There are few things that occupy the brain of a new parent more than sleep – or, rather, the lack of it.
Neither you nor your newborn will be getting much shut eye in the early days, and pretty soon your life will revolve around a seemingly never-ending parade of sleep schedules: trying to get them to nap for more than 30 minutes at a time, helping them to sleep in their own cot rather than on you, navigating the tricky stage of dropping a nap and – the Holy Grail – getting them to sleep through the night.
While we’re by no means guaranteeing that investing in a sleep aid will solve all your woes (every baby is different and they all come with their own unique sleep needs), picking the right one for you and your child can make a huge difference when it comes to helping them adjust their sleep patterns and habits.
Some recreate the cosy environment of the womb, with recordings of actual heartbeats and soft red lights, while others help them feel soothed and relaxed as part of their wind-down bedtime routine, crucial for getting them to drift off soundly.
So what should you look for in a baby sleep aid? First, think about where it will be most useful for you. Do you want one that can go in or near the cot (depending on your baby’s age), to help them acclimatise to sleeping on their own? Or do you need something that will assist them with napping on-the-go?
Best baby sleep aids at a glance
- Best for overall: Ewan Deluxe - £39.99, Amazon
- Best for travel: Dreamegg D11 Sound Machine - £33.99, Amazon
- Best for older children: My Little Morphée - £74.95, Amazon
- Best for versatility: SnüzCloud - £29.99, John Lewis
- Best for bedtime reading: Yoto Player (3rd Generation) - £99.99, Amazon
- Best for gentle motion: Rockit Rocker - £48.40, Amazon
- Best for soothing glow: Shnuggle Moonlight Night Light - £27.99, Amazon
- Best for encouraging natural sleep responses: Lumie Bedbug Bedtime Light - £70.49, Amazon
- Best for serene noise features: Tommee Tippee Dreammaker - £18.99, Amazon
- Best for easing breathing at night: Clevamama Clevapure Salt Lamp - £65, Amazon
It’s also worth considering what your baby responds to best, whether that’s staticky white noise at full volume, soothing shushing sounds or even a relaxing bedtime story. Our round-up features the full spectrum of sleep aids you can purchase, from cuddly toys and pram clip-ons to portable nightlights and aromatherapy diffusers.
Here’s our top picks of the best baby sleep aids on the market today.
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Ewan Deluxe
Best for: overall
Most parents of a newborn know about Ewan the sheep – he’s one of the most popular baby shower gifts, and with good reason. First of all, he’s ridiculously cute, with his fluffy fleece and big eyes, but more importantly he comes with a bunch of whizzy tricks to help your little one feel calm and soothed.
Designed to mimic the environment in the womb, Ewan plays a variety of different pink and white noise sounds – including a recording of an actual heartbeat and womb - when you press its tummy, as well as emitting a soft red melatonin-inducing glow (though this can also be switched off if you prefer).
The updated Deluxe version also comes with a smart cry sensor, which activates itself every time the baby cries. This function was met with mixed reviews by our testers, some of whom loved its responsiveness and others who felt it was set off too easily, but it’s switched off easily via the simple-to-use removable control pod hidden away in Ewan’s belly if it doesn’t work for you.
He’s machine washable, too (just make sure you take out the control pod first), so you don’t have to worry about stains and spills.
Buy now £39.99, Amazon
Dreamegg D11 Sound Machine
Best for: travel
This is the go-to baby sleep aid for when you’re trying to get them to nap on-the-go. Brilliantly small and portable, it comes with a clip so that you can attach it to your pram when you’re out and about, but it’s equally brilliant for when you’re going on holiday or even for use at home – our tester stashed it in her baby’s nappy bag for days out and then plugged it in at home to play through the night.
In spite of its compact size, the sound will fill any room and it comes with 11 different soothing sounds to choose from, ranging from the more obvious white noise and shushing to babbling brooks, lullabies and ocean waves.
