Every parent knows that a good night of sleep is golden with a new baby. A quality and effective baby projector soother are a nursery must-have to keep baby calm and mom sane.
When choosing a projector soother, remember to consider the options that best fit the needs of you and your baby.
The market has a variety of different makes and models available to fit any parent’s needs.
Best Baby Light Projector
Twilight Constellation Night Light Unicorn
The Twilight Unicorn is not only cute and fun, but it functions as a top-rated, award-winning product. This projector soother offers a peaceful view of the starry night sky to comfort your baby. While this projector soother does not offer a music or white noise option, it is a great option to add light without noise to your baby’s nursery.
Educational
The Twilight Constellation Night Light Unicorn includes eight actual constellations and a helpful guide to identify the constellations. Parents and children can learn together about the Big Dipper and other constellations in a soothing environment.
Projections are available in three colors. Children will be surrounded by calming colors with the added opportunity to learn not only their colors but how those colors make them feel.
You’ll also find this sweet baby night light on the Best Nursery Night Light review here on EM!
Ease of Use
While parts of the Twilight Unicorn’s surface are plush, the hardware is protected by a plastic shell. Babies and children can hold and interact with this product without causing easy damage. This soother also includes a 45-minute shut-off timer to save the battery and keep the baby’s room from distraction while sleeping.
Features
- Plush
- 8 actual projected constellations
- 3 soothing color options
- Battery operated
- 45-minute automatic shut-off
BlissLights Sky Lite Projector
The BlissLights Sky Lite Projector is more of a “real-life” starry night sky projector that projects a nebula cloud with lots of stars giving off an aurora effect.
Relaxing Surroundings
While this baby projector does not have music or sound options, it is able to produce relaxing and realistic starry night sky projections with the option to rotate. The 6-hour timer is convenient if you’d rather avoid trying to sneak into baby’s room to turn the projector back on, which is possible with many other projectors. The brightness can also be adjusted to help relax and get baby right to sleep.
Features
- Adjustable brightness
- Option to rotate
- Light effect options
- 6-hour timer
Help Me Decide
The BlissLights Sky Lite Projector is the best whole-room star projector. The 6 hour timer and brightness adjuster are nice, but the fact that it comes from a special effects lighting company is just awesome! It covers more area than the CrazyFire Star Night Lights Projector and the Baby Projector with Timer and Remote and seems to be higher quality.
Best Baby Sound Machine with Projector
Bubzi Co Baby Sleep Soothing Owl
This projector soother is the most versatile product for the money. My son was a colicky baby and after a few weeks of late-night crying sessions, we discovered the miracle of the baby soother. The combination of soft light and soothing white noise was perfect to relax both me and my baby.
Versatile
The Bubzi Co Baby Sleep Soothing Owl is at the top of my list for its versatility. This projector soother is also a hand-washable plush toy perfect for keeping older babies and toddlers entertained. It includes 10 different lullabies, natural bird sounds, and a heartbeat sound along with projected stars to keep the room dimly lit.
The adorable design makes this soother a great decor piece for your nursery. The functionality and child-friendly features also make this product usable as your baby ages.
Mom-Friendly
Another great benefit of the Bubzi Co projector soother is the automatic shut-off. After 30 minutes the sound shuts off to give the baby a peaceful night’s sleep. The projection softly fades or may be turned off without impacting the music.
The compact size also makes this soother perfectly packable for soothing nights while traveling. Although this product is plush, it is also hand-washable for easy cleaning. The Bubzi Co soother is sure to bring joy and peace to any nursery with its mom-friendly versatility.
Features
- Plush
- 10 lullabies and natural sounds
- Night light of galaxy stars
- Battery operated
- 30-minute automatic shut-off
Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System
The Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System is a sleep projector and soother operated by your phone and it can work for your child for 8 years!
It’s easier to put your child to bed with the Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System. Children are guided through the nighttime routine by the interactive, wall-mounted helper, who rewards them as they complete each action. To help your child fall asleep, the Lumalou system can be used as a sleep-training aid for infants and toddlers, as well as a sound machine with lights and a sleep expert-approved music playlist. You can effortlessly set and control your child’s daily tasks, sleep timers, music, sounds, and lighting with the Smart Connect app.
A wall-mounted 3-in-1 interactive routine helper, sleep trainer, and nursery sound machine for infants to children (Ages 0-8 years)
With the Smart Connect app, you can personalize it! Make your own routines, set sleep and wake times, and listen to soothing music and dim the lights.
Onscreen indicators help kids get through the nightly routine by giving them a remote to press as they finish activities for fun rewards.
The hue of the starlight indicates whether it is time to sleep or wake up, which can help with sleep training.
Experts in the field of sleep have given their blessing. The music playlist Ready, Settle, Sleep, which includes multi-color lights, assists the infant in falling asleep and staying asleep.
