Everyone warns soon-to-be parents about just how tiring and life-changing taking care of a new baby invariably is. Still, until you’ve experienced it first hand, the stress of taking care of an infant is not so easy to fully grasp. In fact, who knows how long humanity would have survived without the hormonal boosts that impact both men and women and make them far more attentive caregivers than they may have ever thought possible?
Nevertheless, parents need a break if they want to stay sane and be their best. Even the most adorable child in the world can seem like a monster when it’s waking you up from a fitful slumber at 3:00 a.m. Moreover, infants need to learn to sleep on their own. So, it’s no wonder that baby monitors have been among the most standard of purchases for new parents for several generations.
Buying a Baby Monitor
Of course, the electronics industry has undergone a few sea changes since Fisher-Price put out the first model during the 1930s. Monitors, which started out using essentially the same technology as old fashioned walkie-talkies, have evolved with most other products in this era of digital electronics and the World Wide Web.
Systems that employ wi-fi are becoming increasingly commonplace. So have digital monitors that prevent problems with electrical interference that have been an occasional problem since baby monitors became de rigueur during the American post-World War II baby boom. Some sophisticated early adopters have even taken to using special smart phone apps which can actually call parents in case of a sign of a possible issue or emergency.
They might often have a somewhat playful design, but monitors are anything but toys. In fact, they are very serious products that can, at times, be matters of life and death. Consumer Reports regularly takes a look at the products and they have come out with their own ratings of what the magazine’s resident testers believe are the most effective systems. They encourage the purchase of digital systems which had the longest reach in terms of being able to transmit an infant’s cries.
Importantly, they also warn parents to be sure to put potentially very dangerous wires and cords well out of reach of infants and prevent the risk of tragedy. It might just be common sense to keep such things out of a baby’s way, but fatigue has a way of destroying common sense sometimes. Parents really do need baby monitors.
