For a parent with a newborn, sleep can seem like a dream. Overtired or overexcited babies can be difficult to get to sleep, even if you know they are very tired.
To help your baby fall asleep faster, pediatricians often recommend relaxing activities, such as warm baths. When nothing seems to help, you can try alternative measures, such as white noise. But remember, this is not a panacea, only a temporary solution.
Study
In 1990 a study was conducted and found that 32 out of 40 newborns were able to fall asleep after five minutes of listening to white noise. If your baby falls asleep during noisy times other than their normal sleep time, this method may work.
But first, it’s important to examine both the pros and cons. Your baby may become accustomed to noise, so a completely quiet environment may have the opposite effect when it’s time to sleep. It’s also important to understand that white noise isn’t right for all babies—every baby is different.
Remember that babies who wake at night, especially those under 6 months, are likely experiencing discomfort that needs to be alleviated. It is not always reasonable to expect young babies to sleep through the night without a bottle, diaper change, or cuddles.
American pediatricians recommend placing any white noise device at least 200 cm away from your baby's crib. You should also keep the volume on the device below 50 decibels.
Baby Sleep
With a simple interface and the ability to mix different sounds, this app from Relaxio is one of the best on the list.
It allows you to mix classic white, pink and brown noise (such as thunder and waterfall sounds) with household sounds, nature and lullabies. If desired, you can turn on and off individual sounds, as well as set an on/off timer for a certain time.
Available for Android.
Sound Sleeper
The Sound Sleeper interface is intentionally muted in color so as not to distract your baby while setting up the app in the dark. There are several white noise options to choose from, each of which is appropriate for the appropriate age category.
You will get the most out of this app if you pay a few dollars for the full version.
myNoise
The main feature of myNoise is the various settings options. The application has a built-in color noise generator - brown, pink, white and others.
The differences between them are subtle. White noise sounds like radio static, pink resembles endless rain or wind, and brown is even rougher - like the roar of a river. If that's too much for you, there's an "I'm Feeling Lucky" button that mixes a little bit of everything. There's also a binaural beat generator.
MyNoise also has a built-in timer to stop playback so that the app doesn't run all night. What I especially like is the ability to work in parallel with other apps, so you can listen to music on spotify, while simultaneously turning on the rain noise in myNoise.
Atmosphere
Atmosphere has over 100 different sounds. You can mix them together and save your favorite combinations to Favorites. You can also set a timer to turn off the sound so as not to drain your phone's battery.
There are binaural noises, beach sounds, forest sounds such as birds chirping or rain hitting a tent, as well as city sounds including the sound of train wheels and conversations in cafes.
White Noise Lite
White Noise Lite is a free app that lets you play 40 sounds and mix them to get a good night's sleep. There are ads, but you can upgrade to the paid version for $1 to remove them. The app is easy to use — you simply swipe through all the available noises, just like you would when browsing through a photo in your Gallery.
Possible types of sounds: thunderstorm, blowing wind, crashing ocean waves, campfire, rain on a car roof and much more. Although the sounds are realistic, during testing it turned out that they were looped.
White Noise Baby
The White Noise Baby app uses the genre classical music and a variety of other background noises to help your baby fall asleep. It's compatible with iPhone 5 and later, and it's more automated than most of its competitors. It can turn on in response to baby's cries, and it also makes sure incoming messages or calls don't interrupt playback.
BetterSleep
Most of the content in BetterSleep (iOS) is only available with a paid subscription, which costs 1490 rubles per year (there is a free trial period of 7 days). However, there is some free music, which is in a separate category.
Is the app worth the money? Yes! After all, if you divide it by 12 months, it’s only 124 rubles a month (very cheap) for access to 200 sounds, 500 meditations and stories, sleep tracking with statistics and tips. There are also meditation programs and breathing techniques for adults. The app is useful not only for a child, but also for parents.
Sounds can be mixed together, the volume of each can be adjusted separately, and music can be added on top. There is a timer with which you can adjust the volume decrease. Many categories are available: brain waves, solfeggio, ASMR, water, nature, white noise.
There are also stories in Russian, with background music. There is a filter for stories: for children, fantasy, fairy tale, science fiction, etc. Additionally, you can choose the length of the story: from 10 to 40+ minutes. Plus, choose a voice: male or female.
Noisly
Unfortunately, Noisli does not have a free version. However, I think it is worth the money ($2). You can play one or more sounds at a time, create a mix, and set a timer. The sounds include rain, forest, campfire, crickets, railroad, and cafe. If you prefer simpler sounds, there are also white, pink, and brown noises.
Sleep Tot
The ability to customize the duration and volume of sounds is a must for apps like this. Sleep Tot lets you set it to automatically turn on when you need it most. For example, set Sleep Tot to turn on before your older kids wake up so your little one can relax and sleep until it’s time to wake up.
Dark Noise
Dark Noise has over 30 sounds to choose from — and tons of customization options! For example, it integrates with iOS, meaning you can set up Siri shortcuts to play different noises or pass playback from one device to another. For example, if you’re listening to the sound of rain while reading a book on the couch and start to feel sleepy, you can pass the music to your smart speaker in your bedroom with just a few taps.
Available for iOS.