The best video baby monitors: Keep eyes—and ears—on your bundle of joy
Video baby monitors have a singular purpose: to bring parents, particularly nervous new ones, peace of mind. By transmitting audio and video, they allow moms and dads to keep eyes and ears on their snoozing little ones, so they can get things done or just get a good night’s sleep.
But these nursery essentials can be as fussy as the babies they keep tabs on. And like virtually every other household appliance, they are growing increasingly more capable and complex. In addition to conventional video baby monitors that use a camera and a handheld LCD display, often called a “parent unit,” there are now also Wi-Fi-enabled systems that connect to your home network and use your smartphone as both the display and the controller, much like DIY home security cameras. These latter models offer high-defition video, intelligent alerts, and the ability to check on your child from anywhere you have an internet connection.