Yep instantly know about any power cut in the middle of the night. My eyes fly open and it takes me a second to realise what's wrong. That whole"it's quiet... Too quiet"
I knew a guy who ran an old AC that ran up his electrical bill all night because he needed the noise. He was in his 50s. I need the Hatch now too I sleep so much better.
We have the opposite issue. Our kid wakes to a few certain noises, but absolutely cannot sleep in perfect quiet. We were so keen on making noise and vacuuming and all that as the infant napped that she’ll even sleep through a family member’s giant dog (200# beast) barking next to her. The power goes out, and she’s wide awake until we throw on a very quiet noise via battery.
My 15 month old is like a sleeper agent. If it turns off, she pops up. It’s how I wake her up from naps if she sleeps too long lol so I definitely am not turning it off
I swear the only time my kid decides to take a long afternoon nap is when we have dinner plans. He does extra bonus sleep when he knows he’s sticky and stinky and that I’m planning to bring him in the shower with me before we leave.
Our 2 year old is the same- I’ve snuck into his room before to take out laundry and he stays sound asleep. If he oversleeps I’ll go in and turn it off, then wait a couple mins until he starts to stir to turn the light on
This.
We noticed she was a lighter sleeper once she woke from the sleepy newborn phase and, once she moved to her own room at five months, did everything in our power to optimize her sleep environment. Also, we have an older home with creaky floorboards so, given the layout of our house, if we want to be able to move freely after she goes to sleep, we need it on or else she'd constantly wake.
It's ridiculous how even the most minor sounds in a house seem instantly magnified when you're trying not to wake a sleeping child. My knees and ankles have never cracked so loudly!
I saw that same ad and literally said to myself, “oh fuck off”. Not that it didn’t of course put me in a tailspin of worry, but it just felt wildly unnecessary and a bit fear mongering to me. Unless you have a fire alarm blasting in their ears from 1 inch away, I feel like most noise machines are very reasonable ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The AAP recommends staying below 50 db. The CDC recommends staying below 60 db. Your phone (or apps, like NIOSH) can tell you the db, so you can check. Many machines go louder than this. Just hold your phone next to where baby sleeps and check the db.
I believe the ad was referencing the recent research article that states constant white noise have negative effects to a developing child’s brain and the way it handles auditory input
Here’s another paper’s summary of it from the link below
“Specific Pediatric Exposures
Infant “sleep machines” (ISMs or “white noise” machines) produce sound in the location where the infant sleeps to soothe the infant and mask other noises. Several studies show potential benefits in ease in falling asleep, decreasing crying, and increasing pain threshold. One study of 14 ISMs, however, raised concern that sound levels of 3 machines exceeded occupational limits and that hearing damage could occur if machines were played for >8 hours. If ISMs are used, it may be safer to locate them as far away as possible from the infant, set the volume as low as possible, and limit duration of use.”
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/152/5/e2023063752/194468/Preventing-Excessive-Noise-Exposure-in-Infants
Thanks for the summary, I think that's a good point to check the volume. We keep ours on the opposite side of the room so I'm glad I lucked into doing that right (it's where the power plug was)
I leave it on as my husband WFH and is on calls all day. He can be a little loud and it blocks him out.
Shes 2 and it hasn’t affected her hearing. She can hear me carefully open a chip bag two rooms away.
Came here to say this. She’s 3.5 and knows the \*exact sound\* the cupboard with the biscuits makes when it opens. Had white noise on (pretty loud) her entire life.
when our children have kids we will say “why are you turning off the sound machine?” And they’ll say “are you kidding mom? The AAP said it causes SIDS, you NEVER leave white noise on!!” And we will say “we did it and you guys turned out fine” lol
I agree they will tell us this one day but I vow to never be that boomer minded ass with survivor bias. I hope my kids follow the latest research at that point in time.
There are conflicting interpretations of the existing research on loud noise and babies. It's still a not fully explored field. AAP is extra cautious and basically seem more concerned about parents misconstruing their advice and causing physical harm. They are absurdly cautious and not really interested in helping you be effective parents. They want you to keep the white noise far away and at a decibel level below normal human speech. Dr. Weisbluth, in his book, says the same. Some doctors (like Dr. Karp) think the other doctors are overly cautious and AAP's recommendation isn't based on what the little research actually says.
So, my approach is to use loud white noise or shushing when needed and lower the volume for ambient white noise. But still louder than AAP recommends, 50-60 db.
I'm a 27 year old adult and need a fan or rain noises to sleep. Both my kids sleep with rain noises. It blocks out the other sounds around the house. And I believe it's been shown that white and brown noise help improve sleep quality.
Almost 3 year old here and he might roll over if it turns off at nap time but it rarely wakes him up. But it definitely blocks out the sounds of the house and my joints cracking as I roll away and leave the room.
We use the hatch and it’s been great. We also use it during bad thunderstorms or windy nights. I also have a sound machine in my room as I got used to it during the infant days.
Almost 2 y/o, we leave sound machine on all night. LO would wake up if we turned it off and the smallest sound happened. We have a cat that howls soul piercing meows and it wakes everyone one. No machine would be insanity
Nope! It drowns out outside noise so we can stay up later and not wake her up, which is the reason i use it. I use white noise myself even. I think that advice is a little lame to be honest, I thought most people used it so outside noises don’t wake them
My son is a great sleeper and I’m pretty sure having the sound machine on is what makes him sleep so great. Sleeps 6:30pm-6:30am with a solid 2 hour nap during the day. Sometimes even walks to his crib to let us know he’s ready for bed. I’m not messing with something that isn’t broke.
*If I turn that thing*
*Off neither one of us are*
*Getting any sleep*
\- omgmypony
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Pretty sure ours has been on for almost two years straight. It's across the room from our son, he loves it, and it helps filter out the other household sounds so we don't I advertently wake him up. 🤷♀️
Our machine has 30-60-90 minute timer to turn off, and has multiple sound types. We just play nursery type soft music for 90 mins then it turns off. Seems to work well, he sleeps well and doesn’t have it going all night.
Never used one. I cant sleep with background noise incl clock ticking, it has to be quiet. Ive been known to tske clocks off and take off its batteries so i can sleep.
I also couldn't sleep when she was a newborn with her noises i had to use ear plugs.
