Bring on the white noise. “Conrad was quite fussy in the first few months, so my husband and I decided to try white noise. We downloaded all kinds of sounds—including jet engines, vacuum cleaners, and plain old static. We hooked up some mini speakers to our iPod, hit play, and he was out within five minutes. It worked so well that we always travel with those speakers. Now he sleeps as well at Grandma’s house as he does at ours.”
—Kristin Widing, mom of two, Aurora, Oregon
Give baby a rub-down. “The technique that works for me is to rub my daughter’s forehead gently with my thumb while holding her skin to skin.”
—Sunset Belinsky, mom of two, Kansas City, Missouri
Be a swinger. “We were very sleep deprived with my youngest, who’d wake up multiple times during the night. Finally, I moved the battery-operated swing to our bedroom, put him in it, and he’d doze off. That thing saved my sanity.”
—Len Saunders, father of two, Montville, New Jersey
Rap music? Yep. “Believe it or not, rap music of any kind was my go-to savior…played softly! The steady beat is soothing and our baby would fall asleep in a matter of minutes.”
—Shari Mezrah, mom of two, Tampa, Florida, and author of The Sleep Mom.
Try some good vibrations. “The one tip that always works is to put a baby blanket in the dryer to make it nice and toasty, then swaddle the baby in it. Place another blanket on the dryer, turn it on, and gently lay the baby on the blanket with one hand on her tummy. You’ll be amazed—the warmth and vibrations lull most babies to sleep. Then transfer her to the crib.”
—Blythe Lipman, mom of two, Scottsdale, Arizona, and author of Baby Instructions
Go for something scent-sational. “I sprayed a little lavender mist on my baby’s bedclothes to soothe her, then swaddled her.”
—Nicole Action, mom of three, Mount Airy, Maryland
Turn on the TV. For my son, The Wiggles always made him conk out in two minutes. The downside: I’d have ‘Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car’ in my head for the rest of the night!”
—Ron Motta, dad of two, Commack, New York