The one machine that should stay on 24/7 in your baby’s nursery is his sound machine. You can absolutely count on it, not only to create a soothing, relaxing, sleep environment for him, but to drown out the noise in the rest of the house for him while he sleeps. By lessening the noise he hears outside of his nursery, your baby can fall and stay asleep better and you two can continue a normal noise level in your home – a magical win/win! Ask yourselves:

Do we want to be “shushing” everyone during nap time? 

Do we want to have to tip-toe around the house? 

Do we want to have to end a dinner party once the baby goes to sleep?

Do we want to have to put a sign on our front door that says “Baby Sleeping, Shhhhh!”

The answer to all of the above questions = a resounding N-O! 

Luckily, you don’t have to do any of it! You can maintain a relatively normal sound level in your home once your baby joins you there and you will absolutely be able to do that because of his sound machine. But that’s not the end to the magic…the unexpected bonus is that you and your partner can listen to its sounds all night long too, through your baby monitor next to your bed — and because of it, you’ll both sleep BETTER than you did before your baby arrived!  You read that right…BETTER!

(see Monitor Post for more detailed instructions)

Our neighbor graciously gave us the DEX Baby Sound Sleeper she used when her kids were young and we plugged it in and have had it on in the nursery ever since night one. It is amazing and we love it particularly because it runs all the time without shutting off and it has an option to combine two sounds at once. In our son’s nursery at any given moment, you will hear one of our favorite combinations:

Ocean + Seagull

Brook + Birds

Summer Night + Wind

Rain + Thunder

Of course, there are other sound machines out there…but this one is our favorite, hands down.  It’s also small and portable, so we always pack it with us when we travel. Wherever we are, if we can hear the sounds of the sound machine through our baby monitor, we then KNOW with certainty that we will hear our baby if he cries. That kind of peace of mind is seriously priceless! 

Bottom line: using a sound machine with a monitor is the key to magical family sleep!

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Read about the safety of baby sound machine use: “Just Noise” Slate Article

Related Posts: Baby Monitor, Baby Travel Gear, Crib Soothers, Nursery Organization Must-Haves, The 15-Minute Rule