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One of the best inventions in child care in recent years is the use of Baby video monitors. Since they have now become fairly mainstream, it is difficult to imagine a time when they didn’t exist. There are many reasons why they have made it easier for parents, babysitters, and others connected with baby’s care, to relax.

Baby video monitoring is named because of the screen they provide for watching a sleeping baby from afar. It’s easy to see if a stray toy or blanket has gotten too close to baby’s face or if the baby’s head or body position needs intervention. How much nicer to have a video screen to consult, from wherever one might be in the house, rather than going to “check,” and possibly interrupting, a sensitive or light sleeper. Also, some babies will wake up cooing, making contented sounds as they gaze around the room and focus on interesting objects. With the video screen it’s easy to see that they are awake, but content, and give them a few minutes more without rushing in with the first sounds coming from the nursery.

Before video monitors, the earlier baby monitors were “sound only” devices for keeping track of baby’s activities behind closed doors. That audio function, part of today’s video monitors, provides an added bonus. Not only will baby’s cry be easily heard, but it’s a reassuring way to listen for signs that baby’s breathing has gone awry. From more life threatening situations like Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to the onset of a cold, the “sound effects” give parents an early alert to trouble.

They can turn up the volume and hear the quiet steady breathing of a sleeping infant, knowing that should it be interrupted by so much as a cough, it will be heard. Parents have a built-in “listening” sense, but it’s nice to have a tool that is simple, yet technical, to assist them. With a graduated blinking light scale, a colorful visual that escalates with sound intensity, even shifts toward heavier breathing can catch one’s eye from across a room should the monitor’s volume be turned off.

Setting up Baby video monitors is relatively easy, the camera being positioned so its viewing field encompasses the sleeping area, and the portable screen handily going along to whatever room the parent is in. User friendly, practical, and reasonably priced, they’re a smart investment in child care.