At this point I feel like an expert on products marketed at helping babies to sleep longer, because I have tried them all! My son started out as a great sleeper, but around 4 months his ability to sleep longer than 2-3 hours went out the window and has never really recovered.

He is now 10 months old and over the last 6 months I have experimented with every possible variable that I thought might be affecting his sleep. I have also spent a lot of money trying out various products promising to help babies sleep through the night. I will start out by saying that I didn’t have a lot of success with many of these, but did find a few items that made a difference. Just because some of these didn’t work for me doesn’t mean they won’t for your baby – my son is just a tough nut to crack!

Triangular Sleep Wedge Baby Positioner

I first thought my son was waking at night because he had started rolling over in his sleep. So I purchased a wedge that is meant to keep babies in one position (either on their back or on their side) and prevent rolling. The wedge was effective in preventing rolling, so if you are worried about your baby rolling during the night this will certainly prevent that. I didn’t find that it made him sleep any better though. And I ended up not using this for very long, as I was told that I was only delaying the problem (in other words, when I stopped using the wedge he would again be waking himself up from rolling). But I wish I had given this more of a chance as I think he might have just gotten used to sleeping on his back if I had used it for a longer period of time. Maybe eventually he would have stopped trying to roll and just slept on his back.

Bottom line: The wedge is good at preventing rolling in younger babies, and it might be effective in helping babies sleep longer if used for an extended period time

White Noise/Lullaby/Projector

I have used white noise since my son was born and after experimenting with no sound, he does sleep better with some type of background noise as he sleeps. I bought this device that plays white noise and lullabies, as well as projects images on the wall/ceiling. It was a great purchase as I had previously been using an app on my phone so his meant I got my phone back! I also like to use the projections on the wall as I think it sometimes helps him fall back asleep when he wakes up. I use one of the lullabies while he is falling asleep and then switch to white noise (the ocean sounds) after he is sleeping.

Bottom line: Very happy with this purchase, much better than using a phone app and helps him fall asleep and stay asleep.

Bumper Pads

My son moves around a lot during the night and often bumps into the sides of his crib (and usually with his head). I put bumper pads around the edges of the crib to see if he would sleep longer. I was thinking that banging his head against the wood could be waking him up. These did not make any difference to his sleep, he still wakes up when he hits the side of the crib, but I have left them on as I would prefer he bumps his head on a softer surface than the wood slats.

Bottom line: These didn’t help his sleep but give me more peace of mind that he’s not injuring himself when I hear him bumping into the sides of the crib.

Sleep Drops

One day after a stretch of terrible nights my husband ordered these sleep drops online for me. You give a couple drops to your baby before bedtime and also when they wake up in the night. I am not convinced these made much of a difference. The first few nights I thought they were helping but I think any effect they had disappeared after the first few days of using them. I won’t be purchasing more after the bottle runs out (yes I am still using them, just in case!). I have read quite a few reviews online from people who have had success with these drops though, so they may work for some babies.

Bottom line: I did not find these drops made any difference, but may help some babies.

Infacol Wind Drops

Often when my son wakes at night he has gas, so I thought I would try some wind drops to see if that was the reason he was waking at night. These drops are to be given prior to breastfeeding (or added to a bottle of formula). I did not notice any differences in his sleep with these drops either. He does seem to have less gas though, so they might be making him feel better. But obviously the gas was not the reason he was waking at night.

Bottom line: These drops didn’t help his sleep but have seemed to settle his stomach.

Munchkin Lulla-Vibe Vibrating Mattress Pad

This pad can be placed under the mattress in your baby’s crib and vibrates at the touch of a button. The vibration lasts for 30 minutes and slowly fades before turning off. I really wanted to find something that would continue vibrating all night and wouldn’t turn off but this was the best I could find! And I have definitely found this to be useful. It is meant for helping babies fall to sleep but I have found that sometimes when my son wakes at night and starts crying I can turn on the vibration and he will fall right back to sleep, which is definitely a win for me! It also helps when putting him to sleep as well so I am very happy with this purchase. It’s very portable and easy to use wherever he is sleeping.

Bottom line: This has been really useful for helping my son fall to sleep and also for getting him back to sleep (without having to provide any further comfort, breastfeeding, etc). I would highly recommend!

Overall I haven’t had great success with getting my son to sleep through the night, he still wakes regularly. My conclusion is just that he misses me too much and needs to see me multiple times a night 😉. But I do think the white noise and the vibrating pad have helped.

I would love to hear whether others have had success with any of these. Are there any other devices that you have tried that worked?