White Noise: The Best 99 Cents I’ve Ever Spent!
Who doesn’t love a sleeping baby??? I think it must be on the top 5 list of best things in the world!!! With that being said, there is nothing worse than getting your little bundle of joy asleep finally and then having him awoken by the UPS guy 17 minutes later (speaking from experience).
Being a firstborn child, Big Brother is used to taking naps in a very quiet home…it’s just been me at home during the days, so it was pretty quiet around here. So, the slightest noise will wake him up. When I was pregnant with Little Brother, I started panicking because their rooms were right next to eachother. How would big brother sleep with a crying baby a few feet away??? Naptime is precious to me…so I had to figure out a way to protect it. :)
About this time, I remembered a friend of mine in high school who had a hard time sleeping unless her “white noise machine” was on. It is kind of like a whooshing sound that drowns out a lot of other noises. At the time I thought it was kind of funny, but I now understand!
I thought is worth a try, so I searched for a white noise machine. They are expensive! So then I looked for white noise CD’s…still expensive. So, I got on iTunes and looked up “White Noise for Babies.” I quickly found one track 7.5 minutes long and bought it for $0.99. I then copied that one track onto a CD.
We put a CD player in Big Brother’s room and I turn on the “repeat” function and it plays during his whole naptime and sometimes at night (I’m really sorry Mother Nature for using up so much energy…but a Mama’s got to do what a Mama’s got to do).
It works wonders…Big Brother sleeps wonderfully (better than Little Brother) and I can look forward to at least 2 hours of naptime each day. Ahhhh…
PS- I did find this MP3 of White Noise for Babies on Amazon…and it’s 60 minutes long!
We live in a suburb with one set of VERY loud neighbors who like to party into the wee hours all summer long. When my son was a baby, he'd only sleep 45 minutes at a stretch, and it was extremely frustrating when that 45 minutes was cut short by the noise from my neighbors or their equally loud, constantly barking dog. (grrrr) When we discovered white noise, our world completely changed. My son, now three is still a very light sleeper, but the white noise makes it possible for him to sleep uninterrupted all night and for a good nap in the afternoon. My daughter, who is almost four months now, has had white noise in her room from birth and sleeps like a champ. The funny thing is, taking a cue from my son, I started using white noise myself (I'm a light sleeper too!). I have it just loud enough to drown out my sweet husband's snoring and the noisy neighbors parties, but soft enough that I can hear the baby monitors next to my head, should either child need me. Works great! Thanks for sharing the link to the 60 minute version – I might try it!
Our son has always been a little congested at night so he sleeps with a humidifier and the noise is simmilar to white noise. (just thought id share)
Wow, what a great idea. This will help many moms! Thanks for sharing your find!
An air-purifier works, too.
I have always used a fan in my boys’ rooms. It works great. In the wintertime, I just put it in the closet and then on those hot summer days, it sometimes makes its way out of the closet. I started when my oldest was a baby because the way our house was set up, our T.V. was very close to his room. My husband’s T.V. watching made it hard for him to go to sleep at night. It was a great solution…..not to mention I grew up sleeping with a fan….just a plain old box fan….:)