Parents adore the fact that their children can turn the soother back on instead of having to do it themselves!
Why it’s so great
- Connects to an App
- Works for 8 years of your child’s growing
- Wall-mounted
- 3-in-1 Interactive routine helper
- Colorful lights and motion
- Built-in clock
Help Me Decide
The Fisher-Price Settle & Sleep Projection Soother is the best (and only) soother to attach to the crib. It has lots of lights, sounds, and it interacts with your child. It’s unlike any other projector soother on this list!
Fisher-Price SmartConnect Deluxe Soother
I know that I am always next to my phone. It makes wonderful sense to turn my phone into a remote for an amazing baby projector soother and night light. And that’s exactly what this Fisher-Price SmartConnect Deluxe Soother does! It has all the same bells and whistles as other projectors, plus a SmartConnect feature that links to the device via an app.
Imagine gently turning your child’s soother back on from your phone as you are relaxing in another room. Boom, done!
Lights and Sounds
This soother is the total package. It has 3 sound options: nature sounds, white noise, and soothing music (sadly, not classical). You have total control of the volume for all sounds. Next, it has 3 lighting options. The first two are a regular, warm night light and a soft amber animal projection. The next option is the starlight projection option, which gives you several different light colors to choose from.
Smart Tech
The icing on the cake is the Fisher-Price Smart Connect app, available for Android and iOS. From that, you can control all — lights, sounds, and even set a timer. The Sleep Stages tool in the app helps you program a bedtime routine for your child from the app. You select the Settle, Soothe, and Sleep settings and it stores them for nightly use. It makes getting a regular bedtime routine a cinch. Oh, and if you happen to be in the room, you can control everything from a backlit control panel on the soother itself.
Features
- 3 sound settings
- 3 light and projection settings
- Connects thru a smartphone app
- Backlit control panel
Best Night Light Projector with Music
Baby Projector with Timer and Remote
The Baby Projector with Timer and Remote has so many features for a super reasonable price.
Multiple Projection Modes
There are a few different modes of projection to change things up. Options available include starry sky, animal world, colorful lights, and nightlight mode. You can choose to have the projector rotate as well.
Remote Access
An awesome part of this baby projector is the fact that it can be controlled with a handy dandy remote! With this remote, you can control volume, music choice, the option to rotate projection, color light, timer, and power. It does require a CR2025 battery, which can be tricky to find.
Features
- Multiple charging methods (batteries, outlet, USB)
- Rotation mode
- Timer (5-500 min)
- Multiple projection modes
- 12 songs
Sleep Soother Aurora Projector
As any experienced parent knows, sleep issues do not always end after babies transition to toddlers, preschoolers, or even school-aged children. The Sleep Soother Aurora Projector is perfect for babies and yet remains appropriate as your child ages.
The projection features realistic images of the aurora borealis. The calming lights combined with a customized music option create a relaxing environment to prepare for sleep.
Personal Music Option
This projector soother has a built-in speaker compatible with MP3 players, iPads, and iPhones. You can choose the music or sounds your baby or child hears straight from your music library. While most soothers on the market only allow a select number of sound options, the SOAIY Sleep Soother is limitless.
The downside is the need for another device in order to have sound with the SOAIY Sleep soother. You will also need to download music or sounds appropriate for a relaxing sleep environment.
Grown-up Look
Of all the projector soothers available, the SOAIY Sleep Soother looks more mature and less specifically designed for a baby. It is also not a product suitable for small children to play with alone. It is FDA-approved for eye safety. However, as your child grows, this soother would transition nicely to a room for an older child.
Features
- Galaxy aurora projector
- 8 light projection mode
- Built-in speaker comparable with MP3, iPhone or iPod
- Automatic shut-off after 1 hour
- Corded electric power
Help Me Decide
The Sleep Soother Aurora Projector is our favorite smaller star projector. The soothing Aurora-Borealis-like glow is more calming than the Baby Projector with Timer and Remote and it has more music options CrazyFire Star Night Lights Projector.
CrazyFire Star Night Lights Projector
What better thing for a baby to look at than the stars as they fall fast asleep? This projector gives them the moon and the stars to see. If you place this toward the center of the room, it will dress the walls and the ceiling in lights, giving a relaxing glow to the whole room and giving an active baby lots of places to look. The music helps soothe baby to sleep. Although occasionally finicky, this projector is a great choice for soothing baby.
Lots of Choices
The CrazyFire Star Night Lights Projector has lots of options for your child. The lighted star globe rotates and offers 9 different lighting effects. The turning is silent, so there are no loud noises to distract baby. The unit also comes with a removable 128M memory card so that you can load the baby’s favorite tunes (or yours, not judging!) and play them nightly. If you don’t have time for that or you aren’t sure what to put on, there are 12 preloaded songs. And to make it all easy for parents, there is a timer that can be set (up to 999 minutes, which is a bit ridiculous) and an easy-to-see blue LED display.
