Advice on White Noise Machine

I have a Sleepmate I bought off of Amazon.com. I think it's great, I used it for my son last winter and it withstood being thrown on the floor almost everyday by him and now I'm using it for my 4 1/2 month old daughter. Someone said something about them becoming dependant on the noise. I would only use it this year. A lot of kids still pretty light sleepers at this age and you do need a buffer, or they will wake up everytime you walk past their room. My son used to wake up when the garbage truck would come at 1 in the afternoon and his nap would be ruined. Anyway, we weened him off it after the winter and he sleeps fine now.

If you have an Ipod or other mp3 player, I recommend getting the ICrib mp3 player from www.onestepahead.com. I bought it and can say it works really well. You can download all kinds of sounds and regulate the volume through the mp3 player... and get an endless variety of sounds! Good luck!

I have the Marpac sound screen and love it! I had another noise machine that made different sounds but it really did not cover up other noises. The marpac is well worth the money.

Hello A.-

I don’t know if this will help you, but we use a small desk fan in the winter for our son, we put it on the floor next to his crib facing the wall, that way the air does not hit him. I also have to sleep with the sound of a fan all year long and use the desk fan in the winter as well.

I know exactly what you are talking about! My soon to be 17 mo old is a very light sleeper, just like her Dad. I actually use an air purifier right outside her door so when we walk down the stairs the creeks won't wake her up. I put it on the highest setting so it is pretty loud. Plus it is serving a purpose as well, not just white noise. Any one will do, it doesn't have to be expensive, just loud. Good luck!

Hi A.. We have used a noise machine since my second son was born. We were living with family with 3 DOGS!!! And I just couldn't take it anymore...there was no sleep going on with those 3 barking. Anyway, here is a link to the one I got:
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

I got mine from one step ahead, but friends of ours ordered the same one from Amazon. Sometimes you can get things cheaper through there. Ours is SO LOUD. We have 2 sets of re-chargeable batteries and just alternate them.

Let me know if you like it. :)

Why do you have to give up the fan? I keep a fan on in my room all year round. If it's cool, I just point it away from me. You can just keep it on and put it on the other side of the room or face it away from the baby....

I have been using the one from Brookstone... it's 69.99. It's on the expensive side but it works! i've been using it for 4 years now.

-M.

I have the HoMedics SoundSpa Lullaby With Picture Projection. It was $20 at Kohls. Walmart also sells it. It comes with three types of white noise...hearbeat, ocean and rain.....and three lullabyes as well. I would recommend it. Definitely goes pretty loud. Plus the projection on the ceiling is fun for kids, too.

I had the ame problem...I didn't bother wasting my money on a white noise machine though... I bought a 10 dollar cd player at walmart and downloaded hairdryer noise..It plays 72 minutes of it and he goes right to sleep. It works so good that when I was at the salon yesterday that the second someone turned on the hairdryer he went right out. We also can play lullaby cds also in his room now!!!! I went to amazon.com and typed hairdryer, or sound effects. I believe I used the fx one. They had over 4,000 sound effects!!!!! So if you don't want a hairdryer, then I just put it on a cd and there ya go. I hope this helps...Good luck

I have no experience with them but I suggest humidifier's. Not only do they restore much needed moisture to winter's dry heat air, but they are wonderful white noise machine's. I bought them to help the kids when they were sick and found myself turning them on even when they were better.

A.,

We use the sound oasis now and have for about 2 or 3 months. When my son was born (now three years old), he was such a light sleeper that the flushing of the towlet bowl or creaking of the floor would wake him up, so we used to use a regular radio set to a static station. At around 1 year of age we were able to switch to a fan, but recently (4 months ago), my daughter was born and the fan just did not block the baby crying sound. So we found the sound oasis (on Amazon.com) and it is just great. We have one is each of their rooms and they don't hear anything outside of their rooms. One really nice feature of the sound oasis is that you can purchase different sound cards. Good luck and I hope you find something that works.

We use the Sound Sleeper Soothing Audio Machine by Dex and love it!! We even bought a second one to keep at my in-laws!

http://www.buybuybaby.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SK...;

My husband found one at Radio Shack - it is a small white cube that is a noise machine with multiple noises as well as a night light. You can have noise for 10 min. 15 min. etc. or non-stop. We use the non-stop and have used it for a couple years now. I think it was about $25 and has worked great during the couple of years we have had it. Would definitely recommend.

