The three questions I seem to get over and over about our nursery are regarding the sound machine, video monitor and what space heater we recently added. So I figured it would be beneficial to put together a quick post outlining each so it can live permanently somewhere and not just in my instagram stories.
1. What Space Heater do we use? It must be finally getting cold everywhere else (it snowed here in October! Haha!) because this question is coming out of the wood work. A few months ago we added a little space heater to Polly's nursery, specifically the Rowenta Silent Comfort Heater with Eco-Mode. We love this little thing that packs a lot of power. A few favorite features:
• It's cool to the touch, even when it's on, so we don't have to worry about little hands getting burned.
• It turns completely off if it gets tipped--super safe design.
• We can set the temperature with a digital display and it will keep the room (up to 270 sq ft!) at that temperature at all times. Polly just transitioned out of her sleep suit, so we keep her room set to 72, while the rest of our home's thermostat is 65 degrees at night.
• Silent setting for heat without noise when sleeping or reading.
• Cool Fan setting for cooling or ventilating a room; for warmer months.
• It has an option for an up-to 24 hour delay-start timer so you can warm up a room before waking up or coming home from work.
• It's compact! I usually tuck it next to our glider and can't even see it!
2. What Video/Baby Monitor do we have? We have the Yi Home Camera, and like it so much we bought 2 more for the girls' bedroom and for the playroom downstairs. The picture is crystal clear, day or night, and is accessed through our phones--so we can always see what's going on, even when we're not home.
Here's a screenshot of how it looks on my phone--I can pan the room by swiping my finger left or right.
It has crying detection (we opted to turn off since we sleep right across the hall) and a microphone feature, so when Chris was recently on a trip to NY, he was still able to say goodnight to the girls through the camera, or easily tell the girls to come upstairs if they are playing in the playroom without screaming down the stairs.
We have it mounted on the window in the nursery and we can see about 80% of the room. My sister with a baby the same age as Polly was visiting over Christmas and saw the monitor and ordered it on the spot. We recommend it to everyone and so far, all of our friends and family love it, too!
3. What Sound Machine do we have? This switched recently! We started with the myBaby Soundspa On-The-Go white noise machine. It was inexpensive (under $10!) and portable. But we tired pretty quick of changing batteries and within just a couple of months the waves sound (Polly's favorite) died to one-note noise. I can see how this would be nice if you were traveling.
We now use the Marpac Dohm-DS All-Natural White Noise Sound Machine. Instead of a digital sound recording, this little device actually has a built in fan that creates the sound of rushing air (at two different speeds), without the movement of any actual air in the room. It has over 12,000 nearly five star reviews and we add our seal of approval there, too. It does an excellent job at drowning out the dog barking, the other girls screaming and any other noises so that Polly can sleep soundly.
Hope this is helpful! Feel free to chime in with your favorites, too!
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Thanks for the advice! Question on the camera, do you have to plug it into something? I want to mount it on the wall but don’t want the long cord.
It does plug in. We have ours mounted on the window trim and the cord just tucked along side it.
i purchased the space heater recommended and first noticed in the directions that it says it gets hot to the touch. So I turned it on and it def gets hot to touch. I was planning on using it in my crawling baby’s room so one that gets hot is a no go. Are you sure the model you linked is the same one you have as you note it doesn’t get hot? It looks the same. You specifically mentioned the cool touch feature so that’s why I wanted to be sure!
The one linked is the one we have. The grate where the heat comes out, of course, gets hot - no way to avoid that. But the rest of the exterior doesn't. Do the sides and exterior of yours become hot to the touch? If so, I would say to try and exchange it. It may be faulty. If it's just the front of it that gets hot, I think that will be the case with every heater.
Do you have a link for the toy Polly’s playing with in the photos above? I love that it is so color neutral
We got it right here!
Such a serene room you've created for your girl. I am picking thing or two for my girl's nursery.