Remote Access
My favorite thing about this is the remote. It can work from 32 feet, provided that your walls aren’t too thick. You can use the remote to set the timer to 4 different settings: 1 hour, 3 hours, or 5 hours. You can also start at 5 minutes and keep adding in 5-minute increments until baby is asleep. You can adjust the light, rotation, and music as well. I love that it has volume, skip, rotate, and repeat, instead of just stop and play.
Features
- 9 different lighting choices for star projections
- Remote control
- Preloaded songs and loadable song memory card
- Long timer
- 360° rotation
Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projector
The Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projector is an adorable plush projector that features relaxing music, sounds, colors and is able to project the night sky onto the walls.
Relaxing Features
Choose from 5 different relaxing songs or nature sounds to play to lull your baby to sleep. In addition to sound, you can choose between a light show or select colors (either blue, green, or amber) to be shown. The projector displays a starry night sky onto the ceiling or walls.
Things To Look Out For
As a plush projector, this is harder to clean if it gets dirty. Another thing to consider is the fact that the buttons can be “loud” when pressing, so if you need to turn it back on while your baby is asleep, the clicking button could wake the baby if they are a light sleeper.
Features
- Starry night sky projection
- Relaxing music/nature sounds
- Timer
- Adjustable volume
- 10-hour battery life (3 AA required)
Help Me Decide
The Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projector is the best plush soother/nightlight on this list. We like it better than the cloud b. unicorn because it has more timer options, added songs and sound, and volume control. It comes in 3 animal options, which is fewer than the cloud b., but it’s still cute and it’s less expensive.
Best Baby Sleep Soother
Munchkin Shhh Portable Sleep Soother
If you’ve ever spent a sleepless night in a hotel room or friend’s house, then you know how important it can be to have some soft noise and warm light to sleep soundly. Babies are no different, and if you travel with your baby, or even move them from one room to another, you’ll want a baby projector soother that goes with you.
The Munchkin Shhh Portable Sleep Soother has lights, sounds, and best of all, it works as a magical baby shusher.
Shushing and Soothing
Does anyone else’s child have an irresistible urge to sing along to every song, ever, even if it doesn’t have words? That’s why I appreciate the fact that the Munchkin Shhh Soother Machine has sounds that will soothe baby, not stimulate them. You can pick from shushing, a heartbeat, or white noise. I feel like that gives you sounds to grow with, from a newborn’s heartbeat to an older child and white noise.
As for the lights, there is a soft glow LED night light. It can emanate solidly or it can pulse to match the selected sounds. I know that doesn’t technically count as a projector, but it does project light and it’s an amazing soother if that’s more where your focus is.
Tiny and Portable
This machine is seriously small as 2.76 x 2.36 x 4.06 inches. All you need is 2 AA batteries and you are good to go. Just beware – using this thing all night long can really eat those batteries quick. That’s why it’s best to set the timer to either 10, 20, or 30 mins and then let it stop after that. Not a good machine for all-night soothing.
Features
- 3 soothing sounds, including shushing
- 2 light options
- Automatic timer
- Battery operated
- Small and moveable
The Best Projector Soothers Compared
The table below compares only the recommended products on this page. A low or high Price means it is low or high compared to the other products listed. The Popularity Score reflects how often readers click on and buy the product. The Quality Score is our assessment of the overall performance and satisfaction with the product compared to others in the table.
| Fisher-Price Lumalou Better Bedtime Routine System | 3.9 | - | 60.17 |
| BlissLights Sky Lite Projector | 9.6 | 9.4 | 59.99 |
| Summer Infant Slumber Buddies Projector | 9.0 | 9.4 | 57.67 |
| Bubzi Co Baby Sleep Soothing Owl | 9.8 | 9.2 | 44.95 |
| Fisher-Price SmartConnect Deluxe Soother | 9.7 | 9.2 | 44.50 |
| Twilight Constellation Night Light Unicorn | 9.7 | 9.2 | 39.99 |
| Baby Projector with Timer and Remote | 9.9 | 8.6 | 28.99 |
| Sleep Soother Aurora Projector | 8.3 | 8.4 | - |
| Munchkin Shhh Portable Sleep Soother | 4.3 | 8.6 | - |
| CrazyFire Star Night Lights Projector | 7.4 | 8.8 | - |
Benefits of Using a Projector Soother
Sleep is important to the health of babies and children. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) supports the recommended sleep amounts of 12 to 16 hours per day for babies four to 12 months old. Even children up to 12 years old need around 10 to 12 hours of sleep each night.
