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Behaviour/development

Movement sensor on baby monitor

13 replies

Jengnr · 27/04/2013 00:49

Ours just went off and frightened us to death. I am now downstairs with baby (who is in a v. Deep sleep but breathing fine, etc)

Does this happen a lot?

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MsPickle · 27/04/2013 00:57

Hello which one do you have? We had the Angel Care which was just the sensorn with ds1 and it went off twice just around the time he was starting to move about more. We've now got the video one for dd, touch wood that's only gone off if I've either rocked her a bit vigorously or picked her up without turning it off (v embarrassing doing that in hospital btw, poor nurses scrambling to our room to find me sheepishly holding her and reaching for the button!).

How old is she? Does she have a cold or anything? Did she rouse when the alarm went off?

Bloody scary for you all!

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MsPickle · 27/04/2013 00:58

Sorry, don't know why I thought you have a dd when you said baby.

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Jengnr · 27/04/2013 01:02

The Angel Care one.

I've set it off twice this week when I've picked him up in the morning (was very popular with husband on both occasions)

He was in a deep sleep and had moved to the side of his cot so might have just moved off the sensor but I'm not entirely certain as we just legged it down the corridor and snatched him out of the cot to check he was ok.

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MsPickle · 27/04/2013 01:08

Hopefully he just wriggled away and all is fine then, assuming your heartrates have come down by now! Hope the rest of your night is more peaceful.

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Jengnr · 27/04/2013 01:11

I've got him downstairs in the Moses basket right now. I'm thinking I should get him back in his bed tonight or I'll never get back on the gorse but I'm scared of it.

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Jengnr · 27/04/2013 01:11

*horse

And thank you for your help.

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GozerTheGozerian · 27/04/2013 01:16

We've got a Tommee Tippee one. Honestly, once DS got mobile, it went off more - sometimes he just lay out of reach. Some nights seemed worse - if it went off once, it'd go off five times. We always respond to it but got less panicky over time I think. He's 15mo now and we still use it - set it off last night for example but we are away for the weekend and I'd placed the sensor badly.

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Jengnr · 27/04/2013 01:22

He's 4 months.

Also, we've only been using it for a week (since he went in his own room). Never used it in the carrycot in our room.

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CoolaSchmoola · 27/04/2013 01:24

My DD has an Angelcare, she also had a hospital monitor for SIDS for the first ten months. The hospital one false alarmed all the time (I was a nervous wreck) the Angelcare only did it when the set up wasn't exactly right for the situation.

I wouldn't say it happens a lot, but it does happen - you can get false alarms with ALL movement monitors. But they can usually be sorted out by checking certain things and making adjustments.

First thing to check - do you have a full length piece of solid board under the sensor pad? Placing the pad on standard cot slats reduces the effectiveness and results in false alarms. We have a piece of plywood cut to fit the base of DD's cot, then the pad, then the mattress.

Second thing to check - is the pad slap bang in the centre of the cot? We found even the slightest movement in one direction caused false alarms.

Third thing - if your baby is able to move to the side of the cot it's worth adjusting the sensitivity setting. Once DD was mobile we had more false alarms until we turned the sensitivity up. We have a cot bed and she lies widthways across the very top. On standard sensitivity settings it didn't pick her up.

There is a lot of info on trouble shooting false alarms on the Philips website too.

It is so scary the first time you get a false alarm, but try to remember the vast majority of alarms ARE false, and now you know that you will hear it and respond should the need arise (I got to be very good at leaping out of bed and getting to the cot upright at the first beep! I have NEVER moved that fast!)

As children grow the settings on the monitor will need adjusting the more mobile they get.

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MsPickle · 27/04/2013 08:46

Excellent advice Coola. How was your night OP?

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Jengnr · 27/04/2013 10:13

My night was alright, thanks. I faced my fear and put him back in the cot and did manage to sleep but I woke about 10 to 6 and he still wasn't awake so I went into his room and the little monkey had turned himself horizontal and was just having a nice lie in (which would have been ACE had all this not happened).

We have a board but it isn't full length - it is the size in the manual. I'll check whether the sensor is dead in the middle. I'll also have a look at the sensitivity settings. That's really helpful, thank you.

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Jinty64 · 27/04/2013 21:09

We were advised by SCBU not to get a sensor monitor for ds3 because of the stress the false alarms cause. We kept him in our room for his first year. Do you have room for the cot in your bedroom that you could move him back for another few months?

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Jengnr · 27/04/2013 22:37

Tbh I don't want to move him back in. I will if I have to, obviously, but I don't think we should.

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