The room is one of the few parts of baby sleep you can decide. You choose how dark, how warm and how loud it is, and you can keep that the same every time. None of it will settle a hungry or unwell baby, but it removes a few of the things that make settling harder.
Two rules matter most for safety: a clear cot and a cool room. After that, keep the light dim and the sound quiet.
Start With A Clear Cot
The Lullaby Trust advises a firm, flat, waterproof mattress with lightweight bedding and nothing else in the cot. That rules out a sound machine on the cot rail and a night light cable within reach.
Aim For A Cool Room
The Lullaby Trust recommends 16 to 20°C where you can manage it. Room temperature is hard to guess, so use a thermometer and add or remove layers from there. To check your baby, feel their chest or the back of their neck, because hands and feet often run cool and will mislead you. Our guide to baby sleep in hot weather covers heatwaves, fans and pram naps.
Dim Light Beats Red Light
Red night lights are sold on the idea that the colour protects melatonin, the hormone that makes you feel sleepy. There is no good evidence for that in babies. A settled day and night melatonin rhythm does not usually appear until somewhere between the second and sixth month, so in the early weeks there is very little to protect. The evidence on brightness is clearer, so keep any night light dim, point it at a wall and away from your baby, and remember your phone is a light too.
Keep White Noise Quiet
White noise masks doorbells, traffic and older siblings, and keeps every sleep sounding the same. Volume is where it goes wrong. When researchers tested 14 infant sleep machines at maximum, every one was louder than the level recommended for babies in hospital nurseries. Keep it below about 50 dB, put the machine at least 2 metres from the cot and never in it, and turn it off or use a timer once your baby is asleep. The studies are in white noise and red light.
Try our free white noise generator or free pink noise generator before you buy anything. For sleep away from home, see our travel sleep tips.
