Just so you know, What to Expect may earn commissions from shopping links.
One of your first lessons in Baby Soothing 101 is that shushing can be a surprisingly effective way to calm crying and help your newborn get to sleep. But going “Shh! Shh! Shh!” when you’re trying to get something else done (or just get some sleep yourself) isn’t so easy.
Thankfully, someone decided to do something about that by inventing a device that does the shushing for you. And new parents love it.
We’re talking about the Baby Shusher ($35, Amazon.com), a small-but-mighty noise machine that gives your baby repeated shushing — in a real human voice — to help her relax and give you a break. It’s racked up nearly 10,000 glowing reviews on Amazon, has been rated the bestselling baby sleep soother device, and was featured as a top pick in our own 2021 Baby Tech Awards.
Sure, a device that makes a shushing noise is a no-brainer idea. But if it’s been days or weeks since you logged more than an hour of consecutive sleep, this no-brainer idea might feel like a godsend. “It truly is magic for my son. If he is crying or having difficulty going to sleep, we turn this on, and he is soothed in less than a minute,” one thankful parent wrote.
Some parents save the Baby Shusher for certain particularly tricky times of day (or night). “I usually try to only use it at bed time so they associate the sound with bed time. It really helps my girls calm down and fall asleep,” one parent shared. “When this gets REALLY useful is in the middle of the night if the baby gets fussy. You turn it on, and magically within minutes the baby goes back to sleep and you don’t have to wake yourself up shushing the baby for 15-30 minutes,” another said.
But others find the device is helpful, well, just about always. “We use it for naps, when she’s fussy out and about, in the car, at night… Almost every situation we’ve used it. She’s four months old and it’s still a must have in the diaper bag,” said one reviewer.
And if you have the kind of baby who gets disgruntled about being put down for even a minute, the Baby Shusher just might give you the moment’s peace you need. Wrote one grateful reviewer, “It allows me to do once impossible things like eat something with a fork or put shoes on.”
But the Baby Shusher isn’t just great because of its ability to soothe. As any bleary-eyed new parent can tell you, finding the time or energy to assemble or operate a complicated baby device when you actually have a newborn around is really, really hard. But thankfully, using this little machine requires almost zero brainpower.
All you have to do is set the timer to 15 or 30 minutes (it’ll automatically shut off after that) and adjust the volume. Then put it down near your baby (but not in her crib or bassinet, please) and go do your thing.
Perhaps the best thing of all? The Baby Shusher is small and runs on two AA batteries, so you can pretty much use it anywhere. (Including worn around your wrist using the removable strap, if you’re holding or wearing your baby and need the shusher nearby while you’re moving around.)
“I love the sleek design, that it’s lightweight which makes it easy and portable, and that I don’t have to charge it,” said one reviewer. Which is so good, since you definitely wouldn’t remember to do that anyway.
See now: Starting at $34.99 at Amazon.com, Target.com, and BuyBuyBaby.com