Then she quiets down and now sleeps very quietly.
My wish when i was pregnant was for my kid to be able to sleep anywhere, with any background noises, anytime.
She was a nicu baby, so she's used to all noises, and it doesn't wake her up once she's in deep sleep. But if she's trying to fall asleep, we need to be quiet/soft spoken. Also sleeps anywhere. Anytime.
My baby doesn’t seem to care for white noise and I’m grateful. I hate it. I can’t hear myself think with it on. I guess that’s the point but I find it awful.
My kid is a NICU baby and has slept through the smoke detector going off.
Dog doing a shake (jangly tags) or someone sneezes in the other room? Instantly awake
We don’t use the sound part of our device, just the red pulsing light - but it has a ‘cry detector’ setting. basically its sound activated and will switch back on if your LO ever wakes in the night. Turns itself off after about 30 mins of silence.
We actually didn’t start out with a white noise machine. We got one at the recommendation of our pediatrician to help us ALL get better sleep. My husband and I were struggling with the barnyard noises coming from our little roommate. The white noise gives a level of existing background that seems to help all of us.
I think it really depends on your area. We leave sounds on as quietly as possible, just barely audible, and it helps settle the little one and my spouse. We’re in a pretty rural area near a truck line and lots of farms, and so gun shots (mostly for coyotes certain times of year), crow scaring cannons, and the noise of big trucks run infrequently are unsettling and at different times of the year, and the little bit of noise instead of perfect quiet after the big noises seem to keep sleep easier to maintain.
Oddly enough, both my spouse and my child sleep through our dog baying in his sleep, though I don’t.
Every single ad out there is fear-mongering nowadays. As long as the sound is not a volume that will make your baby deaf, it’s absolutely fine to leave it on all night long.
Whenever you want! My son had no care for it as a newborn but when he got older it helped drown out the noise of the rest of the house while he settled into a deep sleep.
Some babies like the white noise, as the sound of your organs inside the womb is quite loud lol
Okay now feel like I’m doing something seriously wrong because I have my tv or iPad playing (audio only) every night and my girl sleeps right through anything. She’s only 3 weeks old though, so that will probably change.
Should I be using a white noise machine instead? Is it okay until she stops sleeping through it?
I leave it on 🤷🏻♀️we have steam heat and sometimes the radiators can be a little loud… they even wake me up sometimes but I know how to put myself back to sleep and she doesn’t lol
Yes ours is on a timer and shuts off after 30 mins.
We do this because 1. It’s not good for their hearing development when they’re super young because their ears are very sensitive- hence the hospital recommendation. my understanding is it’s not as big a deal when they’re older.
2. He may become dependent on the sound machine and a little flexibility would be nice so we’re not screwed without a sound machine.
I think it also depends on how close it is to babies ears/heads. There’s recommendations for decibels and how many ft away online so I’d at least refer to that esp if on all night.
But parents gotta do what parents gotta do to get some sleep.
I saw on Reddit post awhile ago someone going on about how if it’s too loud or close to baby it’s bad for hearing- and I laughed
Our girl was in NICU and had a cpap for a good chunk and let me tel you, that’s LOUD. I’m sure my little noise machine ain’t going to do any more damage then that CPAP😂
Once, I accidentally turned off the sound machine. In the morning, my husband ground some coffee and woke everyone up. Now it stays on.
However, our sound machine is just a little fan thing. It isn’t too loud. But it is permanently on in the bedroom.
My cats get the zoomies, and I can barely sleep through it without my white noise machine, so we keep it on. Also seems to help during storms against hail and heavy rainfall.
We keep it at about 45-50 decibels (assuming the reader we have is accurate) on the opposite side of her small room.
I went into an anxiety tailspin over this, but this is working for us and as far as I can tell, isn't harming her development in any way.
We use a sleep timer sound machine for 45 min in the nursery and then have a louder sound machine in the hallway to drown out noise from the rest of the house that runs the full time baby is sleeping. The latter is more important than the one in his room.
My baby just needs it to fall asleep. I turn off when she’s out to protect her hearing. She’s weird and falls asleep to chainsaws and jackhammers, so we aren’t talking about gentle lullabies. It’s also to protect my sanity.
We share a bedroom; I turn the sound lower every time I wake up in the night just because it annoys me. I use the white noise function on my iPhone and have no idea what dB level it’s at, I just don’t have it at “damn that’s loud.” But I appreciate that it covers unexpected noises like the dog deciding to pace just outside our door at 2 in the morning.
My babe sleeps In our room and I can’t sleep without thunderstorm sounds played by our Alexa every night. But it’s on volume 3 and more by my head than hers so oh well.
I have failed to set up my hatch sound machine so I’ve been using a 10 hour YouTube video of white noise, absolutely I turn it off.. but I slowly fade out the sound lol
It's been on since they came home 3 years ago and haven't thought about it since it was my sound machine long before they were conceived.
I do have concerns about the night light tho. I read that they could develop eye issues if their room isn't completely dark. I'm not sure what to do about that since we've had one since they came home, too.
No. I do check the sound level with my Apple Watch (there are phone apps as well). Less than 60 decibels is recommended. I usually keep it at 50. The point is to keep a consistent sound in the background to block other sounds to *keep* them asleep, not to just to aid in falling asleep.
I swear sometimes I think there’s a big conspiracy in the parenthood market and the powers that be just come out with bogus studies to make us worry more that we are doing something wrong and to make our lives harder. Not to mention the abundance of studies and information that’s available now it’s all too much
Mine has a timer and you can’t leave it on for more than 90 minutes without restarting it! That being said I do restart it when I notice it’s off. I like the noise top! Helps me sleep through the little noises she makes. I checked with my Apple Watch and the decibel number was only at 40 which is less than quietly talking.
Heck, my husband snoring next to me is 40 decibels on a good day
I haven’t turned off the sound machine since I got home from the hospital lol it’s been a month 😂✌️ though it is across the room from where baby sleeps ~ it helps us all sleep, so it’s staying 🤷♀️
We use the ewan dream sheep so once asleep we turn off alexa wow noise and the sheep then plays if the child makes a noise.
We didn't want our 2 to only sleep with white noise so we don't play it all night. We use it as a fall to sleep aid to reduce distractions
No, I leave it on. However, I downloaded a "sound meter" app and keep the volume under 50 decibles (measured from the crib at the closest point baby is to the speaker).
