There are so many high quality products on the market right now that differentiating between baby sensors is getting increasingly difficult. Since baby sensor mats are winning the hearts of many new mums, you may be tempted to buy one. But are baby sensor mats worth paying for?
Are Baby Sensor Mats Really Worth It?
Baby sensor mats are worthwhile investments as long as you can use them properly. Contrary to what most mums think, a sensor mat isn’t a substitute for your attention but rather a tool to keep an extra eye on your baby. If you think it will make you pay less attention to your baby, it’s best to avoid using them momentarily.
In this article, I’ll outline what baby sensor mats mean and if you should get one for your baby. Also, you’ll learn some of the potential risks and benefits of using one to help you make an informed buying decision.
What is a Baby Sensor Mat?
Baby sensor mats refer to a series of baby care products featuring several cameras and/or sensors that track the activities of the baby and report to the caregiver in real-time. Baby sensor mats usually come with full baby monitors installed as they’re a kind of baby monitor themselves.
Baby monitors are a growing concern due to their potential risks when used incorrectly. When used correctly, however, baby sensor mats can give you some insight into your baby’s wellbeing, helping you to catch irregularities early.
While sensor mats work well to help detect irregularities in a baby’s sleep, they shouldn’t serve as a replacement for your attention. Baby sensor mats carry some risk to them, and your attentiveness is required while using them for your baby’s safety.
Are Baby Sensor Mats Safe?
Many mums use baby sensor mats to keep tabs on their baby’s breathing, sleep routine. Some even offer a live video of your baby’s sleep, while sensor mats equipped with monitors will let you hear any sound your baby makes.
All of these features are designed to help keep your baby safe while sleeping. Most manufacturers are actively trying to minimize the risks of any unwanted incidents, and if you use them properly, you shouldn’t encounter any problems.
How to Use a Baby Sensor Mat Safely
Baby sensor mats are practical tools for simplifying the process of tracking your baby’s wellbeing.
If you’re looking to try a baby sensor mat for your baby, here are some safety tips to help you use a baby sensor mat without any significant risks to either you or your baby.
- Keep the monitoring device at least three feet away.
It’s common knowledge that the biggest risk to a baby monitor with a sensor mat is the babies accidentally getting the attached cord around their neck. To prevent the possibility of this scenario from happening, you should always keep the monitor three feet away from the sensor mat at all times.
In the same vein, you should never put the monitor inside your baby’s crib, or even at the edge of it. These careless practices make it easier for the baby to reach the cord, increasing the risks.
- Don’t substitute your attention for the baby sensor mat.
While baby sensors help to simplify the task of checking your baby for any irregular signs, nothing replaces your attentiveness and constant supervision. You should only treat the sensor mat as another tool that helps you keep tabs on your baby in real-time.
Frankly, your baby monitors and sensor mats are just electronic devices, and electric devices develop faults. Your baby sensor might ring no alarm, even when something is going wrong with your baby.
The best way to ensure your baby’s wellbeing is by checking on them every so often. Also, you shouldn’t weaken your motherly instinct at the thought of the assistance of a computer that’s prone to a fault. If you think your baby is too quiet, you should probably go check on them.
- Avoid certain baby sensor mats.
Not all baby sensor mats are created equal. A baby monitor or sensor mat can only be safe if it was manufactured to meet certain standards, and honestly, not every sensor mat on the market meets those standards.
Before paying for any baby sensor mat, you should read reviews from other mums who have used it for their babies. You should also check online reviews across multiple websites as reviews are easy to buy.
Also, you should generally avoid mats with embedded breathing sensors, as they’re historically known to cause far more problems than they solve. If you buy problematic ones, your baby may end up losing a lot of sleep, but with you this time.
Advantages of Baby Sensor Mats
Baby sensor mats are only on the market because they serve a purpose. If you’re looking for a reason to pay top-dollar for a quality baby sensor mat, here are some advantages to help you justify the purchase.
- Peace of mind
Using a baby sensor mat spells peace of mind, both for you and your baby. When you use one, you can pay less attention to the baby to focus on other things you need to get done. Also, you won’t be disturbing your baby constantly when you open the door every so often to check on them.
However, you shouldn’t rest too deeply when you use a baby sensor mat. A baby sensor mat only makes the job of checking on the baby easier, it doesn’t replace your attention. It’s important to always follow your guts, and whenever you think something is wrong, you should check on your baby. It’s rather a tool you can use to keep your baby even safer than without it.
- It helps your baby sleep better
Lights in the room disturb everyone’s sleep, even babies. Without a baby sensor mat, it’s almost impossible to check on your sleeping baby without flipping the light switch on. This may disrupt your baby’s sleep, building unhealthy sleeping practices.
With a baby monitor with an embedded sensor mat, you don’t need that anymore. You can track your baby’s sleep from anywhere without having to turn on the light or disrupt their sleep. This will help your baby sleep better while giving you some time to rest too.
If your baby doesn’t sleep well, the sensor mat will also let you discover that. Thus, you can report to the doctor quickly before the problem escalates.
- Sing lullabies remotely
Some advanced baby sensor mats have little speakers embedded in them. These speakers will let your baby hear whatever you’re saying from your room while you hear sounds from your baby’s room too. Of course, you can control this feature to turn off the speaker when your baby is fast asleep.
If you’ve ever wanted to sing lullabies to your baby without leaving your current task, now you can. While this feature isn’t available in all sensor mats, most offer it, especially the expensive ones.
Disadvantages of Baby Sensor Mats
Baby sensor mats aren’t portrayed very positively by the media. Here are some of the features that the media escalates to make baby sensor mats look objectively bad.
- False positives
The sensor mat is a computer, and all computers are prone to errors. If the sensor mat ever develops a fault, you can be in your room, sleeping comfortably, while your baby has difficulties sleeping.
It can also go the other way, where the sensor mat sounds false alarms repeatedly, needlessly disrupting your baby’s sleep. While either of these isn’t incredibly common, they exist, and there’s a chance of either happening to you.
To mitigate these risks, it’s important to be always skeptical of reports from baby sensors. Try to check on your baby every so often as there have been reports of false-positive reports from baby sensor mats.
- Anxiety
Most people who install baby monitors with embedded sensor mats end up developing anxiety as they find it impossible to keep their eyes off their babies. While this may sound like an unlikely scenario, it’s very common, even in doctors.
If you can’t take your eyes off the report from your baby’s sensor mat, it can be a good idea to uninstall it. If you’ve also read some depressing news about sensor mats or baby monitors in general recently, you should also avoid using them.
The bad news will only stir your distrust of these mats, leading to unwarranted nervousness and anxiety, making you lose sleep in the long run.
