Nothing calms a restless infant or prevents them from falling asleep faster than some mild white noise. Yet, if you’re worried about your infant getting reliant on a white noise machine, you’re not alone; many parents ask when the ideal moment is to wean their child off of utilising white noise to fall asleep.

Thankfully, after reading this post, you won’t have to be concerned: we’ll tell you precisely when you should stop using white noise for your infant, as well as other useful white noise safety advice.

What You Should Know

When your baby is a toddler, or between the ages of 2 and 4 years old, stop utilising white noise.
Wean your infant off of white noise gradually by lowering the volume and length of time you play it.
White noise is harmless for newborns as long as the decibel level does not exceed 50. (or around medium volume).

When is it appropriate to quit utilising white noise?

When their kid is a toddler, most parents stop using white noise.
This might be anywhere between 2 and 4 years old for your baby.

There are no hard and fast rules on when your infant should stop listening to white noise, and lots of older kids and adults like it as well. If you’re concerned that your kid will become reliant on it, gradually wean them off of it once they’re sleeping through the night more frequently.

Weaning Your Infant from White Noise

Reduce the time you spend using the white noise machine gradually.

It’s preferable to wean your infant off of white noise gradually rather than abruptly. Instead of leaving the white noise machine running all night, set it to run for a few hours. Your infant may wake up a few times, but after a few tries, they will naturally fall back asleep.

You may also experiment with progressively reducing the level on the white noise machine so that it becomes quieter and quieter.

How to Safely Employ White Noise

Reduce the loudness to less than 50 dB. Your white noise machine is safe for baby to listen to at 50 decibels, even if it runs all night. You won’t be able to exactly measure 50 decibels, but for most white noise machines, this is around a medium volume level.

White noise machines are typically harmless, although many of them may reach 85 decibels, which is comparable to the volume of a hair dryer. Too much exposure to a white noise machine might cause long-term hearing loss.
The general guideline here is to never put the white noise machine to maximum level, since this will undoubtedly be too loud.

Keep your infant as far away from the white noise machine as possible.

The closer the equipment is to your kid, the more probable it will be excessively noisy. Specialists recommend keeping the white noise machine at least 7 feet (2.1 metres) away from your kid, and even further if possible.

When your infant is sleeping, just use white noise.

Keeping white noise on all the time might be harmful to your baby’s growth. Natural background noise, such as people chatting, children playing, and automobiles blaring, is essential for your newborn. White noise might be disturbing for your infant if you drown out these noises, so use it carefully.

It’s okay to leave the white noise machine on all night as long as it’s loud enough and far enough away from your baby’s cot.

Baby White Noise Machines

For many years, the legendary LectroFan EVO white noise machine has been available. It not only creates white noise but also heartbeat sounds and other relaxing noises, which are ideal for newborns.
Dohm’s Yogasleep

The Yogasleep Dohm emits a real fan noise, as well as pink and brown noise (making it suitable for grownups as well). Its relaxing tones are sometimes compared to the ocean or putting a seashell to your ear.
Pink Noise against White Noise

Pink noise is better for adults than white noise.

While there have been several research on white noise for infants, the only studies on pink noise have been conducted on adults. Pink noise has been demonstrated to boost adult memory when sleeping. It is somewhat lower-pitched than white noise.

You may have heard about brown noise as well (sometimes called red noise). Brown noise sounds like rain or a waterfall and has been proved to benefit patients with ringing in their ears. Unfortunately, no research on its effect on sleep has been conducted.

References

Loud Noise and Pregnancy
Opioid Use in Pregnancy: A Review
White noise facilitates new-word learning from context
Noise as a sleep aid: A systematic review
White, fat and blind — Economy and evolution in caves
Noise: A Hazard for the Fetus and Newborn
Noise Pollution: Neonatal Aspects