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There can be a particular kind of anxiousness that comes with putting your baby down to sleep and walking out of the room. Even when you’ve done everything right — the swaddle, the white noise, the dark room, the awake window — there’s still that quiet hum of worry that can follow. Are they okay? Are they breathing? And in those early weeks and months, that question is not irrational. It’s the very real weight of new parenthood, and it doesn’t just switch off during sleep times, sometimes it’s amplified.

I’ve been a holistic infant and toddler sleep coach for eight years. I’ve walked hundreds and hundreds of families through the fog of sleep deprivation and onto the other side of it. But before I was a sleep coach helping other moms, I was a new mom myself — lying awake in my own bedroom, when my son was in my room near me and when he was in his own room, wondering if the monitor on my nightstand was actually giving me what I needed.

When I first discovered the Nanit Smart Baby Monitor System, something genuinely shifted for me. Not just as a professional who talks about sleep every single day, but as a mom. And eight years later, I still have a Nanit in both of my boys’ rooms — my eight-year-old and my four-year-old. This isn’t a product I tried once and set aside. It’s one I’ve lived with, traveled with, upgraded, and recommended to families without hesitation. Today I want to share exactly why.

What I Was Looking for in a Baby Monitor — and What Changed Everything

When my first son was a baby, I went through a few different monitors before finding Nanit. Like many parents, I was learning as I went — figuring out what I actually needed as a new mom versus what I thought I needed before he arrived. What I came to realize was that what I was truly looking for wasn’t just a camera. I wanted information I could trust, and peace of mind I could actually feel.

The first thing that grabbed me about the Nanit was simple but powerful: I could view my son’s sleep space directly from my phone. That might sound like a small detail, but in practice, it changed everything to not only have the separate display option. Whether I had a babysitter at home, was out for the evening with grandma watching my son, or was just in another room doing mom stuff, I could open the Nanit app, see my child clearly, and zoom in on his face. The zoom was everything! Especially in those, is he breathing moments. Real information. Not hoping, not guessing — seeing.

Nanit’s own research shows that 71% of Nanit parents report feeling less anxious when using the monitor, and when I read that statistic, I think: yes. That’s exactly right. There is a particular kind of low-grade, persistent parental worry that can follow you. So reliable, real-time visual information has a way of quieting that noise beautifully — and that’s exactly what the Nanit gave me from the very beginning. Little did I know, there was going to be so much more to love!

The Breathing Monitoring Technology

One of the features that truly distinguishes the Nanit is its breathing motion monitoring technology — and the way it actually works is something I love explaining to families, because it is genuinely clever.

Some of the earlier monitoring technology I explored involved sensors or attachments that could trigger alerts during the night. While those products were well-intentioned, the experience of waking at 2am to a loud alarm — heart pounding — only to find your baby sleeping peacefully, is something many parents can relate to. Instead of easing worry, it can add to it. And that’s the last thing a new mom needs on top of everything else.

Nanit solved this so thoughtfully. Their breathable swaddles, sleep sacks, and onesies have a subtle geometric pattern woven directly into the fabric — it looks almost like a design — and that pattern is what the Nanit camera reads to monitor your baby’s breathing movements. Your baby is not hooked up to anything. There are no sensors to clip, nothing to come loose. They’re just wearing their sleep sack or swaddle, and the camera is quietly doing its work in the background. That’s the kind of thoughtful design that comes from people who truly understand what it feels like to be a parent. As someone who coaches families through exactly that season of life, I deeply appreciate it.

A Monitor System That Grows With Your Child — and Your Family

One of the things I love most about Nanit is that it isn’t built for just one narrow phase of parenting. It’s designed to grow with your child — from the newborn stage, through infancy, through toddlerhood, and into early childhood. This is not something you’ll outgrow in six months. I’ve used it continuously for eight years, and it has evolved beautifully right alongside my family every step of the way.

