You guys. I don’t have any babies in this house anymore (sob sob), but I might as well with Rebecca’s sleeping habits. Our oldest, Ryan, was so easy that I feel like we’re basically starting over with Rebecca! He went into a big boy bed before age 2 and never got out when he wasn’t supposed to.

Rebecca is 2. She’s still in her crib, which she can climb out of, and she does at every opportunity—meaning, the instant we leave her bedroom. When she turns 3 soon, we are moving her into a big girl bed and maybe the novelty and excitement of that will help her stay in it… but for now, we thought if she knew we could still see her after we leave AND if we can talk to her without being in her room, she might just listen and stay in bed. Maybe? Yes? Please?!

We partnered with VTech to try out the Safe&Sound® Pan & Tilt Full Color Video Baby Monitor. It is EVERYTHING I want in a video monitor.

VTech video monitor

It’s definitely a monitor to grow with your family—features that make it wonderful for a baby and, clearly, useful for a toddler as well! Plus, you can connect FOUR cameras to one parent unit! I’d love to add another camera in Ryan’s room or even in the playroom for when you’re cooking dinner or doing laundry and can’t have your eyes on those mischievous monkeys!

My favorite features of the Safe&Sound Pan & Tilt Full Color VTech Video Monitor:

• It pans and tilts: 270 degrees side-to-side and 124 degrees up and down. Sometimes you have limited options for where to place or hang your video monitor and viewing can be limited. Or sometimes you have a little monkey that climbs out of her crib and you don’t know where she went 😉 It also zooms in 2x for a closer look (breathing, check!)
• Talk-back intercom: simply hold down the “talk” button on the parent unit and your baby can hear your voice through the video monitor. Calm them when they cry, sing them a song, ask them to go back to sleep, or tell your little monkey to get back in bed 😉
• Temperature sensor: I LOVE THIS because I’ve never had it on a monitor before and Rebecca’s room is always so cold! We put a little space heater in there in the colder months and I hate using it, wondering if she’s too warm or if it’s still too cold in there… the temperature shows right on the top of the parent unit.
• Full-motion video: I’ve never even noticed slow feed or a lag when using this VTech video monitor. It plays at 25 frames per second with a super clear image on a high-resolution 2.8-inch color LCD. You can also adjust the brightness and contrast (my screen shown above is mid-level at “3” for both, but I’ve since turned them down and still see just fine).
• Sound indicators: the parent unit will beep at you if sound is picked up by the video monitor, if the battery is low, or if the temperature gets too low or too high. You can turn any of those settings off or select a vibration mode, too.

Both the video monitor and the parent unit come with wall chargers. The parent unit has a handy stand and an antenna to reach 1,000 feet of range. And no worries about the video of your little one—this VTech video monitor is equipped with digital transmission that’s encrypted, ensuring video and audio transmission is always private and secure.

It comes with hardware to wall mount the video monitor but we just place ours on the top of the dresser. If you don’t have furniture like that at the right level or distance away from the bed, you might want to mount it.

Rebecca loves that I can talk to her through the camera… she gets such a kick out of it! “Sing one more song, mommy! One more!” And the fact that she knows we have “eyes” on her has helped with her climbing out of bed at bedtime. Or if she needs us for something, she knows to turn toward the camera and ask! It has been very helpful!

Ryan gets in on the action, too, and will get on the parent unit to say, “It’s okay, hunny, just go to sleep! Love you, miss you!”

WANT ONE?! Check out the VTech Safe&Sound® Pan & Tilt Full Color Video Baby Monitor for $179.95 or you can try to WIN ONE at a twitter party this week!

TWITTER PARTY!
When: Wednesday, February 18 at 1 p.m. ET
Where:  Follow the #VTechBaby hashtag on Twitter to track the conversation. You can see the details and RSVP via this Vite: http://vite.io/themotherhood
Prizes: 5 nursery safety baskets featuring VTech Safe&Sound® Pan & Tilt Full Color Video Baby Monitors to randomly selected participants who answer the trivia questions correctly. Prizes limited to U.S. participants only.
Hosts: @TheMotherhood, @TMChatHost, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann (and I’ll be there at @babydickey, too!)

This post is brought to you by VTech and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own!