White noise

[Beanie1908]

Hi

My 12 month old DD has never been a settled sleeper. She wakes around 11pm and again at 4.30am ish. Wouldn't be so bad if she went straight back to sleep but it can take 1-2 hrs. We did controlled crying (which worked for my son) at 8 months - it was fine for a couple of months but we're back to unsettled again. Had a go at gradual retreat which I found horrific, way worse than cc and my little one was a lot more upset with me in the room. I wouldn't mind taking her into my bed if she cuddled in and went to sleep but she tosses and turns and just cries /whinges.
Thought I would give white noise a go as I heard this can help. Should I leave it on all night? It took around 25 mins for her to get to sleep tonight (with me sat in the room, head down) and the white noise (Hoover) on.

Any thoughts/tips appreciated. Back at work now so 4.30 starts are killing me.

Thanks in advance!!

My one year old has it on all night but we've used it since he was tiny - I love it!

I bought an album called Music for Dreaming on iTunes. It's classical arrangements of lullabies and I play it on a loop through the night. It hasn't been the miracle cure for wakeups I was hoping for but it certainly hasn't hurt! And I think it's rather lovely during the odd night feed 💕

There are loads of great apps for this. Sound sleeper makes vacuum noises! It's also got a motion sensor which might be useful - if the baby moves, the white noise comes on again.

I use SG Baby which plays lovely classical music but TBH I think I find it more calming than DS!

Homedics make a great white noise machine called the Deep Sleep -maybe try with a phone app for a few nights and then if it works pick one of these up. We put it on moderately loud for bedtime to cover downstairs noise up, then when we come to bed turn it down and leave it on low all night.

There's a good app called Rain Rain. It has white noise that plays continuously as well as different rain sounds (obv), wave sounds, vacuum cleaner ... and the hilarious "Shi Tzu snoring". Not a joke!

You can get ten hour long white noise tracks on YouTube and Spotify. We have a rainstorm track that we play on repeat all night. We've been doing it since she was tiny and I can't say for sure what direct impact it's had, but she slept through early and consistently. It may not be a magical solution (personally, although white noise is great, I can't stand music/audio books when I'm trying to sleep - they work for some people but I find them too distracting. Different strokes for different folks, but definitely worth a try!)