White noise for babies, do or don't?

You have probably heard that those “Baby Einstein” (and Mozart, or white noise) things don’t work. This article might be helpful.

A stimulating environment during the day would be good but peace and quiet is best at night.

Talking to them (not in baby talk) stimulates language; singing to them is soothing and increases bonding; laughing with them fosters interactive behavior. Reading to them helps them recognize that books have a value and is the beginning of learning to read. Almost anything you do leads to either positive or negative responses. There is no magic plan that works the same way for each child, because each child presents his own unique combination of characteristics. Parents being consistent is the best way to begin.

I say don’t when it comes to white noise to fall asleep. I would only resort to it if my child had a very difficult time falling asleep or staying asleep and basically are light sleepers. I think it is a minority of children who have trouble sleeping. Once trained to white noise people seem to get sort of dependent on it, and then you will be lugging your white noise machine every time you visit grandma or take a vacation to Disney.

Down time, quiet, imagination.

And education in the arts early in life.

Interaction with a loving adult is good in all kinds of ways. I wouldn’t do white noise unless I absolutely had to. I also wouldn’t be particularly quiet while baby is sleeping. The sooner they get used to sleeping in a normal (for your home) environment, the better. All three of my kids learned to sleep through their father practicing on his drums in the house!

I wouldn’t do white noise. Maybe music or quiet. They need stimulation, not white noise. And an adult that spends real quality time with them is the best. Catch a frog for them, fish with them, teach them about nature, music, and the arts.

Please, as the wife of someone who can’t sleep without white noise, I beg you to not start with it! And I agree with others who have said to not tiptoe around when they’re sleeping. They can get used to sleeping with regular noises in your house.

My daughter always went down easily as I was very matter of fact about bedtime.
I gave her nightly back rubs and massages, wound up a little pastel turtle toy that played Bhrams Lullaby, lovely classic little tune kissed her goodnight, patted her bottom and left the room. Other than a brief phase of night terrors around 2, she never had bedtime issues.
I think loving care, a matter of fact attitude, and a little 3–4 minutes of music is good enough.
I also never brought her into my bed after the midnight and early morning feedings as an infant.

Babies need to learn to self soothe and too much anxiety on a parents behalf sends anxious vibes to the child.
I do not believe in taking an infant or toddler into the parents bed or going to extremes.
A calm and matter of fact approach without anxiety being transferred is where it’s at.

Also a warm bath before bed is great! Along with a little bottle of water for babies that can hold a bottle. Infants need water too and I think a lot of parents neglect conditioning a baby to drink water. If they need something to suck on a tiny bottle of water helps with sucking needs and relaxation, is better than a pacifier and good for them too. :-)

I don’t think it’s necessary but this is one of those things where if you want to do it, it won’t hurt the kid. I think it’s better to have the kid fall asleep in the household with all its noises so it can always fall asleep no matter what’s going on. I’m not saying we have parties next to the kids’ bedroom but we never tiptoe around them and they can sleep in many different kinds of environments.

I youtubed rain sounds to get my fussy wussy to sleep while cradling and rocking.

When it comes to noise I am colorblind.

with that said i have to admit that i haven’t been able to sleep well without a fan running in the bedroom for the last 20+ years.

@Blondesjon It is indeed soothing :D

It’s soothing for the person who needs it, not for the person who has a hard time sleeping with a droning noise.

I wouldn’t recommend harsh trebled out white noise, but something rhythmic and constant is nice. New borns find it soothing for the simple fact that it reminds them of the comfort of being in the belly and hearing jumbled sounds. Of course when sound travels through the mothers bellies there aren’t any sharp sounds that carry through down there. High frequencies are eliminated and the sound is received more towards the lower end of the sound spectrum. I’m going off memorization from Child Development! So it’s not theee definitive answer. :D

@pleiades well concluded.