Just plugged in our new Summer monitor...

[meresal]

So, we just bought a new Summer monitor. I am in love. The picutre quality is divine, the screen is huge, and we got the portable handheld as well, which is nice.

Here's the kicker. When I turned on the monitor after opening the box, I was a bit surprised that there was a crib staring back at me from "Channel A". I searched the entire booklet trying to find out if this was a "basic feature", like a generic picture that it shows until you set up your camera. Not so. We have come to the conclusion that it is the crib of the 20 month old that lives next door. (Side note: The mom is now pregnant with twins)

Do I tell them that we purchased a monitor and will be using "Channel B"? I feel like just in case the lines were to get crossed, it would be beneficial for them to know, that there is not a stranger in their child's room.

Has anyone run into this problem? If not, how would you handle it? Just ignore and hope they never switch it over to "Channel B"? (I feel like this might become an issue for them, once their twins are born. Since they will more than likely be using more monitors and might have been planning on using "Channel B" for the new nursery.)

 

[dani13]

Hi Meresal,

Nothing to add except that that sounds creepy!!!

 

[meresal]

Dani, it is creepy. That is why I am hestitant to say anything. I'm not sure how I would feel if I knew that my neighbors could see my child sleeping.

I can only see it when I am in our living room, because that is the closest room to their house. I am hoping that means they can't see our son's nursery, since it is on the opposite side of our house.

I am leaning towards not saying anything.

 

[taovandel]

My boss had this same problem! He woke up early one morning and looked at his screen and their was no baby in the crib! So he freaked out and ran upstairs to see what happened and his baby was asleep in the crib. So we went back downstairs and checked the screen again and still no baby! Now remember this was crazzzzy early in the morning..so he woke his wife up and was like "honey our baby is in the crib but he's not onthe monitor..." his wife was like "If he's in the crib who cares right now!" He went back downstairs and really looked at the screen and it was a completely different crib. haahha....

So creepy to know that the lines can get crossed like that!

 

[Kaleigh]

Meresal,
Back in the day , our monitors picked up the neighbors babies.. No pics, just the sounds.. Imagine my surprise to hear talking from my monitor... Ash was 3 months old..


I don't see why you can't talk to her, and say we have the same monitor... You can choose B, she can choose A... Yanno??

 

[meresal]

Tao... lol, that is what I worry about. My first thought in the middle of the night will not be a rational one, if I hear another person on my monitor. That is why I hope the distance will be far enough not to cross, but you just never know.

Kaleigh, I think you are right. Maybe just getting it out there is the best thing. I think I am just worried about their reaction, b/c we don't know them at all. Our houses are brand new and they don't talk very much. She is due in February, and I only found out about her pregnancy from some other neighbors last week. That is how little we talk. I don't want her to think that we would abuse this unfortunate situation.
I guess there is nothing we can do about it though. No matter what we do, radio waves are radio waves and they are going to be picked up by people all over the place.

 

[jcrow]

creepy indeed! when we got our monitor [i think the same one], my mil's friend said to be careful what you say. she said that a friend of hers said something bad about her neighbor. well the neighbor heard it all thanks to the monitor.

that got us wondering if just the speaker would pick up or if the video would too. now i know. yikes!

i think i'd have to say something to your neighbor if i was you. actually, i take that back. i'd get a new monitor.

 

[NovemberBride]

This happens to us all the time. We live in a cul de sac where there are babies in 4 of the houses. We pick each others kids up on the monitor all the time. It is freaky. I now always turn the camera off when I am not using the monitor. I have heard of it happening to a lot of people I know. Not surprising, since there are really only a couple of popular models to choose from and video monitors are really common now. I'm not sure if getting a different monitor would help because they may use the same frequencies.

 

[Nashville]

My boss had this same problem! He woke up early one morning and looked at his screen and their was no baby in the crib! So he freaked out and ran upstairs to see what happened and his baby was asleep in the crib. So we went back downstairs and checked the screen again and still no baby! Now remember this was crazzzzy early in the morning..so he woke his wife up and was like "honey our baby is in the crib but he's not onthe monitor..." his wife was like "If he's in the crib who cares right now!" He went back downstairs and really looked at the screen and it was a completely different crib. haahha....

So creepy to know that the lines can get crossed like that!

Let me just say, if I had looked at the baby monitor and saw an empty crib, I would have had a heart attack right then and there.

 

[packrat]

Yikes! I agree about talking to her and explaining the situation.

I've never had the monitors w/screens, just the old regular kind that pick up noises. One afternoon, London was taking a nap and I crashed in my bed. I woke up to hear people talking over the monitor. I was half asleep at first, trying to figure out if I was dreaming or if someone was in the house. Just when I was ready to go busting into her room, I realized it was our neighbors and the monitor was picking up either their phone conversations or just them talking in the house. Scared the bejeezus out of me.

 

[soocool]

Meresal,
Back in the day , our monitors picked up the neighbors babies.. No pics, just the sounds.. Imagine my surprise to hear talking from my monitor... Ash was 3 months old..


I don't see why you can't talk to her, and say we have the same monitor... You can choose B, she can choose A... Yanno??

