Can Sound Machines Improve a Child's Sleep? A Pediatric Sleep Consultant's Guide to Using Them Right
Can Sound Machines improve a child's sleep quality and length of sleep?
Yes absolutely!As part of an intentional, consistent bedtime routine to help a child fall asleep independently and return to sleep without parent or caregiver assistance.
From a newborn to a young child to adulthood, a sound machine may help improve the quality and quantity of anyone's sleep if they are having trouble falling asleep and returning to sleep overnight. A consistent and dependable sleep routine allows the body to calm, to ease into sleep and stay asleep.
Why sound machines work to improve sleep.
Parents should understand that a noise machine making certain sounds can mimic the noises heard while the child is in the womb. It sounds like a low-tone machine running, the mother's heartbeat, and muffled outside noises.
To see this for yourself, try the following experiment. You can hear your own body's noise by covering your ears with your hands and pressing in a little bit. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds of your body for 10 to 15 seconds. Did it sound like a hum or a fan motor? Did you feel or hear your heartbeat or fluid moving? That is your body's internal sound. That is what we want your child to hear and feel: the natural calming that takes place by reminding them of being in the womb. That was a place of comfort, and we want to establish restorative sleep for your child. The familiar sounds and other environmental factors can help your child learn to sleep independently and restoratively. Restorative sleep helps the brain to organize new and old information and to be ready to receive new information. The body calms, heals, and rejuvenates.
Why do sound machines help?
The steady, comforting hum of a sound machine (a fan or air purifier are other options to use) can gently signal that it's time to settle into a familiar routine to go to sleep and to return to sleep throughout the child's sleep cycles overnight or during naps. It can help ease the transition from being rocked to sleep or fed to sleep to more independently falling asleep. Many pediatric sleep consultants recommend a sound machine for little ones.
What sounds should we use?
Sound machines come with a variety of options. I recommend either a static, steady sound like a fan or air purifier, or the sound of water like gentle rain.
Recommended sounds for children's sleep:
Fan or air-purifier hum: Smooth and continuous, with minimal changes in pitch or volume.
Pink noise: A soft, balanced shushing sound that is gentler than white noise.
Brown noise: A deeper, lower-pitched sound that some children find calming.
White noise: Steady static that can soften sudden household sounds.
Gentle rain: Choose a consistent recording without thunder, birds, or shifts in intensity.
Flowing water: Select a smooth track without splashing, waves, or noticeable looping.
The best choice is a sound the child readily accepts and that remains steady throughout sleep. Avoid music, lullabies, animal sounds, heartbeat tracks, ocean waves, voices, and recordings with sudden changes, as these may capture the child's attention or interrupt independent sleep.
Will parents need to commit to using a sound machine for an extended period?
Yes. I professionally recognize it's a sleep prop, but one that does not require a parent or caretaker to return repeatedly to the child's room overnight. It becomes part of a dependable and reliable process for the child to fall asleep and return to sleep as he or she goes through normal sleep cycles throughout the night or naps. As a child gets older, it can be reduced and could end around ages three to six. Many families with older children, as well as many adults, use a sound machine to fall asleep and ease transitions through their sleep cycles. If it is at a low decibel level, it is safe and effective. Sound machines or other devices used for sound during sleep should only be used for sleep times. Parents need to commit to prolonged nightly and daytime use.
Can parents commit to using the sound machine consistently?
Only using it occasionally or intermittently can produce short naps and frequent wakings.
If you are going to use a sound machine, you need to leave it on the entire time the child is to be sleeping. Having it end after a few minutes or partway through the night will likely actually create nighttime wakings. A baby or young child may not know what is different, but they will notice and likely call out for parents to assist them back to sleep. Since babies don't speak yet and very young children are not speaking well, it may be very difficult to express what is different. It may or may not occur to parents that they are creating a night waking by using sound machines on a timer. Parents may realize that when they need to return to the room, they must turn it on again and then perhaps use other props as well to get the child to go back to sleep. Consistency in bedtime routines is one of the keys to soothing and calming the child to unwind or calm down to fall asleep.
A very young infant or child, including a special needs child, needs and prefers predictable and consistent daytime and nighttime routines. Unusual routine changes, such as between homes if parents are not living in the same house, may lead to more confusion and night wakings or prolonged bedtimes due to the child stressing over what comes next in various settings for sleep. If all the primary caregivers are using the same routines with only a few minor differences, a child can more readily adapt to whoever is helping them go to sleep each night. Keep the variables to a minimum, and parents will see improved sleep patterns for the child.
Should parents or caregivers use the sound machine to help with naps?
Yes. It can help with reducing the number of naps as a child grows and make the naps more restorative for the child. While a child is small and easily woken by noises throughout the house, it can muffle the sharpness of unexpected noises. It should not completely block sounds but rather just take away enough of the sound to let the child continue falling or staying asleep. So, daytime napping is also a great time to use sound machines.
When a baby or young child is under age three, they typically nap, helping them fall asleep independently and stay asleep for the length of time the child needs, depending on the age and development of the child. After age three, naps usually stop because napping after age three can leave the child without enough sleep pressure to go to sleep in the evening or create nighttime wakings simply because they have slept too much in a 24-hour period. This can make the child too sleepy in the morning, and parents think the child needs a nap. Creating a vicious cycle of daytime naps interfering with nighttime sleep.
