White noise, Night noise
Have I ever told you how much I love white noise? Last summer, when the sounds of children playing outside kept waking Little Man, we used an iPhone app called Ambiance to play ambiant noise in his room. Actually, we had first used that app when he was just a few weeks old to play womb noises to soothe him. But gradually we found he didn’t need it as much and we eventually stopped using it.
When we needed to use the app again, the womb noise didn’t cut it because it wasn’t a constant sound, so it didn’t always block out the noise of the street. The Ambiance app provides a few standard sounds however (and you can download more if those don’t suit), including one called Brown Noise, which sounds just like static to me.
For his night-time naps, we started playing that Brown Noise in Little Man’s room, and we discovered that he seemed to find it soothing. After a while, we got tired of having to load up the app every time we wanted to drown out the external sounds, so we just tuned a radio in his room to static, and it worked just as well. In a house like ours, where sound-proofing is virtually non-existant, anything that will prevent the sounds from downstairs waking the sleeping baby upstairs is a lifesaver! And God knows, Little Man can be a light sleeper. There have been nights when my knee creaked while I tried to sneak out of his room and it woke him! But not since we started playing the white noise at night.
I’ve even started to find it soothing myself. The other night, a house alarm was going off down the street, and I ended up sleeping in Little Man’s room because I barely noticed it in there, but in our room I couldn’t sleep with it. So if you’ve got a light sleeper on your hands, like we do, perhaps it’s time to try a little white noise at night?
Hey Lisa ..great blog by the way ..how bout some light childrens classical music on repeat ,theres some gorgeous stuff out there so soothing and calming little man would love it .
Love Eithne.
Thanks Eithne. Yes classical music works great to soothe him if he’s upset. A couple of his teddies play lullabies when you squeeze their bellies!
Good to know it blocks out other noises. Apparently it’s good in super-insulated houses where the absolute lack of noise will drive you to distraction!
I’m afraid we can only dream of the problems of a super-insulated home Sarah! But good to know just in case we ever get the chance to live in one!
In our family we love an app called Sleep Stream Lite. It plays the sound of a hairdryer. It’s brilliant for soothing babies (and parents!) to sleep and way more environmentally friendly than leaving the actual hairdryer on for ages!
Oh and a friend of mine turns on the hoover to send her baby to sleep, she swears by it!
Great blog, I just RSS’d you!
Glad you like the blog Orla!
I must check out Sleep Steam Lite – when we’re away from home, we don’t always have a radio with us, but we generally have our phones.
In our family we love an app called Sleep Stream Lite. It plays the sound of a hairdryer. It’s brilliant for soothing babies (and parents!) to sleep and way more environmentally friendly than leaving the actual hairdryer on for ages!
Oh and a friend of mine turns on the hoover to send her baby to sleep, she swears by it!
Great blog, I just RSS’d you!
Glad you like the blog Orla!
I must check out Sleep Steam Lite – when we’re away from home, we don’t always have a radio with us, but we generally have our phones.