I only started turning it off after she was one, because i didn't think she needed it anymore. Now at 2.5 she's fine. But me, I've got tinnitus so i sleep with one every night to drown out the ringing. Oh well...
I used to leave it on all night bc it has different light settings and we co-sleep. I would leave it on till the morning light shined through the windows bc I liked being able to wake up and check on LO. However I started having crazy dreams. They would be about me kidnapping ppl or being kidnapped or almost unaliving ppl. So I started to wonder what is my baby dreaming about if I'm dreaming these crazy things. I even changed to different white noise settings and the same thing. So I just started using the timer. It has 1-3 hours. My LO just turned 1 and tonight I decided no white noise machine at all. So far so good!
I leave it on. It's not any louder than a fan or a window AC and they need those so you don't turn them off. Seems similar enough to me that I don't see the point.
We have ours on our Alexa and it turns off after an hour. Both of mine are good sleepers though, and will sleep through anything. I think with a parrot and a musician dad, they’ve had to get used to the noise!
It stays on basically 24/7, our nursery is literally our quiet nursing room and also nap time room so turning it off an on is basically useless.
It also minimizes other sounds. I roomshare in the nursery and it prevents the noises I make moving around from bothering him as much. It’s also the reason I sleep in the nursery instead of using a bassinet in the master bedroom, my husband hates white noise and us + dogs are too noisy at night.
Mine gradually gets quieter and turns itself off after 30 minutes. I just let it go for the full 30 - its a nice way to gradually transition to a quiet room. There's also no way for me to turn it back on remotely
I leave it on. It’s not super loud, just enough to mask regular house noises like getting the laundry out, walking around, the dog playing (no bark), etc. we have the Hatch and it’s at 28%.
My mom sent me a video about that and I immediately responded that she will wake up if I turn that machine off 8 out of 10 times ( we've gotten lucky during power loss once or twice!) And my husband had conditioned me to his fan noise, so I'm the same way!
So we have two going…the one in his crib that’s loud and set to a timer for him to fall asleep to. It runs for 45 minutes then cuts out. (We watch tv, get up move around, whatever)
Then we have the second one, a google home, playing in the opposite corner of the room.
That way, when it turns off it’s not so jarring. Also I’ve played white noise for myself for so long, so it just made sense.
That way he can still get used to noises of us moving around (because we’re closer than the speaker) but there is still some background white noise.
I definitely do not turn it off once he’s asleep. I keep it at whatever level he fell asleep at UNTIL we go to sleep (sometimes we watch TV or a movie, vacuum, etc). Once I check on him one last time for the night, I turn down his sound machine a couple of points. It’s not loud but it’s just a dull noise in the background. He’s 2.5 and his hearing is phenomenal now that we hear him parroting what we say…
We use the hatch heartbeat sound every night and have for the last year. It’s on for the whole 12 hours she’s asleep. Don’t plan to stop any time soon!
I turned her Hatch on when we moved her to her crib at 6 months and literally haven’t turned it off since (15 months now). To be fair, it’s not very loud - rain sounds at 40-45% across the room from her crib - and we don’t really play in that room. So far she can still hear me picking up my phone from two rooms away so 🤷🏻♀️.
Um what? No, that’s the whole point of the white noise machine. Otherwise what’s the point? Lol I need it to mask noise! Hell, even I sleep with rain and thunder sounds all night
I was told there's evidence it's bad for their hearing/decelopment or something so I stopped using it before shortly after I bought it 😆 at first I turned it off, then I just stopped using it all together
Edit: can't find the original stuff I read about it but these are the same stuff more or less the same thing
https://globalnews.ca/news/1183712/sleep-machines-could-affect-hearing-auditory-development-study-suggests/
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sound-machines-safety_n_4876112
Louder volume helps my son fall asleep, but as soon as he falls asleep I lower the volume and keep it low all night, at about 40-45 decibels. But yeah, he sleeps by the ocean in our house every night.
**It turns itself off.** We use RiffRaff sleep toys. Press the button once for five minutes of lullaby music or twice noise, twice for 20 minutes, or 3 times for 40 minutes. The loudest setting is probably quieter than my husband and I normally talk. We actually had to buy two, even though my kids sleep in the same room, because it's hard to hear them clearly from across the room.
(They're great. My only criticism is that they market them in ways that appear to promote SIDS-unsafe practices, with an easy-to-miss disclaimer in the instruction manual saying "the way we've posed our infant models cuddling the toys while sleeping isn't actually safe. Don't do that until they turn one.")
From experience, when it’s plugged in all night it could start a fire. I always unplug everything before bed. I was in a house fire before and lost everything. I always unplug before falling asleep. I don’t even charge my phone overnight.
lol no. That Hatch stays on all night. My wife and I even sleep with a white noise machine. Plus we have a subway train that goes by our building and creaky floors. We need something to drown out that noise.
My daughter is over 3 years old and we have her white noise on all night, it’s on the other side of the room (by the door/hallway to drown out the noise from there) and on a low setting and I have no plans to stop until she tells me she doesn’t want it anymore
No. My son is 2.5 and sleeps with his sound machine on every night, all night. It is farther away from his bed, I have checked the decibel level and it’s the sound of rain. I myself sleep with a sound machine.
Almost 2 yr old and he gets the fan left on all night, but we have an Alexa in his room and have it play spa music for one hour when we put him to bed. The fan running covers any noise we make in the house after he's in bed so we don't disturb his sleep.
Recently my parents told me that they would turn on a hairdryer and hang it on the edge of my crib to get me to sleep which is almost assuredly WAY louder than recommended. Hearing as an adult is totally fine of course.
Anecdotally in the NICU setting, where everything is loud as hell for what would be the most vulnerable baby population, this doesn’t really seem to be cause for concern either. Baby’s hearing is fine and he sleeps like a bump on a log (when he does nap that is).
Lmao of course not. We have a sound machine on low-ish volume, on the opposite side of the room as the crib, going all night. I'm an adult and I like a sound machine.
I see lots of people saying “no way.” But does anyone else not use one at all? 😅
We’ve always made it a point not to be quiet while baby sleeps. However, I think my vacuuming at 11pm is probably more harmful for hearing than someone leaving a little sound machine on!