When it comes to physical setup, the Nanit gives you wonderful flexibility. If you don’t want anything adhered to the walls, the floor stand is a great option — it’s what I used in both of my boys’ rooms when they were in their cribs, and it positions the camera perfectly overhead…again, I love good visibility. As they got older, I transitioned to the flex stand, which is adjustable so you can place it on a shelf or nearby their beds to have more of a full room view — this is one of my favorite features — Nanit allows you to detach the monitor head entirely and attach it to a different stand based on your needs. That flexibility becomes especially valuable when you travel.

I’ve brought the Nanit to hotel rooms and Airbnbs, attached the monitor head to the travel setup, and had everything up and running in minutes. When you’re trying to maintain sleep consistency away from home — which any sleep coach will tell you matters — having the same monitoring environment makes a real difference.

Oh and there’s also a wall mount option if you do prefer a more permanent installation. The good news overall is that you choose the setup that works for your home, your family, and your season of life.

Features That Make It So Much More Than a Camera

The Nanit impact is so much bigger than baby sleep monitoring — and I mean that in the most practical, wonderful way. It’s a layered system with features that have served different needs at different stages of my parenting life.

There’s a talk feature that I genuinely still use with my four-year-old. After his nap, I’ll check in through the monitor — “Hey bud, are you ready to get up?” — and he’ll respond to me. In the context of sleep coaching, this can be a tool I occasionally suggest for families who want to offer gentle verbal reassurance to their child without physically entering the room, if the parent doesn’t feel the need to enter or if they are unable to in that moment.

The Nanit also includes a built-in nightlight and a sound machine with multiple sound options, which means you have a true all-in-one sleep environment tool — no need to plug in three separate devices alongside your monitor if you choose. And for families with more than one child, the split screen feature allows you to monitor two children simultaneously from a single phone screen.

That was something I had hoped for long before it existed, and when it arrived, it made my life measurably easier. Whether both boys are in their rooms for the night or one of them is under the weather and I want to keep an ear out, being able to see and hear both of them at once brings a level of reassurance I would not want to give up.

Nanit has also recently released a home display — an 8-inch screen you can keep in your kitchen or living room — so that caregivers, grandparents, or anyone else in your home can keep an eye on your sleeping baby without needing to be logged into the app on their own phone. If I still had a baby or a toddler in the house, I would absolutely have this! It’s a wonderful addition for families with multiple caregivers involved in day-to-day life.

For parents who love data — and I am one of them — the membership plans unlock sleep tracking, recorded video clips, and weekly summaries of your baby’s patterns: average sleep hours, time to fall asleep, nighttime waking frequency and duration. As a sleep coach, I used this information to monitor my own children’s patterns and see what the data was telling me over time. There’s also a three-month trial period so you can experience it fully before committing to a plan. And the Nanit is HSA and FSA eligible — always a welcome detail for a product at this level of quality and care.

What’s Waiting on the Other Side

Imagine putting your baby down for the night and actually exhaling. Imagine walking into the kitchen to make yourself a cup of tea, opening your phone, and seeing your child right there — still, peaceful, breathing — safe in their sleep space. Imagine the quiet that settles in where the worry used to be. Not because nothing can ever go wrong, but because you have real, reliable information in real time, visible clarity, and real information has a way of silencing the anxious stories your mind tries to tell you in the dark.

That is what it feels like to have a monitor you truly trust. I truly can’t say enough good things about this baby monitoring system! Highly recommended whether you are buying a monitor for the first time or you are making a change to what you currently use, Nanit is the best!

You Don’t Have to Figure This Out Alone

If you’re pregnant and building your registry, if you’re navigating new baby life and looking for a monitor that truly meets your needs, or if you’re simply ready to invest in something that will grow with your family for years — I want you to know about the Nanit.

It’s the monitor I’ve used for eight years. It’s the one I recommend to the families I work with. And right now, you can get savings on the Nanit Smart Baby Monitor System using my promo code linked below.

🎁 Nanit Promo Code — Use code ANNE20 at checkout for 20% off the Nanit Smart Baby Monitor System. Shop here →