B E F O R E  Y O U  B U Y 

A Mum's Grapevine Guide

Before You Buy a Baby Monitor Ask Yourself...

Pine Lime Squiggle

Helping Australian mums make better buying decisions.

19-minute read.

Before You Buy guide to baby monitor illustration

Let's face it, you can't watch your baby every second of the day and night. A monitor is the next best thing: check in on bub without creaking that one floorboard outside their door, so both of you can rest easy.

Monitors have come a long way from crackly walkie-talkies. These days they can stream HD video to your phone, track breathing movement, tell you the room temperature and play white noise on demand. Whether you need all of that is another question entirely, and that's what this guide is for.

We'll walk you through the types, the prices, the safety must-knows and the questions to ask yourself before you spend a cent. Don't forget to print our handy Baby Monitor Chooser Checklist before you hit the shops!

What to Know Before You Buy a Baby Monitor

Before you decide what to buy, you need to know what you can buy and why. We've answered the basics so you can get your head around what's out there.

Is it essential: No. In a small home or apartment, your own ears do the job. Monitors earn their place in bigger homes, double storeys, or whenever you want to be in the garden while bub naps.

How much will it cost: $30 to $500. Basic audio monitors start around $30 to $60, video monitors with a parent unit sit at $130 to $330, smart WiFi monitors run $150 to $400, and breathing movement monitors (or bundles that include them) reach $400 to $500.

How long will you use it: 2 to 5 years. Video monitors often carry on into toddlerhood, and connected cameras can keep working after the cot's long gone (more in Longevity).

Should you purchase before baby arrives: No rush. Lots of families don't use a monitor for the first few months while bub sleeps in their room, which conveniently means you can buy once you know your actual house, routine and nerves.

Baby monitor accessories: Extra cameras, spare parent units, sensor pads, wall mounts and camera shelves, belt clips.

Can you buy secondhand: Yes, for standard audio and video monitors in good working order. Be more careful with WiFi monitors; only buy if the previous owner can factory-reset it in front of you, the app is still supported, and check that sensor pads haven't passed their use-by date, since some manufacturers set a lifespan on them.

What's the Difference

The biggest fork in the road is how the monitor gets the picture to you: over its own radio signal, or over the internet. Two cameras can look identical on the shelf and behave completely differently at home.

Standard (non-WiFi) monitors - RF/DECT

  • The camera talks directly to its own parent unit over a private radio signal
  • Works the moment you plug it in: no app, no account, no internet needed
  • Keeps working when the NBN doesn't, and can't be accessed over the internet by anyone
  • Range is limited to your house and yard, and only the parent unit can view it

WiFi (smart) monitors

  • The camera streams through your home internet to an app on your phone
  • View from anywhere: work, date night, the school pickup line
  • Multiple caregivers can watch on their own phones
  • Depends on your internet, needs security housekeeping (see Safety below), and some features may sit behind a subscription

So ask yourself what the monitor's job actually is. If it's "tell me what's happening down the hall", a standard monitor does it with no setup and nothing to hack. If the job includes "let me check in when I'm not home", you'll want WiFi, or a hybrid that does both.

Types of Baby Monitors

Audio-only baby monitor

Audio monitors

An audio monitor sends sound only, straight to a parent unit you carry around the house. You'll hear when bub stirs, and that's the whole job. If you go this way, look for DECT digital transmission, which gives you clear sound without interference from the neighbour's monitor or your microwave.

Video baby monitor with camera and handheld parent screen

Video monitors (dedicated parent unit)

A camera in the nursery streams sound and vision to its own handheld screen, no internet involved. You can see whether that noise was a genuine wake-up or just bub resettling, which saves plenty of unnecessary trips into the room. Nothing to hack, no app subscriptions, and no dramas when the NBN drops out.

WiFi smart baby monitor camera streaming to a phone app

WiFi / smart monitors

The camera streams to an app on your phone, or several phones, so you can check in from anywhere: the office, date night, Nanna's house. In exchange you take on some security housekeeping (see Safety), possible subscription fees for cloud features, and a monitor that's only as reliable as your internet.

Hybrid baby monitor system with parent unit and app

Hybrid systems

A camera that works with both a dedicated parent unit and an app, or a bundle pairing a video monitor with a breathing sensor. You get the everyday reliability of a parent unit plus check-in-from-anywhere flexibility, and you'll pay for both.

 

Breathing movement sensor pad placed under a cot mattress

Breathing movement monitors

A sensor pad sits under the mattress and alerts you if it stops detecting breathing movement. There's nothing on bub and nothing to charge nightly, but expect the odd false alarm when a wriggler scoots off the pad. Read the Safety section before you buy one of these, it matters.

