Suzy the portable baby soother – does white noise help babies to sleep?

By Laura van Heuven, mum of 3 and founder of Mommoiselle

Inconsistent sleep rhythm

By the time Phoebe finally falls asleep, she wakes up around 45 minutes later and it’s very difficult to get her back to sleep again. I wondered if white noise could be the answer, so we tried out ZAZU’s Suzy, a portable baby soother.

Third time’s a charm?

When our little Phoebe slept so well in her first couple of months, we thought we had hit the jackpot. Of course she woke up at night to feed, but it was easy to put her back to sleep. This was new to us after Elliot (who hardly slept) and Amelia (who appeared to be lactose intolerant). Then the 4-month sleep regression came knocking; our bedtime routine went out the window, and Phoebe didn’t want to go to bed anymore. Experience told us that this would pass, but two months later it only got worse and even daytime naps became impossible.

FOMO-baby

Phoebe did not want to sleep. At all. Not in the car, not in the stroller, not in the carrier and not even on my chest after feeding. The only place she could fall asleep was in her own crib, for short intervals and only when I was sitting next to her. If we didn’t ‘force’ her to sleep, she would not fall asleep until midnight. Of course she would then become overtired and be unsettled for the rest of the night. Simply put, she wanted to be with us all the time and not miss out on any of the action. That is why we, jokingly, called her a FOMO-baby, because of her Fear Of Missing Out.

That I couldn’t sleep for a few consecutive hours was not the biggest issue, it was the fact that we had no evening and no night. So, it felt like the right time to try something different, and after some research we opted for white noise. Now that we have a white noise machine, I cannot imagine why we never tried it before!

Meet Suzy the portable baby soother

When Phoebe was 8 months, we welcomed a new member into the family: ZAZU’s Suzy.

It was not easy to find a white noise machine that would fit our standards. Dutch brand ZAZU has a wide range of sleep related products with different variations. We were looking for a product that would not stand out too much in the crib and was also not a soft toy. Because I feel that Phoebe is quite oversensitive, the less the machine would grab her attention, the better. She also already has many soft toys! So we chose Suzy, a portable soother with a velcro strap.

Suzy plays six different relaxing sounds such as ‘shushing’ (ssshhh, ssshhh), white noise, a heartbeat sound, ocean sounds, lounge and lullabies. The machine itself is compact and easy to operate. After 20 minutes each sound stops automatically, but Suzy has a cry sensor which restarts the last played sound when your little one is unsettled and starts crying. Its compact size and velcro strap meant it’s convenient to take with you wherever you go.

Suzy goes on holiday

Phoebe’s sleep rhythm is pretty extreme, so Suzy has not performed any miracles yet. That being said, we could also not be without Suzy. If we left for a holiday on the beach and forgot to bring Suzy with, I would drive back home to get it! This is mainly because Suzy helps with our nighttime routine and putting Phoebe to bed. We turn on the white noise together in a darkened room and I nurse her. The sounds mask the creaking floor when I put her to bed and help her to stay asleep (you should have seen my ninja-like skills sneaking out the bedroom before). In addition, Suzy helps with joining together shorter sleep cycles. Sometimes when I am downstairs, I hear the baby soother turn on and I expect Phoebe’s cry, but then she falls asleep again. Unfortunately, Phoebe still wakes up frequently during the night.

White noise is a must-try

I strongly believe that for kids with less deep-rooted sleep issues, Suzy could be a big relief! For us Suzy has become part of a bedtime routine. Phoebe recognizes the white noise or heartbeat sounds and knows it is time to go to sleep. For us that is already a major victory, because before Suzy, Phoebe never fell asleep by herself and was unsettled all evening, so we are already very happy with it! One could start using white noise from birth, as it reminds newborns of the sounds in the womb. You might have noticed that your little one likes the sound of the vacuum cleaner or hair dryer.

You can find more about this topic under ‘mombie life’ on my website and my highlights on Instagram. You’ve got this!

With love,

Laura 

Written by Laura van Heuven, mum of 3 and founder of Mommoiselle

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are mine and are not influenced by ZAZU Kids.