Last updated on November 28th, 2023 at 05:57 pm
Who doesn’t use baby monitors? Am I right? Even folks in tiny homes usually have a monitor watching their twinnies. You can never have enough eyes on your duo. Baby monitors are used by pretty much every parent on the planet to help keep their minds at ease while their twins are sleeping or playing. BUT (you knew there had to be a BUT) many parents don’t realize that baby monitors are a hidden safety hazard in your home.
Did you know that your baby monitor cords pose entanglement and strangulation risks when placed too close to their cribs? They do. So what can you do today to practice baby monitor safety? We got ya covered.
The easiest place to grab the info you need regarding baby monitor safety is on the JPMA website. What? You haven’t heard of the JPMA? Well, the JMPA (Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association) is a nonprofit organization that is the voice of the baby gear industry when it comes to quality and safety. With that being said, it’s no surprise that they have dedicated an entire section of their website to help educate parents and caregivers on how to protect their children from the risks related to baby monitors.
How Far Should My Baby Monitor Be Away From a Crib?
When you’re planning your twins nursery layout, it’s important that you take things like outlet placement into consideration. Not every home was built with standard height outlets and before you even consider plugging in a baby monitor, you should be thoughtful of where the plugs are and where you’ll even be able to plug your monitor(s) in. Ideally you’ll want to keep their cribs off the walls of any outlets that can potentially be reached when your kiddos are IN their crib. If all of the outlets are too high in your room, you may want to either consider calling a profession to lower them, or perhaps even turn off the circut breakers to those outlets so they can never pose a safety hazard.
Once you know where the safe outlets in the room are, you’ll want to make sure that your baby monitor cords are AT LEAST three feet away from your crib space. It might not seem possible, but before you know it, your tiny beans will be reaching for those chords, and yeah, that’s not going to be great.
So think of where your monitors will be place during your nursery planning stage.
Here are some tips for baby Monitor Safety:
Should I Just Get a Wireless Baby Monitor for My Twins?
Let me stop ya there. While there are a few truly cordless baby monitors out there, most of them will need to be charged daily and will need a chord to do that. Don’t be fooled when checking Amazon for wireless baby monitors, because seriously, they really don’t exist.
The only products that can monitor your baby(ies) that are truely wireless are hard wired security systems that do not use a plug and literally get hardwired to your home’s electrical system. The least expensive one we’ve found at this time is about $239! Yeah, put that money in their college fund and grab a traditional baby monitor that’s best for twins instead. To check out some more recommendations on baby monitors for twins, click here.
Should I Get One Baby Monitor or Two for My Twins?
If you’re wondering if you should get one baby monitor or two baby monitors when you have twins, I’ll tell ya, that’s a personal choice. There are PLENTY of good baby monitors (with or without cameras) that can work with any duo. It goes back to that twin nursery space planning. If your twins cribs are close, then you might be able to get away with one good baby monitor that has a wide angle lens like the one here.
If you’re not sure if the baby monitor you bought, or got as a gift, is going to work for you, please be sure that you do not discard any boxes or materials until you are 100% positive you’re keeping it. Many stores have great return policies and if you ended up getting one that’s not ideal, just bring it on back!
No matter which monitor you get, please make sure that you visit www.jmpa.org, for baby monitor safety tips and more.
