Monitor

We didn't buy a lot of nursery items with our first baby as we didn't have much space and didn't want to waste money on things we didn't really need.  But this was worth every penny, and I would happily pay double the $238 I paid for it.

This is a fantastic device that senses movement from your baby's breathing, and when it slows down too much, or stops altogether, it sounds an alarm.  It has 2 size options, so it can be used in a bassinet or in a cot without having to purchase additional parts.  It runs on AA batteries so you don't have to worry about power cuts.  I userechargeable batteries and only need to change them every 3-4 months, sometimes longer.

When the alarm goes off, it starts with a quiet ticking sound, which is great because in the beginning you're guaranteed to pick up baby and forget to turn the alarm off first.  The ticking gives you a chance to turn it off before the alarm goes off.  The alarm itself is almost as loud as a smoke alarm, and we have always heard it immediately from another room.  The ticking noise also comes on when the batteries are getting low, so you don't have to worry about when to charge them.

There is also a small green light that flashes with every movement sensed, so you can check in the middle of the night that the monitor is on and the baby is breathing.  This is very reassuring in those early days if you have the bassinet by your bed and the baby isn't a noisy snuffly sleeper.  The light is small and not intrusive or likely to wake the baby or you at all.

The monitor can be used in portacots so your peace of mind travels with you. 

Luckly, we've never actually needed it.  In the entire 23 months we've been using it with our first daughter, we have had only one false alarm - she was in the cot and had rolled up on her side on the very edge so no part of her body was over the sensor pads.  But that has only happened once - she's an energetic sleeper who ends up in all sorts of bizaare positions but the sensors always work.  We use it every single nap, so one false alarm in many hundreds of uses is a fantastic result as far as I'm concerned - I would have been happy to put up with far more false alarms.

We know the monitor works because we still forget to turn it off from time to time.  It's so easy to test if it's working - just remove the baby and wait. 

The only downside is that it does not work effectively under ceiling fans in our house - this is something they warn you about.  The sensors are so sensitive that they pick up movement created by the fan.  We have polished floors - I don't know if that makes a difference.   We have found that with the ceiling fan on if we forget to turn the monitor off it can be a few minutes before the alarm goes off.  It still goes off, but takes longer.  As our daughter was over 18 months old when we moved into the house with fans we didn't bother exploring whether there were ways of rectifying this problem - I do recall the instructions and dvd giving some advice.  But if this is important to you you may want to do some more research before buying, or contacting the manufacturer.  Our cot is almost direclty under the fan as well, which probably  makes a difference.

We're about to have our second baby and it is just such a relief to know that in thsoe early months when the risks of SIDS is so much higher that this little monitor will let us know if her breathing slows down.   

By far and away the best baby purchase we ever made.

It came with a free sound monitor as well - we never bothered using it as I can hear her from most parts of the house, so I can't comment on how good it is. 

Mine is the more updated version of the Oricom Resp monitor than what is shown in the photo.  

I brought this monitor after our angelcare going off randomly for no reason.  It has been amazing - our baby was born prem, and i dont think i would have slept without the monitor.  It has gone off once, and sure enough, she wasnt breathing.  no false alarms!  A nice loud alarm, so I can hear it even from downstairs.  Would recommend this to anyone and everyone!!

Very relaible, battery powered respiratory monitor that only needed charging every 6 months. Very simple design, no interference with sound monitors.

The sound monitors look and feel quite cheap but I can not reccomend this product more highly. Mine has been through 2 children and is still working as great as the day I bought it!

The respiratory monitor has been helpful with keeping me relaxed and not having to check on my children every 2 minutes to make sure they are still breathing. Both the sound and movement monitors have kept my mind at ease. The sound monitors had no interference and were voice activated so only switched on when a child made noise. We bought 2 sound monitors for each childs bedroom and used the one parent system and it worked wonderfully!

This monitor has been my saviour for both bubs so far. Especially the first one when I was so paranoid about something happening to her! I don't think I would have slept if I didn't have this monitor!

This monitor not only sounds the alarm if breathing movements stop, but also if breathing becomes irregular or slows down - so you would get a bit of a warning before (heaven forbid) they actually stopped, incertain circumstances. Some other breathing monitors on the market don't do this.

I have never had a false alarm from this, but hubby does forget to turn it off when he picks bub up - even though we've had it for over 2 years now! - which sets off the alarm.

Pricey at around $300 but a small prcie to pay for peace of mind. Better safe than sorry.