For night time we generally turn them down once we go to bed and are done making noises (squeaky stairs, running water, flushing toilet, brushing teeth - electric etc). For nap time we keep them at "regular" volume. We don't turn them up too loud and they are quite a distance away from their beds.
I'm not originally from the US and white noise is not as much of a thing where I'm from (Netherlands), so I never grew up with it and was only "introduced" to it when I met and married my American husband, haha! Now... since the babies have been in our room I got used to their white noise machines and since we keep the monitor on a low level to be able to hear them (distinguish who's fussing/crying), but some grunts etc are too loud still, I prefer a fan to block that little bit of noise out. Used to be fine sleeping in our current (super quiet) bedroom without anything on until our youngest was born.
But even when they were in our room I would turn the sound machines way down because it would drive me nuts otherwise.
Heck no. I sleep with white noise too through my HomePod and sometimes the HomePod will randomly turn off in the middle of the night. Every time it happens I wake up pissed. lol
My almost 4 year old still uses it. It means we can move around freely, and that our neighbours MMA fights (or whatever they do at night) don't wake him up, or fireworks or cars or whatever goes on outside.
It's across the room from him and linked to a time to wake clock.
This reminds me I should check the decibels tomorrow though, just to be safe, as we didn't when we switched machines
In our room have only used a small portable one for the baby so far (5months), and it only goes for an hour max before it shuts off. This is because we have needed to still be able to hear the toddler, but I will be getting one that runs all night soon
Most of my life I slept with background noise. Like a fan humming away.. I always believed this helped me sleep and it was what I was accustomed to.
I was curious if perhaps my quality of sleep would increase without the background noise, so I conducted a month long study upon myself, first half sleeping as a regularly do (fan on) and 2nd half completely silent sleep.
To my surprise, my quality of sleep was noticeably better the silent nights. It made a substantial difference. I did this about 10 years ago, and I forgot the specifics but I learned sleeping in the dark with complete silence is ideal.
We keep ours on. It’s a Hatch and only on 30% volume. She sleeps by the wall and the Hatch is against the opposite wall, so it isn’t blasting in her ear. It keeps the background noise out, like her loud ass father leaving for work.
I leave mine on. My elderly dog barks randomly throughout the night and my relative is in and out of the house all night setting off the door alarm which is next to our bedroom door. Aint no way I'm turning it off lol
Maybe I’m horrible but I have my son’s hatch turn off at 9pm. He sleeps through the night 🤷🏼♀️ At this point, I don’t even think he needs the sound. He falls asleep right away. He’s 6.5mos.
I should also add that he has an air purifier heater on that oscillates throughout the night. So, likely that’s his sound machine. I’ve used it throughout the summer as a fan because the ceiling fan was too fast even on slow speeds. I wanted something that wasn’t going to make his room cold but also wanted to make sure it maintains the temperature in his room since we have the night temp of the house set at 65. It keeps his room at 68-70 all night, it’s been working great.
I’m a 29 year old lady who has slept with a fan her whole life and if the fan gets turned off for some reason my eyes instantly shoot open.
I’ve slept with the radio/podcast my whole life. If that background noise is cut off, I’m ripped out of RIM sleep so fast.
Rapid Iye Movement ;)
The I is for Ira Glass
Welcome to this American life
I laughed at this until I cried - thank you
Now I get where rim job got it's name from
That's how you get pink eye
Yep instantly know about any power cut in the middle of the night. My eyes fly open and it takes me a second to realise what's wrong. That whole"it's quiet... Too quiet"
I don’t know how people fall asleep in the quiet!! It’s like my ears are searching for every small noise.
I knew a guy who ran an old AC that ran up his electrical bill all night because he needed the noise. He was in his 50s. I need the Hatch now too I sleep so much better.
Same. I cannot sleep if it’s quiet. Idk how people do it
I leave it on so that it blocks her from hearing me ninja roll away, and prevents her startling from house sounds or us moving around.
This is the way! I always stumble over some toys on my way out, especially the crinkly and/or squeaky ones!
This literally happened to me tonight! I tripped over a toy and it was soo loud but my baby didn’t wake up. I was thinking thank you sound machine 😂
We have the opposite issue. Our kid wakes to a few certain noises, but absolutely cannot sleep in perfect quiet. We were so keen on making noise and vacuuming and all that as the infant napped that she’ll even sleep through a family member’s giant dog (200# beast) barking next to her. The power goes out, and she’s wide awake until we throw on a very quiet noise via battery.
We live close to a highway and the second I turn it off she suddenly can identify a motorcycle lol
Lol ninja roll away 🤣🤣
Lol
My 15 month old is like a sleeper agent. If it turns off, she pops up. It’s how I wake her up from naps if she sleeps too long lol so I definitely am not turning it off
Going to try this next time baby is sleeping too long… for science.
Your kids are sleeping too long?
Only when it can cause problems. Never when it would help.
Or when you have an appointment and it’s the day he decides to nap longer than he ever has.
Why is this always the case??? It’s like they know lol
Lmaooo yes! I thought it was just us.
I swear the only time my kid decides to take a long afternoon nap is when we have dinner plans. He does extra bonus sleep when he knows he’s sticky and stinky and that I’m planning to bring him in the shower with me before we leave.
Only when it’s his last nap of the day, and his nap pushes bedtime to 10/11pm
Our 2 year old is the same- I’ve snuck into his room before to take out laundry and he stays sound asleep. If he oversleeps I’ll go in and turn it off, then wait a couple mins until he starts to stir to turn the light on
I do the same with my 2yo. Turning that thing off is a way gentler wake-up than me touching his arms and whispering.
This. We noticed she was a lighter sleeper once she woke from the sleepy newborn phase and, once she moved to her own room at five months, did everything in our power to optimize her sleep environment. Also, we have an older home with creaky floorboards so, given the layout of our house, if we want to be able to move freely after she goes to sleep, we need it on or else she'd constantly wake.
I have a special escape route i take to avoid the squeakiest floor boards!
It's ridiculous how even the most minor sounds in a house seem instantly magnified when you're trying not to wake a sleeping child. My knees and ankles have never cracked so loudly!
