But, our new flat in Madrid is considerably larger, making it harder to hear little yelps, and requires running up and down a long corridor if checking on the babies- often waking them in the process...
So, the Tommee Tippee Digital Video Monitor has been a heaven sent piece of equipment for us! Not only can we check on 5 month old Elias and 2 and a half year old Leon from the comforts of our living room, it also alerts you should there be a lack of movement from the baby, helping relieve new parents' fears of SIDS thanks to the high tech sensor pad.
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| Tommee Tippee Digital Video Monitor with Movement Sensor Pad |
Easy to set up, this is a brilliant, sleek monitor with super quality, colour visuals, night vision and zoom function: this is so cool as you can focus on your baby and even better if you have two kids as you can zoom in on each one.
You can even talk back to whoever won't sleep and tell them to knock it off!
Another great feature is that you can turn off the screen while keeping the sound on, which is handy. You can also opt to turn off the sound or have it very quiet- all combinations that we use. Great for showing off your baby to friends at night if he's quietly sleeping. (Just make sure you zoom back out again to reduce noise levels as it squeaks unnervingly if you take it into baby's room on full volume if he's crying.)
There are little lights that blink on if there's noise - but it's not very obvious and not too visible from afar (for when we're outside on the terrace and I can look in on the monitor through the door or if music is on...). The great thing is that you can unplug it from the power source and carry it with you.
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| Tommee Tippee Digital Video Monitor Parent Unit. So Clear! |
I loved the function allowing you to respond to baby, calming him down with your soothing voice. Though I found it hard to know when he could hear me or not- a little experiment with my man sorted that out- and a read through the instructions put my mind at ease.
All the buttons are helpful and I found the nightlight function on the baby end very useful giving a lovely soft glow- adaptable with a slider or with the parent unit- and I found that if you placed it in front of a white background the light glowed further.
The movement sensor pad that is placed underneath baby's mattress is a good idea for young babies, sounding an alarm if it detects a lack of movement for 20 seconds- a drive to reduce SIDS, however I didn't feel the need to use this and personally felt it would make me worry more about it! But it's a good idea to link this to the baby monitor for parents concerned about their younger babies (after 5months they perhaps wriggle too much but it's a sizeable pad so some of Elias was always on it). When I tried it out I was impressed, however you need to remember to switch it off if picking baby up, and to bring parent monitor with you- things I forget at 4.30am thus provoking unnerving beeps!
Another great function is the temperature which now, summertime in Madrid can be above 37 celcius during daytime and still in 30s at night. Even if we're cool, the babies' room seems hotter but then it drops in the early morning so this reminds me to go check on windows etc.
I love that the parent monitor is so portable and the high quality of the video image even at night! Look!
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| Tommee Tippee Digital Video Monitor so clear even at night! |
The digital quality is superb and there's no interference noise as I've heard with other friends' monitors. The whole set is super easy to set up- and I highly recommend it. You can buy it here http://www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/digital_video_baby_monitor_/ for £199 and follow Tommee Tippee on Twitter @TommeeTippee_UK
*I was sent the product for the purpose of the review but am using it a lot and love it!
