A Must-Have Item for Parents of Babies. Our Story & Review of the Owlet Baby Monitor

In my first trimester, when I was pregnant with our son, I received news from a close friend they had lost their two-week-old son to SIDS. I was devastated for her. I cried and cried for her and wondered in fear if the same would happen to our baby.

Their story is what sparked my search for the best baby monitor available. I got overwhelmed with the never-ending options for baby monitors. None of them seemed to calm my troubles until I ran across the Owlet. I had never heard of the Owlet before; I was intrigued.

My nerves and our peace of mind were one of the main reasons we value the purchase of the Owlet. I do not know about you, but even when I am looking at our son, I could not tell if he was breathing. I woke him up many times just to make sure he was okay.

I had a tough pregnancy, so we did not order the owlet in time for our son’s birth. By week two we had the Owlet in our hands. The set up was easy and quick. I slept so much better knowing I would be woken up to have a second chance to save our son.

When my son was about a month old, the only alarms at the time we had heard were the blue and yellow alarms, but when the red one went off there was no doubt what that meant.

We were getting ready for bed, and my husband went to the kitchen to grab some water. I just checked our son and turned out the lights to go to sleep. I heard him cough a little and wondered if I should get up. Thirty seconds later I was still trying to listen and debated whether or not to check on him again. (I was anxious as a first-time mother, so I was always checking on him.)

The red alarm started flashing so I quickly jumped up and went to our son. He was not waking up. I pulled our son from the crib and brought him over to the changing pad on the dresser nearby, so we had better access to him. He seemed to be breathing, but he was not reacting to our efforts to wake him.

I undressed him quickly and tried to get him to respond. I was not happy with the results, so I threw on a cold, wet wipe and he still did not show any improvement. After rubbing him down with our hands, he finally woke up and began to cry. Oh, how the sound of a baby cry can bring such sweet relief!

I suggest baby CPR classes to prepare for these emergencies. As they say, “knowledge is power” as it will help you know how to check the vital signs and act accordingly. We did not know what to do or even how to address the problem. We were close to calling the ambulance for guidance.

Some of you might be asking, how come you did not check the app to see what was wrong? At the time they did not have the Android app, but they did have the Apple app for the Owlet. We were able to use it by itself without the app. The Android Owlet app is now available, and we love it! Seeing the readings in the normal range gives us such peace of mind.

The following day I took our son to the pediatrician’s office to just make sure everything was okay. Everything turned out alright and luckily it has not happened since. The pediatrician informed us sometimes babies can have sleep apnea, sickness or other issues that can lower or raise their heart rate at this delicate stage of life.

It could have been serious, but we will never know, and frankly I do not want to think about what could have been if we did not have the Owlet. Every parent who wants a second pair of eyes on their baby while they sleep should seriously consider the purchase of the Owlet, especially those who are “safety nuts” like me.