White Noise Helps Baby Sleep Flickr@Kekka
Babies love white noise. Let’s start with looking at it from baby’s perspective. They’ve just spent their entire life in the womb. And the womb is deafeningly loud. It is just slightly less loud than a lawnmower. Loud is normal to a baby. Life outside the womb is uncomfortably quiet. White noise sounds like “home” to a baby.
The Noise Level Your Baby is Used To
Why You Should Use White Noise with Babies?
White Noise Helps Baby Sleep Flickr@Kekka
White noise is hands-down the best and easiest thing you can use to help you and your baby sleep better.
White noise reduces stress in babies.
What do babies get stressed about? Just about everything. They’re stressed when they’re over-tired, they’re stressed because their world is more stimulating than they’re ready to handle, they’re overwhelmed with lights, faces, and excitement. White noise creates a safe space for them by blocking out that stimulation.
White noise helps babies sleep.
They fall asleep more easily and stay asleep longer. Babies have what are called “sleep arousals”, usually about every 20-45 minutes. Ever wonder why your baby only naps for 20 minutes at a time? Well it’s because when she hits her sleep arousal at the ~20 minute mark she is unable to fall back into deeper sleep and thus her nap is over. White noise helps babies gently navigate these arousals to get longer, more restorative naps. It also helps to block out the noise of life (older siblings, doorbells, garbage trucks, etc.) that can interfere with naps and night sleep.
White noise helps babies cry less.
Did you know that shushing is a sound that people universally understand and make with babies? Shushing is simply white noise that you make yourself. The key to using white noise (sushing or from a radio) to help calm a crying baby is that it needs to be LOUDER than the crying. Holding a screaming baby while shushing like a gentle librarian is useless. Your baby can’t hear the shushing over his own crying. You need to shush LOUDLY (sounds a bit ridiculous I know) so that the calming noise can penetrate above the crying. Also you may need to continue to shush for a while. Loud sustained shushing can be a challenge. If you’re starting to feel dizzy and/or see stars it’s time to outsource your shushing to an electric white noise device (radio, et al).
White noise reduces the risk of SIDS.
A relatively famous study (famous if you read a lot about baby sleep, so honestly you should be a little proud if you haven’t heard of it) showed that babies had a significant reduction in the risk of SIDS if they had a fan in their room. Nobody knows why the fan helps – it could be my moving the air around although many believe it has to do with the white noise the fan makes. We DO know that white noise reduces active sleep (which is the sleep state where SIDS is most likely to occur).
White noise will help YOU sleep.
Parents notoriously wake up every time the baby grunts or gurgles (and babies are NOISY CREATURES). Newborn swings can also be quite noisy, especially when they’re banging away mere inches from your bed. White noise will help mask these small noises so you and your partner can sleep better.
White noise is easy to wean off of.
When your baby is older (generally after their 1st birthday) you can gradually start to decrease the volume of the white noise. If they continue to sleep well, you’re done. If they wake up more frequently then they used to turn the white noise back on.
How to Use White Noise?
Boom Box for Baby Flicker@istopcrappics
Turn the volume up to roughly 50 db (approximately the volume of somebody taking a shower if you are standing in the bathroom). It should definitely be louder than you think. It shouldn’t be UNCOMFORTABLY loud (if it bothers YOU, it’s probably too loud). Leave the white noise on whenever your baby will be sleeping. Whatever you are using to make white noise should be continuous. Any CD or Sleepy Sheeps (have I mentioned my loathing of these things?) won’t work well because they will TURN OFF at some point. While this may not cause problems for newborn babies (under 3-6 months) eventually you will find yourself with a child who wakes up crying every 45 minutes when the Sleepy Sheep turns off.
If you have a particularly fussy baby or are looking for ways to survive the dreaded witching hours, you may want to bring your white noise maker out into living room (or wherever you like to grind through the fussy part of the day) to help create a calming environment for your fussy baby. Simply move the radio back to the bedroom when it’s time to sleep.
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Trackbacks
- How to Get Baby to Sleep Better Part 1 | Troublesome Tots
- What Everybody Ought to Know About Baby Swings | Troublesome Tots
- Can I Make Noise While Baby Sleeps? | Troublesome Tots
- My new study secret | Sapphire and Rain
- What to Do About Infant Reflux?
