Home > Consumer Reviews > Graco Angelcare Movement Sensor with Nursery Monitor

My baby had RSV at 7 weeks old, and wasn't bad enough to go into the hospital right away. About 3 am, the monitor went off, and he wasn't breathing. We were able to get to get him breathing again, and he was admitted to the hospital for 8 days after that. If it weren't for the monitor, he would have stopped breathing and we would have not been able to save his life. It is expensive, but worth every penny to have a happy healthy baby now!

My wife used to wake up every 15 minutes or so and check to make sure the baby was still breathing. She was so very worried about SIDS, and at first she insisted the baby sleep in the same room as us so that she could keep an eye on her.

We've both been sleeping more soundly now, knowing that the Angelcare Monitor will tell us if there's a problem.

This product should also work well for monitoring seniors, but since it monitors for any movement in the bed, a second person in the bed would throw it off.

This falls short of a perfect 5 star rating for two reasons:

+ It has a sensitivity adjustment knob but at best, sometimes the baby rolls too far away from the sensor and it goes off, and on the same setting we've noted that sometimes when the baby is no longer in the crib (we're standing next to the crib rocking her back to sleep in our arms) it picks up our footsteps as breathing. That means a large dog in the room might also throw it off. Still, it's usually accurate.
+ The audible baby monitor functions are not very good. Perhaps in the silicon valley there are more of us with wireless gateways, wireless security systems, wireless phones, etc. that create interference. I bought a second baby monitor with 10 frequencies that we set next to the Angelcare monitor in the baby's room (Angelcare only has two). If the Angelcare alarm goes off, the other baby monitor picks up the sound and broadcasts it on a frequency free from static.

Suggestion: If you're going to get a second monitor, get a video monitor. Sometimes you hear an odd sound in there and it's helpful to see what's going on without walking in there (are they throwing up or pulling the sheets off the mattress? The sounds are surprisingly similar!).

If I could only buy one baby item, it would be this one. It is that wonderful. No baby should be without this monitor. This monitor can save lives, not just tell you when baby is waking up or fussing. We have used this monitor every single day since our baby arrived home - we love it and couldn't sleep without it. We have had a few false alarms when she strays to the edge of the crib mattress but no big deal. SIDS happens and there is no better monitor to protect your baby from being a SIDS victim than this one. We use it every time our baby is in her crib and we've used it in her bassinet as well. It has nice features of being able to adjust the volume on the extra sound piece and being able to turn the ticking sound on/off. The way it works is very simple -- you put the movement sensor underneath the mattress on a hard surface (thin piece of wood works - it even works with just the crib springs underneath) and it detects the baby's movement caused by breathing. The main monitor piece that stays in the nursery has a flashing green light that flashes as movement is detected. If the movement stops for several seconds, you hear a single beep and a red light flickers on both the nursery unit and the mobile unit. After a few more seconds, an alarm will sound.

As a neonatal intensive care (NICU) nurse, I am acutely aware of the risks of a baby having apnea (stopping breathing). As a mom, I have nightmares about SIDS, suffocation, and the like. I found this monitor when I was pregnant with my first child, and used it every day until she was one (the period during which infants are at the highest risk of SIDS). I never had a false alarm, and it gave me complete peace of mind when I slept at night.

I used the monitor again with the birth of my second child, 19 months later. The alarm went off three times in a ten minute period one night, and during one alarm, I had to vigorously shake my daughter to get her to take a breath. (The other two alarms were loud enough to wake her up and stimulate her to take a breath.) I went to the doctor the next day, and was told that these types of monitors don't do anything, they result in false alarms due to the sensitivity settings, etc. Had it not been for the fact that I was a NICU nurse and had to actually stimulate my child to breath, I don't think the doctors would have done anything. But, because I was, and I did, they sent us to the hospital where my daughter stayed on a apnea monitor for 24 hours. That monitor recorded two more apneic events, and she was sent home on a home apnea monitor. She had two or three more events from home, but eventually outgrew the events. (She had been premature at birth, and they ultimately diagnosed her with apnea of prematurity.) Had it not been for the Angelcare monitor, we may have never detected this, and God only knows what the outcome would have been. So, I cannot recommend this monitor more highly.

I do note that what I learned from this was that apnea and SIDS are not the same -- stated differently, it is believed (although not confirmed) that children die from SIDS because they have a decreased heart rate and lack of oxygenation. It is believed that this lack of oxygenation, or hypoxia, is not due to lack of breathing, or apnea, but rather the apnea is the final trigger in the chain of events. By the time the child stops breathing, it may be impossible to resuscitate him or her. This monitor alarms for apnea, which may be caused by apnea of prematurity, or any other number of things. But, most likely, based on the research that I did after this whole ordeal, it will not prevent SIDS. Even hospital-grade home apnea monitors cannot prevent SIDS. But, the Angelcare monitor does, nonetheless give me peace of mind that I know my child is breathing. That makes this monitor worth every penny, in my opinion. One day, hopefully, they will invent a monitor that monitors both movement and oxygenation to aid in the detection and prevention of SIDS.

We splurged a little to get this monitor but we are very happy we did so. I sleep much better at night knowing that my baby's breathing is being monitored. The instructions indicate the sensor pad should be placed under the mattress directly under your baby with no bedding or padding in between. However, I've found the sensor will work even through a mattress, bedding, and a one inch thick sleep positioner. It's SUPER SENSITIVE which is GREAT! One thing to keep in mind - You should not have a ceiling fan on at night or have a strong draft in the room (such as an AC vent blowing directly onto your baby's crib). The unit will pick up air movement in the room. I highly recommend this product! I would not be resting at night as peacefully as I am without it.