Ok this morning i awoke to find my wife dismantling our daughters cot as shes convinced that its a good idea to just have a childs bed. (daughter is nearly 2) im worried that the little darling is going to instantly become a massive danger to herself so i would like to have some kind of video surveillance. Obviously it needs to work at night.

Any recommendations. Preferably cheap and preferably something that doesnt need a wifi network.

Nah you’ll be right.

Just electrify the door handle. Biggest problem is them coming into your bed.

Oh and i could do with picking it up today from either tesco argos, mothercare or somewhere in huddersfield.

Assume you already have an audio only monitor….

Bed Guard so they don’t fall out, stair gate so they don’t fall down stairs.

Otherwise it’ll be fine. No video surveillance required.

got a gate.

got a bed guard. wife refuses to use it.

got lots of shelves im concerned she will climb.and a very low banister in the hallway

A 2 year old can fall out of bed – unless it’s a bunk bed it’s not very far to the floor.

Just put a gate on the door to stop her venturing.

You don’t need video monitoring.

christ you all sound like my wife 🙂

christ you all sound like my wife

My mum said that I was making a mistake getting involved with you. Maybe she was right. 😉

At 2 surely she could have climbed out of the cot anyway if she wanted to?

convince her to use a bed guard, that’s it’s purpose. A video monitor would still let her fall out of bed, a guard won’t.

Monitoring is only any good if you’re constantly watching and most of the time will only allow you to see the chaos unfolding from afar or, more often, to witness the immediate aftermath.

If you’re worried, make the room safer.
Take out the lower shelves so she can’t climb them, raise the height of the low balustrade and fit a bed guard.

I wouldn’t bother with a bed guard, just another thing that they’d have to get used to doing without in a year or two.

kids have been falling out of beds for centuries without cameras.

What are you hoping the camera will achieve? It’s not going to stop your kid falling out of bed that’s for sure!

At what point in your daughters life will you deem it safe for her not to have you watching her 24/7, just in case?

That is not a flippant or aggressive question, it is a genuine one.

Baby monitors can be useful so that you don’t have to get up and check on every noise. Also one thing they don’t often mention, it can be great entertainment watching your little one sing themselves to sleep etc. lost in their own little world.

had to get rid of our video monitor, we were both watching it like hawks instead of just relaxing.

At what point in your daughters life will you deem it safe for her not to have you watching her 24/7, just in case?

That is not a flippant or aggressive question, it is a genuine one.

21 ish

stair gate for top of stairs , ensure shelves book cases draws etc are fixed solidly to wall , thick rug or pillows by bead to absorb impact, audio monitor if you are paranoid ,
how low is your bannister ?

21 ish

I guarantee that for 9 years prior to that, your daughter will make her opposition known rather strongly… 😉

kids have been falling out of beds for centuries without cameras.

aye, what is the camera adding? If your daughter falls out of bed, the large “thump” and crying* will let you know…Unless you going to spend 8 hours a night watching the monitor instead of sleeping, I don’t see how it’s going to help.

* or, if anything like mine, you’ll find them in the morning asleep on the floor wrapped up, perfectly happy, completely unaware they fell out of bed.

Whilst I do agree with the “you’ll hear her” thing, if you (read: your wife) wants one for peace of mind then buy a wireless IP camera, the video baby monitors are insanely expensive for shit screen. I bought a MAISI one on Amazon for £40, HD quality, includes microphone and speaker, so you can shout “this is God, get back in bed”. The feed is sent to an app, so you can check it anywhere, and use the app to move the camera (so I can see if my son’s asleep when I’m nearing home, and thus steel myself for a quiet evening, or not!). Can record to memory card, with motion detection etc. Can’t fault it.

we put a rolled up towel under one edge mattress to stop son rolling out of bed. Only works if bed is against a wall obviously

As said previously you dont need a camera

im also looking at it for taking to a caravan holiday where i cant make the rooms safe(er)

I have to say I think your wife has a healthier regard to risk than you do – the child is almost two afterall! Our girls were out of their cots around that age – I *think* they were about 19 months (although we did use the bed guards – mainly to ensure they didn’t fall out and wake themselves as opposed to hurt themselves).