It also comes with a built-in night light – great for those middle-of-the-night feeds – and has brilliant charging power, lasting for around eight hours at a time. Everything is controlled via easy-to-use buttons on the side of the device. There is a baby-safe locking system to keep tiny fingers from changing all the settings - though letting them play around with the buttons while locked will keep them occupied for a good five minutes. You can also choose from three different timer settings for the white noise: 30 minutes, 60 minutes or 90 minutes (or simply set it to be continuous for overnight use).
Buy now £33.99, Amazon
My Little Morphée
Best for: older children
This chic-looking sleep aid is designed for slightly older children - from age three to ten- who struggle when it comes to winding down at night.
Created by the French company that founded Morphée, its best-selling adult counterpart, the machine comes pre-loaded with 192 meditative journeys, designed by sleep experts specialising in child relaxation to help them prepare for bedtime or even calm then down during a particularly hyperactive day.
With sessions that include breathing exercises, visualisations and meditations, little ones start by choosing an animal that will guide them on their journey, with each representing a different facet of emotions, from confidence and courage to happiness and generosity. They’ll then be transported to a tropical island or a lush forest, where specifically designed nature sounds and music tracks will help them to unwind.
It’s deliberately non-digital and screen-free, so there’s no chance of any disruptive blue light affecting your little one’s sleep. Our tester wasn’t sure how their three-year-old would take to it at first, but they found it really effective for getting them to help switch off after a busy day.
Buy now £74.95, Amazon
SnüzCloud
Best for: versatility
This sweet-looking baby sleep aid by Snüz, the brand behind the ever-popular SnüzPod Bedside Crib, was a firm favourite with our testers, who loved how versatile it was. Small and lightweight, it can be hung from the bars of your baby’s cot or the handles of their Moses basket via a handy Velcro strap. It’s also super easy to slip into your bag and attach to the handlebar of the pram if you’re out and about.
It comes with four different soothing sounds, including pink noise and a heartbeat, as well as two different light options: a calming pink glow or a brighter white light that can be used as a night light when they get a bit older. The sounds and lights play for 20 minutes at a time, and your little one will love cuddling up to the cloud.
The only downside is that it’s not machine washable, so try not to let it get too filthy.
Buy now £29.99, John Lewis
Yoto Player (3rd Generation)
Best for: bedtime reading
If you feel like you’d quite like to delegate the task of bedtime reading occasionally, you should probably invest in a Yoto Player. The compact, screen-free audio player works with special cards that you simply pop in to read one of your little one’s favourite stories, from The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom to Robin Hood. Plus, each one comes with a blank card so you can add your own audio via a handy app. For the latter, you can get granny or grandad to record their bedtime book of choice and play it as they drift off.
As well as stories, the Yoto can also play white noise or a Sleep Radio channel when it’s time for bed, and comes with a built-in night light. And while it’s screen-free to make sure it doesn’t affect little eyes, it does come with a fun pixel display that can either be used to bring the stories to life – by displaying the Gruffalo’s terrible tusks and terrible jaws, for example – or set as a programmable day and night clock, to let your little ones know when it’s time to go sleep and when it’s time to get up.
While the use of the player itself is only recommended for children aged three and up, there are cards with stories and noises that are suitable from birth all the way to 12 years old.
Buy now £99.99, Amazon
Rockit Rocker
Best for: gentle motion
You’ve probably spotted this rocket-shaped baby sleep aid attached to a pram handlebar or two as you’ve wheeled your baby around the park for the 163,509th time, trying to get them to sleep. Well, the Rockit could have saved you quite a few of those laps, having been designed to simulate the gentle hand rocking of a pram – which means your days of jiggling it back and forth with your foot for hours on end in the hope of getting your little one to drift off are over.
Designed by three dads, the award-winning rocker comes with a handy speed dial which means you can adjust it to make sure you get the perfect rock to suit your baby and each rock is on a 30-minute cycle, leaving you plenty of time to enjoy a coffee or unpack the shopping in peace.
Alongside the Rockit they also have the Zed, a vibration sleep soother and red glowing night light that mimics car-like vibrations when placed on your baby’s mattress, and the Wooshh, a miniature clip on white noise machine that’s perfect for taking on holiday.
