My four month old tends to wake up a few times in the first couple of hours (when hubby and I are still awake) after going to bed and then wakes 1-2 times in the middle of the night. I can't complain too much, but I've been thinking about getting a sound machine to see if it helps him sleep through the night. I'm really concerned about creating a dependency though, I feel like introducing a sound machine to him now will cause him to need it to sleep the rest of his life. I'm just curious what others experience is with this. I've asked a few people and most have said once their kids started sleeping with one they couldn't sleep without it. I just don't want my son to have to bring the sound machine to a sleepover when he's older, or when we go camping!
Just to comment on some of the responses - right from the get go we would have him napping in the middle of a loud get together and he would sleep no problem. Most of the time he can still nap in a noisy place or with me making noise in the kitchen. Maybe it's just a phase due to not being swaddled as of recently but he just wakes up a ton (like every 20-40 minutes) between about 7-10 but sleeps much better once hubby and I are asleep, which is why I attributed his waking up to having noise going on. I'm not expecting him to sleep through the night, although at this point babies are able to do that (I know plenty of moms whose babes slept 11-12 hours starting at 8-10 weeks). I just want him to be able to actually sleep when he first goes down rather than wake up to every little noise we're making after he goes down.
Well, you're right, it does create a dependency.
However, there are WAY worse dependencies: Thumb sucking, bottles, co-sleeping, blankies, etc.
I used small fans for all three of my kids. Really old noisy house with 100 yo hard wood floors.
In hindsight, Christy Lee's way is probably the best.
He's only 4 months old, you know?
:)
When my oldest son was a baby, maybe 3 or 4 months, I would put in a cassette of Midsummer Nights Dream on low. He loved it and it helped him settle in. I used it for a few months. The radio was borrowed to a neighbor and he lost the cassette. The first night was a bit rough but after that my son had no problem. But none of my kids ever really slept through the entire night until they were close to a year. I would have loved it if they woke only 1 or 2 times.
Honestly, I wouldn't change or do anything. He's 4 months old and will grow out of waking up during the night. Just be patient.
ETA: My boys are now 12 and 13...and sleep through ANYTHING. I made a point not to be too quiet while they were sleeping as babies. ;-)
We all sleep with a box fan on. We love it. It drowns out sounds from around the house, and it's just so calming. Sure it's a little harder to sleep without it, but we've all managed. We stayed other places without it, and we've had a couple of power outages at our house. None of us slept as well as normal, but we still slept. I wouldn't stop using it.
We all have routines, and we all have to learn how to be ok when our routine can't happen the way we want. But that doesn't make the routine a bad thing.
Waking like that is normal for a 4 month old. They are going through so much growth and development at that age and it can interrupt their sleep.
A sound machine may not be the magic solution. My kids could sleep through just about anything. They took a lot of their naps right in the living room with the rest of the world going on around them from the day they were born. The house was rarely, if ever quiet. They would sleep right through it. If they needed to wake to eat or get a fresh diaper or just to be cuddled and reassured they would though. Nothing would keep them from waking if they had a need to wake.
This time is short. I know it's hard when you're not getting enough sleep. While your son still needs to wake in the night I highly suggest an earlier bed time for you instead. When my kids fell asleep I went to bed more nights than not when they were little. There is no shame in going to bed earlier, especially when you have a little one. It's easier to adjust your bedtime then it will be to fight against nature and a baby's need to wake throughout the night.
My daughter was born with a sleep disorder. Her doctors told us that as infants, it's best to help the babies learn to sleep with regular household noises (people moving about, a door opening and closing, family members talking, etc). People who tiptoe on velvet slippers and insist on total silence when the baby is put in the crib actually do their baby a disservice. Now, of course, if you live in a noisy apartment with sirens constantly outside and you can hear the couple next door fighting and throwing bottles at each other's heads, then perhaps a sound machine might be helpful. But usually, it's good to let the baby learn to sleep with the normal sounds of a house and family. Later on, the sound machine can be used after good sleep habits have been established, if its helpful and circumstances warrant.
I think his waking is pretty normal for a four month old.
