… bzzzjhhh
Some of the best pre-baby advice I ever got (that I actually took) was along the lines of playing white noise or static to calm a fussy baby. In the olden days of our own infancy, our parents may have run a vacuum or put us on the dryer, but living in energy-conscious Berkeley, you can’t do that stuff all night long.
As recommended by my friend Lori, we started out (even in the hospital) by playing a groovy, new agey Transitions cd that simulates womb sounds. This “music” is so powerful that it should not be used while driving because it causes grown people to zonk out immediately. Coupled with sleep deprivation and the confusion of a newborn, we had to move away from that cd after a few weeks because of our hallucinations. Seriously, if you’re having trouble with your sleep, this shite will knock you out.
Our next attempt was a very mellow, plain discovery to play “pink noise” for Holden while sleeping. At the time, we downloaded the sound from this site and play it continuously through the night on a loop. Rookie Dad, Alec, created a one-hour version of this (he did some fancy editing). Now, you can get a cheap white noise app that does the exact same thing plus a few more choices. I like the app for travel and we use it in our very small nursery on an old iPod.
In the meantime, Whitney invested in this Homedics sound machine to play the white noise for her son (and replace the need to tie up the mp3 player looping static all the time) and I watched cautiously before committing to a solution that cost money. Once I finally purchased this $20 solution, we ran it for years and years. It does not travel well but does everything else — like play a few versions of relaxing muffling sounds — perfectly.
We love playing the droning buzz of these machines so much that we love to let other new moms know the secret. It’s on our registry top picks and in our book, Stuff Every Mom Should Know.
Are you a white noise lover? What’s your device?
Before the baby we had a fan in our bedroom running at night so the white noise machine was as much for us as it was for our newborn. It has been working out very well, in addition I think it helps create a nighttime cue. 11 weeks old and she is consistently sleeping 7 to 9 hours straight at night so something must be working. My only complaint would be that all but one or two of the sound options involve water, which could lead to frequent trips to the bathroom even if the baby is sleeping all night long.
The Homedics thing souvds great. We use a CD of ocean waves that plays continuously. It really works.
We use a CD of hair dryer noise from purewhitenoise.com – works like a charm!
We use a “white noise” MP3 from
http://www.thewhitenoisealbum.com it was only $4.99 for the download and it works great!
Believe it or not, we use our vicks heat or warm humidifer. On high it produces something inbetween white/pink noise that when cranked that zonks out our lil one in no time. The added benefit is that it moistens and calms…lol $29.95 at Target
My baby LOVES the soothing sounds from http://www.BabySleepSound.com and is usually asleep within minutes of playing them. We bought several, because at $3.99 per download the price is a steal! Her favorite sounds seem to be “Womb Sounds” or “Vacuum Cleaner” or “Hair Dryer” but any of the ones the we bought work great. I’ve given CDs from this website to friends as baby shower gifts and everyone that I’ve given them to has LOVED them!
[...] on the white noise. Loud white noise (50 db) will go a long way towards helping to keep them from waking each other up at night. Most [...]
[...] while some are disappointments. Some have a long shelf-life. (Ask me how long my kids slept with the white noise machine running at night. Eight [...]
I feel this is essential for helping baby to sleep through brother and sister noises!!
I have this same white noise machine, in both my room and my son’s room. I use it to sleep during the day when I’m on night shifts (I’m a nurse), and it’s GREAT.
i bought TWO of these noise machines based a previous post that I read here and my kids (4 and 18mo) still have them on every night when they go to bed! Our living area and kitchen are on the same level as all our bedrooms so when we have company over and the kids go to bed, it really helps drown out the noise of us hanging out with friends. LOVE these machines!
This has always been my fear: It creates a crutch that the child then can’t sleep without.
Can anyone comment on this?
We were super intentional about actually making noise when Brooklyn was little and sleeping so she would always sleep through anything and she still does. We have a small house, and all that separate her room from the living room where we watch TV every night is two closed doors. An she sleeps right through loud movies and all.
But I have been pondering the use of white noise for the baby for napping thru sibling noise as he gets older -/ for now again we just have him sleep wherever and he sleeps thru our conversations and TV and everything. I am not a scheduler, so my kids sleep on the go, so that’s my other hesitation is creating this perfect sleep environment when I actually want them to be able to nap wherever we are….
Anyone use it just at night with success?
Hey Cara, I can say that we used the machine above for YEARS with our older sons and now they don’t use it at all. The baby uses an iPod app for the same effect. I love it for traveling to muffle unfamiliar noises, but don’t feel like it’s created a long-term dependency.
ps everyone, if you travel with the Homedics sound spa, the air pressure and smooshing of baggage will kill it in short order.
@Cara, My kids used it at night and to nap at home for 5 years and 8 years. They both napped at daycare from 24 months to 36 months with no problem (no white noise). We are not careful about noise after they go to bed. We go in their room and put laundry away while they sleep!
Thanks, Whitney and Heather!
I may try it for Landis then especially once he hits the actual nap-time stage (he’s on no set schedule yet of course).
I put laundry away in Brooklyn’s room after she’s asleep too!;)
And Landis is still in our room, so we are constantly in and out, putting stuff away, talking, etc after he is in bed.
I don’t like the idea of it, but my babies sleep so much better with white noise! Especially because of our squeaky floors and this separation between neighbors. Without white noise they wake every ten minutes!
[...] love white noise for babies to help them [...]