It's easy to feel a bit paranoid about raising a baby nowadays, with all the horrific crime stories in the news and tales of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. For added peace of mind, many parents find that having an infant monitor puts them at ease, while also giving them a break from constantly wearing the "mom" and "dad" hats. Of course, making up your mind to buy a digital baby monitor is the easy part. The hard part is selecting the right one for your family, considering that they range in price from $20 to $200, with varying functions and features. One of the top-rated products on the market is the Philips baby monitor.

One of the problems with some of the low-end monitors, like the Fisher-Price baby monitor, for instance, is interference. These monitors can pick up everything from cars and police sirens to cordless phone conversations and radio broadcasts. If that's not bad enough, the static that comes through can make it really hard to discern your baby's voice out of the chaos. Additionally, neighbors with the same baby monitor brand may even be able to hear your baby too! The Philips monitor is known as the first DECT baby monitor (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications), which ensures crystal-clear quality. There are over 60 secure channels that the monitor can tap into, unlike more primitive systems that just have one or two. Like other digital baby monitors (compared to analog), the Philips baby monitors have secure, encrypted connections so no one else can listen in.

Another special feature of the Philips baby monitor is the ability to remotely check the conditions of your baby's room. You can look at the temperature, as well as the humidity of the room to ensure optimal comfort. You can even program the unit to sound an alarm if the room gets too hot or too cold. If your hear your baby is having trouble falling asleep, the DECT baby monitor can also cue up five soothing, 30-second lullabies when you press a button on your handheld unit or turn on a little night-light to let your baby know everything is okay.

One of the complaints with the Philips baby monitor is that the charger function doesn't seem to work. The units often don't hold their charge, causing consumers to have to send back monitor system after monitor system. The rechargeable batteries get fried, regular batteries melt -- it's all around bad news. Other customers say they avoided this problem by using a separate Sony recharging station, instead of the one that came with their baby monitor. Many problems occurred when purchasers put regular batteries in the unit and also set it in the charging cradle. You must also see that the indicator light comes on when you set the units in the cradle to ensure it's actually charging.