Create a Baby Monitor with a Cell Phone

Parents may occasionally find themselves in situations where they must improvise in order to keep tabs on their babies, particularly when traveling. Cell phones can be the perfect solution. Though they should never be used as an excuse to leave a baby unattended at significant distances, cell phones do allow parents the opportunity to listen in on young children so that they can render immediate assistance in the event something occurs.

Steps

Creating a Basic Audio Monitor

  1. Obtain a mobile phone with "mute" and "speaker phone" features. Current mobile phones—especially smartphones—almost universally include these functions. You will also need to acquire a second mobile phone or ensure the availability of a landline phone.
  2. Place one standard landline phone or cell phone near the baby's crib. Meanwhile, parents should carry the cell phone with the mute and speaker phone functions.
  3. Connect a call between the two phones. Then, activate the mute and speaker phone functions on the parents' mobile phone. This ensures that parents can hear babies in the event they cry or struggle without creating noise that could awake or disturb the child.
  4. Test the connection to ensure any noise the baby makes is audible on the mobile phone's speakers. If you have established the connection correctly, parents should hear the baby while the baby will be unable to hear any noise from the parents phone.
  5. Keep your mobile phone with you at all times. Because you've removed it from your pocket, bag or purse, you may be more likely to forget your mobile phone in the event you leave the room.

Using Smartphone Software

  1. Obtain two smartphones. One will be used by parents, and the other will be positioned next to the baby. The advantage of using smartphones is that you can both watch and listen to your child. In most cases, you'll need smartphones using the same operating systems (e.g. iOS, Android or Windows)
  2. Find or purchase video streaming software. There are several popular applications designed specifically for monitoring babies, including Cloud Baby Monitor (available for iOS devices via iTunes), Dormi (available for Android devices via GooglePlay), Baby Monitor 3G (available for both operating systems via iTunes and GooglePlay) and Baby Monitor (available for Windows devices via Microsoft). These applications generally include additional functions like noise or motion alerts and lullabies.[1]
    • Cloud Baby Monitor includes a companion application allowing parents to visibly monitor their babies from other Mac devices like tablets or notebooks.
    • If you don't wish to purchase this software (which generally runs between $4 and $10), you can simply use a video streaming service like Skype, FaceTime or Google Hangouts. Simply connect two devices as you normally would for a video call. Though this software lacks unique baby monitoring functionality, it still allows for a audio and visual connection.[2]
  3. Connect your devices via the preferred software. This requires following the program-specific instructions for setting your devices up, adjusting preferences and ultimately connecting the two smartphones via the monitoring software or video call. Be sure to test the connection and video feed before leaving the room.

Tips

  • You may be able to enable an "auto-answer" function the phone monitoring the baby, allowing you reestablish a connection by redialing the number in the event its interrupted. This feature will likely be located under the Tools or Settings submenu. You may also wish to silence the monitoring phone's ringer so as to avoid awaking the baby when redialing.
  • Ensure that both devices have enough power in their batteries to maintain the connection for as long as you need.
  • If using a traditional phone connection, be sure to account for your minute usage. Call minutes may be limited under some phone plans, particularly when they aren't used during nights or weekends.
  • When muting the parents' phone, be sure that the mic is muted rather than the speaker. Otherwise your child would hear you while you're unable to hear your child.

Warnings

  • Remember that a monitor is no substitute for supervision. Always make sure that you can get to your baby within a few seconds if you have to.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.parents.com/baby/gear/monitor/how-to-use-phone-as-baby-monitor/
  2. ↑ http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/build-baby-monitor/
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