Photo credit: John Finkelstein
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The U.K. publication Daily Mail reports that infant sound machines may be dangerous for babies’ neurological development. Parents used these machines to produce white noise to help babies fall asleep and not be awakened by noise. A mid-market tabloid, the Daily Mail has the highest circulation of any newspaper in the U.K. In true tabloid fashion, its lurid headline reads: “Trendy parenting technique used by millions could stunt babies’ development and cause ‘public health issue’, experts warn.”
Only one expert is quoted. April Benasich is the director of the Infancy Studies Laboratory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She says that the constant white noise produced by infant sound machines can interfere with babies’ development and therefore disrupt language development. She recommends using masking sounds that vary a bit, like the sounds of waves or heartbeats.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Benasich is marketing her own “neuroscience-based” infant sound machine. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued warnings about the sound levels of infant sound machines (discussed in a more readable fashion by Consumer Reports) but has not yet commented on Benasich’s concerns.
What should parents do? My clinical background is in internal medicine and geriatrics, so I’m probably not the best person to ask. But I do have young grandchildren, so maybe that makes me some kind of expert? Also, my father told me this anecdote about what happened when my twin brother and I were born many decades ago. Twins were much less common before assisted reproductive technology came along. Before bottle warmers and disposable diapers, babies involved even more work than they do today. A kind relative gifted our parents with a baby nurse for a few weeks. The nurse came into their small apartment and my father said, “Be quiet. The twins are sleeping.” The nurse immediately went over to the radio, which was playing softly, and turned up the volume. She said definitively, “They need to get used to noise.”
While I often conclude my blog posts by stating that a quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all, in this case, the natural sounds of daily life might be better for babies than the white noise of infant sound machines. What Benasich is concerned about seems to be valid, but I lack the pediatric and neuroscience background to render an opinion. I can’t offer anyone medical advice, especially not about a baby. So I’ll offer this advice instead: If you have a baby at home, ask your pediatrician.