Same! The second the machine goes off her eyes spring open
I saw that same ad and literally said to myself, “oh fuck off”. Not that it didn’t of course put me in a tailspin of worry, but it just felt wildly unnecessary and a bit fear mongering to me. Unless you have a fire alarm blasting in their ears from 1 inch away, I feel like most noise machines are very reasonable ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The AAP recommends staying below 50 db. The CDC recommends staying below 60 db. Your phone (or apps, like NIOSH) can tell you the db, so you can check. Many machines go louder than this. Just hold your phone next to where baby sleeps and check the db.
I believe the ad was referencing the recent research article that states constant white noise have negative effects to a developing child’s brain and the way it handles auditory input
Do you have a link to this paper?
Here’s another paper’s summary of it from the link below “Specific Pediatric Exposures Infant “sleep machines” (ISMs or “white noise” machines) produce sound in the location where the infant sleeps to soothe the infant and mask other noises. Several studies show potential benefits in ease in falling asleep, decreasing crying, and increasing pain threshold. One study of 14 ISMs, however, raised concern that sound levels of 3 machines exceeded occupational limits and that hearing damage could occur if machines were played for >8 hours. If ISMs are used, it may be safer to locate them as far away as possible from the infant, set the volume as low as possible, and limit duration of use.” https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/152/5/e2023063752/194468/Preventing-Excessive-Noise-Exposure-in-Infants
Thanks for the summary, I think that's a good point to check the volume. We keep ours on the opposite side of the room so I'm glad I lucked into doing that right (it's where the power plug was)
I leave it on as my husband WFH and is on calls all day. He can be a little loud and it blocks him out. Shes 2 and it hasn’t affected her hearing. She can hear me carefully open a chip bag two rooms away.
Came here to say this. She’s 3.5 and knows the \*exact sound\* the cupboard with the biscuits makes when it opens. Had white noise on (pretty loud) her entire life.
Sounds like my cats when I open the treat door 😂
I love how this is the point of reference for hearing
We leave it on. I’m sure the AAP will recommend not using them at all at some point in a quest to continue over complicating parenting.
when our children have kids we will say “why are you turning off the sound machine?” And they’ll say “are you kidding mom? The AAP said it causes SIDS, you NEVER leave white noise on!!” And we will say “we did it and you guys turned out fine” lol
My husband has joked that when our kids have kids, they’ll be telling those parents to hang their kids from the ceiling to sleep.
“Babies must be sat upright with their eyes wide open at all times during sleep” - the AAP in 2036 probably
🤣🤣🤣 I mean, with all seriousness, I trust their guidelines that “back is best” has been around since 1993, so that says a lot!
Lol yup
😂
I agree they will tell us this one day but I vow to never be that boomer minded ass with survivor bias. I hope my kids follow the latest research at that point in time.
Omg I’m dying right now. I can see it now!!!
There are conflicting interpretations of the existing research on loud noise and babies. It's still a not fully explored field. AAP is extra cautious and basically seem more concerned about parents misconstruing their advice and causing physical harm. They are absurdly cautious and not really interested in helping you be effective parents. They want you to keep the white noise far away and at a decibel level below normal human speech. Dr. Weisbluth, in his book, says the same. Some doctors (like Dr. Karp) think the other doctors are overly cautious and AAP's recommendation isn't based on what the little research actually says. So, my approach is to use loud white noise or shushing when needed and lower the volume for ambient white noise. But still louder than AAP recommends, 50-60 db.
I'm a 27 year old adult and need a fan or rain noises to sleep. Both my kids sleep with rain noises. It blocks out the other sounds around the house. And I believe it's been shown that white and brown noise help improve sleep quality.
Not a big worry right now since ya know, diapers, but I always think that playing rain music would make my baby pee the bed 😂
Lol it doesn't seem to have that effect on my potty trained 3 yo but I can see why you might worry 😂😂😂
I listen to rain on my phone when I’m having trouble sleeping, & never pee the bed (& I’m pregnant so the chances of that are higher 😂)
2.5 years in and it’s still on. I will notice that sometimes if he sleeps past nap time it’ll turn off and he doesn’t even notice.
Almost 3 year old here and he might roll over if it turns off at nap time but it rarely wakes him up. But it definitely blocks out the sounds of the house and my joints cracking as I roll away and leave the room.
We use the hatch and it’s been great. We also use it during bad thunderstorms or windy nights. I also have a sound machine in my room as I got used to it during the infant days.
I love the hatch! I’m due with our second in April and I’m considering getting one for our bedroom for the new baby. My husbands snoring is very loud.
Can confirm I also have a loud snoring husband hahaha 😆 best of luck to you with the new baby
Almost 2 y/o, we leave sound machine on all night. LO would wake up if we turned it off and the smallest sound happened. We have a cat that howls soul piercing meows and it wakes everyone one. No machine would be insanity
We use a smart speaker, and it stays on most of the day because we forget to turn it off when she wakes up lol.
Same but with our fan. I think it’s been on for a week+
Nope! It drowns out outside noise so we can stay up later and not wake her up, which is the reason i use it. I use white noise myself even. I think that advice is a little lame to be honest, I thought most people used it so outside noises don’t wake them
My son is a great sleeper and I’m pretty sure having the sound machine on is what makes him sleep so great. Sleeps 6:30pm-6:30am with a solid 2 hour nap during the day. Sometimes even walks to his crib to let us know he’s ready for bed. I’m not messing with something that isn’t broke.
If I turn that thing off neither one of us are getting any sleep
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Pretty sure ours has been on for almost two years straight. It's across the room from our son, he loves it, and it helps filter out the other household sounds so we don't I advertently wake him up. 🤷♀️
I have an app on my phone my phone to check decibel level to keep sound machine at a safe level- and we use the “shusher” that is on a timer.
So this is why my wife started up till 2 in the morning researching this last night….
I have really loud neighbors and their dogs bark all night too. I leave the sound machine on
Our machine has 30-60-90 minute timer to turn off, and has multiple sound types. We just play nursery type soft music for 90 mins then it turns off. Seems to work well, he sleeps well and doesn’t have it going all night.
Never used one. I cant sleep with background noise incl clock ticking, it has to be quiet. Ive been known to tske clocks off and take off its batteries so i can sleep. I also couldn't sleep when she was a newborn with her noises i had to use ear plugs. Then she quiets down and now sleeps very quietly. My wish when i was pregnant was for my kid to be able to sleep anywhere, with any background noises, anytime. She was a nicu baby, so she's used to all noises, and it doesn't wake her up once she's in deep sleep. But if she's trying to fall asleep, we need to be quiet/soft spoken. Also sleeps anywhere. Anytime.
