Weaning from White Noise

Sadie has been sleeping with white noise since she was 2 weeks old. It was around this time when she started to cry a LOT after eating. Nothing we could do would make her happy. Little did I know at the time that it was a Milk Protein Allergy, but Steve and I quickly found that standing by a running sink facet seemed to calm her and put her to sleep. So for the sake of saving on our water bill, we bought a white noise machine. And she's slept with it ever since. On High. Every night and nap. That is until now.

People have ask us when we planned on weaning from white noise and quite honestly, I had no plan. I didn't think it was necessary. It was quite nice being able to make noise in the house without worrying about waking her up. There are some adults that still sleep with white noise and that's fine!

However, we've realized with moving to Korea, that Sadie is going to have to be very flexible during our travel, including staying in hotel rooms, sleeping on the plane, and moving into a new house with different outlets. We decided it would just be easier to wean her off the white noise. I was terrified that her good sleep would be affected.

I started a couple weeks ago turning down her white noise a little at a time each night. Finally, it was to a point that I could barely hear it. Then a few nights ago, I set the timer on it to cut off after 1 hour. I knew she would be in deep sleep at this point and hoping she wouldn't wake up. When that was a success, I finally put her down with no white noise at all. Not only did she go to sleep easily, but quite possibly faster than a normal night. Now this could also have to do with the little dose of Benadryl I gave her thanks to her last molar coming in.

Anyway, she has officially slept all night with no white noise at all two nights in a row and one nap. I am so proud of her and wondering why I didn't try this sooner. I am hoping this will just be one small step to help her prepare for the long trip ahead.

One thing we tried to do was make the same amount a noise we did while she slept with white noise. I didn't want her to take this as a way to wake up to every little small sound, and surprisingly she hasn't. She has even napped through the workers building a house down the street without the white noise.

Does anyone else use white noise with their children? Did you ever stop or do you plan on stopping? I'd love to hear from other moms!