I bought an air purifier (a small model,Holmes for around $40 from Target) for my little guy. It has 3 settings. I use the loudest/highest setting during nap time to drown out noise and the medium setting for night when there is less activity. It works great and it is cleaning the air while keeping my son in sleep mode!

Good Luck!

P.S. my house is also very creaky!

Last year, I purchased a humidifier for both my kids rooms, turns out, it was just as loud as the fan I had in their rooms. I bought the 2 pack at Target for about $30! They worked great and gave a little relief for dry skin and stuffy noses during the heating season!

Yes, I have the Marpac and it's great. It's a fan so it sounds better than the pre-recorded ones.

We use a fan that is specifically made to sit on the floor-- I believe it's called an air circulating fan. Cost less than $20 at Target and you can point it straight up so the air doesn't blow on the baby while she's sleeping. As the weather gets cooler, we will swap out our fan for a cool mist humidifier (as we did last year) for our boys since the moist air keeps their sinuses from drying out once the heat gets turned on.

Hi A.,
I was using a fan during the summer too (i have an 8 month old). Now that its getting cooler I am actually using a cool mist humidifier in his room. He had gotten a cold a month ago and I've been using it ever since. We have forced air heat, so once its cold enough for heat, the air in his room will stay moist and he'll get the white noise from the machine. Before i used the fan or humidifier, I used an alarm clock with sounds on it that i had bought for $15 at Linens n things. Its round, has 6 settings and can illuminate the time on the ceiling. Its great! My sitter has it now for napping at her house. Good Luck!

I must say I never had a problem with any of my 5 kids sleeping no matter how much noise was in the house. Maybe that's because from the very first day I brought them home from the hospital I did not shield them from noise. They usually took their naps in whatever room the family was in and I never closed the door to their bedrooms at night (I have a claustrophobic problem and can not stand closed doors anywhere in the house).

My granddaughter on the other had was shielded from noises and the slightest "bump" or "creek" anywhere in the house woke her up. Her mother used a fan also for white noise. Even in the winter she used it. Finally when Amber (my granddaughter) learned to climb out of her crib and started playing with the fan her mother had to take it out. She did not sleep very well the first few nights and woke up often. But within a few days she was so tired she fell asleep and has never had a problem since then. She is now 11 years old and can sleep during a train wreck!

If you do not want to wean her off the white noise all at once, try turning the fan down to a lower speed every few days. See if she can sleep without it eventually. Or go in during the night and turn it off and see if she stays asleep. She may not need it as much as you think she does.

just put a boom box or cd player in her room and put on one of those soft music cd's or tropical sounds like rain storms and let it play low all night. that will camoflage the creeky house noises. i sleep well this way too. much more relaxing.

Hi! I use a white noise cd in my son's boom box and just put it on repeat play, so it plays all night. This way you can control the volume. I read the advice about using a tropical sounds cd, but the only problem I found is sometimes there are animal noises, etc. that are startling. I found the white noise cd on amazon. It is called baby's first white noise. Hope this helps. K.

I didn't realize mine was that kind but I looked at a picture on the internet and it looks exactly the same as the one you said. I've had it for about 4 or 5 years for my younger daughter who was a light sleeper and commented about voices and dishes banging/etc. and it helped a lot. Now she doesn't need it anymore but I use it as I work nights! It's wonderful and mine has two settings, low and high. The high setting can seem awful loud but basically blocks out almost any sounds except for things with thumps. The low setting doesn't really block out enough of anything to be useful. Sometimes I wish I had something that sounded more peaceful but it really does a good job of blocking noises.

A.,
Who says you have to replace the fan??? Just turn it away from her, or put it up higher so it doesen't put too much of a breeze on her.. my husband sleeps with a fan on Hurricane Katrina setting right on his face year round. She is used to that sound and possibly the air movement.. I say leave it there and save yourself the hassel!
good luck!
M. from Pittsford

A., You should let your daughter get used to the noises around her it will create a child that is very dependent on that type of rythym to get her to fall asleep she will learn how to put herself to sleep. You will have a hard time when vacationing. My suggestion is to let her fall asleep to whatever noise is naturally around the house. My oldest spent the first years of his life living next to a hospital and know sleeps like a champ where ever we go to this day at sixteen. My second child spent the first years in a very quite home (we moved to a deadend street)and has trouble falling asleep unless it is absoultely quiet. hope this helps

Hi A., I use a fan during the summer and then switch to the humidifier during the winter. My boys need the extra moisture, so it works out. I am not for spending a lot of money just to be disappointed. Keep it simple. My boyfriend uses a fan all year round. M.