Wearable baby monitor sock or clip tracking vitals

Wearable monitor

Worn on bub rather than under them: a sock, a nappy clip or an ankle band tracking things like heart rate, oxygen levels and sleep, streaming to an app. You'll get more data than any other option, and pay more too. Check whether the one you're looking at is TGA-listed as a medical device or sold as a general wellness product, because the numbers can look clinical without being validated for it. The Safety caveat below applies to these too.

 

Buying Decisions

What to Consider Before Buying
a Baby Monitor

Illustration of baby monitor buying decisions

Whether you plan to watch bub's every wriggle or just want to know when your little one needs you, there's a monitor to suit. Just decide what matters most for you.

Lifestyle

Let's start with your house and your habits, because the perfect monitor for a single-level three-bedder isn't the right pick for a double storey on acreage.

Things to consider:

What do you actually want to know?

  • Just tell me when bub's awake - an audio monitor does exactly this for under $60, with better battery life than any screen.
  • I want to see what's going on - a video monitor with infrared night vision shows you whether that noise needs you or not, and your sleep will thank you for every trip you don't make.
  • I want to check in from anywhere - a WiFi monitor lets you peek at nap time from the office or while the grandparents babysit. Just weigh up the security housekeeping that comes with it.
  • I'm anxious about breathing - a breathing or wearable monitor may ease your mind, or it may feed the worry with a false alarm every time bub scoots off the pad or the sock slips. Read the Safety section, and be honest with yourself about which camp you're in. We won't pretend to know, only you do.

What's your house like?

  • Double storey or big block - range matters. Walls, floors and insulation all shave distance off the advertised figure, so a monitor claiming a couple of hundred metres of open-field range may struggle from one end of a brick house to the other. Check the out-of-range alert actually works.
  • Small apartment - You may need nothing at all, or a basic audio unit for the balcony and laundry runs.
  • Two kids sharing a room - a camera with pan, tilt and zoom covers two cots with one unit, or look at systems that support multiple cameras on one parent screen.
  • Planning to be outside - hanging out the washing, gardening, a cheeky cuppa in the sun. Make sure the parent unit runs on battery, not just mains, and clips to your waistband.

Sky blue Squiggle line illustration

Ease of Use

A monitor is a 2am appliance. It has to work when you're at your least capable.

Things to consider:

How's the everyday handling?

  • Parent unit battery life is the big one. A unit that dies mid-morning after a night on the charger will drive you spare, so look for 10+ hours on a charge and check reviews mention the battery kindly.
  • Check the essentials work in the dark, half asleep. Volume, screen brightness and muting a false alarm should all be one-button jobs.
  • Sound-level lights, the little LEDs that show noise even with the volume down, let you keep the unit silent during dinner or a movie and still know when bub stirs.

If it's a WiFi monitor, how's the app?

  • Read recent app-store reviews before buying, because a good camera with a rubbish app is a rubbish monitor. Look for complaints about dropped connections, slow loading and subscription creep.
  • Check what's free versus subscription. Some brands paywall recording, sleep tracking or even basic features after a trial period, so find out before you're attached to a feature.
  • Multiple caregivers? Confirm the app supports more than one account without extra charges.

Sky blue Squiggle line illustration

Longevity

If you're keen to get your money's worth, think past the cot years.

Things to consider:

What's the monitor's second career?

  • Toddler monitoring - two-way audio earns its keep well into toddlerhood, for soothing from afar and, inevitably, as a walkie talkie.
  • Security camera - many WiFi baby cameras are the same hardware as home security cameras, so a monitor with recording capability can watch the front porch after it's done watching the nursery.
  • The next baby - standard audio and video monitors last through multiple children easily. For WiFi monitors, the question is whether the app will still be supported in three years, so check how long the brand has kept its older models running.

Will it keep working?

  • Check the warranty (12 months is standard, some offer more) and whether support is Australian-based. A monitor that needs overseas warranty service is a monitor you'll end up replacing instead.
  • Spare parts matter here too. Replacement parent units, chargers and camera mounts from Australian stock mean a dropped handset isn't a whole new system.

Sky blue Squiggle line illustration

Storability

Monitors are small, but the setup deserves a thought.

Things to consider:

Where does the camera live?

  • The best view is high and wide: wall-mounted in a corner or on a high shelf gives the whole-cot view, keeps cords well away from little hands (see Safety below), and survives the day bub learns to stand and grab.
  • If you're renting and can't mount, look for cameras with a stable, weighted base or a shelf-clamp option.

And the parent unit?

  • Give it a charging home base (bedside table is the classic) so it's always topped up and always findable. The parent unit that lives "somewhere in the house" is the parent unit that's always flat when you need it.

Between kids

  • Box the whole system together: camera, parent unit, both chargers, mounts and the manual. A monitor missing a charger is useless, and replacement plugs for a discontinued model are often hard to find.

