Having a newborn baby can take a toll on any parent. Between the sleepless nights and all the tender love and care your little one needs things can seem a little overwhelming.
I think the hardest part of parenting is the feeling of always making the right decision when it comes to your vulnerable bundle of joy.
However, when you have a baby that isn't sleeping well, those days where they are struggling can seem torturous. You feel as that nothing you do is working to help ease them into sleeping soundly.
One great way to help your little one is to use white noise as an aid, helping your baby sleep more soundly. I think over the years there have been some misrepresentations of using white noise and baby sleep sounds.
Today you will get 5 key tips that will help you make the decision and see the benefit of using sleep sounds to help your baby get all the undisturbed rest they need to grow stronger.
Babies Like It Loud
A lot of worries of parents with newborn babies is the level of noise that their child can take. The interesting thing is that the womb is often a very loud place while the baby is going through the birth process.
It is stated by the American speech-language and hearing Association that the sounds of a mother's womb are between the loudness of a baby's cry and the loudness of a lawnmower.
Just to give you an idea of how loud- this is between 75 and about 85 decibels.
Baby sleep sounds can reduce stress
Yes, believe it babies can get stressed. What can they be stressed about? Well just about everything in their environment.
The issue with babies is that they are over stimulated when they come out into this Brave New World. They are faced with different lighting, different faces and all this can create excitement for them.
This level of excitement, however, can be very stressing to a baby. So having white noise is the way for your baby to block out all that extra stimulation.
Using white noise is more effective than Shushing
Has your baby ever cried so much, yet all of what you are doing doesn't seem to work? How about holding them close and trying to shush them?
The reason shushing can seem to fall on deaf ears is the decibel at which your baby can hear through their own crying. A crying baby registers just north of 70 decibels. When you are trying to shush them it is lower than the level of an adult conversation registering around 40 decibels.
Using a sound machine or any type of nature sleep sounds can register at a higher decibel and create a calming situation for your baby to relax and fall asleep.
They feel just as safe and sound as when you were carrying them.
It Reduces The Risk Of SIDS
There was a study done by Yvonne Brackbill and in this study, it showed that stimulation could be controlled. What the study really showed is that if a baby had a fan in their room there was a significant reduction of the risk of SIDS.
Now there's not one hundred percent proof but what the study showed is that white noise from the fan may have possibly contributed to reducing active sleep.
Active sleep is the state when most babies are at risk of SIDS basically their movement can cause them to turn over and suffocate.
(link for study https://www.jstor.org/stable/1127677?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)
It’s Easy To Wean Your Baby Off Sleep Sounds
A major concern is "will my baby become addicted to white noise for sleeping?" The answer is no they will not. This is a positive sleep association for your baby to have. Remember the womb is a very loud place and your baby is used to this.
Usually, after year one, you can start to lower the volume on your sleep sound player. Keep adjusting to a point where your little one no longer needs it or notices that you aren't using it.
I hope these 5 tips really will help you take a chance and use sleep sounds for your baby. Being a parent can be rough at times. If you want your baby to rest better try using white noise for sleeping.
We are pleased to have Sam Conley contribute his expertise as this week's guest blogger.
Sam is not affiliated with Fade Away Sleep Sounds, but is the founder and CEO of My Sleep Simplified. He has been in the sleep industry for over 6 years helping recommend products to improve sleep. After a long battle with depression and weight gain, Sam took a more holistic and natural approach to curing his sleep problems. This lead to the creation of www.mysleepsimplified.com where he now helps people get to the root cause of their sleep issues to improve them and help people get quality rest for the long term. You can follow him at the following: @MySleepSimple , @samlcon