Video: The More-Than-Just-a-Baby-Monitor with over 6,000 Five-Star Reviews

A baby monitor’s job is simple—to help you keep an eye on your little one when you’re not in the room. But what if it could do more? The Nanit goes beyond just watching; it gives you a real-time view of your baby while also tracking breathing motion, analyzing sleep patterns and even sharing personalized tips to help improve rest—all delivered straight to your phone through the Nanit app. This means you can track your daily routine in one place, from sleep to feeds to diaper changes. Real mom of three, Lizzie, puts it to the test in our video review, and we’re sharing what Babylist parents think below.

What does the Nanit track?

Many new parents have done it—hovered over the crib to check if their baby is breathing or obsessively tracked nap times hoping for better sleep at night. This monitor helps take away the need for that by including three built-in tracking tools: breathing motion, sleep tracking and memories & milestones.

Breathing Motion Monitoring 

You don’t have to watch baby’s chest rise and fall with every breath because the Nanit does it for you with special breathing bands. Just slip them on over baby’s pajamas, and the camera picks up baby’s breathing motion thanks to the special black-and-white printed design. Babylist parent Darla said, “The breathing bands have given us lots of peace of mind when leaving our kids to sleep in their cribs at night when they’re sick or congested or when we were sleep training.” If the band doesn’t work for you, Nanit also offers pajamas and sleep sacks that monitor breathing. 

Sleep Tracking and Insights 

Sleep tracking with Nanit is like having a built-in sleep coach. The app shows how long your baby has been asleep or awake, so you can time wake windows without the guesswork. Check the activity tab for motion and sound updates, and with Insights, you’ll get a daily sleep report plus a timelapse highlight reel to see the night in seconds. See our Babylist parent Lizzie try it out here: (3:16). 

Bonus: Memories and Milestones

The first time baby sleeps through the night is a pretty momentous occasion—and this monitor catches memories like that in the app, in addition to capturing age-related milestones like rolling over and sitting up. Think of it like a digital baby book with pictures and videos. To save new Memories, you’ll need an active Insights Plan, which does require a subscription. (3:20) 

What else does this monitor do?

In addition to breathing motion monitoring, sleep tracking and memories and milestones, once you pair the monitor to your phone, computer or tablet, you’ll view baby with a crisp and clear 1080p resolution (which means full high-def—some other monitors are as low as 480p), with the ability to pan and zoom for a closer look. Here are a few other nice-to-have monitor features: 

• Night vision for viewing baby in the dark 

• A built-in nightlight that you can activate through the app or by pressing a button on the monitor

• Two-way and background audio: This lets you speak through the device to your baby, and background audio means you can still hear baby through your device even if you’re not in the Nanit app

• Temperature and humidity tracking to keep baby’s room comfortable at the ideal temperature 

• Built-in white noise and music to help soothe to sleep—no need for a stand-alone sound machine. 

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What makes Nanit different than other baby monitors?

Most baby monitors will show you baby on a video feed and help you hear baby’s cries and sounds, but the Nanit does more. Customizable age-based alerts, super-tight security and versatile mounting options in addition to routine tracking set this monitor apart from others.

• Customizable age-based alerts: Receive customizable real-time alerts like cry detection, rolling over in the crib and, when your baby is old enough, you can even get notified that they’re standing in their crib or out of bed. See it in action at 1:07 in our video here. 

• Versatile setup: Nanit has two ways to mount the monitor depending on where your baby sleeps. First, the popular and portable floor stand is ideal if where baby sleeps changes ( like sometimes in a bassinet or sometimes in the crib). There’s also the more permanent wall mount if your baby sleeps permanently in one place. This has a notably easy install and contains all of the cords for safety. If you’re on the go a lot, there’s the smaller tabletop flex-stand, perfect for travel. Another handy feature: there’s no separate display screen to view baby, so you’ll always be able to watch baby from your phone, tablet or computer without needing a second physical screen. 

• Lock-tight security: 256b encryption (as compared to most other monitors 128b) means your footage and data are more secure, plus it has  two-factor authentication to verify your identity at login. Babylist parents also call out the customizable caregiver access levels, which comes in handy if you have a babysitter and you want to set them up with temporary viewing access.  

Who do we recommend Nanit for?

Editors at Babylist specifically say they use their monitor far past the infant stage and even beyond toddlerhood—one editor got a second Nanit to use the split screen function and keep an eye on both her baby in the crib and her six-year-old in the playroom. They also love their new Sound and Light machine that pairs with Nanit and can be used as a sleep-and-wake routine trainer as well as for sleep soothing. If the monitor detects your child standing in the crib, it can turn the Sound and Light Machine red, signaling and training your toddler that it’s not time to wake. 

Starting around $300 with either a floor stand or wall mount, this monitor can go up in price depending on what options you add. We suggest starting with a Nanit bundle (see it in our video at 5:04), which gives you everything you need for full insights, breathing motion monitoring and the ability to take it on the go with the Flex Stand. It’s also HSA and FSA eligible.

If you’re a tech-savvy parent who’s craving a ton of data about how your baby sleeps, know that Nanit delivers all the sleep insights, including breathing motion monitoring for peace of mind and upleveled camera footage that captures those precious moments. 

This article is sponsored by Nanit. Babylist’s free site, apps and emails are made possible by our sponsors. We limit our sponsored content to relevant partners that offer products and services we believe in and use ourselves.