We have a wake window and sleep chart available for parents and primary caregivers to help establish healthy typical schedules for children that you'll receive with a purchase of a coaching session or sleep plan.
The proper use of a sound machine (or fan or air purifier).
Once parents have committed to the use of a sound machine to help with independent sleep, it can prove to be very effective. Whether the child sleeps in the parent's room or is in his or her own room (usually after four to six months of age), or sharing a room with other siblings, it can mask the noises inside the room. While sharing a room, it can take the edge off parents or other siblings moving and lying down to sleep, even low-speaking voices. It can ease the child through sleep cycles to prevent nighttime wakings.
It can mask or take the sharpness and clarity of predictable noises such as parents or siblings going to bed, bathroom noises including showers, tub draining, toilet flushing, hairdryers, etc. It also works to protect sleep from loud, sudden, or unpredictable noises outside the child's room. Creaking floors or steps, loud footsteps, pet noises, noises from the kitchen, washers and dryers, or loud televisions and gaming consoles. Also, sounds from outside the house, like street noise, loud vehicles, or mass transit, depending on the family's location, can interrupt sleep. Those are just some of the noises that can wake a child, so parents once again need to assist their child back to sleep.
Placement of sound machines: Where should a sound machine be in a child's sleep area?
The answer depends on where parents can place the sound machine to be able to plug it in and keep it out of a child's reach.
Independent bedroom - the child sleeps in his or her own room
Ideally, if a child is sleeping alone in a room, it should be near the bedroom door if most noises come from within the house. If most disruptive noises are from outside the house, then place it by the window where the disturbing noises occur. A plug-in version helps because you do not have to replace batteries or recharge it constantly. A rechargeable version is best kept for power outages or traveling outside the house for naps or overnights.
Sharing a bedroom – newborn is sleeping in the parents' bedroom (for up to four to six months is recommended by the AAP) or shares a room with siblings.
If parents or siblings are sharing a room, it should be placed between the child and parents' sleeping areas or between the beds of siblings. Since it most likely will be very close to the children's beds, the sound level should be lower than if it were placed near the door or window.
Always read and follow the safety and use instructions from the manufacturer of the sound machine. Look for sound machines with good to great reviews. You can find free sound level apps on your phone wherever you get your apps to measure the level to be sure it is not too loud. If parents are opting for an air purifier or fan, please be cautious about location and be sure tiny fingers cannot get into the device or reach cords in any way.
The distance should be about 7 feet from the child's sleeping area, whether bed, crib, or bassinet. Please don't attach it to the crib or bed or place it close to the child's ear. Your child's room may not be large enough or have an outlet that works for this. But please keep in mind as you decide where to place it. If it is closer than seven feet, then parents need to keep the volume at a lower setting.
According to the AAP the American Academy of Pediatrics, the level of noise should be below 50 decibels, like a running refrigerator or a dryer if standing near it. 50 decibels is louder than necessary for most children in a medium to small room, less than a 14 ft x 12ft room. I would recommend trying to stay under 42 to 44 decibels. There are free apps parents can find in the app store on their phones to check sound levels.
I have one for my grandson; we use a sound machine because our house is not a super quiet household. It is near the door, on a short dresser about the same height as his bed. It is about 7 to 8 feet from the bed. It measures about 36 - 40 decibels by his bed. We can whisper near his bed and be heard easily. The easy way to test: Stand near the child's sleep area, bed or crib, while the sound machine is on. If you must raise your voice to be heard, then it is too loud. If you cannot hear it, then it is too low. Simple enough.
Only use the sound machine for sleep – do not let it run continuously during the day. We don't want to interfere with normal speech and language development and hearing.
The AAP also recommends using a timer and turning it off after the child falls into deep sleep. However, I recommend for babies and young children who need to develop strong, healthy independent sleep habits use it all night for the reasons listed above. When the sound ceases and a child goes through sleep stages and is back in the light stages, the sound will help them ease back into deeper sleep; if it is missing, it may wake the child during nap or nighttime. It could lead to multiple night wakings.
How and when to discontinue or reduce the sound machine use?
As a child develops and parents feel the child can sleep through the night easily, then parents can first reduce the volume level and then the length of time the sound machine is on overnight by using the timer. Decrease each over several days to weeks so that the change is gradual. First, parents can reduce the use of sound machines during daytime naps first, and then reduce and eliminate its use overnight.
When to reduce its use for daytime naps: after the child is taking only one daytime nap, getting ready to end daytime napping. Reducing overnight sound machines can happen when the child is successful at independent sleep for several months, including no longer needing nighttime feeds and falling asleep independently, and does not need any assistance from parents or caregivers overnight to return to sleep throughout the night.
There are many reasons a newborn or young child may not sleep well. If you have concerns about your child's sleep and would like some help, please email us at info@poconopediatricsleepconsulting.com or give us a call at 570-213-9023.
We provide customized personal sleep training plans to help your little one sleep better in just a few days to a week, with real-time coaching available throughout and after training to ensure a positive outcome for your child. Some other sleep coaches may provide a one-size-fits-all plan based on a child's age only. We consider your family's needs as well as your parenting style and the child's developmental age and personality. I personally provide the plan flexibility and adjust the plan to meet your family's needs as they come up throughout the plan and post-training care as well.
Karen Rickert, BS CDO
Early Intervention, SNI, retired
IPSP Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant
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