WHITE NOISE
As my first blog, I thought I would write about one of my favourite tools to use when it comes to baby sleep. It’s such a simple tool to use IF used in the correct way, but in my opinion it’s hugely undervalued. Put simply, it recreates the sound your baby would have heard in the womb, and it’s called white noise!
I recommend white noise to all my clients as I think the benefits are huge. Naturally, a lot of clients are apprehensive, which I understand, and have questions such as ‘will my baby become dependent on it?’, ‘why am I teaching them to learn to sleep with it?’, ‘why do they even need it?’. These are all reasonable questions which I’m asked time and time again. The simplest answer is, just try it! I can assure you all the positives outweigh any negative you may think of.
So, in no particular order, how can white noise aid your baby’s sleep?
• Once your baby arrives into this busy world full of new noises, smells and bright lights, in those early days, having white noise playing whilst they sleep recreates that safe environment and will help your baby transition to life on the outside!
• White noise is a fantastic sleep cue that tells the body to prepare for sleep. New-borns don’t understand that when we place them in their bassinett or pram that this mean’s its sleep time. If used consistently, white noise can be a clever tool to communicate to them that it’s sleep time!
• If your baby falls asleep listening to white noise, when your baby wakes from a sleep cycle, if they hear the white noise playing, it will remind them that it is sleep time and this will help them to transition into another sleep cycle. This isn’t guaranteed, but it will definitely help!
• White noise is the most simple and effective sleep association you can provide for your baby. Some parents choose to rock, others choose to sshhh, some play music..and so on!
• At nightime, if your baby is particularly noisy (which a lot can be) it can be really helpful in helping you to sleep as it drowns out those tiny noises which could wake you!
• If you are travelling with your baby or expecting your baby to sleep in a new environment, the white noise is a familiar sound that can come with you, to help them feel safe and secure in the new space.
• If you have other noisy children or choose to host a dinner party one night but don’t want to wake your sleeping baby, white noise will help to drown all those noises out, allowing your newborn to sleep peacefully!
• It’s great for siblings sharing rooms to help to prevent them disturbing each other.
A few of my top tips!
1. Don’t be afraid to have the white noise on fairly loudly. Most parents are often surprised at the volume of the white noise when I place it next to their baby. Just make sure the decibel level is no louder than 50 next to your baby’s ear (you will find the app store free decibel meter apps).
2. Everyone knows of the wonderful Shaun the sheep that seems to be the go to gift for an expecting mummy! Shaun is wonderful, but just be mindful that it does switch off after 20minutes which defeats the purpose of white noise. White noise should remain a constant throughout their whole sleep.
3. I would recommend Marpac Rohm portable white noise machine. If fully charged it lasts the whole night, its tiny and portable so can go in the pram too!
4. As your baby gets older, they will become a lot more familiar with their environment and how they have fallen to sleep. Particularly when your baby reaches 12 weeks, this is the time to decide whether to continue with the white noise or get rid of it. If you choose to continue you must make sure it is on for every naptime and night sleep as your baby will look for it when they come into lighter sleep.
5. And the best part about white noise is when I’ll do want to get rid of it as a sleep association, all you do, is over a period of time, gradually turn the noise down, it’s as simple as that!