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April 10, 2025

A Quick Guide to Sound Machines for New Parents

Technology is helpful to new parents with a young baby looking for support. Rest assured, baby tech, like a smart baby monitor developed by pediatricians and scientists, is tested repeatedly before its release. That said, these products may have features you want to learn more about, like a built-in sound machine that plays white noise and lullabies. If you have heard how sound impacts a baby’s development, additional information can help you decide what’s best for your baby’s environment.

The Truth About Background Noise
White noise or lullabies serve as background noise while your baby sleeps. They help soothe your little one and calm them while blocking out other sounds. This benefits parents and babies, allowing them to get more restful, undisturbed sleep. However, too much of a good thing can have a negative impact. “Too much” means the background noise is too loud and playing too long. You can use a sound machine or a baby sleep monitor that plays white noise or lullabies at a lower volume without causing any discomfort for your baby. 

The Science Behind It
A baby’s ears have smaller ear canals than an adult. Over time, repeated exposure to sounds above 85 decibels (dB) could negatively impact hearing. For reference, 80 dB is typical for an average alarm clock (remember those?). When your alarm clock was on your nightstand, around the same level as your ears and within arm’s reach, it was very loud. When you moved it across the room, it wasn’t blaring as loudly in your ear.

Similarly, the decibel level an inch from an infant sound machine may be different than that of the decibel level by the time it reaches your baby’s ears. So, both volume and distance from the machine affect the noise level, and you have the freedom to adjust the volume and distance and follow user instructions to use baby tech properly. That way, you keep your baby monitor hub at a comfortable distance and volume for a good noise level.  

A Comfortable Noise Level
A high-quality baby sleep machine has a cut-off decibel level to ensure it doesn’t reach a level that could impact hearing development. This means it shouldn’t go over 85 dB. That’s not the default sound level for the baby tech product, either; it’s just the maximum threshold. Keeping the volume between 20 and 50 dB can help create a comfortable sleep environment for your little one. 

Along with a sound machine on a hub, a baby monitor can also feature a baby cam and a smart sensor attached to an ankle band. These features allow you to track changes to heart rate, oxygen saturation, and external skin temperature (as well as the room temperature thanks to the hub). By monitoring any changes to your baby’s sleep patterns, you can make changes as needed, including the volume of white noise or lullabies and where you place the hub. 

Whether that’s a baby monitor that plays white noise and lullabies or a data-tracking sensor on an ankle band, you can use all the support you can get. Whenever you have a question about your child’s well-being, you can also reference the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and talk to your pediatrician. 

Sources:

American Academy of Pediatrics.
(2023). Preventing excessive noise exposure in infants, children, and adolescents: A joint policy statement. Pediatrics, 152(5), e2023063753. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2023-063753

April 10, 2025

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January 15, 2026
How to Get Baby Back Into a Consistent Sleep Routine

Tips for Resetting Baby’s Sleep Schedule After Busy Weeks, Travel, or Routine Changes

After a stretch of travel, visitors, late nights, or changes to your usual schedule, you may be ready to get back into a more predictable routine. While adults can often reset quickly, babies and toddlers may need a little more support easing back into consistent sleep patterns.

The good news? Disrupted routines are temporary and with a few simple, consistent adjustments, your baby can settle back into a rhythm that works for everyone.

Here are a few tips to help re-establish healthy sleep habits and create a calmer transition back to routine.

Daytime Sleep for Babies
When schedules get busy, naps are often the first thing to shift. Getting back to consistent daytime sleep is one of the most effective ways to improve nighttime rest.

Try offering naps at the same time each day, even if your baby initially resists. Familiar cues – like dimming the room, closing the curtains, or using a sound machine on a newborn sleep monitor – can help signal that it’s time to rest. Consistency is key, and with time, naps typically fall back into place.

Extra Transition Time at Night
If bedtime has become unpredictable, allow extra time for a calming nighttime routine. Dim the lights, lower stimulation, and focus on quiet activities like reading, cuddling, or singing.

A warm bath or gentle wind-down ritual can help your baby recognize that sleep is coming. If your little one wakes more frequently at night, it may be a sign they’re still adjusting to recent changes. Tracking sleep patterns with a wearable smart sensor can help identify what’s different and guide small adjustments.

Create a Familiar Sleep Environment
Returning to a familiar sleep space can make a big difference. If your baby has been sleeping in new environments recently, re-establishing their usual crib or bassinet setup can provide comfort and predictability.

Pay attention to room temperature, lighting, and familiar items like a favorite blanket or nightlight. Small environmental cues help reinforce a sense of safety and consistency, which supports better sleep.

