Are wireless baby monitors a good choice to help keep your child safe while you are out of the room? What about digital or video-based monitors? Well, consider this…
If a mobile phone company applied for a permit to install a cell tower next to a school in your community, do you think there would be a large public outcry?
Most likely there would be very vocal outrage from the surrounding neighborhoods and the story would be featured prominently in the local news as many concerned and informed parents are increasingly taking precautions to minimize their children’s exposure to any sort of microwave technology.
The fact is that the long term effects of microwave radiation on children’s developing brains are completely unknown.
What is known is that a child’s brain is not fully developed until about age 20 and until that time, the skull is thinner to permit its continued growth and development.  Hence, a child’s brain is extremely sensitive to the effects of any type of EMF radiation (1).
Wireless Baby Monitors: Â The Elephant in the Nursery
While most parents would agree that installing a cell phone tower next to a school would be dangerous and definitely not a good idea, many of these same parents are unaware of the very similar danger posed by baby monitors, devices ironically designed for child safety!
When my first child was born, like all the other mothers I knew, I had a baby monitor on my baby shower list.
At that time, baby monitors were corded and plugged into a wall outlet, so I was very careful to keep it away from the baby’s crib and on a bureau across the room out of concern for strangulation risk from the cord.
In recent years, however, corded baby monitors have all but disappeared in favor of the new wireless models which pose a very severe risk of continuous microwave radiation in your child’s room.
According to Wired Child, a wireless baby monitor at less than 1 meter away from the baby’s crib was roughly equivalent to the microwave radiation experienced from a cell phone tower only 150 meters away.
With most baby monitors now wireless and the risk of strangulation from the cords no longer an issue, many parents are putting them right in the crib so a distance of 1 meter or less is not so far fetched. Even a wireless monitor across the room would still pose a danger, albeit a reduced one.
How to Keep Tabs on Your Baby Without Wireless Baby Monitors
The best way to keep tabs on your baby is to have the child’s nursery next to the master bedroom and use your ears.  It’s how Grandma did it after all!
If you absolutely must have a baby monitor for when your child is napping during the day and you are elsewhere in the house doing chores, then use one of the old-style corded (analog) monitors that you can probably find at a garage sale for next to nothing.
While all wireless baby monitors are a problem, the high-frequency digital models are the absolute worst.  Analog monitors are a better choice than digital and if you can find one that is non-pulsing and low frequency in the 35-50 MHz range then that would be the only wireless option that should be considered. Typically, these analog monitors only have a few channels.  Even analog monitors, however, should be kept at least 3 feet from the child’s bed and if possible, used sparingly.
According to PowerWatch, parents that switch out wireless baby monitors for an old-style plug-in monitor or none at all report the child crying less, having less irritability and sleeping better.
Taking care to get the microwave radiation out of your baby’s room to protect her developing brain may have the distinct advantage of a better night’s sleep – for everyone in the house!
References
Digital Cordless Baby Monitors (PowerWatch)
More Information
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Are AMR Devices Safer than Smart Meters?
Harvard Medical Doctor Warns About the Dangers of Smart Meters
Fitbit Health Dangers
How to Protect Yourself from a Smart Meter
I just hoovered up the charger for mine so analog here I come!
@Audria those are ok from what I’ve been researching.
Not sure if this is true but I also heard it is a way for predators to monitor the baby. They can pick up the radio frequency. I like the idea of a monitor though I don’t have one. To worried about all the negative things I hear.
My baby monitor has a battery operated wireless option for the receiver (mom’s side), but the nursery side is plug in. Any ideas on the safety there?? (We have thin walls, so rarely have them in use, thankfully!!)
never liked those things and never used them when my kids were little….but now, there are baby video monitors in nurseries….
Yes, the old style plugins are ok. If you can’t find one of those at a garage sale or from a friend whose kids are older, the analog wireless that are low frequency and don’t pulse are the only type that should be considered and even then used sparingly.
Ok, call me stupid but I have no idea what an old-school plug in monitor looks like, and I’m 42! lol! I have an Angelcare monitor that has a base unit that sits on a dresser in our room (we all co-sleep) and we have two remote units that are wireless, but always sit in their cradles that are plugged in – in in the living room, one in the kitchen. I would gladly swap it out for something that is a wired version, but all I’ve ever known are those that have a base unit to put in the room with remote/wireless units that will let you hear what’s going on. Help?
Sounds like the one you describe are analog wireless (like a cordless phone). It should have only a few channels just to be sure? Should be ok just keep across the room as you are already doing.
Speaking of cordless phones, your readers should also know that cordless home phones emit constant EMFs and are in many cases as bad or worse than cell phones (neither are good). A friend tested our cordless home phones with an EMF meter and it was just like sitting next to a running microwave oven, even when it was just sitting there not in use!
Dump the cordless phones, cell phones, WiFi, baby monitors and microwaves.
The internet is a good source for shopping for wired phones, though it is possible to find a limited selection in the usual electronics stores.
Great post, something most would not even think about!
So if the monitor is one that plugs into the wall it’s ok? That’s what we have. I keep it across the room from the crib and only use it at night as unfortunately the design of our house is such that the master bedroom is across the house from the other rooms. I don’t use it for naps as I am nearby and awake…but I’m a sound sleeper, so I doubt I’d hear the baby across the house in the middle of the night without the monitor.
We must use a wireless “baby” monitor in our home for safety. My 88 yr old mother lives iwth us. Her bedroom is down stairs and we bought this house because she can not climb stairs. The monitor is needed so that I can hear her during the night in case of a fall or other urgent need. Baby monitors were not around when my children were born. My grandson with autism requires 24/7 monitoring too. At night he can be seen and heard by my daughter via wireless monitors. He is nonverbal, does not know danger and must be locked in his room during the night for safety. The kids bedrooms are upstairs and the parents down. I agree about not using the monitors, but in some cases it is necessary. Love all you healthy tips and recipes.
Joyce, why can’t you use a monitor with a plug in cord? Why does it have to be wireless?
Very, very good point. As a matter of fact, this idea of eliminating all wired devices with “wireless” is an industry idea. Presently,during this time of economic downturn, the wireless industry ocntinues to show double digit profits.IN fact, industry lobbied government to make sure that biological effects from wireless devices were not included in the Safety codes used for placement of wireless towers.