White Noise Machines

[missbaby]

I'm not sure what's going on with my neighbors but right now they are coming and going a lot right at the time I'm trying to get the baby to sleep.  The sound of their car doors slamming and the engine cranking up right outside our window while we're trying to settle down is well...unsettling. 

I've tried blocking the noise by turning an electric fan on high and it does muffle the sounds but I believe that the sound of the fan itself is creating a disturbance.  I wondered if any of you have had any luck using one of the white noise machines or CDs that I see for sale? 

My mother owned a machine once a long time ago and she gave it away because she said that the rain sounds that she liked also had thunder and lightning strikes in the mix and she said that when she would drift off to sleep it woke her up! 

Any suggestions that you might have or experiences that you've had with white noise would be helpful.  Thanks!

[Bokonon]

I've used white noise machines with both of my kids as babies.  They still have them in their rooms, because we live on a fairly noisy street.  They can sleep without them even though they've had them since birth.

I've never had a problem with the rain setting having anything but steady rain sounds.  We usually get the Homedics brand, basic sound machine.  They don't last forever, especially with having them on as often as we do, but IMO they are well worth the price!

[missbaby]

That was the same brand as hers!  I can remember it was white plastic but not a lot else about it.  That was another question that I meant to ask; would the babies get "addicted" to the sound and only be able to fall asleep with rain or what have you in the background. 

[Blessed1]

Our neighborhood can get pretty loud at times and it gets loud in the house when we have company over so we use a white noise device.  We use our itouch plugged into a docking station..the docking station amplifies the sound.  We downloaded a free app called the 'sleep machine'.  It is an awesome app with many different sounds to use.  We usually rotate between rain without thunder, ocean waves, babbling brook and white noise.  It definitely helps with the noise level and she almost never wakes up when we are loud.  It is awesome!! 

We've also used our android phones and downloaded a similiar app while traveling and placed the phone near the bed.  Always works like a charm. 

Just in case you were wondering: she doesn't need the white noise to fall asleep.  There are times when i forget to turn it on and she is fine.