- What Everybody Ought to Know About Baby Swings
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Great article! I agree that white noise is the best. Although when the baby sleeps in your room, it can get annoying. We have a fish tank in our room though and the sounds of that is like a white noise machine. My baby likes the white noise much better than the music.
My dad and brother have a hard time calming down the baby when he cries. You know why? Because they shush quietly and rock softly. They had loud noise but also constant movement when in the womb. Loud shushing and quicker bouncing/rocking works wonders.
THANK YOU, Alexis! While I am afraid of writing this for fear that I will jinx the miracle I just experienced, I can’t help but give thanks where thanks are due. My husband and I have struggled with getting our little one to sleep since Day 1. She is now three months old. After spending yet another day letting her fall asleep on my boob for every nap (or rather, cat nap), I decided to give your suggestions a try. I placed our tightly swaddled little girl in her swing (on speed 3, cranked up the white noise on the AM dial, gave her wide-eyed little face a big smooch, whispered “I love you,” and closed the door. With absolutely NO TEARS, she fell asleep in three minutes max. I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve been called a miracle worker…
I was once a quiet shusher too. I thought that sushing should be done at the volume of the nice old lady at the library.
Nope.
Thanks for this post! We were given a Sleep Sheep, which works wonders on our 3-week-old girl, but now she’s pretty much guaranteed to wake up every 45 minutes when it shuts off. I do not understand the logic behind the timed shut-off feature! Would it be so hard to have a continuous play option? Now have to go find ourselves a radio.
(PS – Love your site. We are also setting out to acquire a swing too)
So glad you find it useful! And as a product manager (in a previous life) I also don’t understand why somebody would design a product with this sort of design flaw. The swings do the same thing – sound shuts off in ~7 minutes. Why are you doing this to us baby manufacturers?!?!?
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There’s this book called The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge — in chapter 3 he talks about an autism researcher who thinks that white noise is an environmental risk factor for infants with a genetic predisposition to autism.
Of course, even though a friend gave us that book to read, we still use a white noise generator when our baby sleeps. We just don’t play it very loud
(We asked this sleep consultant whether she thought the white noise generator was going to turn our kid autistic and she assured us it won’t. With a mild sneer.)
Hey Matt, it sounds like you are reading those anxiety-inducing parenting books. How’s that working out for you? ;P
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Those anxiety-inducing parenting books were almost the death of me and my husband. Thankfully we ditched them all and went with what worked. There are so so many things out there that can be attributed to autism I think that white noise is the least of our worries!!!
I hate the What to Expect books (which ironically my OB gives out free to all pregnant ladies). Horrifyingly anxiety inducing. Hate them.
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Can anyone recommend a white noise machine? I know you said the radio is fine, but our radio gets interference from the baby monitor so it will buzz sometimes. We bought the Marmac 980A machine because it had great reviews, but it’s just not loud enough and we have to use a fan in addition to it. Kind of defeats the purpose. We need something loud that doesn’t shut off after 90 minutes.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Dominica,
You could try a few things:
1) Break the antenna on your radio (if you can).
2) The fan may work fine & be sufficient on it’s own.
3) If you have an ipad/laptop there are tons of free white noise apps you can download that are quite loud and don’t have timers.
4) While I’m no expert on white noise machines (my goal is to help you NOT spend $$ on them) I know you want to steer clear of anything marketed as a tool for babies or that runs exclusively on batteries. The baby white noise machines tend to be too quiet as do things with batteries (which often have timers also).
Good luck!
Thanks for such a quick reply! I will try the antenna thing. The fan will be great in the summer but it gets a little too cold with it running in the winter here in Colorado. I used to have an app on my phone but it would randomly force-quit sometimes. But the radio thing, good idea.
HI! I have been using the homedics ss2000 soundspa for four year and I LOVE it. I use it every night all night long. And it gets LOUD! I also have one in my 6month olds’ room and we have it playing for him at every nap and all night long. He is a great sleeper and I thing this is a big reason why. My mother in law is worried he will be addicted to it and not able to sleep without it in the future, but I figure we will deal with that in the future if it happens! I also have a 3rd machine to bring on trips. It is so small and portable. It is only $20 at Amazon or Walmart and doesn’t take a lot of room like a radio or fan. Good luck
$20+LOUD=good white noise machine
Mother in laws are often worried about “addicted to white noise.” Which is sort of silly. Getting babies used to not sleeping with white noise is the EASIEST THING EVER. Getting them off the boob, pacifier, sleeping with you? Not so much. White noise? No problem!
