As any parent who has ever spent a sleepless night knows, soothing a fussy baby is challenging. Babies often have trouble calming down for a good night’s sleep or nap when they are dealing with colic, gas or just plain being overstimulated. While you’ve likely tried rocking, singing and even taking them for a drive, you might have overlooked one of the simplest ways to soothe your baby. White noise is easy to create, and the smooth, constant sound provides many amazing benefits for your baby.
Understand What Makes White Noise Different
Parents often do everything they can to keep their baby’s sleeping area quiet. Naturally, you want to keep your baby’s nursery free from loud thumps and other noises that can rouse them from their sleep. White noise is different because it is a continuous sound that is uniform and consists of one or more different frequencies. While there are different sounds involved, it remains consistent while the noise is being played. This serves the purpose of drowning out other noises.
Know How to Make White Noise for Your Baby
You have several options to make white noise for your baby that range from high tech options to using your body to make sounds. Today, you can find white noise machines that are easy to operate and rather inexpensive to purchase for your baby’s sleeping area. These infant sleep machines look a lot like a radio, and some allow you to choose features such as a babbling brook or rainstorm to create the white noise.
Smartphone apps are another possibility that work similarly to an infant sleep machine. In addition to using an app, you can download white noise tracks to play while your baby sleeps. Keep in mind, however, that this option does require you to give up your phone for a little while or find an old one that you don’t mind sharing.
Household appliances also generate white noise. This is why you may find that your baby calms down while you run the vacuum or set them near a running washing machine. Although these machines work, it may not always be feasible to leave them running while your baby sleeps nearby.
Offer Your Baby the Benefits of White Noise
Babies benefit from white noise by being able to enjoy deeper sleep with fewer interruptions. In fact, the majority of babies will fall asleep within only a few minutes when white noise is played at their bedtime. White noise works for babies because it is similar to the sounds that they heard in the womb. This sense of familiarity is soothing and helps them fall asleep.
Use White Noise for Babies Safely
Using white noise is one of the safest sleep methods for babies around. However, you do want to guard against potential hearing loss by keeping any noise that you use relatively low. You may also want to change up the sounds every now and then to prevent your baby from becoming overly dependent on one type. Try mixing up a rain track with other sounds such as a fan to keep your baby open to new types of white noise.
Every baby is different, but the majority of infants and toddlers respond well to white noise. Try setting up white noise in your baby’s nursery for the night to see what happens. Most likely, you’ll be wondering why you haven’t been using it all along. As an added bonus, you’ll be greeted with a happy, well-rested baby in the morning.
