When did you stop using a monitor?

Our kids are almost 3-in July- and it looks like very soon we will need to transition to big kid beds. Our DS can easily climb out of his crib and did so yesterday when he had a tantrum because he did not want to take a nap. we knew what he did because we heard him over the monitor. I really don't trust them to share a room and me not listen in on what they could be getting into if they get out of their cribs. At what point did you feel safe not having a monitor to listen to everything?

 

We had no choice but to get rid of the monitor when we switched to twin mattresses 3 weeks before they turned 3... or they would have unplugged it and played with the cord. Of course we also emptied their room so they can't really get into anything. They still play with the empty closet and have busted the door a couple times already and with the dresser (it's empty but attached to the wall so it can't fall on them.. it's pretty low anyway), but there's not much we can do about that... At least now if they are up and want to get out it's easy to tell as they knock on the door.

 

We are slowly transitioning to not using them anymore. Both of ours tend to talk in their sleep and sometimes have nightmares, so it's a catch 22 for us- their talking and mumbling in their sleep can wake us up, but I want to hear if they have a bad dream.

The past two nights we've gone without and it was nice. I slept much better. And I never heard them really cry out.

Neither one of ours get out of their beds (they are in bunk beds) unless we get them. I don't know why, but they won't.

 

We still use ours, but not in the bedroom. My husband has it so when he's in his mancave playing video games at 5 am he can hear them if they wake up before 7. I just crack their bedroom door now and I can hear them if they start crying or whatever in the middle of the night. However, I don't have my fan on in the room, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to hear them once I turn that on.

 

Around 3.5-4 we told the oldest that if he needed us, he needed to come find us. We still use a monitor with the babies but only when they nap because we are often downstairs or outside in the yard. We do not use it at night but even with both doors closed, we can hear them yell if they want us.

 

My girls only used it for maybe 6mths and I never used one for my son. We live in a small ranch house so we can hear everything going on in the other rooms. Even if I am in the basement I can hear things going on. I stopped using it at night because I am a light sleeper and every noise woke me up. We kept using it during the day for naps until I was comfortable enough that they would be ok (which was around 6mths old I think).

 

Never had one, with any of our 5... Am I terrible? :blush:

 

We have one, but haven't used it since the girls were very small. Our house is a ranch, so you can hear pretty well without. Paul uses the monitor more in the summers during the day so that he can do yard work while the girls are playing or napping.

 

I only used it when they napped and I needed to be outside. If I was inside, I would not use it. Now at 3 they are out of cribs and no longer nap, it's just sitting in their closet. All of our bedrooms are right next to each other so it's very easy for me to hear them. We only used it at night the first few days they came home from the hospital.

 

Pretty much once ours were sleeping through the night, so maybe 3-4 months? (other than if we were out and about the yard/house during the day).

 

No, you aren't terrible. Or, if you are terrible, so am I! :lol: I never used one with any of my 5 either. ardon:

 

Well I have 2, one in my older kids room (9 and 4.5), and one in the twins room (just turned 2).

We don't have a big house, but our room is on one end, and the kids rooms are on the other end. We keep fans running in all the rooms, we keep the kids doors closed almost tight, and our air conditioner is near our room and makes a lot of noise when it runs. I would never hear the kids if I didn't have the monitor's on.

Anytime my kids get a stomach virus, they would start puking at 1-4 am. EVERY.TIME!! I would never hear them puking, and I'd hate for them to have to walk across the house spewing everywhere when they get sick. And considering we've had the stomach virus at least 6 times in the past year, that's a lot of clean up for me!

So, for now, we keep the kids monitors turned way low, so I can hear if they cough at night but no shuffling around. I don't even hear if the big kids get out of bed and come to our room. My fear without the monitors would be getting up in the morning to find my babies sleeping in a puddle of puke because I didn't hear them getting sick

 

Still use them. Our family room is in the basement and the kids' room is on the second floor. We can't hear them at all without it.

 

I probably got rid of them at age 5. It's definitely on the older end, but it was right for us. Both of my kids have stopped breathing at night before and I only knew it because of the wierd gaspy noises I heard on the monitor. I honestly think that Sarah would have died or suffered damage because of that had we not heard her. It was her first asthma attack ever and she couldn't breath or get air through her airways. We got her nebulizer running immeadiately and got her breathing and used a second round to get her breathing smoothed out. Timothy had contracted RSV at 3 and the mucus from it had him gurgling, choking and struggling to breath because of all his mucus. I was able to get him sitting up and coughing out mucus because of what I heard. I also believe he could have choked to death on the mucus.

We still put monitors back in their room when they are sick. Sarah has outgrown her asthma so we don't worry about that so much. But when they're sick, I just like to hear them.

Marissa

 

My door is shut and we are at the other end of our house from them. I still have monitors in their rooms. We don't really need them I suppose, but it gives both me and DH comfort to know they are sleeping well.

One night, the power was out and the monitors weren't working. We slept horribly cause we couldn't hear the sound machines from their rooms. We need the noise to sleep.

 

We have one but the only time I have ever used it is when the kids napped and I wanted to be outside.

 

I am another that has never really used them either. We, too, live in ranch style home....so you can pretty much hear everything in any part of the house.

 

The boys are three and we will have ours for a while yet. We are on the other side of the house with the AC running between us. We both sleep really soundly too. I just feel better knowing they can wake us up. I also don't trust Logan for anything to come and wake us up.

 

We still use ours regularly – when we are downstairs or outside and they are sleeping upstairs I cant really hear them without it. They are in separate rooms so we put the receiver outside their rooms in between them, it picks them both up pretty good that way. We are also switching to big kid beds soon so this will help with that issue as well.

 

I put the monitor in our room last night because Alice is sick now. As soon as she's not sick, the receiver will go back into the basement.

 

My girls are 3 and we still use it. They are in toddler beds, but the monitor is on top of a dresser where they can't reach it, and the cord is behind the dresser where they can't get to it. If they get out of bed at night they knock on the door, but this usually only happens right after we've put them to bed and they haven't been asleep yet. If they happen to wake up in the middle of the night (which is rare) they usually call for us instead of getting up. Our rooms are on opposite ends of the house so i probably wouldn't hear them if it wasn't for the monitor.

I guess it just depends on your situation.

 

we had ours till they were 3 and we moved into our new house (which is a ranch)...prior to that we lived in an OLD house with 4 inch thick oak doors - with the air on in my room I'd NEVER have heard them!

 

The boys are 3.5 and we still use them. I don't see us stopping anytime soon either. They sleep upstairs and we sleep downstairs. Luckily they have rarely gotten sick, but when Nicholas does, it's in the middle of the night. They may be 18 before I put them away!

 

We still use ours, too. We are on opposite sides of a big house on different floors with several closed doors between us so we would never hear them if they woke up without it. We actually have 2 monitors - 1 video, and 1 just sound. We rarely if ever use the video anymore, but it was sure handy when we converted to toddler beds and wanted to make sure they were still in their beds without having to try to sneak a peek and getting caught.