Using The Nest Cam Indoor as a Baby Monitor

My "baby" is now two but I still like to use a baby monitor to listen for her when sleeping. For a long time I have been wanting (coveting) a Nest Cam Indoor to use as a baby monitor. I saw a neighbor using one who was able to sit outside and watch her baby on her phone and it instantly intrigued me.

I have always used regular baby monitors which run between a camera and a hand held device. These work fine and have worked for me for years. I mean over six years! But, now that my children are a little older I would like a new way to monitor them.

We also have a single family home now and I like to sit outside on our patio at night, and my regular baby monitor was not reaching the outdoors easily. Between the lack of reach, and the fact that my old baby monitor is falling apart and on its last leg, I decided to look into the Nest Camera as a baby monitor.

I love that the Nest cam runs over WiFi so I can move all over the house and outside and it's still working. You can check the camera while not home or traveling anytime as well. This allows you to check on a baby sitter or see what's happening when you are not home. So the Nest Camera's security goes beyond just using it as a baby monitor.

While the Nest cam is not specifically intended to be used as a baby monitor it definitely can be used that way. Here is what you need to do to make it work:

The Nest cam is a wired connection so you will need a place to plug it in and WiFi for best results.

If you want to be able to continuously watch your baby you will need to dedicate a device to having the Nest app open. This is one area where a typical baby monitor is different. A typical baby monitor usually has a hand held device to watch your baby. The Nest cam is viewed on the Nest app on your phone or other device.

If you use your phone and have the app open all the time this can run down the battery. So this may not be ideal for everyone. Also, if you are using it on your phone and want to open other apps then the Nest app will be in the background and you may not hear it.

There's a few options for watching the Nest cam as a baby monitor:

1. Use an iPad or other tablet or old phone as a dedicated monitor for the camera. Then have it plugged in and running the app constantly. This is what many parents do and is comparable to having a regular handheld baby monitor.
2. Use your phone and deal with the battery usage, and maybe not having the app in the forefront all the time.
3. Use your phone and don't worry about constantly watching the app, and rely on notifications from the app.

The third choice is what I do. My toddler is two so I do not feel the need to constantly see her. I have notifications set up to notify me of noise and movement. These notifications come to my phone and my Apple watch. My husband gets them too so we pretty much know within seconds if she has woken.

I do not listen for notifications on my phone all night but I can hear her from my bedroom so this solution works great for us.

If my baby was a newborn I would probably want to find a device to dedicate to watching the camera, or I would use my phone and just keep it plugged in overnight.

One last issue I ran into with the Nest cam which I thought might be a deal breaker was the status light. After my first night of use I noticed a bright LED light was on all the time on the front of the camera. This light was so bright it seemed like a strobe light on my toddler. She sleeps better in the dark so I was concerned about this.

Luckily a quick Google search informed me that this light can be turned off within the Nest app. Whew, that was a good save. Now the camera is running in her room and it is pitch dark.

I am more than happy with the Nest Cam Indoor as a baby monitor. It offers 1080p HD clear video, night vision, a wide field of view, the ability to move the camera from within the app and notifications on my phone and Apple watch. The Nest cam also works with Alexa and Google Home although I have not utilized this yet.

I also like the fact that once I am done using this to watch my kids I can use it as an indoor security camera anywhere in the house.

You can pick up the Nest Cam Indoor here at the lowest price I have found. And, please let me know if you have any questions about it at all!