White/ambient Noise Machines

I bought the Marpac 980A. It is a straight white noise machine with no loops and came very highly recommended. Good Luck.

M.

We have had a fish tank in my son's room since before he was born. It works fine and can add entertainment value. Also the fish tank light can double as a night light (if you don't mind confusing the fish.)

I highly recommend the Brookstone sound machine. It's pricey, but we bought it for our first daughter when we had trouble with her sleeping as an infant. She is now 3 1/2 and we've used it every single night since we bought it. It has traveled with us to San Francisco on a number of occasions and any sleepover! We've only used the "white noise" setting. But there are some other great sounds as well. It also works great as a night light.

I highly recommend the Brookstone sound machine if you can afford it. We love it! There is a baby version, adult version, and travel version. Check out the sounds and see which one you like best! We just use the white noise for our son and NOTHING wakes him up - not the phone, doorbell, any house guests. We love it!

We had a sound machine that we used that had waves and used that early on for our son, but now we just use a little fan on the floor by his crib on the high setting. It's always worked great and easy to get an extra for the grandparents house.

I just bought the Marpac Sleepmate 980A from Amazon for my daughter. I love it. We use the highest setting. She loves the noise and my boys can play without waking her up. Good luck!

Ha ha, Mamas are going to start thinking i work for Homedics because i always recommend this... but the Sound Spa is the best thing ever! I have used it for my son for a long time and it works wonders. Also, it projects moving pictures onto the ceiling (3 different disks to choose from), makes rain, ocean, heartbeat sounds, and 3 lullabies. I usually use the ocean sound for my son, especially because there's a lot of noise in the am before hes up and the ocean sound drowns it all out. It can be a bit loud though, so rain may be a better option if your baby isn't used to the white noise. Here's the link for the cheapest i can find it:

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&...

Sometimes it is sold out there, but you can find it at Target, JCPenny, Amazon, WalMart and eBay.

My only suggestion is that you set the timer, or don't use the projection too often if you're worried your son will wake up if the sound shuts off, because the motor for the projection does die out after awhile. There is a warranty on it though, and they have no questions asked about it if it does happen. The sound still works, and the picture, it just won't move.
Good luck! I know white noise helped so much for my lil man :-)

S.,

We just looked up on Amazon for one and bought ours that way. However, I know people that have bought then from Bed, Bath and Beyond type store and they are fine too. Also another option is down loading a white noise sound from Itunes. You can record it onto a CD and play it our just have the computer play it on a loop.

Good luck and happy sleeping,
L. M

Hi S.,

We own a Sharper Image Sound Soother 20. It has 20 different sound choices including, city sounds, summer night, surf, hearbeat and thunderstorm.

My 9 year old who has a little ADHD loves this machine and we use it every night. The hypnotic sounds distract her busy mind and lull her to sleep. We have had the machine for years and use it nightly. On occasion she changes her favorite. For a long time it was city sounds; now it is thunderstorm.

The machine has a sleep timer so it will automatically shut off, but, it is at least an hour, I would say, so you don't have to keep starting it or have the child tip toe out when the machine shuts off.

It also has an outlet for a mini speaker which can be placed under the pillow so the sound is only heard by the sleeping person. This is great for people with tinnitus but we don't use it.

I could recommend this sound machine emphatically. I don't remember how much it costs, but it was not expensive especially considering how long we have been using it.

Best Wishes,
J. L.

We have two models running all night in our home. My husband and I love our Brookstone (my favorite is Summer Night) and I do believe they are better for adults or children who need a non-repeating pattern. Before our Brookstone we had a Homedics Aromatherapy thing, and loved the babbling brook sound on it for years.

I wasn't able to afford the Brookstone for the kids, so they each have a Conair model that was about 19.99 at Amazon. It's been about a year and so far so good. My 4 year old daughter's favorite is the heartbeat, and my 1 year old son sleeps well with the white noise, waterfall, rain and stream sounds. I can hear "repeats" in the patterns, but it doesn't seem to bother the kids.

Good luck!

My reaction when I read your request that if your son gets used to a white noise machine, he might become so dependent upon it that he could have a hard time napping when he goes to school. My daughter has been in day care since she was 3 months old and has always had difficulty napping there because we sleep with a loud fan at home. This is a problem now that she's in Kindergarten because she's so bored while everyone else is sleeping that she gets in trouble. Just a thought you might want to keep in mind.

I use a Holmes air filter - might as well pull some dust out of the air while you're making some noise! It has a couple of speeds/noise levels. You have to remember to clean/replace the filters though - I either put it on the calender or I tape a little piece of paper to the machine with the date on it. Check with Consumer Reports - you can sign up on line and pay a yearly subscription fee, or you can go to the library and research back reports. I use a small model that sits on a dresser - a little smaller than a toaster oven.

Hi S.,

We use the Homedics sound spa on the waterfall setting -- not the projection machine, just the base model. We've used it for 3 years and love it. You adjust the volume and it can go really loud if you need it to, which was really helpful when we had our second baby. Our three year old never heard a peep during those first few weeks of us taking care of the crying baby in the next bedroom! We got it at Bed Bath and Beyond. It runs about $20, and of course you probably have a pile of those 20% off coupons, too!

My son likes the babbling brook setting.

We use the white noise setting on the Brookstone one and it works great. There's a setting on it that you can have it run continuously or shut off after 90 minutes. We use it a lot when we have to stay in a hotel. There's always a lot of hallway noises at hotels -- doors slamming, people running and yelling in the hallways, partiers, etc.. -- and this works great to block out those noises.

If you want to save money you can go to barnes and nobles and just purchase a white noise cd thats what we did the cd is long and we just put it on repeat.