Top 6 baby white noise apps to help your babies sleep faster

Mamma's heartbeat, a gentle rain, the waves quietly crashing upon the shore. These are just a few of the white noise sounds you may see available in white noise products and apps. When we had our first child, we struggled with finding a way to help soothe her at night, and that's when we found the white noise.

My wife still sleeps with white noise in our bedroom and all of our children find it a soothing experience as they hear it turn on during our nighttime routines.

White noise can be beneficial to a parent, although not a cure-all for sleep issues, it is a great support tool for many parents desiring to help soothe their child during nap or nigh-ttime.

Since white noise is not a new product or idea, there are many "sound machines" and white noise apps available through google play and the app store. It would take me forever to list them all, so I will instead list the ones I have found worthwhile and effective. 

White noise is a supped up ambiance sound app. Along with the many sounds you get free with the download, there are many that you can purchase later if you wish. White noise is not just your run-in-the-mill noise application, it allows you to customize your sound to what sounds good to you.

White Noise Lite has been featured on the Today Show, Dr. Oz and more and is constantly praised for their high-quality sounds and graphics. 

Also available on Google Play

White Noise Ambience Lite claims itself to be the "nap app" and has been praised throughout the United Kingdom. This app does allow for a customization of sounds, alarms to wake up to, and digital clock displays when setting the phone or iPad down on the dresser. The free version comes already loaded with seventy-six sounds and gives the ability to mix at least four different sounds together to get your perfect mix. 

Also available on Google Play

This is an app we actually have uploaded for our family at home. Although the free version opens with an advertisement, there will not be any other advertisements when the white noise is actually being played. This is a simple interface and provides high quality sounds that are great for helping your little one to go to sleep. Although it only comes pre-loaded with twelve sounds, we have found that these are the only sounds we generally listen to in the first place, which makes the app simple and effective. 

This editors choice application is also highly rated by users and features sixteen high definition sounds to choose from, a sleep timer and a mixer as well. It is a simple and clean design that only has an advertisement upon opening. It does produce one of my favorite white noise sounds called "rain on the window" and that is a bit different than your general rain sound.
 

Many parents enjoy using their iPad as the White Noise app for their child's room as their iPhone is needed to be used for other tasks during the napping or nighttime period. iPads are a great solution to a large display and quality quiet sound for your child. 

Claiming themselves to be the "magic" app to help your baby go to sleep, this iPad app has also been featured by the New York Times. It comes loaded with twenty-seven sounds (more available for purchase) and all of them are high quality and effective. Their "dark mode" is a great addition that sets this app different than others helping with setting up the sound without the bright light being distractive to your sleeping child. 

Also available on Google Play

Business Insider says this application is "The most positively reviewed app in the history of the Apple App Store". With over 105,000 reviews putting the app at a 4.9 out of 5 does attest to the app's effectiveness and likeability. This app comes loaded with fifty-two free sounds and melodies and adds the ability to have background sound support. Meaning that you can use other apps while the sound still is playing in the background. The mixes also are available to share creating "community melodies' that others can use to help them soothe their children as well.

Also available on Google Play

I KNOW - I promised six, but this one needs to be mentioned as a close runner-up. The slogan for Sleep Pillow is that they are the "app that helps the world sleep" and they have been noted as doing so as well. Featured on ABC, CBS, BBC, and other stations as well as recommended by pediatricians involved with healthtap.com - this iPad white noise app is clinically proven to be effective in helping a young one sleep.

One of the great reasons the sounds are so effective is that none of them were digitally created. All the sounds on this app were recorded naturally with high-quality recording equipment making the sound naturally peaceful and easy to listen to.

Also available on Google Play

The pros to white noise are pretty obvious.

The first major pro is the fact that your baby is soothed by the white noise (some even reminding them of the sound of the womb) they can fall asleep faster and smoother than they can with a totally quiet room, or one with light music.

Also, if the child has other siblings, or if you are doing anything else in the house during the time the child sleeps, white noise can drown out the sound of other things happening in the house during their sleep period. This is a major benefit that helps the entire household.

First, it is of vital importance that you recognize how loud you have your white noise app. Some parents keep white noise at a level that is actually too loud and can harm a child's hearing development. White noise should be quiet and in the background, not so loud that it sounds like you are actually listening to it play. Most pediatricians recommend that your noise machine or app does not exceed fifty decibels, especially during a child sleeping period.

Another con is that children can become dependent upon white noise to sleep. In this case, it becomes difficult to travel or have your child sleep at someone's house when white noise is not readily available.

Also, please note that not all babies respond the same way to white noise. There are some babies that cannot sleep with the noise in the background as it disturbs them and will keep them away and struggle to fall asleep.

Although white noise has been a great support and help to parents around the world, there are a few cautions that we should take to ensure that we are not sacrificing the safety of our children in order to soothe them to sleep. We will cover just a few of these below:

Not all ambient noises are the same. High pitched noises are designed to get our attention. Think of a siren, a phone ringing or a scream. High pitches are designed to make our brains get distracted from whatever it was doing and pay attention to where the high pitch comes from. Many White Noise apps do have high pitched sounds that are great for other purposes, like trying to stop a child from screaming or fussing, but not effective when it comes to sleep.

Sleep time needs low-pitched sounds which produce a hypnotic effect of drowsiness and peace. 

In fact, we know this instinctively. Think of how you hush your baby when they are fussy or crying. Your SHHHHH is generally high pitched and loud, and eventually becomes low pitched and quiet. As your child calms down, you keep them in a calm state by the lower, quieter tones in your own voice.

Make sure the app isn't so close to the crib of your child that it's the first thing in the room that they see. Filling the room with the sound is much more effective than trying to direct the sound into your child's ears.

Also, when it comes to the decibel, it is helpful to start it loud enough but not damagingly loud to help mask your child's fussiness and crying and as the baby calms down, turn the decibels to a comfortable level. It should never be so loud to harm their hearing, but not so quiet that the sound doesn't fill the room.

White noise can be a great support to your nighttime routines. Find the one that works for you and help your child to sleep soundly and safely through the night.