White Noise Machines Anyone?

[COTK]

So, in my quest to get my daughter to sleep soundly, I'm debating whether to add "aides" such as a noise machine or a silkie.

My sister uses both, and in watching her experiences, I swore I'd never use them... because her children *cannot* sleep without them. So, if the silkie gets lost, they do *not* sleep. If the noise machine gets accidently turned off, they wake up immediately.

But I'm wondering if they might be worth it, if they sleep better when they do have them?

Thoughts?

[Maggie]

We don't use them, but DS sleeps better with the noise of the air conditioner, I think. :shrug IME, it's pretty difficult to get a 4mo to sleep well (i.e. without needing to be held, etc.), but never hurts to try. :) Also, nothing wrong with sleep aids if they like them, IMO. They'll give them up eventually. My DC just had me as a sleep aid, but I wouldn't have been opposed to using them if they wanted.

[BlessedBlue]

My DC are NOT good sleepers. DS is better than DD, but still not great. I only just started using a white noise machine. We've done without, used music, used static from the radio, and now the white noise. (DD is 3...) They sleep best by far with the white noise machine! This means that I get some rest too. And DH might even get to sleep with me - because the white noise helps him sleep through any disturbances that there may be.

I think DD might be dependant on one even as she grows - that's just the way she is. But for $14 at Walmart... :shrug The only issues I forsee is if we move overseas to different voltage/power, and camping. But that's easily solved by putting batteries in the thing.

[kazoo]

I bought a "Sounds of the Ocean" CD and a relatively inexpensive CD player and turn it on at bedtime. I used to let it run all night on repeat, but now it just plays once.

As a kid, I had to have the radio on all night. I think I quit doing that in high school.

[Wonder Woman]

I use a fan as white noise :tu

[blossomnatalia]

I use a fan as white noise :tu


ditto

[Embracing Grace]

dh always has to have a white noise when he sleeps, so with co-sleeping ds is obviously used to is. I have to have it now too. We just use our air-purifyer. Nice wooshing sound all the time.

[COTK]

So, obviously, if some of you are needing white noise as adults still, you must be "ok" with this dependancy...? How well do you all sleep when you're away from home?

[milkdud]

So, obviously, if some of you are needing white noise as adults still, you must be "ok" with this dependancy...? How well do you all sleep when you're away from home?


If I go away overnight, I bring the sound machine with me. :shifty

[malakoa]

We thrived on the white noise machine. It's worth developing a dependency. (But she never did)

[Wonder Woman]

if my fan isn't available, a TV turned to static will do in a pinch. I *can* sleep without it, but definitely prefer the noise. And I don't have a problem with being dependent on it :giggle

[COTK]

I'm really amazed. :scratch I had no idea there were adults out there that traveled with a noise machine for themselves! Not judging, at all, just... amazed. It totally irritated me when my sister insisted on bringing the noise machine on our camping trip one year. We slept in a tent, which I love, because I love to hear the bugs and the birds... but I couldn't hear anything but that stupid noise machine! Made me so mad. I think that's the biggest reason I'm so against the machines, or more accurately, against the dependency on them. I wouldn't want to do to someone else what my sister "did" to me... it just seems so presumptuous. "My kids need this. Sorry if it bothers you." I'm not at all saying that's what you ladies do, with that attitude. That's just how my sister came across to me and it really struck a nerve. But... there's a lot of things she does that annoy me so I really should get over this noise machine thing...

Just babbling now... :P~

[BeckaBlue]

if abs didn't have her routine (including her white noise) she did not sleep well! we had one that only played for about 30min, and she could fall asleep without (if everything else was normal) but she did better with it :tu she doesn't have that need as much anymore, though it is still helpful when she's having a troubled time falling asleep

[Eowyn]

DH has a CPAP, which functions as my white noise machine. I have no problems with them.

I had a night light for a long time, too. Then one day, my parents were hosting a missionary family, and the mother removed it from my room, saying to me, "You're a very big girl, and don't need this. My daughter is a little one, so she's getting it." :mad I had an awful night without it. I now prefer it dark, though, so obviously it wasn't a lasting dependency. ;)

[something glorious]

we used to use one...on the heartbeat setting. in fact, it would just stay on all the time :shrug it got unplugged inadvertantly a few weeks back, and a window air conditioning unit was added....so one sort of replaced the other :yes we only started using the white noise machine once DD was in her own room....to help her sleep and as an added sound barrier to any noises that might come from our room next door :shifty :O

[BKMommy]

I have to because we live in an apartment and the boy upstairs is getting ready to turn 4. He has a lot of energy and runs through his apartment all day and night. I do it to drown out part of the noise from him and it helps dd sleep better even if he isn't making noise.

[knitlove]

I don't use a white noise machine but when I was very little my parents got me Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon tapes to listen to at night. Now I have then on CD and I listen to them when going to sleep. When I am away from home I either take a diskman (or if I ever get and ipod) and listen with ear phones (this is what I did through college), or I will go over one of the stories in my head. It is only an issue when I am not really tired, so when I was going to girl scout camp or spending the night I never bothered because I knew I would be so exhausted that I would be asleep with in minutes of laying down. It works for me and I am ok with it. So if you don't like white noise you might try picking out a book or stories on tape.

[HomeWithMyBabies]

Everybody seems to sleep better here with some white noise, including Dh. I don't always care for it, though, sometimes I wouldn't mind hearing the crickets. We live across the street from train tracks, though, and it gets *just a bit* loud. :giggle My little one has the white noise machine I had in college for use in the dorm (it's a nice one my dad bought for me, made for therapists to use during sessions for more privacy in the office). My four year old has a $4 fan and my Dh uses a fan in our room.

We took the white noise machine camping (there was electric at the campsite) and on vacation in the hotel. If we forget to bring it, there is usually a fan of some sort we can turn on, it hasn't become a big deal.