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We use this video and it’s quite good for our needs. And it’s also long (12 hours):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KaOrSuWZeM
There you go – one MORE way to use white noise and not buy a white noise machine. Thanks so much for sharing!
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Great article! One thing I have to disagree on is the sleep sheep, 45 min is all my son needs to sleep 12 hours at night. Although now that is about to change I am sure because I will be bringing home twins from the hospital soon and its going to be noisy at night which he is not used too. So radio static it is!
Congratulations on your soon-to-be-here twins! Very exciting times
And I’m really glad the sleep sheep works for YOU. It just doesn’t work for a lot of people which is why I’m generally not a fan. But whatever works for you is cool in my book!
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good article… now know why my baby sleeps better when his rocking chair was placed infront of my tv…Thanks
And here you probably just thought it was because TV is boring
Alexis recently posted..Your Nemesis, The Short Nap
I usually use a fan that makes a lot of noise, but when we were on vacation, we used the radio trick and it was perfect! I hope more people pay attention to that! I was SO OBSESSED with my first son’s sleep. I would go into his room with the white noise on while people were making noise in the other room, just to see how much it drowned out. Very satisfying to realize white noise drowns out a LOT! My son is 21 months now and I still use a fan in his room.
I’m amazed by the number of people who DON’T use white noise because:
a) It’s SOOO easy
b) It’s SOOO cheap
c) It works SOOO well
And unlike most other baby sleep techniques, you don’t have to wean them of it later
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This is SO true. My son will not sleep unless white noise is being played. I thought it would be bad to leave it on all night, but apparently it is just fine. One cheap suggestion I have, is to buy or create a white noise cd and just use the “repeat” button on your cd player. Then you have the noise all night long!
Excellent – another cheap/free white noise alternative!
Although truth be told, we no longer have a device that will play CDs in our house. I literally have this huge stack of CDs waiting for me to take a rainy weekend to rip into MP3s (this will NEVER happen and one day I’ll simply dump them ALL) because we’re all about the iTunes
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Haha, we don’t have a cd “player” either. I burned the cd onto my laptop and just use the repeat option there
I’m so all about the iTunes as well!
I absoulutely LOVE your website. It’s my baby Bible! Any time I am feeling down about my son’s sleep habits, I come for a peruse of your articles and comments and feel reassured that I’m not the only one struggling. Thanks for being honest, helpful, encouraging, and funny.
Actually, I was also wondering… my boy is a little over 3 months old. He requires swaddling and a swing to sleep, and he sleeps the longest and best when the white noise is LOUD. We have a cd that plays the hair dryer. When we play it at full volume, he stays asleep for naps for over an hour, or 2 hours and at night time for 4 hours. When we turn it down, he wakes up 20-40 minutes after he goes down. I know white noise is a great thing for babies, but sometimes I worry it might be TOO loud for TOO long. We use the Harvey Karp CD. I know it needs to be louder than those lame sleep machines and swings, but can it be too loud for too long?
The suggestion is that it should be the same volume as a shower. So if you were standing in the bathroom and somebody is taking a shower – THAT is the volume you are going for. Hope that helps?
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appstore offer white noise apps. I use esleep lite and works super good! for Iphone or Ipad or even Ipod.
esleep lite is a free app !!! XD
Yep – we use that on our iPad when traveling. And it IS awesome!
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Hi
I’m just wondering if you use a white noise machine how am I supposed to know if my baby needs something. He is 2wks now, and I wake up every tiny noise he makes, which I know is not helpful for my own sleeping habits. I worry that if I can’t hear him and his sounds I might miss an important cue he is giving me, such as being hurt or wanting to eat. I know you mentioned in previous pages that you should try to feed the baby when he is cueing to eat and before he is crying, but how will I hear these cues if the white noise blocks it out?
I would be shocked if your white noise is so loud you don’t still hear your baby just fine. For starters most new Moms (read: every Mom I’ve ever known) wakes up every time their baby coos regardless of white noise. When babies are hungry they will let you know! White noise doesn’t block all these noises out – you’ll still here him in there. It does however provide a really soothing sound for your baby that sounds a LOT like what your tummy sounded like.
