🎧Weaning off white noise🎧
I love white noise! Great sleepy time cue and blocks out external noise (otherwise known as older brothers 😅)but whilst some people are happy to keep using it indefinitely, others want to know how to wean off the white noise so here are my tips!
1. Lower the volume gradually
* Reduce the volume by a small amount every few nights (e.g., turn it down 10–20%). The Dreamegg portable machine is great for this.
* Babies are more sensitive to changes in environment than the absolute presence of sound, so this slow approach helps them adapt.
2. Shorten the duration
* Instead of running white noise all night, keep it on just for the first sleep cycle (about 45–60 minutes) and then switch it off. If they are sleeping through anyway, this should be ok!
* Gradually shorten it until your baby falls asleep without needing it.
3. Change the sound type
* If your baby is sensitive, you can move from “true white noise” (which is quite intense) to gentler sounds: rainfall, ocean waves, or a heartbeat sound.
* This can make the transition less abrupt.
Timing
* It’s usually easier to wean after 6–9 months, when babies have more mature sleep patterns.
* Avoid starting during big transitions (moving house, illness, starting daycare).
👉 Some parents also choose not to wean at all — white noise is safe for long-term use (at safe volumes under 50 dB, ideally across the room from the cot.
Personally, we will start to lower the volume from now (19 months) and then it will just be off and that will be white noise in our house finished forever!
Ahhh the sweet sound of silence 😅👌