I used a white noise for all three of my kids, maybe to age 3 or 4.
So that was about 4 years ago since I last used it. Since then my kids have slept in multiple hotel rooms, friends houses, and through severe thunderstorms (even after our house was hit by lightning and exploded our chimney). In other words, they have no problems sleeping without it.
For what it's worth, I also found a lot of support and information from sleep training books.
We have one we call 'the dream machine'-- jokingly-- that we have used for years. We still use it to drown out the tv upstairs at night, so he's not disturbed by attraction of tv content (less about the noise, he sleeps right through it).
Funny thing, I find that I have to turn it off first thing in the morning or I have a harder time waking up. We do fine without it and certainly don't take it camping with us. It's been about 7 years, it's just a cue for our son at this point, nothing more.
i'm with you, i think the dependency issue outweighs the benefits. i've got a brother who CANNOT sleep without his white noise machine. i'd hate to be that tethered to something.
do your child a favor and let her develop her own sleep-soothing techniques.
khairete
S.
Any white noise will do.
He may be hazarding voices, the furnace, ice maker etc.
Small fan?
Soft music on repeat?
We used one and my son didn't become dependent on it. I turned it very low where he could still hear household noises as well. Sometimes I would turn it off before I went to bed so he could sleep without it as well. Eventually, we only did it when he was fussy or sick. Never a problem.
Truthfully, we sleep with one - it drowns out the outside noises and keeps the dog from hearing every single car door or small herd of deer going through the yard in the middle of the night.
I say go ahead and do what you need to for your infant to get through this phase. Being able to settle down and self-soothe is an acquired skill and he's so young developmentally. My son used one for years - he was very colicky and aware of outside stimuli. Car rides didn't work for him as they do for many kids because of the bumps and horns and so on. First it was an infant "heartbeat" sound, and later he progressed to a typical air filter. He sleeps without it now and all is well.
You can start getting rid of it before you go camping so the camp experience alone isn't miserable. That's hard for a lot of kids anyway because there are the sounds of nature but also the new environment and excitement.
I believe sleep is important and you do what you need to when you need to. You could say the same thing about pacifiers, right? Night lights? Stuffed animals & special blankets? Same issue. But he's a baby and he needs to learn to settle down and he just is too little.
I had two colicky babies and with the youngest white noise was helpful. So he slept with white noise for his first several months. It did not create a dependency. However, he was a very colicky baby and didn't sleep through the night until he was about 16 months. He was up much of the night many nights, not just occasional waking up. I don't think a sound machine would hurt, but your son sounds like he has a pretty normal schedule for four months and so it might not be necessary or overly helpful. Maybe you could try some other form of white noise as an experiment to see if it helps before you make a bigger investment. There are probably CDs available or run some sort of safe small appliance. (P.S. My two colicky babies are now teenage boys with very normal teenager sleep habits.)
ok-what the heck is a sound machine?...my kids in their 30,s so is this something new?????? i saw on tv that one of the main reasons babys wake up in the nite is because their arms drop n its a jerky motion that scares them out of their sleep-so they said to swaddle the baby like still in womb-makes them sleep all nite-otherwise i would put a radio on in his room with soft music playing for that background soothing noise..guess thats all i can suggest-not knowing what a sound machine is?????
The baby's stomach is about the size of it's fist. It's normal for him to wake up every couple of hours to eat. He'd starve if he didn't. I truly don't know of any infants that were sleeping all night until much closer to age 1.
My son (now 8) slept with his sound machine until he started kindergarten. Then, one day he said he didn't need it anymore. He now sleeps to the subtle hum of his air purifier (he has environmental allergies).
My daughter is 4 and still uses her sound machine and she is a very light sleeper. However, I expect the progression will be the same and we'll eventually move on to the sound of the air purifier only.
We also have an air purifier in our room. I found that when we went on vacation last week, I couldn't sleep due to the absolute quiet of the room. Well, they have an app for that. I installed that and all was well. :)
I used a sound machine with my last baby. We used it every night up until roughly 14 months, and then I switched to a baby soother thing that plays a song and then turns off.
She's a great sleeper. It's all about consistency.
