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Original poster

Has anyone else tried white noise/gentle music ALL NIGHT? For an older baby... Trying anything now!!

61 replies

emeraldgirl1 · 09/01/2014 20:25

She's 10m and a shit sleeper :(

I've been getting her to sleep easily (staying asleep is another matter) with some gentle lullabies on my iPad for the past couple of months. She's a dreadful wriggler and shuffler but with the music on she seems to chill a bit and stops writhing long enough to go to sleep.

I've stopped doing it for the last couple of weeks (out of routine of it with Xmas etc) and I've suddenly realised it's been taking four or five times as long to get her to settle enough to sleep if she doesn't have music on.

Am I nuts to consider playing it all night?

Would it create yet another terrible dependency, along with the dummy/being hoiked into Mummy's bed at 1am dependency I've already managed to create in her?

And really, would it actually matter?????!!! If she could only sleep with gentle music playing every bloody night for the rest of her life, but gained a mummy who wasn't close to a nervous breakdown every night???

Is white noise a better bet?

Really just asking if anyone has done this and if so if it was a good idea or just another way to screw up in the long term :( create a sodding rod for your own back etc etc :(

OP posts:
k2togm1 · 09/01/2014 22:18

Brown noise is nicer than white noise.
We used it or a dehumidifier for ds, and when we moved house last September forgot to put it on the first night and he didn't notice, he was 2.5 yo then and I don't think he misses it.

Shatteredmamma1 · 11/01/2014 18:09

We use it too. < waves at emeraldgirl>.
Any success?

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 11/01/2014 21:26

First night of it tonight!!! A kind of gentle waterfall sound plus gentle crickets chirping... Am keeping everything crossed that it'll help, I don't know how I'll cope with the loss of hope if not! But maybe these things take a while to work?

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Passmethecrisps · 11/01/2014 21:44

Fingers crossed! It might take more than one shot but what have you got to lose anyway?

I had heard that white noise type stuff becomes less effective as they get older but gentle music becomes more effective so you still have other avenues

chocolatespiders · 11/01/2014 21:47

I used to use a ticking clock.

Katisha · 11/01/2014 21:53

14 years ago I used to leave the hair dryer, taped to cool, under the cot. Wish I'd had apps then. 14 years later DS still likes the sound of a fan to get him to drop off. He does stay asleep all night now though! And all morning...

TarkaTheOtter · 11/01/2014 22:00

We have an old fm/digital clock radio tuned out. It runs off the mains so no batteries to replace and provides constant white noise all night at any volume we want. We still use it for dd at 23months but only really out of habit because as she has got older she has become a much deeper sleeper.

dietcokeandwine · 11/01/2014 22:18

My 11mo has music playing (and a soft light show projection thing playing over the ceiling too) all night long and for every nap.

We have a BT digital monitor and use the lullaby/light show functions on that. It's brilliant. I fully intend to keep using it till he's old enough to tell me he doesn't want it Grin

Hope it helps, OP. It's awful when they just won't sleep.

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 12/01/2014 02:13

Well she woke an hour ago and started crawling excitedly towards the shiny thing she could see on the changing table (the iPod) and is still struggling to settle now... Which is worse, ironically, than the past couple of nights when she's only stirred rather than fully woken for the first of her(several) night wakes...

Maybe it takes a while to get used to?

And/or I should hide the iPad?

Demoralised again :(

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CheesyBadger · 12/01/2014 03:24

There are some great all night tracks in YouTube - search sleep music

mumbaisapphirebluespruce · 12/01/2014 04:22

Turn the screen off and place it face down underneath the cot, just poking out. That works for us. That way it doesn't light up.

Devilforasideboard · 12/01/2014 08:07

I got a white noise machine for £20 on amazon, no lights to disturb anyone and had the best night's sleep in ages last night.

ballroomblitz · 12/01/2014 08:20

I used pregnancy meditation music when dd was a baby. Music with white noise, heartbeats and that kind of thing. She grew out of it sharpish, about 6 months but I still listen to it myself when I'm having problems sleeping :) Ds was a scbu baby and slept for the first part of his life with a radio constantly on beside his cot and he could sleep through anything!

Ime with dd she went through a really unsettled phase about 7 months to a year. At 15 months she's still a very wriggly baby but co-sleeping with her has vastly improved her sleep (would that be an option or not?) Sod rod for backs and all that nonsense.

peanutMD · 12/01/2014 08:30

My 10 month old is the exact same!