Save the money, find a static radio station and have that playing in the room all night. Similar sound and works perfectly, for free! And the volume is yours to control.

Can you believe your baby girl is turning 1? Mine just did and I'm still getting over it!

Yes, we have a sound machine and I love it. My babe is sensitive to sound and it just gives her a steady white noise versus all the unexpected noises of dogs barking and floors creaking. And its portable should you travel with her at some point.

I can't really tell you about which brands are better or worse b/c I just happened upon mine from working as a therapist. But I think its really worth having. Moms also use things like air purifiers, vaporizers, heaters, etc and all are fine but there do conme days where you don't need any of the above but do want the white noise. It certainly isn't an end-all to all noise but I definitely see the difference in how it helps.

Hope that helps ya, N.

If it's a fan that can sit onthe floor, just keep using it. That's what we do. Or if you are going to be using a humidfier for the winter - that should provided enough background noise. Just don't get one of the "silent" ones :)

Hi A.,

I bought a noise machine for my son about three years ago from radio shack. It has a bunch of settings like, ocean, rain, wind, forest, and train. I still use it for my 13 month old daughter. I like it. Check it out.

I got one from Bed, Bath & Beyond last Christmas and love it! My 3 1/2 month old daughter seems to enjoy it, too. It has many different sounds, including a heart beat.

We have one from Brookstone that we like.

Hey A.,
You have lots of good ideas on here. I was interested to see what everyone else does because everyone in my family sleeps with noise! I didn't see this idea though...it's what I do in my room. I put a bath towel over the box/floor fan (Target/Wal-Mart, like 15 bucks) and put the fan on medium so there is enough sound. That way, I don't have the cool air on me if it's winter. My girls both have a small fan/heater that sits on the bureau and is noisy enough for them. One goes on and off with the temp (heater) and one does not. My brother is an energy consultant/manager and swears by the box fan. He says it costs 2 cents per hour, if that, to run one fan. The heaters and other electric devices cost more. I guess we are all trying to save money and go green as well! Good luck and let us know what you do...

C.

Hi! I have two daughters, one 5 1/2 and one 3, and I have two of the same white noise machine, one for each of them, that I purchased when they were infants. I got them at Radio Shack, I think they were $20 each, and they're PERFECT. They have about eight different sounds they make, and the volume goes way, way up. We live right on train tracks and this thing does wonders for their sleep! Plus we have a very loud elevator in our house (warehouse). The Radio Shack Sleep Machine works great and has done us a fabulous service for the last almost 6 years!

First off, so many moms say just make normal noise from day 1, and they don't need white noise. I was all set with that with my daughter, and learned quickly that's an old wive's tale. My daughter is such a light sleeper, if you breathe too loud in the next room, she'll wake. We spent months just making normal noise, and it didn't work, I think baby's just have different sensitivities with sound. We finally started using a fan, and she started sleeping longer than 15 minutes a time. Then as the weather is changing, we bought the marpac basic model, and it works fine. She now takes 2 hour naps.

Couldn't you buy a fan that sits on the floor and just point it away from her? That what we do for our kids. They have floor fans and during the cooler months we just point it away from them.

Yes, I purchased a white noise machine from JCPenney catalog and it worked wonders. I purchased it for the same reason. My son would wake up many times because of noise in the home and because of my older children. It did the trick. I at first didn't think it would be loud enough either but it is. Now that he is 4 and no longer needs it, I have used it on occasions for myself also. It is a wonderful invention. The one from JCPenney, I believe, cost 49.99 or 59.99. It actually works as well as a fan which I also tried in the summer before I purchased this white noise machine.

I'm probably the only person that thinks those white noise machines are a bad idea, because the sound is constant. I'd be afraid it would damage the cells in the ears and doesn't teach the child how to sleep without noise. Your better off playing some classical music at a low volume, because it shuts off after the child's asleep to give the ears and brain a rest from over stimulation. Even one of those nature tapes would be better, because the birds and wind chimes aren't constant.

I have two Soundscreen machines - one in each of my childrens' rooms. I think they are great and definitely worth the money.

We have the Marpac for our kiddo. It's okay, but really not that loud. And at almost $50 you would think it would be really great. I don't think I can really recommend it. We just use a cheap fan, it's the best thing I've found. I know you're concerned about the temperature, but once you start using the heaters, it really shouldn't cool things down that much, it will just move the hot air around. And a little circulation is always a good thing! Good luck.