Not only did I pick up other babies via my monitor (sounds only), but I also picked up my neighbors' phone conversations. That was scary that someone could be listening to you on the phone without you knowing it and I heard a lot! I immediately went out and bought a corded phone and made sure I did not leave the monitor on 24/7.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I personally wouldn't say anything and would be very careful to turn the monitor off when you weren't using it. Luckily the houses in our neighborhood a bit further apart and my direct neighbors do not have little kids. That is a bit creepy.

 

[meresal]

Jcrow- I wish it was just a monitor issue... however, I believe that the waves used are generic radio waves and will be picked up by any monitor I use.

November, that would drive me insane. Do you all have to use the same "channel" or do your monitors have multiple ones?

Packrat and socool, I really hope that doesn't happen to me. I can't believe it picks up phone conversations. eek.

Tacori, thanks for chiming in. I understand turning the monitor off. The unfortunate thing is that the only way to turn it off when not using it, is to unplug it from the wall, and the plug we had to use in between the crib and the wall. Uggh.

On a side note... I had the big monitor in the bedroom with me last night, and that will not be happening again! It vocalizes every single stinkin' sound that is made in the nursery. (I swear it made a woosh sound when I saw a fuzz go across the screen. ) I do not need to wake up everytime my child rolls over or breathes deeply. It was the worst night sleep I have had since the baby was born. No lie.
I finally unplugged it at 3am and plugged our regular Sony "sound only" monitor back in. I love that it has the option where it only makes a noise if the baby makes a significant sound... and thank the lord, no hum. I really wish the Summer monitor had that option. Does that bother anyone else?

 

[TravelingGal]

Meresal, for the reason you just said, I would not buy the summer monitor alone. I LOVE our Sony Monitor and it's the one we use in our bedroom. The summer one I just keep outside in the living room to check that she has indeed fallen asleep. I would never buy a monitor without voice activation to use in the bedroom, but that's just me. And I'm half deaf!

As for the creepy problem, it's a common one with that monitor. A lot of people write about it in the amazon reviews. Personally I'd tell her and have an agreement that you will only use your "own" channels, otherwise I'd worry that someone was listening and watching everything that I do!

 

[Sabine]

Mer, I have a video monitor from Radio Shack that is not truly a baby monitor, can be used for surveillance, etc. and it has the option to have the video on and sound off or sound only on. We now turn it off completely overnight, but I love having it to see whats going on when he's waking up, etc. But I don't know if it would run on different waves than a traditional baby monitor.

 

[dreamer_dachsie]

Thanks for the heads up on this monitor Mer! I would probably speak to the neighbour.

We don't use a monitor at all now. And I wear earplugs to sleep

When we have number 2 I plan to get a video monitor for checking that baby is asleep or checking if I should go in or leave baby be.

 

[blushingbride]

Mer - that monitor you are refering to is analog. You need to get the digital version of that. The fact that it's analog is the reason why it's picking up those random signals.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

My summer monitor's power cord unplugs from the base as well. Maybe the new ones don't. I would be concerned if you think you or her will have another baby soon. I have friends that bought another camera so they can watch both babies with one monitor (so they use A and B). I used the Angel Care as my sound monitor.

 

[turtledazzle]

That is indeed creepy -- makes me glad both of our neighbors are in their 70s definitely without infants in the house . We have been using a Safety 1st video monitor so far for our 3-week old -- I think DH chose the Safety 1st over the Summer because it uses digital technology, but I may be recalling incorrectly.

I did have a quick question, however, and I apologize for the brief threadjack. With your Sony audio-only monitor, do you all use a white noise machine with your LOs? Does the Sony filter out the white noise? We use the Homemedics sound machine (baby crack machine ala Fiery and Mara -- thanks so much for this recommendation -- our little guy loves the ocean noise), but our audio on our video monitor does not filter out anything and the white noise coming through drives me bonkers. It doesn't bother DH as much, but I was wondering if the Sony audio would fix this problem. TIA!

 

[TravelingGal]

That is indeed creepy -- makes me glad both of our neighbors are in their 70s definitely without infants in the house . We have been using a Safety 1st video monitor so far for our 3-week old -- I think DH chose the Safety 1st over the Summer because it uses digital technology, but I may be recalling incorrectly.

I did have a quick question, however, and I apologize for the brief threadjack. With your Sony audio-only monitor, do you all use a white noise machine with your LOs? Does the Sony filter out the white noise? We use the Homemedics sound machine (baby crack machine ala Fiery and Mara -- thanks so much for this recommendation -- our little guy loves the ocean noise), but our audio on our video monitor does not filter out anything and the white noise coming through drives me bonkers. It doesn't bother DH as much, but I was wondering if the Sony audio would fix this problem. TIA!

I actually think it would. As long as the noise is consistent, it doesn't seem to pick it up. For instance, our monitor is right by a clock that ticks. It ignores the very loud ticking noise.

 

[Puppmom]

You all MUST check out the episode of Modern Family where the one couple hears a man's voice on their baby monitor and the one gentleman basically squeals, runs and hides and later questions his manhood and parenting skills since he didn't rush to rescue his child from the "intruder".