Baby monitors have become a must-have for most new parents’ baby registries. They’re great at providing reassurance when you have a new baby. That is a wonderful benefit of this technology! And baby monitors are great if you and your kids are sleeping on different floors or you have a special needs child. But, if your kiddo is in the next room, you might not need a baby monitor.
There is a downside to these amazing little monitors. They make you aware of every nuance of sound or motion. If there’s a whimper, a whine, a burst of crying, our tendency is to go in and put an end to it to help our baby sleep. That’s only natural!
The Sleep Science Behind Not Needing a Baby Monitor
Despite what it sounds like, sleeping through the night does not mean that your baby will never make any noise or wake up during the night.
Babies and kids go through several sleep cycles each night. Sometimes, they wake up just a bit, sometimes they wake up completely. They moan, babble, whine and cry. If you wake up to watch or hear all of this, your anxiety level is likely to rise and your quality of sleep will definitely decline, especially if you’re getting up to intervene. All of these noises are normal. Good sleepers do make noises at night. These normal noises aren’t a sign of a problem.
Janet Krone Kennedy, author of The Good Sleeper, says it best. “Sleeping through the night means that your baby is able to return to sleep independently during normal nighttime arousals.”
Trusting Your Instincts
If you have a monitor and you’re exhausted from watching it or sleeping so lightly that you feel like you’re always “on-call”, try turning it off for a few hours or if you’re feeling bold, turn it off for the entire night. See if you really need a baby monitor, after all.
Don’t worry! If your kiddo is hungry and needs a feeding, they will let you know! You’ll be able to hear that hunger cry from the next room. If your child throws up or has an explosive poop, you’ll hear a cry that says “I need your help.” Your parental senses have your back! It’s okay to trust them, especially if it helps you sleep better. Parents need sleep, too!
And we can’t have this discussion without mentioning- if you find yourself unable to sleep without checking on baby constantly, we recommend talking with your doctor. This might be a sign of postpartum mental health concerns.