Safety First

Baby monitor cord kept a safe distance from the cot

One thing on this page is genuinely life-and-death, so we'll say it first: monitor cords have strangled babies. The ACCC's warning is blunt and so are we. Keep the camera and every cord at least three metres from the cot, never cot-side, and secure cords to the wall. That goes for any corded device near where bub sleeps, and it's the first thing to check in your setup, not the last.

The other one that matters: breathing and wearable monitors don't prevent SIDS. Red Nose is clear that no monitor is a substitute for safe sleep, and there's no evidence breathing movement monitors or wearables reduce the risk. If one helps your peace of mind, that's a fair reason to buy it. Just know its job is reassurance, not protection, and safe sleeping (back to sleep, clear cot, own sleep space) is what actually reduces risk. A monitor tells you what's happening; it doesn't make anything safe.

There's no single mandatory product standard for baby monitors, but a few more checks worth making:

  • Electrical compliance - monitors sold in Australia must meet electrical safety and radiofrequency requirements, so look for the RCM mark. Cheap direct imports from overseas marketplaces may carry neither, and an uncertified plug-in device running 12 hours a night in a nursery isn't the place to save $40.
  • WiFi security - a hacked baby monitor is a stranger's window into your nursery. Change the default password straight away, use a strong unique password on the app and your home WiFi, turn on two-factor authentication if it's offered, and keep the firmware updated. If a secondhand WiFi camera can't be factory-reset, don't use it.

If you're feeling anxious about your baby's breathing or sleep to the point that it's affecting your own, that's worth a chat with your child health nurse rather than another gadget.

Optional Extras

The sky's the limit on what your monitor can do these days.

  • Two-way audio - talk or shush from afar, and a guaranteed toddler walkie talkie later
  • Room temperature display - alerts if the nursery drifts too hot or cold
  • Pan, tilt and zoom - steer the camera from the parent unit, essential for shared rooms and escapee toddlers
  • Nightlight and lullabies - white noise, womb sounds and a soft glow, all switchable from the couch
  • Sleep tracking and data - some smart monitors log sleep patterns and even claim to predict wake-ups; charming until the subscription renewal
  • Recording capability - catch first rolls, first words and the mystery of what actually happens at 4am
  • Split-screen multi-camera - watch two rooms (or two cots) on one parent unit

After You're Done

Eventually you'll realise the monitor's been off for a week and nobody noticed, and bub's promotion to big kid is complete. Here's what to do with it, and it's worth knowing before you buy.

Reselling it

  • Standard video monitors from known brands resell steadily on Facebook Marketplace for roughly a third to half of their new price. Complete systems with all chargers do best, and audio monitors fetch modest sums but sell fast.
  • WiFi monitors are a tougher resell, because savvy buyers ask about app support and subscriptions. Include proof it factory-resets cleanly, and expect less than an equivalent parent-unit monitor.
  • Resale tips: keep the box and both chargers, note the purchase year, and mention any remaining warranty. Factory-reset any connected monitor before it leaves the house, otherwise your WiFi details and footage history go with it.

Upcycling it

  • A WiFi monitor's retirement gig is home security. Point it at the front porch, the driveway or the back gate, same app, same account, new job. Factory-reset it first and set it up fresh so old nursery footage and settings don't carry over.
  • Parent-unit video monitors can keep watch over other things too: the sleeping dog, the chook run, a poorly kid home from school. And two-way audio units make a ready-made intercom between the shed and the house.
  • Whatever its new post, the cord rule follows the camera. If it's anywhere a child sleeps or plays, cords stay secured and out of reach.

Passing it on

  • A working monitor system is a welcome hand-me-down or donation. Charities that rehome baby gear (Our Village, Dandelion Support Network, Roundabout Canberra) generally accept electrical items in good working order, but check their current wishlist as electrical policies vary.
  • Pass on the cord-safety rule with it: three metres from the cot, always. It's the kind of thing second-time recipients assume they know and first-timers don't.

Recycling it

  • Monitors are e-waste, not general bin waste. Cameras, parent units, chargers, and sensor pads with electronics all go to council e-waste collection or an electronics drop-off point, and rechargeable batteries, in particular, should never go to landfill.
  • A monitor with a frayed cord or a battery that bulges or overheats is done. Retire it to e-waste rather than selling or donating a hazard.

Common Questions

In the Market for a Baby Monitor?

Join the closed Mum's Grapevine due date and baby groups on Facebook and ask other mums what they love about their monitor. From the audio-only minimalists to the full night-vision command centre operators, someone in your group has watched a thousand hours of the exact monitor you're considering.

Expecting mother whispering to a friend

This guide is general in nature. For safe sleep guidance, see Red Nose at rednose.org.au, and if you're worried about your baby's sleep or breathing, your child health nurse is a great first port of call.