Sleep & Monitoring
White noise machines and plush soothers rated on sound, safe volume, ease of use and value, with honest advice on placement.
Best first
The Hatch Rest's successor, and the most complete nursery sound machine and night light here, controlled from your phone.
Best for Parents who want a sound machine and night light they can adjust from the landing, and that grows into toddler routines later.
A tough, rechargeable pocket machine with a night light and a 34-hour battery, and the best value here.
Best for Parents who want one machine for the nursery, the pram and trips away, for not much money.
The UK's favourite cuddly soother, now rechargeable, with a cry sensor that restarts the sound when your baby stirs.
Best for Parents who want a soother that switches itself back on when their baby cries, and doubles as a travel companion.
Real-fan white noise that never loops, now with ten speeds, a timer and a dimmable amber night light.
Best for Parents who want the most natural white noise going, with no app, no subscription and nothing to charge.
A cuddly owl or panda with a cry sensor, six sounds and a battery that lasts days rather than hours.
Best for Parents who like the plush soother format and want the longest battery life.
A cheap, pocketable shusher for settling on the go, but a timer-based soother rather than an all-night machine.
Best for Parents who want a cheap settling aid for the pram, the car or a travel cot.
Affiliate link: if you buy, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes the score. How this works
Side by side
Tap a column to sort. Scores are out of 10.
| Product | Links | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hatch Baby Sound Machine & Night LightGold Star | 7.7 | 8.6 | 8.2 | 9.0 | 4.0 | 6.2 | £70 | Amazon |
| Yogasleep Hushh 2Value Star | 7.6 | 6.8 | 7.0 | 7.8 | 9.5 | 8.4 | £35 | Amazon |
| Ewan the Dream Sheep DeluxeBest for resettling | 7.4 | 7.0 | 6.6 | 7.8 | 8.5 | 7.6 | £45 | Amazon |
| Yogasleep Dohm Nova | 7.3 | 9.0 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 3.5 | 6.6 | £80 | Amazon |
| Tommee Tippee Deluxe Light and Sound Sleep Aid | 7.2 | 6.4 | 6.8 | 7.8 | 8.8 | 7.4 | £35 | Amazon |
| Munchkin Shhh Portable Sound Machine | 6.6 | 5.2 | 6.6 | 6.4 | 8.0 | 8.2 | £22 | Amazon |
Before you buy
There are three broad types. Fan-based machines like the Yogasleep Dohm Nova make their sound with a real fan, so it's continuous and never loops, but you get one kind of sound. Speaker-based machines like the Hushh 2, Ewan and Tommee Tippee's sleep aids play recordings, which gives you choice (shushing, heartbeat, rain) and portability. App-connected machines like the Hatch Baby add remote control, routines and a night light you can dim from your phone.
For most babies, any steady sound at a sensible volume does the job, so decide based on where you'll use it and how much control you want.
The 2014 Pediatrics study found that every one of the 14 infant sleep machines tested could exceed 50 decibels at 30cm on full volume, and three topped 85 decibels. So keep the machine away from the cot and the volume modest. Hatch suggests at least 3 feet (about a metre) away, ideally near the door, starting at around 30% volume, with a simple check: if you can talk at arm's length without raising your voice, it's fine. A free sound meter app on your phone will give you a rough reading.
Makers' advice varies, though. Sweet Dreamers suggests hanging Ewan on the cot bars or putting him on a bedside table within a metre of your baby. If your soother sits that close, keep it on a low setting.
Some parents run white noise all night; others only use it to help their baby settle. The Hatch Baby, Hushh 2, Ewan Deluxe and Dohm Nova can all run continuously (the Nova's timer is optional). The Munchkin Shhh is listed with 10, 20 and 30 minute timer settings, so it's more of a settling aid. Cry sensors, on the Ewan Deluxe and Tommee Tippee's sleep aids, are a useful middle ground: the sound goes off, then comes back on when your baby cries.
A built-in night light is worth having for feeds and nappy changes, as long as it's dim and warm-toned. Sweet Dreamers and Tommee Tippee both claim their red glow encourages melatonin, the sleep hormone; I'd treat that as a marketing bonus rather than a reason to buy. The practical win is simply not having to switch on the main light at 3am.
The Hatch Rest has been replaced by the Hatch Baby, and a search for 'Hatch Rest 2nd Gen' on Amazon UK throws up listings from other brands at around £35 to £40 that borrow the name. If you want the real thing, check that the seller is Hatch. Hatch Baby also comes with three months of its Hatch+ subscription; after that it's optional, and the basic sounds and lights keep working without it.
It can be, as long as you're sensible about volume and distance. Research published in Pediatrics found infant sleep machines can get loud enough at full volume, close up, to risk hearing damage with prolonged use. Keep the machine at least a metre away where you can, keep the volume low, and never put a machine or plush soother inside the cot.
Quieter than you might think. The recommended noise limit for hospital nurseries is 50 decibels, roughly the level of a quiet conversation, and in the Pediatrics study every machine tested exceeded it at 30cm on full volume. Hatch's rule of thumb is a good one: if you can talk at arm's length without raising your voice, the volume is fine.
It's your call. Continuous sound masks disturbances all night, and the Hatch Baby, Hushh 2, Ewan Deluxe and Dohm Nova can all run until morning, while the Munchkin Shhh is timer-based. If you do run it all night, keep it low and at a distance, or consider a cry-sensing soother if you'd rather the sound only came on when your baby stirs.
White noise spreads sound evenly across all frequencies, which sounds like a hiss. Pink and brown noise put more energy into the lower frequencies, so they sound deeper, more like steady rain or a distant rumble. There's no need to chase a particular colour: pick whichever sound helps your baby settle and you can live with.
It has been replaced by Hatch Baby, which Hatch describes as a redesign with improved audio, a bigger button and a soft night light. Hatch sells it on Amazon UK. Several other brands use the Hatch Rest name in their Amazon listings, so check the seller before you buy.
No. Plenty of babies sleep well without one, and a fan or a free app on an old phone (kept well away from the cot) can do a similar job. A dedicated machine is simpler, doesn't tie up your phone and won't ping with notifications, which is why many parents think £35 or so is money well spent.