Moving the girls into the same room made things… interesting. The baby monitor we had purchased before our oldest was born was only an audio monitor. This meant no video monitor for us to see what was going on and it did not have the capability for us to talk to the girls either. We needed something different to meet the new needs of our family and the girls being in a shared bedroom.
I recently put the Levana Willow 5” Touchscreen PTZ Video Baby Monitor to use in our home. It’s definitely made a difference for us. Addie is getting to the age where she refuses to nap. Some days though, it’s still needed and she will sleep for 2 hours. Other days, she still has quiet time in her room where she can read books or play with a few toys.
It’s been a huge help being able to see the girls when they are in their room playing while we are preparing dinner. It’s also made a difference at bedtime in the evenings. I love that I can see the girls and what they are doing on the video monitor. No more little monkeys jumping on the beds. The Talk to Baby feature might just be my favourite feature with being able to communicate with the girls through the monitor. What a difference when they know we can see what is going on and are able to talk to them right away. No more running upstairs to have a chat if needed.
FEATURES WE LOVE ABOUT THIS MONITOR
This monitor has features such as Talk to Baby microphone, you can mount it on a wall, the camera has silent pan tilt and zoom (have no fear of waking sleeping kids) and also has night vision, and the battery in the parent monitor is rechargeable and lasts for about 12 hours between charges. For new parents, there is even a feeding timer you can use which would be a huge help through those early newborn nights. Another great feature is that there are lullabies and nature white noise options that you can control through the parent monitor. The parent monitor itself has a touch screen making it easier to go through the controls and select what you need.
There are a couple things that brought us a little bit of hesitation with this monitor. I would love to see a change from the USB plug-in features. My husband and I both find USB plugs to be a weak connection and are a potential risk for damage and not being able to charge in the future. We also both agreed that it would be nice if the wall plug was flat which would make it easier to plug in behind furniture. All things considered though, we both really like this video monitor and these are things that would not stop us from recommending it to others searching for one.
With the Levana Willow I do not have the fear the moments of silence that used to make me wonder if a certain someone was drawing on walls with makers. Instead, I can easily see what is going on in the bedroom.
Do you have a video monitor that you use?
Disclosure: Please note this post is in partnership with Levana. All views and opinions expressed are my own.
We share brands with you that we love as a family.
This monitor looks so great! Love how you have use for them still as they are getting older.
-Jennifer
https://maunelegacy.com
I’m going to have to check this monitor out! Looks like a perfect one!
This monitor looks awesome! Our apartment is so small we never needed a monitor cause we can hear everything…but it would be nice to be able to see what our little is doing in her room without going in and risking waking her
This sounds like a great product. I could definitely use this with my granddaughter. I used to have a baby camera/monitor and the picture was so grainy I could hardly see. I also like that this one lets you move it around.
I bought a Foscam IP Security Camera from Amazon ($80) when our first was born. Our son and daughter still share a single room and the camera has been great. It tilt/pans does 2-way voice (not that we use that feature) and has great night vision.
Because it’s an IP security camera (wi-fi enabled) I can access the camera from any laptop, desktop, phone or tablet. It also has secure WPA2 encryption so that I don’t have to worry about someone driving around with a baby video monitor trying to see if they can access people’s baby cams.
Generally, I have the video feed streaming to an old iPad we keep in the living room. If i am doing computer work, I have the feed streaming to one of my monitors.
The grandparents love it too when they watch the kids if we get one of those rare and elusive date nights too.
Downside, it’s not 720p or 1080p but the quality is find for monitoring at night. Rarely use it during the day as the kids don’t play in their room too much.
I would like a new one.. one with a higher resolution, but I don’t want it attached to a cloud service like most other baby video monitors I’ve been looking at recently