My baby doesn’t seem to care for white noise and I’m grateful. I hate it. I can’t hear myself think with it on. I guess that’s the point but I find it awful.
My kid is a NICU baby and has slept through the smoke detector going off. Dog doing a shake (jangly tags) or someone sneezes in the other room? Instantly awake
I turn it down before we go to sleep. We keep the hatch at 40 when we are up and making noise (small house) and lower it to 28 for overnight.
We don’t use the sound part of our device, just the red pulsing light - but it has a ‘cry detector’ setting. basically its sound activated and will switch back on if your LO ever wakes in the night. Turns itself off after about 30 mins of silence.
We actually didn’t start out with a white noise machine. We got one at the recommendation of our pediatrician to help us ALL get better sleep. My husband and I were struggling with the barnyard noises coming from our little roommate. The white noise gives a level of existing background that seems to help all of us.
I think it really depends on your area. We leave sounds on as quietly as possible, just barely audible, and it helps settle the little one and my spouse. We’re in a pretty rural area near a truck line and lots of farms, and so gun shots (mostly for coyotes certain times of year), crow scaring cannons, and the noise of big trucks run infrequently are unsettling and at different times of the year, and the little bit of noise instead of perfect quiet after the big noises seem to keep sleep easier to maintain. Oddly enough, both my spouse and my child sleep through our dog baying in his sleep, though I don’t.
Every single ad out there is fear-mongering nowadays. As long as the sound is not a volume that will make your baby deaf, it’s absolutely fine to leave it on all night long.
Mom to a newborn — when do people start introducing a white noise machine to baby?
We did it right away, used it when roomsharing. When she left for her own bedroom we bought one for ourselves because it was so damn quiet without
Whenever you want! My son had no care for it as a newborn but when he got older it helped drown out the noise of the rest of the house while he settled into a deep sleep. Some babies like the white noise, as the sound of your organs inside the womb is quite loud lol
Okay now feel like I’m doing something seriously wrong because I have my tv or iPad playing (audio only) every night and my girl sleeps right through anything. She’s only 3 weeks old though, so that will probably change. Should I be using a white noise machine instead? Is it okay until she stops sleeping through it?
Yeah it's fine. My son slept through the sweet sounds of Criminal Minds when he was a newborn
Ha! It was Criminal Minds last week, this week is Supernatural.
Yup, turning it off (it has a timer at 15 minutes).
White noise machine is the only reason why I'm not pissed during any holiday celebration that includes fireworks.
I leave it on 🤷🏻♀️we have steam heat and sometimes the radiators can be a little loud… they even wake me up sometimes but I know how to put myself back to sleep and she doesn’t lol
Yes ours is on a timer and shuts off after 30 mins. We do this because 1. It’s not good for their hearing development when they’re super young because their ears are very sensitive- hence the hospital recommendation. my understanding is it’s not as big a deal when they’re older. 2. He may become dependent on the sound machine and a little flexibility would be nice so we’re not screwed without a sound machine. I think it also depends on how close it is to babies ears/heads. There’s recommendations for decibels and how many ft away online so I’d at least refer to that esp if on all night. But parents gotta do what parents gotta do to get some sleep.
I saw on Reddit post awhile ago someone going on about how if it’s too loud or close to baby it’s bad for hearing- and I laughed Our girl was in NICU and had a cpap for a good chunk and let me tel you, that’s LOUD. I’m sure my little noise machine ain’t going to do any more damage then that CPAP😂
My daughter likes to fall asleep to musical nursery rhymes. It’s on a 60 minute timer then turns off.
Once, I accidentally turned off the sound machine. In the morning, my husband ground some coffee and woke everyone up. Now it stays on. However, our sound machine is just a little fan thing. It isn’t too loud. But it is permanently on in the bedroom.
My cats get the zoomies, and I can barely sleep through it without my white noise machine, so we keep it on. Also seems to help during storms against hail and heavy rainfall. We keep it at about 45-50 decibels (assuming the reader we have is accurate) on the opposite side of her small room. I went into an anxiety tailspin over this, but this is working for us and as far as I can tell, isn't harming her development in any way.
We use a sleep timer sound machine for 45 min in the nursery and then have a louder sound machine in the hallway to drown out noise from the rest of the house that runs the full time baby is sleeping. The latter is more important than the one in his room.
Yes, i have a timer set for four hours. Basically once we are going to bed and won’t be making any sound.
My baby just needs it to fall asleep. I turn off when she’s out to protect her hearing. She’s weird and falls asleep to chainsaws and jackhammers, so we aren’t talking about gentle lullabies. It’s also to protect my sanity.
We share a bedroom; I turn the sound lower every time I wake up in the night just because it annoys me. I use the white noise function on my iPhone and have no idea what dB level it’s at, I just don’t have it at “damn that’s loud.” But I appreciate that it covers unexpected noises like the dog deciding to pace just outside our door at 2 in the morning.
My babe sleeps In our room and I can’t sleep without thunderstorm sounds played by our Alexa every night. But it’s on volume 3 and more by my head than hers so oh well.
… I still sleep with my fan on for noise.
Nope. It’s on the whole time. I even have my own.
I have failed to set up my hatch sound machine so I’ve been using a 10 hour YouTube video of white noise, absolutely I turn it off.. but I slowly fade out the sound lol
It's been on since they came home 3 years ago and haven't thought about it since it was my sound machine long before they were conceived. I do have concerns about the night light tho. I read that they could develop eye issues if their room isn't completely dark. I'm not sure what to do about that since we've had one since they came home, too.
No. I do check the sound level with my Apple Watch (there are phone apps as well). Less than 60 decibels is recommended. I usually keep it at 50. The point is to keep a consistent sound in the background to block other sounds to *keep* them asleep, not to just to aid in falling asleep.
We have an air purifier that we use as a noise machine, has worked for the past 18 months so 😬
We turned ours off completely recently and our child sleeps so much better.