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THANK YOU, Alexis! While I am afraid of writing this for fear that I will jinx the miracle I just experienced, I can’t help but give thanks where thanks are due. My husband and I have struggled with getting our little one to sleep since Day 1. She is now three months old. After spending yet another day letting her fall asleep on my boob for every nap (or rather, cat nap), I decided to give your suggestions a try. I placed our tightly swaddled little girl in her swing (on speed 3, cranked up the white noise on the AM dial, gave her wide-eyed little face a big smooch, whispered “I love you,” and closed the door. With absolutely NO TEARS, she fell asleep in three minutes max. I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve been called a miracle worker…
That is FANTASTIC news! Thanks so much for taking a moment of your precious nap time to share
And three cheers for your unencumbered nipples – WOOT WOOT!
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I am a huge believer in white noise. With my first child, I found an hour and a half loop of rain on a tin roof. I burned a cd and would play it for every nap and night sleep on repeat. We would wear the cd out and I would have to burn a new one every few months. It is now 4 years later and I have a newborn again. The same loop is now set up on an mp3 player in her nursery and I keep a copy of the same loop on my phone. When we are out and about and she is fussy, I play the white noise on my phone and hold it near her, and she settles right down. Observers think I have some magic parenting mojo. White noise, don’t leave home without it!
Everybody now has these cool white noise apps on their iPhones so I should probably update this post to reflect the fact for yes – there’s an app for that. Although my oldest is only 5 years old I feel like a caveperson talking about how we used to use the AM radio for white noise. You know….back before we had indoor plumbing
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We love white noise too. My husband and I actually have the “white noise app” on our phones. We also downloaded the same app to our Kindle (which has basically become my son’s Kindle, since it is with him all night while he sleeps, and it usually travels with us in his carseat too). We always have people looking at us with confused looks on their faces when he’s sleeping in his carseat/stroller out in public, we get asked “what is that noise?” Truly, ANYTHING to get baby to sleep and stay asleep
I was wondering on when to stop the white noise, so thanks for this post! I seriously am obsessed with your website!
Isn’t portable white noise great? I was looking at old timey photos of women in wagon trains with babies in tow and thinking about how lucky we are. iPads, swings, ergo carriers, etc. Not only does it help baby sleep but now it’s portable! (Seriously my oldest is just 5 and when he was a baby we had no portable options to ALL naps happened in the car or our house). So glad to help!
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I do use white noise with my 1 month old daughter. My question though is when to stop using it? My husband can only sleep with white noise which is a problem. I think it creates problems if you need a machine to fall asleep. When we travel my husband can never sleep because it’s too quiet. I don’t want to be at a relatives house or be on vacation and have a child who can’t sleep because we didn’t bring our radio. When do you suggest (or do you) one stop using it?
No sooner than 1 year. And it’s really easy. Just gradually lower the volume. Seriously this is the easiest sleep aid to wean off. I bet you could use the same technique with your husband if you wanted to
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My 3 week old daughter definitely sleeps better with loud white noise in the background, but it leads me to a question – she’s meant to sleep in the same room as me so she can hear me breathing (helps to regulate her breathing so I’m told) but there’s no way she can hear me breathing or even acknowledge my existence with that racket in the background. Is there more benefit to her sleeping with the white noise than there is to her being able to hear me breathing?
I have to start working again in a few weeks – I work from home and am on the phone quite a bit and there’s no way I can be in the same room as the white noise while I’m working. That means I’ll have to be in a separate room from her when I need to speak to someone and some calls can last a while. I have no idea if this is safe or not! The room I’d take calls in is literally right next door to where she’d be sleeping, I’d be all of five seconds away. But I’m concerned I wouldn’t be able to hear her over the white noise in a different room. First-time mom and no idea what to do!
We’re talking about 50 dB of sound which is the volume of somebody taking a shower. It shouldn’t quite qualify as a racket?
I don’t know about babies listening to your breathing to regulate their own breathing. Nor am I aware that babies need help regulating their breathing. In my experience once babies pop out they quickly figure out the breathing thing pretty well all on their own.
I DO know that the womb is deafening loud and white noise is a powerful soothing/sleep aid for babies. Especially if you are hoping for longer naps while you work, I believe it would be a mistake to not use this powerful option to help her sleep. I also believe that if she needs you, you’ll definitely still hear her over 50 dB of white noise. So I’m not concerned about your ability to know when you’re needed.
As with everything, you can always try it and see. But personally I would stick with the white noise. Good luck!