"White Noise" May Help Baby to Sleep Better

"White Noise" May Help Baby to Sleep Better 1Experts agree that babies don't necessarily like sleeping in silence. As Dr. Harvey Karp wrote in his book, The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Sleep Longer (Bantam, 2002), "Our culture believes in the strange myth that a baby wants to be left in a quiet, dark room...Although our image of the perfect nursery is one where our angel sleeps in serene quiet, to a newborn that feels a bit like being stuck in a closet. As strange as it sounds, your baby doesn't want - or need - peace and quiet."

Newborns thrive on womb-like noises and often enjoy the constant whirring of vacuums, hair dryers, and dishwashers. Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night (Better Beginnings, 2002), encourages her readers to "use music or sound as sleep cues."

Pantley points out that "Recent research indicates that soft bedtime music causes many babies to relax and fall asleep more easily...Tapes created especially for putting babies to sleep are great choices..."

She also goes on to say that using sound isn't limited to newborns. It's also a great technique to use with older babies and toddlers, "If you put your baby to sleep in a noisy, active house full of people, keeping the tape running will help mask baby-waking noises like dishes, clanking, people talking and laughing, TV, or dogs barking."

Both Pantley and Karp also agree that playing white noise/music won't foster bad habits that are hard to break in the future. Karp wrote, "Don't hesitate to use your white noise machine all night if it helps your baby sleep longer and better."

There are many ways to achieve white noise in your home, but investing in a "sound machine" might be the easiest route to take. The HoMedics SoundSpa™ Lullaby is one excellent option to consider.

The SoundSpa™ Lullaby comes with six soothing sounds (Twinkle, Twinkle, Rock-A-Bye-Baby, Cradle Song, Rain, Ocean, and Heartbeat), a rotating picture projector, and an auto-off timer that can be set for 15, 30, 45, 0r 60 minutes.

We've been using the SoundSpa™ Lullaby every night for over a month now with our toddler and we like the fact that it helps to drown out household sounds. We don't feel like we have to whisper or tip-toe around or keep the TV volume down quite as much as we did before. Plus, the rotating picture feature has become a nice part of our bedtime routine ("Let's go look at the moon and the stars...").

The HoMedics SoundSpa™ Lullaby is available for $29.99 on the HoMedics site. You can also enter your zip code to find a retailer in your area.

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12 comments on “"White Noise" May Help Baby to Sleep Better”

  1. My daughter is adopted from Guatemala. I lived there with her for 2 months before bringing her back to the states. It was NEVER quiet. There were trucks and buses rumbling by (shaking the house) at all hours. The roads are cobblestone so it was loud and there are no emissions laws so it was very diesel-y. I was shocked at what a hard time she had sleeping when we came home to our nice quiet house in the states. I had to run a fan just to create some noise - so this product is a great idea.

  2. I totally agree with the topic. White noise machines really helpful for kids to sleep better. Ofcourse, it is useful for the people who are really getting disturbed by outside noises and generates the noise like waterfalls where we can select our desired noise.

  3. I'm going to look at getting one of those. Our daughter sleeps so much better with constant noise. As an infant taking naps in her swing, I would often run the vacuum cleaner to get her to sleep or to "return" her to sleep if prematurely awakened. Worked like a charm.

  4. my 4 month old had been waking up all night until i finally remembered our sound machine, and brought it in. now he wakes up once to nurse, and falls asleep to the sound of rain every night. lucky boy.

  5. Sleepytime mood setter has been my monotone reading aloud voice. This White Noise maybe an improvement.

  6. My son has been really bad at sleeping lately! We have a heater in his room that used to work - we would turn it on when he started crying and then turn it off when he stopped. It's not working anymore though :( This looks intriguing though...may have to give it a try!

  7. All winter my son has slept with his humidifier turned on -- all night long and during naps. It's a plus for both white noise and keeping him less congested in our cold climate. We also use a fan in the summer and have been known to use classic lullaby instrumental tunes when he seems extra restless.

    Yay for nighttime noises! It helps us all sleep a little better.

  8. We've always used fans in the kids' rooms. Bridget is able to sleep with A LOT of noise (being kid #3 and all). Whenever we turn off the tv and lights for the night, that's when she wakes up, despite having the white noise in her room. We've even tried leaving her radio on, but it's the stillness of the house when everyone else goes to bed that wakes her. Strange . . .

  9. I actually need this more than my baby. lol I have the worst time falling asleep and have to have some kind of 'noise' in the background, but not too loud, not too soft. Call me Goldielocks.

    ~melody~

  10. Sierra responds really well to that loud "SHH SHHHHH" in her ear if she's fussy. It's weird to me, because it would drive me nuts if someone were to shush in my ear as loud as a Hoover, but she does like that white noise. Crazy.

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