Buy now £48.40, Amazon
Shnuggle Moonlight Night Light
Best for: soothing glow
Getting the lighting spot-on for those interminable night feeds can be a surprisingly tricky task, but this relaxing night light from Shnuggle ticks all the boxes. Small enough to fit easily on a bedside table or on the side of a changing table, and with a handy strap to carry it around from room to room, the soft yellow glow emitted is the most soothing we’ve found, with very low blue light levels.
As well as being a favourite with our parent testers of newborns, who swore by it for navigating everything from epic overnight cluster-feeding sessions to 3am nappy explosions, it also got the thumbs up as a calming bedside lamp for their toddlers.
They also loved the fact that it came with a room temperature sensing dock which displays the temperature in the room, taking the guesswork out of figuring out whether it’s too hot or cold for your baby.
Buy now £27.99, Amazon
Lumie Bedbug Bedtime Light
Best for: encouraging natural sleep responses
You might have heard of the Lumie light for adults, which gently simulates a sunrise in your bedroom to make it easier to get up on those pitch-black winter mornings, but you may not know that they do a similar (and just as brilliant) product for kids.
The cute Bedbug is the ideal night light for getting little ones to drift off peacefully, with a combination of low-blue white light that’s the perfect brightness for reading a bedtime story and non-alerting orange and red LEDs when it’s time for sleep.
The best feature is the gradual sunset, which lets little ones know it’s time for sleep – simply press a button and the light will start to slowly dim over 15 minutes, using a special mix of LED lights designed to mimic a real sunset and proven to encourage a natural sleep response.
It’s a product that’s been recommended by parenting expert Sarah Ockwell-Smith, author of the bestselling The Gentle Sleep Book, and our testers agreed it worked so well it almost made them nod off.
Buy now £70.49, Amazon
Tommee Tippee Dreammaker
Best for: serene noise features
Tommee Tippee rarely puts a foot wrong when it comes to its baby products, whether it’s the ingenious nappy bins or the award-winning formula prep machines, so it’s no surprise the baby sleep aid is a winner too. The Dreammaker has been scientifically proven to help babies sleep better, having been developed with a world-leading sleep laboratory and sleep scientists at Northumbria University.
It uses a clever combination of soothing pink noise, which emulates the natural sounds of the womb, and a pulsing red light, which has a two-fold effect. The warm red light allows the production of melatonin, while the rhythmical pulses have been designed to mimic a baby’s relaxed breathing rate to help them drift off. Our testers confirmed Tommee Tippee had nailed it again with this one.
Buy now £18.99, Amazon
Clevamama Clevapure Salt Lamp
Best for: easing breathing at night
This baby sleep aid comes from an Irish brand that was founded by two working mums - and it takes things to a whole new level. The whizzy machine does several different things at once, all through using Himalayan salt crystals, which are renowned for their sleep-assisting properties.
First up it can be used as a humidifier, emitting an ultra-sonic cool mist that can help ease upper respiratory symptoms (very handy when they start picking up their first colds and sniffles), as well as soothe sore throats and alleviate dry, itchy skin.
It also works as a night light and air purifier, emitting a soothing lava-esque amber glow and acting as a natural air purifier, with the salt crystals reducing the chances of allergies and irritations for your baby. Finally, add a few drops of essential oil, like eucalyptus to help unblock stuffy noses, and it turns into an aromatherapy diffuser. While it may seem like a bougie addition to a nursery, our testers loved how versatile it was – and admitted they may well steal it for their own bedrooms from time to time.
Buy now £65.00, Amazon
Verdict
For us, the hands down winner has to be the Ewan Deluxe. There’s a reason why you’ll find this cuddly sheep in most cots around the land, and why so many mums will urge you to buy one as soon as you find out you’re pregnant – they really do help soothe little ones and help them sleep better. Plus, they look adorable while doing it.
As for portable options, the Dreamegg D11 Sound Machine gets our vote, for being compact enough to chuck in the bottom of the changing back for days on-the-go, but still being powerful enough to be used as an overall white noise machine at home.
