Keeping a humidifier in your baby’s nursery is a great way to cut down on common colds. Here’s our parents guide for choosing the best humidifier for babies.
Warm, dry air might feel cozy, but it’s definitely not. Dry air is a breeding ground for all kinds of bacteria and viruses. If your house is full of dry air, you’re breathing in all those germs. This is especially dangerous for babies. Because they are more sensitive than adults, babies are more likely to catch one of these viruses, and if they do, they’re too weak to take the usual, over the counter medication.
Most pediatricians recommend putting an air humidifier in your nursery, at least during the winter when the air gets the driest.
The Best Humidifier for Babies? Here’s Our Top 4 List
There are so many air humidifiers out there, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed trying to pick the best humidifier for babies. Here is a quick list of the most beneficial humidifiers, all of which are available on Amazon.
1. Honeywell Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier
This humidifier runs nearly 25% quieter than a lot of other evaporating humidifiers, and, on its lowest setting, it can keep running for up to 24 hours. You can keep this humidifier running all night without worrying about having to get up and refill it, and the hum is quiet enough to be used as white noise.
It is also easy to clean. The reservoir and water tray are dishwasher safe, so you can pop them in the dishwasher instead of struggling to adequately clean them yourself.
2. Crane Drop Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier
With its one-gallon tank, the Crane Drop Humidifier can run for about 10 hours, perfect if you want to leave it on all night. This humidifier doesn’t require any filters, but if you’re not using very clean water or if you just prefer a filter, you can order it with filters.
If this humidifier does run out of water before you wake up, it has an auto shut-off to keep it from getting damaged. This humidifier looks nice, is inexpensive, and is easy to use. It comes in all different colors, so it can match any nursery theme.
3. TaoTronics Cool Mist Humidifier with No Noise
This humidifier can run all night, about 15 hours, but it also has a humidity meter that tells you what the current conditions in the room are. You can easily see if the air needs more or less humidity. It also has an LED display (that can also serve as a nightlight) and a rotating nozzle to better distribute the humidity throughout the room.
4. hOmeLabs Cool Mist Humidifier Diffuser
The hOmeLabs Cool Mist Humidifier has a high spraying nozzle that lets you specifically direct where you want the most humidity to land. It is whisper soft and doesn’t disrupt sleeping patterns. hOmeLabs’ humidifier is also well priced. hOmelabs humidifier can run for between 16 to 30 hours, depending on how full the tank is. It also has a safety feature that automatically turns off the humidifier if the water level gets too low.
Whichever humidifier you choose for your baby’s room, just be sure to monitor it and maintain it. Doing so can help you preserve it for longer, and preserve your baby’s health along the way!
Benefits of Air Humidifiers
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you’re looking for the best humidifier for babies.
- Improve Health: An air humidifier can actually help clear up your baby’s skin problems, such as dry, irritable skin, itchy eyes, and chapped lips. Babies bodies cannot deal with dry air as well as kids or adults, which is why humidifiers are a staple of so many home nurseries.
- Better Breathing: Humidifiers bring moisture back into the air, and this moisture gives babies relief from congestion and other cold symptoms. They help break up any clogging in their nose, throat, or chest, which allows them to recover from an illness quickly. Babies that have these symptoms and keep breathing in dry air are at higher risk of getting worse.
- Improves Babies’ Sleep: Most air humidifiers include some kind of fan that can double as a convenient white noise machine. Keep in mind, low-quality air humidifiers use loud fans that are more likely to disrupt sleep patterns, but the best humidifier for babies will have a quieter hum that helps lull babies to sleep.
When to Use a Humidifier
During Winter
You can use an air humidifier at any time of the year, which is a good idea if you live in a naturally dry area. Yet, the most beneficial time to use an air humidifier is during the winter. Even though the air feels wet and cold during the winter, the air drops to less than 30% of its usual humidity. To top it off, most families run heaters during the winter, which makes the air even drier.
During the Night
Again, you can leave the humidifier on all day, but the best time to run it is at night. Your baby’s immune system gets stronger when he’s sleeping and fights viruses the hardest during the night. Keeping the humidifier on during the night soothes any present symptoms and helps babies fight the sickness.
Hot vs. Cool
There are two different types of air humidifiers, hot mist humidifiers, and cool mist humidifiers. Both can be helpful, but you should avoid hot mist humidifiers in a baby’s room. Hot mist humidifiers are designed to kill bacteria as they produce hot mist, but cool mist humidifiers are actually just as effective.
Because they’re so hot, warm humidifiers can be dangerous. If babies get too close, the heat from the steam alone can burn them. A spill could cause an even greater burn. The best humidifiers for babies might even offer both of these features.
4 Safety Tips for Any Humidifier You Chose
Keep out of Reach
Even the best humidifier for babies can be dangerous if not properly taken care of. A humidifier should never be within reach of a baby. Do not put it on your changing table. Just because it may be out of reach, the baby could knock it over when getting changed. Also, tuck any cords out of sight. A curious baby could pull the humidifier off the piece of furniture it’s sitting on and hurt himself.
Clean Regularly
As different parts of most humidifiers are in constant contact with water, they need to be cleaned often. Bacteria could grow inside the humidifier if it’s not properly cared for, and your baby could breathe in added bacteria on top of the germs already in the air.
Use Clean Water
The best water to use in a humidifier is distilled water. Normal tap water usually has minerals inside it which, if put inside a humidifier, will blow through the house. This is not necessarily harmful, but clean water is always better.
Don’t Over Humidify
Make sure you don’t run your humidifier for too long. If your windows start to fog up, there is too much moisture in the air. The best humidifier for babies should have a timer so you can regulate how often it turns on.