent Monitor and the Motorola Digital Video Monitor. Most baby monitor reviews give these two monitors 4-5 Star Ratings!

The development of modern technology also brought innovative improvements on these units. Different features are made available such as night vision, high-quality audio and video and other remote control features that allow easy panning, tilting, and zooming of cameras for a better view.

Purchasing a monitor is a question most parents with babies ask. There are those who believe that it is beneficial while some think otherwise. Basically, baby monitors are a helpful device in taking care of children, especially of babies. On a broader sense, these help assist the parents in home and family management.

It is unavoidable that you need to step away from the house for several reasons, personal or work-related. There are also instances that you need to leave your baby in another room to take care of some things. During these times, a monitor serves its purpose best.

Baby monitors allow you to manage different things without leaving the baby completely unattended. During the instances that you are away, you can watch what your baby is doing. This can also help in seeing the behavior of your child.

When you are asleep in another room, a monitor helps you hear your baby's cry, making you alert. There are monitors that allow video recording. With this feature, you can keep track of the daily activities of your child or baby. This also helps if you leave your baby with a nanny. It is natural to want to know that your child is given only the best care. Monitors generally benefit the safety of your baby or child when you are away.

The invention of monitors for babies is really an advantage for parents but remember that it is merely an aid. It is still more important to physically check and take care of your baby.

The best place to get baby monitor reviews on the top monitors on the market is on the Internet. You will also be able to buy the perfect one for your family at discount prices!

You can check out my detailed Baby Monitor Reviews and find out where you can buy the Philips Baby Monitor at discount prices!

Are Video Baby Monitors Safe?

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When it comes to the safety of our children and home, nothing is too much trouble. But have you thought about whether using a video baby monitors is safe? In this article, I will discuss whether these monitors can cause harm to your children and whether they can be misused by others.

You may be aware that during 2010/11 there were reports of two deaths of infants from strangulation by the electrical cords of Summer Infant video baby monitors. In both cases this was caused by the camera being placed too close to the baby's crib, one on top of the crib rail and the other on a changing table next to the crib. To avoid further tragic incidences, Summer Infant announced a voluntary recall so they could provide new product labeling and instructions. Now instructions clearly state that the camera should be placed at least three feet from the baby's crib.

You really don't have to place the camera right on top of your baby in order to see them clearly. Even with night vision you can see them from at least six feet away. Also many camera's have a zoom function so you can see them at close range.

The other aspect to video baby monitor safety is lack of security. ABC News (2010) brought to the attention of parents the fact that their babies could be seen through a baby video monitor whilst driving around the neighborhood. All the parents were absolutely shocked that other people could see their baby in their cribs and felt very concerned that they had no warning that this could happen.

The news report questioned whether this could invite burglars as well as other unwanted attention. Whilst some people thought this was really good to know, others felt that this was an irresponsible piece of news reporting, bringing this to the attention of people that could misuse baby video monitors. Whatever you feel about this, the question of your child's safety is or should be a huge concern for all parents thinking of buying one.

You may be asking how it's possible for other people to see your baby in it's crib? The first thing to know is how these monitors work. A baby monitor is essentially a radio transmitter on a fixed frequency of around 49MHz, 900MHz or 2.4GHz that sends a signal from the monitor to the receiver. A signal is received either through an analog or digital transmission. Analog has been around for a long time, but given the rise in wireless devices around it's become harder to transmit and much more open to interference. Digital wireless on the other hand is much more reliable and less open to interference.

The problem is that many wireless electronic devices such as cordless phones, microwave ovens, radios, remote controlled devices, security video cameras, smart meters for electric energy and, of course, baby monitors all run on similar frequencies. So if you have neighbors who also have baby monitors running on the same frequency, then you will be open to interference. Usually video baby monitors come with more than one channel, so if you get interference then you can switch to another channel without interference, but this doesn't guarantee security.

Unlike WiFi computers which you can password protect, most video baby monitors don't have any security features. This means that the signal can easily be picked up by the receiver of anyone's video monitor in your area. Obviously people can only see the signal whilst the transmitter is on. The problem is that many people with video monitors leave them on for 24 hours which could enable a burglar to determine whether someone is at home or not.

To ensure complete security then you should look for a model that offers frequency hopping and if possible, data encryption technology as it's highly resistant to interference. A model that offers both is the Motorola MBP36 digital video baby monitor. Unfortunately having this sort of technology comes at a higher price, but if you want peace of mind then it's worth considering.

So are video baby monitors safe? Video baby monitors are very safe as long as you read the instructions and place the camera at least three feet away from your baby's crib. Transmission signals are open to interception so you need to make sure that you choose the right one for your circumstances.

I have written other articles about buying video baby monitors. Take a look at the buying advice section on my video baby monitor reviews website. Also check out my in-depth reviews on some of the top selling video baby monitors.