White noise can work wonders for some babies or toddlers to help them sleep (or even adults!), but why is it so effective and how can you use it to your advantage.
Read below why white noise can be fabulous, and our top tips for using it to support baby sleep.
Why white noise?
It creates a comforting environment for your baby and its acts a cue to let them know sleep is coming (and let’s face it, they can’t tell the time so it’s pretty helpful!). It needs to be a monotone, rumbly, low pitched white noise. NOT music like lullabies, as the ups and downs of the pitches actually stimulates the brain too much and can make sleep more difficult.
When should I use it?
You should use white noise for all sleep (naps and night sleep), in order to provide that consistent cue that sleep time is coming. It will also drown out any external sounds such as doorbells, barking dogs, passing cars etc that may have previously startled them awake. Put it on at the end of your sleeptime routine, just before or after giving them a kiss goodnight and putting them down in their sleep space.
Where can I find white noise?
There are tons of apps, videos and products available to use now (some free, some paid for). Just ensure the white noise is that low pitched rumbling sounds of the same frequency and you’ll be ok! If you are playing via an app or a video streaming service, be sure to play it continuously for the whole duration of the nap or night sleep, and that no adverts will start playing mid sleep! We all love some Justin Beibers “baby, baby. Baby ooooo” but we don’t want to be woken by it!
Anything else?
Make sure you are using white noise safely. It should be no louder than 40 decibels and placed on the other side of the room (not next to their heads!). This will protect those adorable little baby ears from any damage.
White noise is really easy to fade out when the time is right, by just turning it down every few days until it is gone. It’s the easiest of all the sleep props to fade so don’t worry about that!
Happy Sleeping all!
