Unless it’s hot where you live, you may not have considered putting a fan in baby’s room, but there are several good reasons to do so, regardless of the temperature. Use a small fan, set it on a low setting, and place it so that the wind it produces is parallel to your baby’s crib.
So, what exactly is the purpose of putting a fan in baby’s room unless it’s hot or stuffy? There are actually several benefits, including:
- Fans produce white noise. For a bay, this is comforting because it reminds them of the constant sounds they heard in the womb. Newborn babies in particular sleep better if they have some form of white noise to muffle other sounds and, even more importantly, to keep things from being too quiet. The idea that it’s too quiet for baby to sleep well may sound odd, but consider this: up until she was born, your baby was surrounded by constant sound in your womb.
- Fans circulate the air. This not only helps babies to sleep more soundly, it also helps prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). While there really aren’t hard numbers to support this yet, it is widely believed that using a fan in baby’s room until she is one year old can help reduce her chances of crib death.
- Having a fan in the room effectively muffles other outside sounds. Let’s face it, unless you live in the middle of nowhere, you can’t stop the neighbors from making noise. Having a fan on reduces and muffles the outside noise so that baby can sleep better.
It can be hard to gauge exactly how much having a fan in the room can reduce the chances of SIDS, especially since there are usually several other factors at play. Experts believe, however, that you can reduce the chances of SIDS by as much as 70% by running a fan in baby’s room while she is sleeping.
If your baby sleeps in an area where the ventilation is poor, it becomes especially important to place a fan in her room. Make sure that you place the fan far enough away from baby’s crib that she won’t be able to reach it once she starts exploring the world around her. Ideally, you should place the fan on top of a dresser or somewhere else out of baby’s reach.