(we are in the middle of renaovation, so i guess it will take time to get there:)
For sure ordering the baby cam! that sound machine- I have two...my sisters each bought them when their first babies were born and theyre still going strong 16 and 14 years later!!
I've heard great things about them and I'm happy to hear it will last us a good long time.
Hi! Love your blog, and insta-stories. Random question......where are the frames from that are in your kitchen? Think it’s kitchen maybe Hall. The family portraits!! Love the way they look.
They are from Highland Hardware.
Do you also use a humidifier in Polly's room?
We don't
Do you use a crib bumper in Polly’s crib? Getting ready to transition my daughter to her crib and looking for recommendations.
We don't
You can transfer her to a crib without a bumper. In fact, bumpers are not recommended in cribs because they are safety hazards, even the mesh bumpers are a no-no. Babies have died due to bumpers in their cribs, whether by suffocation or strangulation. They also greatly increase the risk of SIDS. Julia is a great example of how you can have a safe sleep space for your baby as well as a beautiful one. Sleep safety is number one!
Another plus of the the Dohm is that it can be cleaned and maintained, unlike artificial or electronic-based sounds. Ours recently started making a horrible grinding sound after 16 months of continuous use. We took it apart, cleaned out all the collected dust, lubricated the joints, put it back together, and it works perfectly once again.
So happy to see this! I've had mine for a few years and am just noticing that the sound is...changing, and not for the better. Gonna try and clean it now!
Yet another perk to it? Since it's an on/off switch (vs a button), it will come back on after a power flicker or power goes in and out. LOVE that
I bought the same monitor/camera based on previously seeing you mention it. Our little one isn't due until next month so we haven't really uses it per say but after a few hiccups getting it set up (my fault) I was convinced this was a great purchase. The night vision is amazing! I also really like that we'll be able to use it as a front door camera when we no longer need it as a baby monitor.
Thanks for this post! I started to get really exited about that monitor that you have and then perused the comment section on Amazon. Apparently the monitor's company is allowed access to your camera data? And can retain that information forever? Does this bother you at all? Just trying to get a complete understanding of how the product works.
I don't know how they would do that. We don't keep any sort of memory card in our camera.
Because of the WIFI network. According to the reviews.
I ordered a YI camera, actually after reading that you guys love yours, and we currently use it as a front door monitor. However, for the past several months, I have been having issues with the iPhone app, and I'm not receiving motion-detection notifications like I should. I've contacted the actual company about it, but I just wondered if you guys had any of the same issues. It's not that big of a deal for our current use for it, but I bought it with the idea that we might use it as a baby monitor someday, so the app issues are making me think that wouldn't be a great idea.
I guess you guys may not have run into this since you don't use the cry detection, so you wouldn't need to get notifications from the app.
Oh darn, yeah we haven't run into any issues because we have notifications turned off for use.
The Dohm is LIFE CHANGING. Everyone in our home (even the dog) sleeps with a sound machine and after using this one in an AirBnB several years ago, we all got an upgrade!
Ihave a question about the monitor. Does it *only* work with your phone? The whole thing seems awesome except having to unlock my phone and open the app any time I wanted to check in. Does it have a traditional hand held to also monitor?
I don't think it has a traditional handheld monitor. We have only and always used it with our phones.
You could put the app on one of your old phones. Or are we the only people who cycle through phones as random functions stop working?
THANK YOU for this post! I'm currently pregnant with my first and researching baby monitors is so overwhelming! The camera you have seems like such a smart option and it's a lot cheaper than some of the ones I've been looking at.
I recently purchased my first baby monitor and the big thing to consider is whether you want to use your phone/ipad as the monitoring device or if you want a separate monitor. There are pros and cons to each, and it really depends on how you are going to use the device. We opted for a separate parent monitor so we can leave it on while we do other things, sleep, etc. You could do the same with your iphone but I think that's easier if you have a dedicated device to the monitor (like an old phone you no longer use). Otherwise you will be going in and out of the app. And if your kid's room is farther away from your room, you may need to leave it on so you can hear them call out in the night. Good luck with your search!