Can white noise harm your baby’s hearing?

You may have heard that white noise can help soothe a restless baby, but can it harm your baby’s hearing?

According to numerous studies, loud noise can be harmful to a baby’s hearing. Unfortunately, the key benefits of using white noise are often overlooked in these studies. Surprisingly, a baby’s cry can exceed 100 decibels (as loud as a lawnmower and ten times louder than a hairdryer). This is probably why, for decades, paediatricians and parenting books have recommended loud sounds to calm fussy babies, such as vacuum cleaner and hairdryer noises.

Noise is something that babies are used to

1. All babies are exposed to the sound of whooshing arteries while in the womb.
2. White noise CDs and downloads, when used all night, are perfectly safe and have been shown to help with sleep, which is why so many families use them.
3. High pitched sounds are the main cause of noise injury. Most infant white noise machines are unable to reach this pitch.

The advantages of getting enough sleep

When it comes to white noise for babies, it’s critical to consider the advantages of good sleep. Poor infant sleep causes parent exhaustion, which can lead to potentially dangerous situations such as:

• Postpartum depression
• Maternal obesity
• Child abuse
• Cot deaths, which occur when exhausted parents place their babies on their stomachs or bring them into their bed, resulting in up to 1000 accidental suffocation deaths each year.

Low-pitched, rumbly white noise may help prevent these very serious problems by improving your baby’s sleep habits (and reducing crying).

How much sleep does your baby need?

To address the effects of lack of sleep, it’s also important to know exactly how much sleep your baby really needs. Here’s how  much sleep your baby likely needs:

• Newborns: Up to 18 hours total per day, while waking up every few hours for feedings.
• 1 to 2 months: Babies can sleep four to five hours straight.
• 3 to 6 months: Sleep totals at night can range from eight to nine hours, plus short daytime naps.
• 6 to 12 months: 14 hours of sleep total, with two to three naps during the day.

Use of white noise in the right way

When a baby cries, turn up the volume of your white noise machine to the level of a vacuum cleaner for a few minutes. Keep the sound down to the level of a soft shower for all-night sleeping.

Based on the findings of numerous studies, paediatricians recommend that any white noise machines should be placed at least 200 centimetres from your baby’s crib.

Lastly, you should also keep the volume on the machine below the maximum volume setting.

Good to know: Every baby is different when it comes to sleep needs, so white noise could end up being a trial and error process. Don’t hesitate to talk to your paediatrician if your baby is having trouble sleeping on their own as they age.