Much cheaper just to wrap her head to toe in bubble wrap. You can leave that on 24-7 too.

im also looking at it for taking to a caravan holiday where i cant make the rooms safe(er)

….where you’ll never be more than 30 feet way from her through the thinnest walls imaginable?

perchy +1

yea but last time she screamed the place down. This way i can let her scream while knowing shes not sticking her fingers in plug sockets..

yea but last time she screamed the place down

when she did what?

tried to get her to bed.

kids have been falling out of beds for centuries without cameras.

aye, what is the camera adding?

250 quid on You’ve Been Framed?

when she did what?

Snapped under the constant pressure of glaring eyes tracking her every movement?

Dude, just go to Argos or Currys or somewhere and buy the most expensive Baby Camera that they have in stock.

The wisdom of STW , who between them have safely raised hundreds of kids to adulthood is clearly lost on you.

This way i can let her scream while knowing shes not sticking her fingers in plug sockets..

You do know that the chances of a child sticking their fingers in a UK socket (presuming you aren’t overseas) are very small given the safety features on them? And please don’t use ‘safety’ covers on them as they actually increase the risk of accidents.

in a less patronising answer…
For child 1 and child 2 we had a summer infant video monitor.
Child 1 had a fairly basic one – just a single camera and monitor.
For child 2 we inherited a fancy one from the brother in law where you could remotely move the camera angle around and speak to them (totally pointless and not reassuring to child, but great for freaking them out when they’re messing around!). Could also link 2 cameras up and flick between them for multiple room monitoring.
The basic one would have done the job fine, but why not have added bling when it’s free?
In term of use, they were great for not rushing in to every little noise which just stops the child from settling by themselves and disturbs them when they may have been half asleep. It had a light thing that flashed up when there was a noise so you didn’t need to have it constantly on, just sat in the corner of the room. And at night it sat next to our bed on low volume so if there was noise you could again just check that they weren’t actually properly awake and didn’t need you to go rushing in and waking them up!

However, in between child 2 and child 3 we lost the screen charger and never bothered replacing it. But generally by the 3rd child you’ve realised they’re not going to do themselves much harm and only respond to bigger noises 😕

Also, that was 5 years ago and wireless tech / smartphones / wifi stuff has come on a lot since then so all info may be irrelavent.

Edit: Think the basic one was about £80 at the time. Fancy one was nearer £150.

2ish was about the point we stopped using baby monitors, not started.

But if it makes you feel better, we used the Tomy ones. Can’t remember the exact model name but it wasn’t massively expensive. I’d give you our old ones but they are currently in the Big Box of Thing For Dad To Fix.

Useful features to look for were:

– lots of big infrared LEDs to enhance the night vision.

– camera had a night light function on it which could be turned off from the remote

– ability to talk to kids via the remote (ideal for your situation: “No you can’t get a glass of water, I’m watching Game Of Thrones. Go back to bed!” 😉

I’d swap the child – she sounds like a right nightmare!

Perhaps the local council do an exchange service!?

😀

plugs… please don’t use ‘safety’ covers on them as they actually increase the risk of accidents.

FWIW I don’t buy this argument at all.

Decent plug covers are difficult for little fingers to remove.
The shutters on normal sockets however are very easy to defeat and exactly the kind of interesting mechanism that curious little minds will poke at.

“kids have been falling out of beds for centuries without cameras. What is the camera adding?”

binners: 250 quid on You’ve Been Framed?

Ding ding ding winner. Like! – except it’s now instant fame, a billion hits and a vlogger channel on yoochoob.

FWIW I don’t buy this argument at all.

Decent plug covers are difficult for little fingers to remove.
The shutters on normal sockets however are very easy to defeat and exactly the kind of interesting mechanism that curious little minds will poke at.
We are all entitled to believe what we want but you just need to Google to see the arguments against using them. FWIW, I lost the argument to my wife at the time but as she’d effectively shat two melons I decided her opinion trumped mine.

And official advice from the Department of Health has instructed that they should no longer be used in Heath and Social Care settings.