One of the home tips that every new parent receives to calm the crying of the baby, is that to expose them to a source of white noise. We call white noise the one that occupies the entire spectrum audible by the human being.
What is white noise and why does it work?
Let’s see if you can make yourself understand this. Suppose in an orchestra, when a violin plays a note, it vibrates at a certain frequency. Well, if we put the whole orchestra to play the same note but with small variations with respect to the frequency of vibration we would have white noise, very expensive, but white noise at the end of the day.
A crying baby when listens to white noise, instantly stops crying and calms down. In some cases, he even falls asleep
Is white noise safe for babies to sleep on?
White noise is a constant sound that prevents others from invading auditory perception. It camouflages the rest of the noises that surround us, the reason why it has become a weapon to fight insomnia in old people in many cases.
Some babies have trouble falling asleep. Something that provokes the desperation not only of the children but also of the parents. This difficulty in sleeping causes the crying of the baby which in turn leads to a kind of vicious circle because the crying entails the irritability of the child, which prevents him from being able to rest.Some experts believe that a solution may be to use what is known as white noise.
How white noise is used in the baby?
The white noise prevents other sounds from entering our auditory perception, so our brain focuses solely on it, favouring relaxation. It contains all the frequencies and all have the same power, in a harmonic way, offering a sensation of calmness.
If we listen to it at bedtime, being a constant noise and without ups and downs can help to reassure and help the sleep of the baby and also adults.
Some resemble this noise with that of the rain, with that of the waves of the sea, with that of a television without tuning in or with the murmur of a conversation.
But why does white noise soothe some babies?
It could be said that simply because it covers the rest of the noises and the case is that it does not always work either.
How the baby calms the white noise?
The white noise has the peculiarity of being a sound in which all the frequencies are at the same volume, without protruding any over the other. This means that when listening to a sufficient volume the rest of the surrounding sounds are annulled, and the person remains in a kind of sound isolation situation, hearing only the white noise.
The operation is simple, the white noise masks the other noises and being a constant noise and without ups and downs, makes the brain calm down and can fall asleep. The same happens when we change homes, we find it difficult to sleep, not only because we are in a bed that is not ours, but because environmental noise is not what we are used to hearing. When a noise awakens us, it is not only because of the noise itself but because there has been a discordance in the ambient noise that we are hearing.
The white noise helps other everyday noises such as household appliances, vehicles or the noises of large cities to take a back seat and become ‘camouflaged’ by this white noise that centers our brain.
This harmony that transmits white noise helps our brain to fall asleep and to avoid nocturnal sleeplessness. In the case of babies, according to some experts, it masks even the sound of their own crying, which makes their brain overexcited by crying, focus on that white noise, helping the baby to calm down and get the way to sleep.
Other experts point out that this white noise resembles the noise that babies perceive in their mother’s womb, being quite similar to the sound of the umbilical artery, and to the perception that outside sounds can have when they are inside their mother’s womb.
Where to find white noise?
White noise can be found in some appliances in our house. Some appliances such as the extractor hood, the washing machine, the dishwasher produce it. Also, the sound of the radio or television without tuning emit this white noise. The white noise is also incorporated in some dolls and baby products.
References:
https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/white-noise-help-baby-sleep/
https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/white-noise-for-babies#3
