The Sleep Chronicles - Baby White Noise

Willow has been sleeping well, but we were wondering if there was a way to get her to sleep a little longer in the morning. So, we thought we'd try out white noise. But before spending (potentially) a considerable sum of money on a white noise machine, I thought I would look them up and do a comparison.

My first stop (of course) was Amazon because they have great customer reviews on most of their products. And while I found quite a few white noise machines available, with both good and bad reviews, I thought I'd do a Google search. That's when I discovered Baby White Noise.

But first, what exactly IS "white noise"?? "Despite its name, white noise is not a noise. Rather, it is a sound frequency or signal, a subtle, steady sound found in nature, such as the sound of ocean waves gently caressing the shore, a rain shower, a waterfall, or even the hum of a vacuum cleaner or clothes dryer.

"For many babies, especially crying sleepy babies and babies with colic, the monotony of an external noise is especially soothing. (How often have you gotten drowsy with the gentle sound of a motor running?) That's why many pediatricians recommend white noise as part of a baby's sleep regimen.

"In addition, general environmental noise, like noisy traffic outside the baby's nursery or loud noises created by the baby's siblings, may upset your baby or keep your newborn infant awake. Research has also shown that a steady stream of the same peaceful sound, such as white noise, can filter and mask distracting noises, while at the same time calm your child down. That's why white noise is a very safe and effective sleep sound for babies."

Baby White Noise is a company who specializes in making white noise sounds especially for babies. From their website: "BabyWhiteNoise.com is an audio development and production company studying white noise and its many applications and benefits to children and adults since 1985.

"As audio specialists, we combine the science of both sound and relaxation technology with the art of white noise, to promote relaxation and sleep in both children and adults.

"Our Baby White Noise sounds are not a sideline product or an afterthought. It's all we do. Our main and only objective is to provide our customers with the most effective and best baby white noise sounds available at an affordable price."

So, after thinking about it, I decided to purchase their "baby's white noise" and "baby's rain shower" sounds for Willow to try out. We downloaded the Mp3's and made two Cd's.

When we put Willow to bed at night, we have a fan on in her room. Both an overhead fan and a oscillating fan in the doorway. Her room does not cool well since the ducting upstairs was not done very well, making the oscillating fan necessary. (We plan on getting that fixed in the next year or so) However, as soon as we go to bed for the night, since the house is cooled down to the "night time" level we turn the oscillating fan off, and close her door for the night.

Last night, when we closed her door for the night we turned on the "baby white noise" CD, and left it on "repeat" for the night. Willow woke up this morning at about 5:00am, but she was soon back asleep. We ended up getting her out of bed at 6:30am, but she would have slept longer if we let her. I honestly cant even fathom the possibility of her sleeping until 7:00am, but I have my hopes slightly risen.

We just started this yesterday, so you'll have to wait for an update in the next week or so. Wish us luck! Our goal, as always, is the best possible sleep for Willow. If she is sleeping longer, we are sleeping longer and that is always a good thing!!