Feel the noise

All the girls and the boys! I had to put that , Im not a huge fan of ACDC but that lyric fits in just right.

Because , I have implemented and included noise of some sort to the lives of all my children, ( as a nanny and now as a mum) both in their days and nights. I just did it naturally and back it up with scenic evidence from training but it wasn’t until I took my 6 month old on a 33 hr flight to New Zealand did I realised the implications completely of it. 

white noise, pink noise, gently buzz, noisy conversation, music, humming, you name it

Noise is good, life is noisy and a baby responds really well to that. Think from womb to room they have been surrounded with noise, your heart beat, stomach gurgling , yours and others voices tricking in muffled and then loud. Once they are out and about , your baby sleeps best and longest and deepest in the car or pushchair, noise literally deafening them, car rumblings, horns, machinery, people, you name it. On a Plane , where it is so loud you can’t hear yourself think. My daughter sleep 12 hrs straight , she was the only one of us with a flat bed but she was out , cold and it was great but also I realised once we were back and jet lagged and up at the wee hours that if I put on her Ewan the sheep on to the white noise setting she conked out again. Aha light bulb moment , but no light , light enemy when trying to get back to sleep. But noise good . It was then I finally realised the power of sound. 

Embrace the rhythms of life

As I said, I have also instructed my mums to have noise in their babies life, play them music in utero, have a music box in the nursery that plays when it is sleep time to signify to baby time to settle, have something for the car , be it baby Einstein or nursery rhymes or Q. FM. Have a radio or tv on for them to acquaint sound to and definitely don’t be silent at sleep times, make your lunch , keep the bathroom door open to hear the shower and ( if you feel like it that is )vacuum around the house when bubs is nearby, awake or asleep.

Blow driers are good too, although funny story  , I have a friend whose baby settled to the white noise of the hair dryer and mum thought she would be sneaky and downloaded the sound to settle baby. Bubs wasn’t having it and my friend had to stand over her bub with the contraption in the first few weeks to get her to settle. She started playing music too under the dryer and eventually was able to swap it out. But I do have images of her standing over or near the cot with the hair dryer in her hand praying her baby would stay asleep..   

The science behind it

Here  is the theory to back this all up. Child brain professors, those that study the waves of a child’s brain not professors with child brains just to clarify , have seen a direct link between white noise in a baby’s life and slowing of brain waves, aiding  soothing  and calming. In small children  it allows them to tune out and quieten their thoughts , they are absorbing and learning so much information in every second of their awake time, it like a pause for their brain to allow it to store the information.

Further more in their study in babies , particular familiar sounds, such as parents speaking in baby talk , ( sing songs language ) They have noticed that a child’s brain waves corresponds directly to that certain sound . Likewise repetition of a song   ( nursery rhyme ) with actions helps children’s brains to remember things and if incorporating colours or numbers in the song helps children to remember, repeat and retain. This allows faster cognitive development. There are also studies that show correlation of classical music and synapsis in the brain, with regards to learning.

Bring on the beats

Im not saying barrage your child constantly with sounds but do not shy away from it. Talk as much as you can to your baby from day dot. Talk around your child, allowing them to learn the act of conversation. Mimic them , when they try to have a go and encourage them to say words and sing songs .  Play music in their lives when they are awake and especially asleep. ( or to get to sleep maybe not all night for both your sanity ). They say Music and sound is the food of life and the only language everything in this world be it people, plant or animal responds to, so turn it on and turn it up.