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Baby monitor cords: keep them at least 3 feet from the crib
Updated
The most serious hazard with a video baby monitor is the power cord. In a 2011 recall notice covering about 1.7 million video monitors, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said parents and caregivers should never place corded cameras within three feet of a crib, because a child can pull the cord in and strangle. The notice followed two infant deaths. This applies to every camera on this site, whatever it costs and however it connects.
What the CPSC notices say
- 2011, camera cords. The CPSC and Summer Infant announced new warning labels and instructions for about 1.7 million video monitors after reports of two infants who strangled in camera cords. In one case the camera had been placed on a changing table attached to the crib. The three-foot warning in that notice covers "these and other corded cameras".
- 2013, sensor pad cords. The CPSC and Angelcare recalled movement and sound monitors after two deaths. The cord from the under-mattress sensor pad could be pulled into the crib. This is a different kind of product from a video monitor, and the lesson is the same: any cord a child can reach is a hazard.
Planning the camera's spot
- Measure three feet from every side of the crib, including the side against the wall. Nothing with a cord goes inside that zone: not the camera, not its adapter, not slack cable.
- Do not rest the camera on the crib rail or on furniture touching the crib. That was the setup in one of the 2011 cases.
- Wall mount high, and fasten the cord flat to the wall so no loop hangs down. Follow the mount's own instructions. Several picks here include wall hardware. The Nanit kit on this site is a wall mount kit.
- Use zoom to get the close view. A camera across the room with pan, tilt and zoom can frame the crib without being near it. Infant Optics includes a zoom lens for this reason.
- Check again when your baby can stand. Reach grows fast. A cord that was out of reach at three months may not be at nine.
- Apply the rule in every room. A second camera for a second child means a second cord to plan.
Battery cameras and travel
A camera that can run on its own battery, like the eufy Baby Monitor E21, has no cord to manage while it is unplugged. That can help in a hotel room. Once you plug it in to charge, the three-foot rule is back. A battery camera also should not sit in or on the crib. It is a hard object, and the American Academy of Pediatrics advises a bare sleep space.
A monitor is not a safety device
The AAP's safe sleep guidance is about how and where a baby sleeps: on the back, on a firm flat surface, in the parents' room for at least the first months, with nothing loose in the sleep space. A monitor changes none of that. It lets you look without opening the door. Talk with your pediatrician about safe sleep for your baby. This page is general information, not medical advice.
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