Goes down easily at 7pm every night but generally this is her sleep pattern.

7pm - 10pm (feed for 10 minutes)
1015pm - 1am (25 minutes to settle)
130am - 2am (10 min feed, 45 to settle)
3am - 330am (jumps about in cot, no settling her!)
430am take her into bed to try soothe
530am get up

We have a lullaby sound machine playing ask night now and it makes absolutely no difference what so ever, I'm just hoping she'll get out of it soon as I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown :(

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 12/01/2014 14:52

Well I cracked after another half hour of trying to settle her in cot, picked her up to take her into our bed and realised that somewhere in the last 90 min she'd got a dirty nappy... Which I would have realised sooner if I hasn't been trying to do the whole don't-get-her-out-of-the-cot thing that sooooooo many people tell me is my biggest mistake with DD's sleep...

So another night of unintentional co sleeping...

Will try the white noise again tonight and hide the iPod!! Here's hoping for miracles...

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Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 12/01/2014 14:53

Sorry wasn't clear... People are always telling me that my mistake is getting her out of the cot... That picking her up even for a cuddle will just perpetuate bad sleep. I don't think these people have ever leaned over a cot for up to 2 hours in the middle of the night...

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Passmethecrisps · 12/01/2014 20:37

No emerald they probably haven't. And what they certainly haven't done is had your baby. If getting her out fora quick cuddle works then do that.

What is the plan for tonight?

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 13/01/2014 00:03

Just woken up to her crawling towards the speaker this time... iPod out of sight but speaker has teeny blue light she is obv fascinated by... Have moved speaker out of sight too now :) :)

Should I try a different track? Something more swooossshy?

Still hoping its just her getting used to it and not that I have the only baby in the world who is resistant to white noise!!!

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SavoyCabbage · 13/01/2014 00:17

My dd has classical music playing on an iPod all night. There us no light if you switch the screen off. It definitely worked for us.

80sMum · 13/01/2014 00:34

Used brown noise all night til Dgd was at least 18 months old.

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 13/01/2014 07:00

Arrrggh so after the midnight post DD woke up twice more before 3.30am when I got her into bed with me (I love it but its not a solution to the sleeping problems)

Tbf frequent wakings ARE the main problem so it's not like white noise is causing them... But I did have two blissful and incredibly rare nights just before starting the white noise where she only stirred in a half-sleep twice a night and didn't wake completely. Now I don't know if that was a good trend that I have buggered up by introducing the white noise or if they were just a one off to raise my hopes :(

All I do know is that DD is very very interested in the white noise ...and I need to keep her less interested in things at night time!!

I could turn it down and introduce it more gradually?nmaybe it's too much too soon?

I could try a different track?

Or I could play a gentle lullaby all night instead? She has had it for the past three months to send her to sleep and I think finds it v soothing.

SavoyCabbage, did you just find that your DD preferred music to white noise?

Losing the will to carry on here...

Tbf DD's nasty top teeth are struggling through so things could be affected by that.

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Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 13/01/2014 09:04

80sMum, can I ask: what is brown noise? Less harsh than white? Am using a kind of swishy stream noise with gentle crickets chirping in b/g... it's less high-pitched than static, which drives me insane. Is this brown noise or is brown noise gentler still?

Thanks everyone for posts, am so grateful

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FlossieTreadlight · 13/01/2014 09:25

Just thought I'd add that there is a sleep regression / developmental leap between 8ish months and 10-11 months. The results of this little beauty are that babies find it incredibly hard to settle (busy head/desire to try new things) for a while. My DD (now 2.1) was exactly the same as you describe and then it passed. We didn't and still don't have perfect sleep -(neither do any if my honest baby friends) but there was a hugely positive shift once this was out of the way and it only got better. Do whatever you need to do to get through Smile

FlossieTreadlight · 13/01/2014 09:26

Sorry, should have added that it was 8-9 weeks of unsettledness. Just before I went back to work as well.

Original poster
emeraldgirl1 · 13/01/2014 09:29

Flossie - thank you!! Unfortunately we never recovered from the 4m regression... it's been fairly dreadful ever since! Throw in the most appalling teething any baby has ever experienced ever ;) (she has a tendency towards the dramatic) and we're just in sleep deprivation hell here ALL THE TIME

But yes I do think it's being made worse (if possible) by her sudden discovery of EVERYTHING being interesting/worth crawling towards

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