When Is It Safe To Stop Using a Baby Monitor Each Night?
Baby monitors have been something of a revelation for parents. It gives them comfort, knowing they can hear the baby sleeping, and when he or she awakes, they can care for it accordingly. Some baby monitors are so sophisticated, they beep in time with the baby's pulse or heartbeat – so if it's deafly silent, you'll still be able to hear the baby's pulse, leaving you safe in the knowledge that your child is safe and sound.
However, surprisingly, not all parents actually use them – in fact some find them unnecessary as they can hear their baby sleeping in the bedroom next door. This highlights that using such technology is a personal preference. For those that do use baby monitors, it's also entirely up to them when they want to stop using such technology - there is no specific time frame to work from.
However, for any parent, it does pay to wean yourselves off using baby monitors as your baby grows into a toddler. For the first 6 months, you may find that using a baby monitor is incredibly reassuring, but after this time, turning it off from time to time will allow you to get a better night's sleep. More importantly, it will help your baby to develop better sleeping habits.
For parents of newborns, it's instinctive to care for the baby's every need. So when you have the baby monitor on, and you hear them awake or cry, you reaction is to help your son or daughter so that it stops crying and goes back to sleep. However, you can't be expected to do this all of the time and at every hour of the day – there comes a time when your baby needs to learn how to sleep throughout the night.
At first, baby's will require night feedings quite frequently, however as they get older, they will be less reliant on feeding throughout the night. The length of time that your baby can sleep throughout the night will vary, but at three months some babies can sleep from six to eight hours without needing to be fed. At nine months, most babies will be able to sleep for at least five hours, however as mentioned, this isn't the same for all babies. Some won't sleep for an extended period of time until they are at least 12 months old.
Regular interruptions as a result of using a baby monitor can actually have a detrimental effect on your baby's sleeping patterns. For example, a baby might naturally wake up throughout the night, which is completely normal. If a parent constantly seeks to see if the baby is okay when this happens, this then reinforces the awakenings, and the baby becomes conditioned to think every time it awakes, the parent will come to them. At some point they need to learn to sleep through without seeing you come into the room every few hours, and this can be achieved if you turn off the baby monitor.
Whilst some parents will start to wean off using the baby monitor at night time, it shouldn't be ruled out being used altogether. For example, there may be occasions when you will still need to use a baby monitor, such as when you are outside in the garden or in another part of the home during a baby's nap time.
As mentioned, there is no specific time when you should stop using baby monitors, but some parents test the waters after around 6 months. Don't simply turn off the monitor and pack it away, never to be used again. Rather, try it on the occasional night and see how you and the baby feel. This way you can gauge what's best for both of you.
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