Give It Time and Grace
Resetting routines doesn’t happen overnight. A few days of consistency can go a long way, and flexibility is just as important as structure. With patience and a calm approach, your baby will adjust and restful nights will return.

Tips for Resetting Baby’s Sleep Schedule After Busy Weeks, Travel, or Routine Changes

After a stretch of travel, visitors, late nights, or changes to your usual schedule, you may be ready to get back into a more predictable routine. While adults can often reset quickly, babies and toddlers may need a little more support easing back into consistent sleep patterns.

Read more
October 02, 2025
4 Tips to Help Your Baby Adjust to the Time Change Before Daylight Savings

When the clocks “fall back” on November 2 this year, many parents expect to brace for disrupted sleep (which goes both ways). Babies thrive on consistency, so even a one-hour shift can throw off naps, feedings, and bedtimes. With a bit of preparation, you can help your little one adjust before Daylight Saving Time.

Start Shifting Early
With steady, minor adjustments, you can help align their internal clock without major disruptions. Begin about a week before the change, knowing that it may take longer than that for your little one to adapt. One idea is to move your baby’s wake-up, naps, and bedtimes earlier by just 10-15 minutes every day or

two. Consider keeping bedtime routines the same, including bath times, book reading, and lullabies. These are cues for sleep, even if the timing is slightly different.

Use Light and Environment Advantageously
Morning sunlight helps reset circadian rhythms, so open the curtains soon after waking. At night, dim the lights earlier than usual to signal winding down. Consistency in the sleep environment, such as comfortable room temperature, quiet, and darkness, makes the transition smoother.

Lean on Smart Monitoring Tools During time-change prep, an all-in-one wellness monitor that tracks oxygen saturation levels, body temperature variations, heart rate, sleep patterns, and even nursery conditions through a connected hub is excellent, especially for parents of newborns. By seeing trends in your baby’s natural sleep cues, you can implement gradual schedule shifts more confidently.

A built-in baby wellness cam offers night vision and two-way audio to observe if your baby is settling earlier or waking at new times. Environmental sensors for temperature and humidity levels help you fine-tune the nursery for comfort. At the same time, app notifications provide reassurance if your baby stirs more often during the adjustment period.

Stay as Consistent as Possible
Some babies adapt quickly, while others need a week or more. Once the clocks change, stick to the shifted schedule and resist reverting to old times. A little extra patience and help from your monitor go a long way.

When the clocks “fall back” on November 2 this year, many parents expect to brace for disrupted sleep (which goes both ways). Babies thrive on consistency, so even a one-hour shift can throw off naps, feedings, and bedtimes. With a bit of preparation, you can help your little one adjust before Daylight Saving Time.

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August 19, 2025
Should You Follow a Feeding Schedule?

Babies know what they need: milk, sleep, and comfort. They tell you when they need them. You sometimes wake up to the sound of your little one through the baby sleep monitor because they’re hungry. Yet, your little one doesn’t run on a schedule, and they can’t tell you the time. So, should you, as a new parent, follow a feeding schedule?

Daytime Feedings
The early days with a newborn swing between sleeping and feeding with a few (or a lot of) diaper changes in between. Sometimes, the day just feels like a series of feedings, and you can’t even remember what happened when you weren’t feeding the baby. Eventually, you notice a kind of pattern to the sleep-wake cycles. You can create a little strategy to give yourself one (or more than one) grown-up nap a day, letting your baby sleep in a comfortable environment thanks to a smart baby monitor. 

Nighttime Feedings
Newborns don’t really have a bedtime. They just take a series of naps until they adjust to a new schedule and develop their circadian rhythm, sleeping for two to four hours. When they’re not asleep, you should encourage them to drift off again after feedings, so they get into the habit of sleeping more at nighttime. 

Breast vs. Bottle
Sometimes, breastfed babies have to nurse more frequently than bottle-fed babies. While the size of a person’s breast doesn’t determine how much milk they produce, it does impact how much milk they can store. Women with smaller breasts sometimes store less milk at a time, so their babies may nurse more frequently. Women with larger breasts store more at one time, so there may be less frequent nursing sessions. 
On the other hand, bottle-fed babies can take in more milk per feeding and don’t have to work for a letdown. Your little one’s feedings may be more spaced apart if they’re bottle-fed, regardless of whether there’s breastmilk or formula in the bottle.

Babies don’t know the difference between night and day and need frequent feedings. Instead of focusing on a feeding schedule in the early days, keep everyone in the family comfortable and well-fed. 

Babies know what they need: milk, sleep, and comfort. They tell you when they need them. You sometimes wake up to the sound of your little one through the baby sleep monitor because they’re hungry. Yet, your little one doesn’t run on a schedule, and they can’t tell you the time. So, should you, as a new parent, follow a feeding schedule?

Read more