My maternity ends this week and I’m back full time at work next Monday. Time flies so quickly. I’m not really looking forward to spending so much time away from my baby. I’m going to miss him so much at work!
1 month ago, my husband and I started looking for survelliance cameras/baby monitors for the home so that even when we’re not home, we can see our baby. I would also feel better about leaving my helper with my 3 month old infant knowing I still can keep an eye on things at home.
Both of my husband and I have no family in Singapore and it was either infant care or pray damn hard that the helper we hire is very good with Baby Daniel.
We are very lucky to have hired our current helper because she loves babies and she is very good at taking care of Daniel. I’m just worried that when I go back to work, she won’t be able to cope with the household chores, cooking and taking care of Daniel. I have emphasised that caring for Daniel is of top priority and if she doesn’t have time to cook or to clean, it’s all cool. Having a camera at home will help me analyse how well she can cope and if there’s anything I need to change so as to make it easier for her to care for Daniel.
There are so many brands of cameras out there for us to choose from and Foscam Singapore was one of the more popular ones among parents (they are always at baby fairs too!). The above is the camera that we have installed in our humble home.
The Foscam FI8910W is one of Foscam most popular models. It features high quality video and audio, wireless N connectivity, pan/tilt, remote internet viewing, motion detection, night-vision, embedded IR-Cut filter as well as a built in network video recording system. In addition, it is smartphone compatible as well as viewable over the internet using standard web-browsers. The camera functions well as an iPhone baby monitor or as part of a home or office security system with remote internet monitoring ability.
I am very new to all this surveillance camera/baby monitor thing. I am very happy with the following features:
♥ Ability to see what’s going on at home on the go
It is smartphone compatible (iPhone, Android & Blackberry) which means I can just use the Foscam App to see what’s going on at home! I can even pan and tilt the camera (Pan: 300deg & Tilt: 120deg), thereby making the line of sight of this camera very huge. :)
♥ Ability to make god-like announcements / hear audio
This camera allows me to not only SEE but also HEAR the ongoings at home! In addition, I can even speak to my baby/helper! My friend once came over to play with Daniel but I wasn’t home yet. I saw her on video and said “Why are you making my baby cry?” over the camera! Haha!
P.s.: If you connect a microphone to this camera, you can even have 2 way conversations with whoever’s at home.
♥ Ability to see at night and very clear visuals during the day
Check this out.
# DAY
The view from the day is soooo clear. Even though Daniel’s face is really small, I can still see his features and whether he’s smiling or crying!
# NIGHT
I switched off all the lights for the purpose of this shot. You can see my husband at the left still. This was pitch black when I took the screen cap from my phone.
♥ Simultaneous multi-user access
No need to fight with the hubby on who gets to watch the video! We both can do it any time!
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We are soooo happy with the camera. We’re considering if we should get another one but we haven’t decided where best to put it. This camera is now placed in my living room and it can scan the entire living room, dining room and the kitchen too. That’s actually good enough for us. Perhaps if we do have another one it will be where the baby cot is but I’m not sure how comfortable my helper would be since the baby cot is in her room too.
It wasn’t very easy to setup but my husband managed to set it up properly within half a day. The setup steps can be found here and here.
Thank you Foscam Singapore for the kind gift. All parents should totally get this for a peace of mind away from home. :)
The Foscam FI8910W camera reviewed here is S$129. Enter “JUANN” in the discount code field when you check out to enjoy 10% off. :) Free shipping within Singapore! :)
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