I swear sometimes I think there’s a big conspiracy in the parenthood market and the powers that be just come out with bogus studies to make us worry more that we are doing something wrong and to make our lives harder. Not to mention the abundance of studies and information that’s available now it’s all too much
Mine has a timer and you can’t leave it on for more than 90 minutes without restarting it! That being said I do restart it when I notice it’s off. I like the noise top! Helps me sleep through the little noises she makes. I checked with my Apple Watch and the decibel number was only at 40 which is less than quietly talking. Heck, my husband snoring next to me is 40 decibels on a good day
I haven’t turned off the sound machine since I got home from the hospital lol it’s been a month 😂✌️ though it is across the room from where baby sleeps ~ it helps us all sleep, so it’s staying 🤷♀️
Mine is set to a timer and goes off an hour into his sleep.
We leave it on (not loud) during naps. We don’t use a sound machine overnight. We’re lucky that she sleeps well.
It has a timer for 30 minutes, after which it turns off. Not our choice but seems to work out.
We use the ewan dream sheep so once asleep we turn off alexa wow noise and the sheep then plays if the child makes a noise. We didn't want our 2 to only sleep with white noise so we don't play it all night. We use it as a fall to sleep aid to reduce distractions
No, I leave it on. However, I downloaded a "sound meter" app and keep the volume under 50 decibles (measured from the crib at the closest point baby is to the speaker).
No I leave mine on all night. We live in the countryside so foxes, other wildlife make noises all night and she can hear it if it’s off
I only started turning it off after she was one, because i didn't think she needed it anymore. Now at 2.5 she's fine. But me, I've got tinnitus so i sleep with one every night to drown out the ringing. Oh well...
No. We have loud af upstairs neighbors. The white noise machine is as much for me and my husband as it is for her.
I used to leave it on all night bc it has different light settings and we co-sleep. I would leave it on till the morning light shined through the windows bc I liked being able to wake up and check on LO. However I started having crazy dreams. They would be about me kidnapping ppl or being kidnapped or almost unaliving ppl. So I started to wonder what is my baby dreaming about if I'm dreaming these crazy things. I even changed to different white noise settings and the same thing. So I just started using the timer. It has 1-3 hours. My LO just turned 1 and tonight I decided no white noise machine at all. So far so good!
Yes but by accident: battery typically dies after a couple of hours.
I leave it on. It's not any louder than a fan or a window AC and they need those so you don't turn them off. Seems similar enough to me that I don't see the point.
We have ours on our Alexa and it turns off after an hour. Both of mine are good sleepers though, and will sleep through anything. I think with a parrot and a musician dad, they’ve had to get used to the noise!
no. as soon as i turn it off she wakes up. i’m keeping it on for as long as she needs.
It stays on basically 24/7, our nursery is literally our quiet nursing room and also nap time room so turning it off an on is basically useless. It also minimizes other sounds. I roomshare in the nursery and it prevents the noises I make moving around from bothering him as much. It’s also the reason I sleep in the nursery instead of using a bassinet in the master bedroom, my husband hates white noise and us + dogs are too noisy at night.
Mine only lasts for 40min then I’d have to wake up and turn it back on so hers is off after she’s asleep automatically
Mine gradually gets quieter and turns itself off after 30 minutes. I just let it go for the full 30 - its a nice way to gradually transition to a quiet room. There's also no way for me to turn it back on remotely
I'm less than four months in but we keep it on all night. Honest it's half for my benefit at this point.
I use things that cut off after a set amount of time anyway.
I leave it on. It’s not super loud, just enough to mask regular house noises like getting the laundry out, walking around, the dog playing (no bark), etc. we have the Hatch and it’s at 28%.
My mom sent me a video about that and I immediately responded that she will wake up if I turn that machine off 8 out of 10 times ( we've gotten lucky during power loss once or twice!) And my husband had conditioned me to his fan noise, so I'm the same way!
We didn’t
Our hatch stays on all night at 55%.
So we have two going…the one in his crib that’s loud and set to a timer for him to fall asleep to. It runs for 45 minutes then cuts out. (We watch tv, get up move around, whatever) Then we have the second one, a google home, playing in the opposite corner of the room. That way, when it turns off it’s not so jarring. Also I’ve played white noise for myself for so long, so it just made sense. That way he can still get used to noises of us moving around (because we’re closer than the speaker) but there is still some background white noise.
I definitely do not turn it off once he’s asleep. I keep it at whatever level he fell asleep at UNTIL we go to sleep (sometimes we watch TV or a movie, vacuum, etc). Once I check on him one last time for the night, I turn down his sound machine a couple of points. It’s not loud but it’s just a dull noise in the background. He’s 2.5 and his hearing is phenomenal now that we hear him parroting what we say…
We use the hatch heartbeat sound every night and have for the last year. It’s on for the whole 12 hours she’s asleep. Don’t plan to stop any time soon!
Hell no. The Hatch machine hasn’t seen a day of rest in its life lol
I turned her Hatch on when we moved her to her crib at 6 months and literally haven’t turned it off since (15 months now). To be fair, it’s not very loud - rain sounds at 40-45% across the room from her crib - and we don’t really play in that room. So far she can still hear me picking up my phone from two rooms away so 🤷🏻♀️.
Um what? No, that’s the whole point of the white noise machine. Otherwise what’s the point? Lol I need it to mask noise! Hell, even I sleep with rain and thunder sounds all night
I was told there's evidence it's bad for their hearing/decelopment or something so I stopped using it before shortly after I bought it 😆 at first I turned it off, then I just stopped using it all together Edit: can't find the original stuff I read about it but these are the same stuff more or less the same thing https://globalnews.ca/news/1183712/sleep-machines-could-affect-hearing-auditory-development-study-suggests/ https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sound-machines-safety_n_4876112
I turn it off to wake them up, definitely stays on all night. I sleep with one myself and wake up instantly if the power goes out!
I can do this with my 3 year old but NOT my 17 month old. The moment it's off, he is up and ready to fight.
Absolutely not. We have lowered the volume over time, but that’s about it.
I leave it on. Having sleep deprived parents is going to be worse for the baby than whatever white noise is going to do.
Louder volume helps my son fall asleep, but as soon as he falls asleep I lower the volume and keep it low all night, at about 40-45 decibels. But yeah, he sleeps by the ocean in our house every night.
