I love providing chiropractic care for babies – they are so adorably cute and cuddly. Until they cry! Unsettled infants are a common presentation in chiropractic practices – bubbas who cry when they should be feeding, playing, connecting, doing tummy time or, most importantly, sleeping. When baby is not sleeping, neither is mum or dad, and it gets distressing very quickly. And they will, as we all would, do anything to get a few winks.

Natalie Ebrill from ‘Sleep and Settle’ recently did a presentation on Infant Sleep for my Switched-on Kids Mastermind group. This session was focused on what we as health care providers need to consider when addressing sleep hygiene in babies - in addition to our chiropractic adjustments. She mentioned the importance assessing for food intolerances, maternal stress, discussing baby’s daytime routines, the amount of activity baby and family partakes in, the understanding of sleep cues as well as the importance of enough milk, play, connection and tummy time in the awake periods.

What I found interesting was Natalie’s opinion on ‘white noise’. You have no doubt also observed the increasing popularity of devices hung on capsules and strollers in your practice emanating muffled, scratchy ‘static’, which mums use to help calm baby and induce sleep. These sounds supposedly replicate the din of the world heard from inside the womb. They are thought to mask other sounds from the environment which may otherwise have kept baby awake, such as traffic or siblings playing. There are ‘white noise’ machines, some incorporated into soft toys and bassinets and a multitude of phone apps allowing the sound to be played through a speaker placed near the child.

Research has demonstrated that babies settle quicker and sleep better when exposed to white noise (1, 2). Distress levels in response to pain are also decreased when experiencing white noise (3).

However, as Natalie pointed out, there are a few drawbacks:

It is quite common for baby to get dependent on the shield of noise around them to be able to sleep. In other words, the baby never learns to fall asleep on their own, creating challenges when the device is not available as well as the need to teach bub to fall asleep at a later stage.
There is no research on safe noise levels for babies. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) points out that 1 in 6 middle and high school children have hearing loss, which is often undiagnosed (6). Many white noise machines emanate noise louder than what is recommended in hospital nurseries, and indeed for adult work environments (4,7).
Parts of baby’s brain are active during sleep. Certain networks process sounds to make ‘acoustic maps’, which are used for later language and cognitive development. The white noise masks these sounds and may cause language delays (5, 6).

So, is white noise a no-go? I acknowledge Natalie’s strong advice against has definite merit. However, sleep is essential for the health, development and even safety of both bub and parents, so if it works, why not take advantage of it? I like to have a conversation about the sensible use of the device (6,7):

Keep the volume down (50 decibels or less),
Keep the device at least 30 cm from baby’s ears,
Keep noise on for as short a time as possible (30 min). Once baby is settled, turn it off.

Dorte

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