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Pink Noise with Calm Breathing for Babies

Warm pink noise with a slow, calm breath rising and falling every 6 seconds, like lying on a parent’s chest. Pink noise sits between bright white noise and deep brown noise, and the gentle breathing gives your baby a peaceful rhythm to settle to.

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About this sound

Bed	Pink noise: even and warm, between white and brown
Breathing	A soft inhale (2.4 s) and a longer exhale (3.6 s): 10 calm breaths a minute
Filter	5 kHz low-pass, so it stays soft
Length	10 hours, seamless loop
Screen	Picture for a few seconds, then fades to fully black
Made by	Generated and mixed in-house by Shush Bean (not a recording)

What the research says

Babies and a breathing rhythm

In a study of 45 premature babies, each was given either a “breathing” teddy bear that rose and fell gently or an ordinary bear. Babies with the breathing bear spent more time snuggled against it, and later showed more quiet sleep ^[1]. That study used touch and motion, not sound, but it suggests babies are drawn to a slow, steady breathing rhythm.

Why pink noise

Pink noise has less hiss than white noise and more body in the lower pitches. Like other steady broadband sounds, it masks sudden noises: with white noise playing, 80% of newborns fell asleep within five minutes, compared with 25% without it ^[2]. Steady broadband sound also helped healthy adults fall asleep 38% faster in a sleep lab ^[3].

What we still don’t know

No study has tested breathing sounds mixed with pink noise in healthy babies at home. Think of it as a calm, familiar rhythm, not a treatment, and never a substitute for safe-sleep basics.

Why we fade to a dark screen

Young children’s body clocks are very sensitive to light in the evening. In a small study of preschoolers (ages 3–5), one hour of bright evening light cut the sleep hormone melatonin by 88%, and it stayed low for at least 50 minutes after the light was switched off ^[4]. A phone screen is far dimmer than that study’s light, and babies were not studied, but the lesson is simple: the less light in the nursery, the better. That is why every Shush Bean video shows its picture only briefly and then fades to a fully black screen.

How loud is too loud

Researchers in Toronto measured 14 infant sleep machines at full volume. At 30 cm (about 1 foot) every one of them was louder than 50 dBA, the limit recommended for hospital nurseries, and three could exceed 85 dBA ^[5]. Their advice: keep the device well away from the crib, keep the volume low, and do not run it at full volume all night. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ safe sleep guidance still comes first: baby on their back, on a firm flat surface, in their own crib or bassinet with nothing else in it ^[6].

How to use it

Lovely for contact naps that turn into crib sleep: the breathing keeps a familiar rhythm going.
Start it during cuddles, then lay baby on their back in their crib.
Keep the volume low and the device across the room.

Use sound gently

Keep it low. Choose the lowest volume that still masks background noise. If you have to raise your voice to talk over it, it is too loud.
Keep it far. Put the phone or speaker across the room, not in or next to the crib. Researchers who measured infant sleep machines advised keeping them more than 2 metres (about 6.5 feet) away.
Keep sleep safe. Baby on their back, in their own crib or bassinet, with nothing else in it.

Source: Hugh et al., Pediatrics (2014), as summarized by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Questions

Is the breathing a real recording?

No. We shape it from soft noise so it is perfectly even for 10 hours.

Why 10 breaths a minute?

It is the pace of a calm, relaxed adult: slow enough to feel restful.

Pink, white or brown?

Pink is the middle ground: warmer than white, lighter than brown.

References

Thoman EB, Ingersoll EW, Acebo C. Premature infants seek rhythmic stimulation, and the experience facilitates neurobehavioral development. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. 1991;12(1):11–18. Link
Spencer JA, Moran DJ, Lee A, Talbert D. White noise and sleep induction. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 1990;65(1):135–137. Link
Messineo L, Taranto-Montemurro L, Sands SA, Oliveira Marques MD, Azabarzin A, Wellman DA. Broadband sound administration improves sleep onset latency in healthy subjects in a model of transient insomnia. Frontiers in Neurology. 2017;8:718. Link
Akacem LD, Wright KP, LeBourgeois MK. Sensitivity of the circadian system to evening bright light in preschool-age children. Physiological Reports. 2018;6(5):e13617. Link
Hugh SC, Wolter NE, Propst EJ, Gordon KA, Cushing SL, Papsin BC. Infant sleep machines and hazardous sound pressure levels. Pediatrics. 2014;133(4):677–681. Link
Moon RY, Carlin RF, Hand I; AAP Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Sleep-related infant deaths: updated 2022 recommendations for reducing infant deaths in the sleep environment. Pediatrics. 2022;150(1):e2022057990. Link

This page summarizes published research for general information. It is not medical advice. Research on sleep sounds for babies is still limited; talk to your pediatrician about your baby’s sleep and crying.