Today I want to ask you a very important question,
do you have baby monitor addiction syndrome?
It might sound silly, but this is really an area of concern for me.
I can remember being at a client’s home several years ago having a consultation, talking about this child’s sleep. He was at the very top of the stairs in his bedroom, crying. We were also listening to him cry on the monitor on the coffee table.
It was very distracting. At one point, I had to ask, “Do we really need the monitor on when he’s right there, and we can hear him loud and clear?”
I think what happens for a lot of us is we get dependent upon this monitor. You’ve got it right beside your ear. I’ve had clients who even sleep with it in their hand through the night so that they can hear their babies.
They have a time and a place, absolutely. If you’re out gardening and your child is taking a nap, then a monitor can be an absolute wonderful tool to know when you baby’s nap is over or know when you need to go back into the house. But what I worry about for some people is that if you’re so tuned into your monitor, it’s disrupting your sleep.
You don’t need to hear every little squeak and squawk that your baby makes through the night. Some babies are very, very noisy sleepers. Every time they squeak and squawk, you’re going to wake up because you’re so in tune to that that you can see how that’s going to wreak havoc on your sleep.
Come on… get some sleep
If you’ve got a baby who is now successfully sleeping well through the night, I would encourage you to turn it down or even turn it off, and start getting the good quality sleep that you deserve as well. It tends to be mums. I’m not going to put it all on mums, but a lot of dads will go, “Oh, thank you” when I say, “Maybe we can put that off now.”
Just think about it, that’s all I’m asking you to do. Is it really necessary? Does it need to be as loud as it is? Does it need to be right by your ear all through the night? Just have a good look at that. Obviously, if you’ve got a newborn in the house, most people are very concerned about SIDS and having one of those monitors that have the pad underneath the sensor to monitor breathing fine.
Video monitors can make you anxious
Video monitors, that’s a thing that just has developed in the last few years. A lot of people are super attached to their video monitor. That can be a really useful tool, especially if you’re teaching your child to sleep well. You can keep an eye on, “Is he all right? Has his arm stuck in the bar? Is there any need for me to intervene or be concerned?” Then absolutely, that is a fabulous tool.
However, I had someone confess to me the other night that she sits awake through the night watching the monitor because she’s really anxious about his night sleep. That’s worth having a look at. How is that affecting your sleep?
If your child is sleeping well, let’s trust that everything is fine, and let’s get you into bed, and let’s get you again the quality sleep that you need as well.
Is this information useful to you and your family? I would love to hear your feedback regarding your sleep routine.
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