In a 141-night study, the Nucu Pad’s natural white noise Rain Feelscape gave babies on average 44 extra minutes of sleep at the start of the night. Safe multisensory stimulation turned into better rest for both infants and parents.
That early stretch of the night matters more than tired parents sometimes realize.
We studied a group of 10 babies under 12 months of age to find out whether using the Rain Feelscape (natural white noise) would help babies settle for longer at the start of the night – without complicated routines.
The Nucu Pad significantly increases the length of the first sleep sessions
The Rain Feelscape had a statistically significant positive effect on the babies' sleep:
- A longer first sleep session: on average, 43.9 more minutes of sleep
- 17.9% fewer night-time pickups
The result compares each baby to themselves and averages the change for each baby.
A longer first sleep session
On average, the family enjoyed approximately 44 extra minutes of early-night quiet as measured in increased total sleep time for the first sleep session.
Fewer night-time pickups
On average, bed-exit count fell by approximately 18%. Babies needed less parental help to fall asleep and stay asleep.
The Nucu efficiency study at a glance – more sleep for babies
- Participants: 10 healthy infants under 12 months, 141 nights in total
- Setting: Two consecutive weeks at home; daily routines unchanged
- Measurement tool: Nucu Pad placed under the mattress tracks movement, breathing and calculates sleep states (awake, active sleep, quiet sleep)
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Protocol:
- Week 1, baseline: Nucu Pad measured sleep silently.
- Week 2, rain week: A gentle multisensory rain sound played on the Nucu Pad when the baby was put down.
Why rain? Soft broadband noise can mask sudden household sounds and, when paired with subtle mattress-level vibration, soothes the baby to sleep.
Why the first hours count
Deeper parent sleep: Adults cycle into slow-wave sleep within the first 90 minutes. Protecting this span may leave parents feeling measurably more restored – even if later wake-ups still occur.
Infant learning: Infants consolidate memory and grow neural connections during active and quiet sleep. The study found active-sleep minutes rose significantly in both the first and the longest stretches.
Evening sanity: That precious “couple time” after bedtime often evaporates when the monitor crackles too soon. A more predictable first stretch lets parents plan – even if it’s just a hot shower and lights out by 9 p.m.
What makes the Nucu Pad and Rain Feelscape different
Hands-free: The sound-and-soothe layer lives under the mattress; parents don’t attach wearables or fiddle with settings at 2 a.m.
Whole-body cue: Subtle vibrations pair with audio, offering multisensory input similar to a drive in the car or sleeping on the parent’s chest – two classic baby-soothers.
Objective feedback: The same pad that calms also tracks sleep, giving families concrete data instead of guesswork.
Taking the findings home: efficient sleep aid for families
There were individual differences between families, but these numbers echo real-world experience: mask sudden household noise, add gentle vibrations, and babies settle for longer.
What the Nucu Pad offers is proof in numbers rather than hunches:
- ~44 extra minutes during the most parent-critical window
- Fewer night-time trips out of the crib
For exhausted mums and dads, that margin can make a big difference – especially when compounding over time, over days, weeks and months. Even years!
The bottom line
A soft patter of rain, delivered through the mattress, nudged infants toward longer early-night sleep. It also gave parents a fighting chance at their own deep-sleep recovery.
The Nucu Pad, complete with the Rain Feelscape used in this study, is available in select countries at the Nucu Shop.
Note on methodology and terms
First sleep session of the night: The time between when the infant is laid to sleep and the first time they are taken out of the bed.
Sleep: The time when the infant is in bed asleep. Sleep includes both active sleep and quiet sleep.
Total bed-exits: The number of times an infant gets out of bed between the first bedtime onset and the end of the last recorded activity in bed.
Statistical analysis: For this study we used the Wilcoxon signed-rank test: a method that compares each baby’s baseline week to their own rain-week results. Bed exits decreased by 17.9% (Wilcoxon signed-rank test: W = 2, p = .003). Sleep minutes increased in the first session by 43.9 min (Wilcoxon signed-rank test: W = 55, p < .001).