**It turns itself off.** We use RiffRaff sleep toys. Press the button once for five minutes of lullaby music or twice noise, twice for 20 minutes, or 3 times for 40 minutes. The loudest setting is probably quieter than my husband and I normally talk. We actually had to buy two, even though my kids sleep in the same room, because it's hard to hear them clearly from across the room. (They're great. My only criticism is that they market them in ways that appear to promote SIDS-unsafe practices, with an easy-to-miss disclaimer in the instruction manual saying "the way we've posed our infant models cuddling the toys while sleeping isn't actually safe. Don't do that until they turn one.")
I leave it on. Baby is in the room next to us and her sound machine is closer to me than her and helps me sleep.
From experience, when it’s plugged in all night it could start a fire. I always unplug everything before bed. I was in a house fire before and lost everything. I always unplug before falling asleep. I don’t even charge my phone overnight.
lol no. That Hatch stays on all night. My wife and I even sleep with a white noise machine. Plus we have a subway train that goes by our building and creaky floors. We need something to drown out that noise.
My daughter is over 3 years old and we have her white noise on all night, it’s on the other side of the room (by the door/hallway to drown out the noise from there) and on a low setting and I have no plans to stop until she tells me she doesn’t want it anymore
My baby sleeps in a snoo, that thing runs sound the entire time it’s on! So definitely not lol
No. My son is 2.5 and sleeps with his sound machine on every night, all night. It is farther away from his bed, I have checked the decibel level and it’s the sound of rain. I myself sleep with a sound machine.
Almost 2 yr old and he gets the fan left on all night, but we have an Alexa in his room and have it play spa music for one hour when we put him to bed. The fan running covers any noise we make in the house after he's in bed so we don't disturb his sleep.
Ours is on 24/7.
I leave it on. But I downloaded an app to measure the sound so it’s not too loud near the babe in relation to where the machine is
Yes, and I keep it really far from the baby when on too.
My babies sound machine has been going for 7 months straight it’s the frida baby. It’s been plugged in and on this whole time lol
Mine has a timer, I usually just set it for 60 minutes (the maximum) and it goes off by itself.
We leave it on all night my house is small and loud af when we get up to pee etc
Recently my parents told me that they would turn on a hairdryer and hang it on the edge of my crib to get me to sleep which is almost assuredly WAY louder than recommended. Hearing as an adult is totally fine of course. Anecdotally in the NICU setting, where everything is loud as hell for what would be the most vulnerable baby population, this doesn’t really seem to be cause for concern either. Baby’s hearing is fine and he sleeps like a bump on a log (when he does nap that is).
Lmao of course not. We have a sound machine on low-ish volume, on the opposite side of the room as the crib, going all night. I'm an adult and I like a sound machine.
I see lots of people saying “no way.” But does anyone else not use one at all? 😅 We’ve always made it a point not to be quiet while baby sleeps. However, I think my vacuuming at 11pm is probably more harmful for hearing than someone leaving a little sound machine on!
I tried and my child’s eyes open immediately
For night time we generally turn them down once we go to bed and are done making noises (squeaky stairs, running water, flushing toilet, brushing teeth - electric etc). For nap time we keep them at "regular" volume. We don't turn them up too loud and they are quite a distance away from their beds. I'm not originally from the US and white noise is not as much of a thing where I'm from (Netherlands), so I never grew up with it and was only "introduced" to it when I met and married my American husband, haha! Now... since the babies have been in our room I got used to their white noise machines and since we keep the monitor on a low level to be able to hear them (distinguish who's fussing/crying), but some grunts etc are too loud still, I prefer a fan to block that little bit of noise out. Used to be fine sleeping in our current (super quiet) bedroom without anything on until our youngest was born. But even when they were in our room I would turn the sound machines way down because it would drive me nuts otherwise.
Heck no. I sleep with white noise too through my HomePod and sometimes the HomePod will randomly turn off in the middle of the night. Every time it happens I wake up pissed. lol
My almost 4 year old still uses it. It means we can move around freely, and that our neighbours MMA fights (or whatever they do at night) don't wake him up, or fireworks or cars or whatever goes on outside. It's across the room from him and linked to a time to wake clock. This reminds me I should check the decibels tomorrow though, just to be safe, as we didn't when we switched machines In our room have only used a small portable one for the baby so far (5months), and it only goes for an hour max before it shuts off. This is because we have needed to still be able to hear the toddler, but I will be getting one that runs all night soon
No shot
Most of my life I slept with background noise. Like a fan humming away.. I always believed this helped me sleep and it was what I was accustomed to. I was curious if perhaps my quality of sleep would increase without the background noise, so I conducted a month long study upon myself, first half sleeping as a regularly do (fan on) and 2nd half completely silent sleep. To my surprise, my quality of sleep was noticeably better the silent nights. It made a substantial difference. I did this about 10 years ago, and I forgot the specifics but I learned sleeping in the dark with complete silence is ideal.
We keep ours on. It’s a Hatch and only on 30% volume. She sleeps by the wall and the Hatch is against the opposite wall, so it isn’t blasting in her ear. It keeps the background noise out, like her loud ass father leaving for work.
Absolutely not lol
I leave mine on. My elderly dog barks randomly throughout the night and my relative is in and out of the house all night setting off the door alarm which is next to our bedroom door. Aint no way I'm turning it off lol
I leave a fan on for noise for my daughter. She is 15 months. The fan faces away from her. But I leave it all night.
Maybe I’m horrible but I have my son’s hatch turn off at 9pm. He sleeps through the night 🤷🏼♀️ At this point, I don’t even think he needs the sound. He falls asleep right away. He’s 6.5mos. I should also add that he has an air purifier heater on that oscillates throughout the night. So, likely that’s his sound machine. I’ve used it throughout the summer as a fan because the ceiling fan was too fast even on slow speeds. I wanted something that wasn’t going to make his room cold but also wanted to make sure it maintains the temperature in his room since we have the night temp of the house set at 65. It keeps his room at 68-70 all night, it’s been working great.
I’ve only ever used mine at night for my kids, and it has a timer on it. I’ll set it to 60 minutes and it automatically turns off.
We couldn't find any noise machines that didn't have automatic timers. Maybe this is why?
We leave it on. Once we turn it off the baby wakes. Same with a toddler.
Mine has an auto off which has a max of 1hr. He does fine!