The safe way of doing things

When you work on changing your baby’s sleep habits, start where you want to end. This means that you shouldn’t automatically include white noise in your sleep regime if you don’t have any reason other than “everybody’s doing it”.

Tired parents always need to be reminded of the safe way to do things. Swaddling is great, but you don’t want to overheat a baby or restrict the hips or do it past eight weeks. Car seats are great, but they can actually cause infant deaths if not properly installed.

Similar caveats are true for white noise.

Surprisingly, a baby’s cry can reach a level of 100 dB (as loud as a lawnmower and ten times louder than a hair dryer). This is probably why loud sounds, like a vacuum cleaner and hair drier sounds, have been recommended by pediatricians and parenting books for decades to calm fussy babies.

But, it is very important to remind parents to only use very loud noise during infant crying.

Babies are used to noise

Doctor Karb points out three critical points that were left out by the study:

1. In the womb, all babies are exposed to the sound of whooshing through the arteries. This is louder than a vacuum cleaner (measured at 75-92dB).
2. Moderate sound – used all night – is perfectly safe and has been shown to be helpful in boosting sleep, which is why so many families use white noise CD’s and downloads.
3. Noise injury is primarily related to the high pitch of sound. A pitch, which most infant white noise machines are not able to reach.

The benefits of proper sleep

When considering white noise for babies, it is extremely important to consider the benefits of proper sleep.

Poor infant sleep causes parent exhaustion, which may lead to potentially dangerous situations including;

• Postpartum depression
• Maternal obesity
• Child abuse
• Sleep deaths because exhausted parents put babys onto their tummies or bring the baby into their bed which causes up to 1000 accidental suffocation deaths per year.

By enhancing sleep (and reducing crying) low pitched, rumbly white noise may help prevent these very serious problems.

Proper use of white noise

When a baby cries, increase the sound level – for a few minutes – to the level of a vacuum cleaner. And, for safe naps and all night sleeping keep the sound to the level of a soft shower.

White noise should only be used where it is needed. You don’t have to start off with a white noise machine just because your friend uses one with her baby. White noise in itself will not automatically calm your baby if he or she is crying, nor will it teach them to sleep.

About the Author: Good Night is a child and baby sleep consultancy that specialises in helping parents with children who struggle to sleep soundly. For more information, visit: www.goodnightbaby.co.za

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