When my head hits the pillow at the end of a long day, there’s one thing I want: peace and quiet. Newborns on the other hand are partial to a little white noise. While it may seem counterintuitive for us grown-ups to fall asleep to noise, newborns find it soothing.
Why babies like white noise
In utero babies are exposed to the loud buzzing, whirring sounds of the womb with blood rushing and hearts beating. This sound is a source of comfort as babies grow and develop. It’s actually a little bit of a shock when babies arrive into the world and everything is significantly quieter for them (don’t worry though, babies are resilient and learn to acclimatise quickly!).
White noise machines may help soothe your bub to sleep as they’re designed to replicate the sounds your bub heard in the womb with a rhythmic, repetitive sound that blurs out background noise from everyday life. You can learn more about white noise and how it works on The Baby Edit here.
I was keen to test the Baby Shusher after it made it onto our TBE White Noise and Sound Machine Best Of List. This was one of the more affordable options and I liked that it was compact and portable.
What is the Baby Shusher?
The Baby Shusher was designed by parents Chad and Katie Zunker to help soothe their newborn. They tried everything to settle their little one and discovered the sound of them ‘shushing’ repeatedly seem to work best. However, the one catch to this method was that it was exhausting and literally takes your breath away. Their solution? They recorded themselves shushing and played it to their baby. It worked like a charm and the Baby Shusher was created.
I started testing the Baby Shusher with my daughter Mimi when she was a few weeks old and continue to use it to this day (she’s 18 months next week). Similar to a lot of parents, when Mimi was unsettled I would gently nurse her, pat her back and shush. Sometimes I would be shushing for what felt like forever, which I know might not sound like hard work but just wait till you try it! I wanted some backup and that’s when the Baby Shusher stepped in to help.
The Baby Shusher is one of the simplest and easy-to-use white noise machines around. It literally plays the sound of a human shushing. It sounds so real, you could definitely mistake it for a real person in your living room. I think this is why Mimi responded to it really well because it gives the impression that we’re doing the shushing and in the room with her (even when we’re not).
You can set the machine to play for 15 or 30 minute intervals. So it’s defintiely a product for when you’re out and about or just to get them off to sleep rather than all night soothing.
Key takeaways after testing the Baby Shusher
I really liked using the Baby Shusher for daytime naps or attached to the pram when we were out. The Baby Shusher is seriously compact and easily fits in my nappy bag. I could take it with us wherever we went including car trips or in the pram. In fact I used it last week while we were interstate to help settle her to sleep at night in a new environment.
It’s also worth noting the Baby Shusher is battery operated, however, I found the battery life to be amazing. I use it a lot and I don’t feel like I change the batteries regularly at all. As well as the timer, you can also control the volume settings too.
I never quite got used to the sound of this product myself as it sounds too human-like (white static noise or waves put me to sleep in minutes) but Mimi really did respond well to the Baby Shusher. Mimi is 18 months now and we still keep it permanently attached to her pram for daytime naps on the go.
If you’re looking for a white noise machine with a bit more sound variety, for instance, a combination of white noise and lullabies, or a longer playing time this may not be the baby product for you.
I’d recommend the Baby Shusher for someone who wants an easy-to-use white noise machine that’s compact and portable. Baby Shusher have also launched an app version of their product that plays for extended periods of time. You could road test the app to see if your bub responds to it before investing in the original Baby Shusher. For me though, the best thing about the Baby Shusher is that my lungs now get a rest.
The Baby Shusher was tested by Emily and her daughter Mimi (from 0 to 18 months). This product was modelled by baby Elliot. Photography by Bri Hammond and Sarah Collins, produced by The Baby Edit. To find out which white noise machines ranked highest according to the thousands of Australian families we surveyed click here.
This is general information only. If you need personal, health, medical or technical advice when it comes to your growing family, please seek out a professional.