Tools like projector soothers may help your baby sleep better even through their childhood years. Investing in a quality, versatile projector soother will create the relaxing and calm environment for your baby’s nursery that any new mom would want.
Personally, I still use a soother in both of my school-aged children’s rooms at bedtime. It is one consistent tool that lets us all relax and prepare for sleep. Benefits of using a projector soother are:
- Keep babies calm
- Help babies get back to sleep more easily
- Help maintain healthy sleep through transition periods
- Many are dual-purpose with sound and light
- Supports an established sleep routine
How to Choose a Projector Soother
Projector soothers offer many choices for parents. Varieties run from sound-free to MP3 adaptable. You may want a plush soother that also acts as a toy or stick with a more traditional plug-in model.
Regardless of your needs, the market now offers a wide range of options for parents to choose from. Consider these helpful criteria in your decision-making process.
- What type of power source is used?
- What type of light or image is displayed?
- Does it have a timer?
- Does it offer sound or noise?
- What type of volume control is available?
- Is it safe for young children?
FAQs – Baby Light Projectors
Are light projectors good for babies?
Not only do opinions vary, but the appropriateness of light projectors probably varies from child to child.
There seems to be clear agreement that very dim night light, at least, may be helpful to a parent and therefore less disruptive to the child for as long as the child wakes for nighttime feedings –no turning on and off of the lights, no stumbling around in the dark.
But sleep experts don’t like light and other stimulations at bedtime or in the middle of the night. They may make it harder to drift off, they say, and to establish circadian rhythms.
So, once the feedings are over unless your little one is afraid of the dark, it is best to keep any nursery projections soft and non-distracting.
Is it OK for babies to sleep in the dark?
Yes, it’s good, actually, but you might need a dim night light in or just outside the nursery to enable you to safely check on your baby — or lay her down after feeding — without stumbling around in the dark.
Do light projections help babies fall asleep?
Again, opinions vary. If your baby has trouble settling down and can be calmed by the gentle stimulations of a soft show of light, the light show might help. You might want to choose one that goes off after thirty minutes or so, in order to help your child stay asleep.
At what age do babies sleep through the night?
For most babies, this milestone is reached at around 6 months. It may be earlier or later, but sometimes between 4 and 8 months, your child will probably sleep through the night (6 to 9 hours) without feeding.
Does music, nature sounds, or white noise help a baby get to sleep?
Soft, low-pitched sounds, such as music, nature sounds, or white noise, can mask other distracting sounds that may be happening in the house. It is possible, too, that these sounds might help a baby calm down in order to sleep.
Just as any light in your baby’s room should be soft and dim, his music or sounds should be soft and un-distracting, like soft background music.
One concern about using sounds every night at bedtime is that your child might become dependent upon them and have trouble going to sleep without them when traveling or visiting another home.
Which projector soothers have the most music and sound options?
Technically speaking, the Aurora Projector has the most music options because you can plug in your phone or mp3 player (are those still a thing?) and play whatever you want.
Similarly, the CrazyFire Star Projector has a removable SD card that you could download your own music onto, but it does come pre-loaded with 12 kid-friendly songs.
The Baby Projector with timer and remote has the same amount of music as the CrazyFire, with 12 songs, but some are strange choices, like “Happy Birthday to You” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.
The Fisher-Price Settle and Sleep Projector has the most sound options. You can choose from these four: a few classical/nursery rhyme songs, nature sounds, water sounds, and white noise.
The Munchkin Shhh. is the only soother on our list to include shushing sounds, which some experts believe is the most effective form of comforting babies.
How can I get my newborn to sleep longer at night?
A newborn should be fed every two to three hours. So, by the time you feed and diaper and jostle and bounce and rock, you’re lucky to have even two hours at a time to sleep before your newborn wakes to feed again. Be patient with the feeding; allow your baby to fill her tummy, and be sure to burp her before trying to lay her down.
If he is bottle feeding, perhaps Mom and Dad can take turns feeding him at night. Or, if breastfeeding, perhaps Mom could do the pre-feeding diapering and feeding and Dad could, at least at times, do the post-feeding diapering, jostling, bouncing, and rocking to get the baby to sleep.
Pumping might also be an option. If enough breastmilk could be pumped to provide a bottle once at night, Dad could take care of feeding. (In general, if you want to breastfeed, supplementing with formula is not recommended until the baby is at least 8 weeks old).
In any case, feedings will naturally spread out over time, and your child should begin to sleep at night for at least six hours by around six months of age.
Final Recommendation
Projector soothers are available with a variety of features and styles.
The Bubzi Co Baby Sleep Soothing Owl with Night Stars Projector and Music is my top choice of soother for its versatility and cute design.
Whatever option you choose, adding a projector soother to your nursery is a good investment.
