Neither of my boys were particularly great sleepers as babies. Noah was terrible in the beginning, made worse by his reflux. Jude was better, but it was still tough going. Friends would tell me how their babies loved white noise; not my babies though! So when pregnant a third time, I simply accepted that sleep is something I wouldn't have for a while.
Just before Essie was born, the kind people at Whisbear offered to send us one of their soft humming bears. I hesitated at first, knowing that white noise did nothing for the boys. Every baby is different though. Maybe this baby would like white noise? And if not, it would just be a lovely cuddly toy for her!
Essie was so overdue that by the time she arrived she pretty much went into her first growth spurt! (If you follow the Wonder Weeks theory, you'll know that all the weeks and leaps are based from due date not birth date). She cluster fed a lot in the evenings which was fine, but it was stressful trying to settle her when she was crying. And she cried a lot. It felt like she constantly cried during the first few weeks.
One evening Ian was trying to settle her by playing music through his phone. He went through all different types before randomly playing happy hardcore and she immediately shut her eyes and went to sleep. She was out like a light! It made us laugh that this tiny baby was enjoying 10pm and 3am rave sessions. I hadn't been in a rush to set up the Whisbear but suddenly I realised I had a baby that might like white noise, so I got the box out and set it up.
The Whisbear is a multi-award winning sleep aid that was created by two mothers and is suitable to use from birth. They drew upon their own experiences to design a product to help newborn babies transition from prenatal to postnatal life. The Whisbear works by recreating soothing sounds of the womb. The soft toy has a small round device that goes inside the bear's head and is then activated by squeezing it to emit the soothing white noise. You can also control the volume by squeezing and holding for a few seconds. The bear's legs are made with different fabrics and some are crinkly for sensory play; they also have magnets so that Whisbear can be easily attached to a cot, pushchair or car seat.
There are a lot of sleep aids that use white noise, so you're probably wondering what makes Whisbear different. Whisbear's device is rather smart and features a CRYsensor function. When the white noise is first activated, it will softly start and then fade away after 40 minutes of gently shushing baby to sleep. The CRYsensor actually analyses the surrounding sound so that if it detects a cry, moving sounds or any other sounds that might wake the baby, it will turn the shushing sound back on for another 20 minutes. It stays in this standby mode for 3 hours, turning the gentle shushing sound on again if it detects noise. Clever isn't it!
So does Essie like it? She loves it! Not to be melodramatic but the soothing white noise of the Whisbear has been quite a lifesaver as it has helped me to settle her more easily during her cranky periods. I'm under no illusions that sleepless nights are part of the package of motherhood and I actually love the nightfeeds (more on that another time!) but I don't enjoy hearing her sounding distressed. When she's grumpy and upset but doesn't seem to want boob or cuddles or anything we come up with, I just cuddle her and hold the Whisbear and she soon calms down.
The CRYsensor function has also been really useful at blocking out the noise that Noah and Jude make. I'm following the advice of having Essie sleep in the same room as me including daytime, but that means the boys are also in the room. I obviously can't expect them to be totally quiet and they are lively boys! When Essie is napping I turn on the Whisbear so that she has the white noise to drown out any sounds they make, knowing that if they get too loud the CRYsensor will turn the shushing back on!
Whisbear is so clever and I'm so glad I said yes to reviewing one as it has saved me from tears many times! Whisbear is available with three different colourways and costs £49.99. You can find it here.
With thanks to Whisbear for sending us one to try.
My brother bought us a Whisbear for G when he was born. My eldest didn't really like white noise but G loved it, a huge fan of hairdryers and hoovers. We still use it now at just turned one as I think he now associates the noise with time for sleep, plus like you say it drowns our the noise of an older brother! x
ReplyDeleteBoth of my girls live white noise but I've lost count of the times we have had to get up and down to switch it back on if they're not quite settled when it turns off. This is such a brilliant idea! Xx
ReplyDeleteI wish we had had this for Freddie. He's a terrible sleeper. Last night it was 11pm when he finally crashed and he had been awake since he woke from his nap at 2!
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