The short version
White noise helps, but keep the machine across the room at low volume on a timer: all 14 machines tested in a Pediatrics study exceeded safe nursery levels at cot distance. Use a dim warm night light, and keep a pacifier, cream and nappies within reach.
What happened
At 3am, with him screaming and the neighbours' wall thin, I'd have bought anything. What I bought was a white-noise machine and a night light, on the recommendation of every sleep account on Instagram. Both helped. One of them, I later learned, I'd been using wrong.
The white noise worked from the first night: a steady shush that covered the pressure cooker, the doorbell and the dog two floors down. I put it on the shelf next to the cot and turned it up until it covered everything. That was the mistake. A study that tested fourteen baby sleep machines found every one of them, at full volume, was louder at cot distance than the limit used in hospital nurseries, and three were as loud as traffic. So the machine moved to the far side of the room, the volume came down to a murmur, and it switched off after he'd settled rather than running all night.
The night light I'd bought was a cheerful white LED. It lit the room like a fridge. The thing I'd read about blue-ish light and sleep hormones is better established for adults than babies, but the practical problem was obvious: when I came in to feed him, we were both wide awake. A dim, warm, orange glow fixed that: enough to find the bottle, not enough to wake either of us properly.
The rest of the kit is less glamorous. A bottle of water for me. The yellow-lid cream and two nappies within reach so a change doesn't mean a lights-on expedition. And a pacifier, with its case, because that's what the research says to reach for.
When researchers tested 14 infant sleep machines at maximum volume, all 14 exceeded 50 dBA at 30 cm, the recommended limit for hospital nurseries, and three exceeded 85 dBA, the adult occupational limit. At 200 cm all but one were still over the limit. The advice: keep the machine as far from the cot as possible, at low volume, for limited periods.
Hugh SC et al., Infant sleep machines and hazardous sound pressure levels, Pediatrics 2014;133(4):677. CHOP summaryThe verdicts
Cubworthy, with a catch
A basic white-noise machine with a timer (any brand with a volume dial)
Across the room, low, on a 45-minute timer. The timer and the dial are the features that matter; the twenty soundscapes don't.
A dim, warm-toned plug-in night light
Orange, not white; dim enough to leave on. Found at a hardware shop for less than the baby-shop version.
A pacifier in its steriliser case, on the shelf
See the pacifier story. The research-backed thing to reach for at 3am.
Bright white LED night lights and projector lamps
Lovely in the shop. At 3am they're a floodlight, and the music ones have a volume problem of their own.
Product details are as we used them; the version on sale now may differ. Check the exact model and the manufacturer's instructions.