Are Baby Monitors Safe to Use? | Explained For New parents

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Although baby monitors have become a necessity of modern day parents; using them however still raises concerns in parent’s minds. On top of all concerns, the main one is; Are baby monitors safe to use? This question remains unanswered due to many facts and rumors surrounding the baby monitor’s industry.

The overflow of information makes it hard for parents to decide what to believe and what to ignore. In this post, I will try to sum up the answer to every question you have in mind regarding the safety of using a baby monitor to ensure you feel, you have made the right move by purchasing or not purchasing a baby monitor.

To make your mind clear regarding the safety of using a baby monitor, I will discuss each threat individually and try to find out whether it’s real or not.

Safety Threats of Using a Baby Monitor

1.Risk of Getting Robbed and Other Privacy Concerns

All radio monitors work on a radio frequency to transmit and receive data. These frequencies are vulnerable to get interfered with by other devices such as; another baby monitor using the same frequency, a wireless device such as a cordless phone or a radio. This can become a great risk for your home security because anyone can hear what’s going on in your house by tapping into your baby monitor’s frequency. Whoever is able to do that can rob you easily anytime.

Hmm! That’s a great threat. Is there some that can be done to avoid this chaos. The answer is, yes, there are technologies used today by baby monitors that can reduce the risk of someone violating your privacy. The topmost secure technologies used in baby monitors are DECT and FHSS. Let’s discuss each and see how they can help in keeping your home safe and private.

  • DECT

Digital enhanced cordless communication or DECT baby monitors work on a special radio frequency of 1.9 GHz to transmit and receive data. Usage of an uncommon radio frequency makes it hard for other devices to intercept with your baby monitor which makes your home safe.

However, it’s not the safest because anyone using a similar baby monitor of the same brand can catch your baby monitors frequency. But for that to happen, they need specialized knowledge, like which baby monitor you are using at your home.

  • FHSS

It’s a technology developed by the military that has been recently commercialized. Baby monitors working on FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) technology keeps changing the frequency to transmit data on a broad spectrum which limits the chances to catch the signal by any other devices.

This feature makes this technology fairly secure and eliminates your chances of getting robbed. However, this comes at an added cost. So, if you are not totally paranoid, you can go with DECT as well it’s safer than others but not the safest like FHSS.

2.Risk of affecting Baby’s Health

Another major concern that worries a lot of parents is the threat of baby’s health posed by using wireless technology. This is very important to know whether using a baby monitor is safe for your baby’s health or not since all are based on wireless technology these days. Why waste your money if you are not doing any good for your baby’s well-being. Right? After all, that’s why you want to purchase a baby monitor in the first place.

Let’s see the threat associated with using wireless technology and try to find out whether it can really affect your baby’s health or not.

  • Threat on Mental Health of Your Baby

All wireless technologies emit NIR (non-ionizing radiation) that can heat up the brain tissue of your baby that can result in brain tissue damage. This can greatly affect your baby’s mental growth. So, how can you ensure that your baby’s health doesn’t compromise?

When it comes to the thermal effect of NIR on your baby’s body; there is a standard level of NIR absorption which is considered safe for your baby’s body. This standard level is called the specific absorption rate or SAR. If your baby’s body is getting absorption not more than the standard level which is 1.6 W/Kg then she is safe.

To ensure that your baby only absorbs lower levels NIR, you can use analog baby monitors over digital ones that will have less heating effect on your baby’s brain. How? Let me tell you.

Both digital and analog monitors work on radio waves. However, the difference is their frequency at which they operate.

  1. The frequency of Digital Baby Monitors (900 Mhz to 5 Ghz)
  2. The frequency of Analog Baby Monitors (40 Mhz to 1.2 Ghz)

Why Frequency Matters?

Frequency is the essence of heating things up, the more the frequency the quicker things heat up. An example of which is a microwave oven which emits the same NIR but at a higher frequency. A microwave oven operates at a frequency of 5 GHz and above. The more frequency of the microwave the quicker it will heat up your dinner.

So, using a lower frequency version of a baby monitor ensures that your baby’s health stays put since it’s not getting more radiation.

My Final Verdict

The answer to my question, “Are Baby Monitors Safe to Use” is yes. Only if you make informed decisions and prioritize what matters more to you.

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